COURTESYDRIFT(TIMELAPSE);COURTESYGOPOLE(DOME);COURTESYLIGHT^ &MOTION^ (SIDEKICK);^ COURTESY^ GOPRO(REMOTE);COURTESYPOLARPRO(SHUTTER)92 December 2019
5 TOOLS
PROS USE
TO GET KILLER
SHOTS
17
1423 LIGHT AND
MOTION SIDEKICK
DUO / $130
Sometimes, there’s
just not enough light.
L&M’s Sidekick Duo
cranks out 600 lu-
mens in a 90-degree
flood or 23-degree
spot pattern.4 GOPRO SMART
REMOTE / $80
Control your GoPro
from up to 600
feet away with this
wearable remote. It
can adjust settings,
start/stop record-
ing, and snap still
images.2 GOPOLE DOME
PRO / $65
Capture striking
surf shots above
and below the
waterline with this
dome-style water-
proof housing that
fits Hero versions
5 through 7.1 DRIFT
TIMELAPSE /
$25 This hockey-
puck-shaped device
spins 360 degrees
to capture stunning
panoramas, and
fits cameras with a
standard ¼-inch tri-
pod screw mount.55 POLARPRO
SHUTTER / $60
This three-pack
of filters lets you
control the light
entering a GoPro
Hero8, giving you
more control of
the exposure in
any light condition.Compared to modern versions
of the GoPro, the original in 2004
was a chunky plastic brick in a
waterproof case. The whole thing
cost just $20. It didn’t even shoot
digital images. Instead, it used
35mm film.
“The first GoPro was really
just a wrist camera to capture
my friends surfing,” said Nick
Woodman, its inventor, in 2014.
It was, as he called it, “the orig-
inal selfie.” Two years after its
debut, the GoPro went digital and
shot to popularity on the back
of athletes who spread both the
selfie style and POV shots that
are now ubiquitous in the DIY
video community.
GoPro’s early adoption of new
tech was essential to its growth.
The first digital verison (2006)
recorded 10-second VGA clips,
without sound, to 32MB of inter-
nal f lash memory. By contrast,
the first iPhone didn’t hit stores
until 2007, and its video capabil-
ity didn’t come until 2009’s 3GS.
Most important, GoPro’s wide
field of view, easy controls and
autofocus, and broad ISO range
that adapted to all kinds of light-
ing conditions made capturing
video easy.
The other key catalyst was You-
Tube, launched in 2005 just after
the first Hero; without it, GoPro
never would have seen such wide-
spread adoption. For five years, as
YouTube exploded and creators
f looded the site with content, a
GoPro Hero was the tool most
reached for. Nothing else offered
the performance in such a porta-
ble, rugged, affordable package.
Last year, GoPro sold 4.3 mil-
lion cameras worldwide, and it
claims 88 percent market share of
the action-cam category in the U.S.
But the company faces increasing
pressure from conventional digital
cameras and smartphones, which
feature higher-quality optics and,
in the case of the smartphones,
faster and more seamless ways to
get footage from the device to the
internet. Though GoPros still have
their place; Kilmer says he now
uses action cams mostly for tight
shots he couldn’t get otherwise,
like dropping one into a motorcy-
cle gas tank to show corrosion.
For decades, we’ve known video
is an ideal format for instruction.
It’s like having a personal guide
with you at every step, and takes
the mystery and intimidation
out of things. Tasks that seemed
complex are often revealed to be
simple (though not always easy).
The emerging tech housed in
those little GoPros, timed per-
fectly with the launch of YouTube,
made creating those videos easier.
Now that we have capable con-
tributors armed with GoPros, the
power to accomplish almost any
project is a search query away.