Many moons ago GoPro announced its Fusion action camera, capable of shooting 5.2k, 360-degree footage. The big feature, however, was called OverCapture, which allows users to snag a 1080p non-spherical frame from that footage. Said to be like having a camera team with you, this allowed spherical video to be used to pan, zoom and tilt in a standard square frame all with the footage shot on one action camera.
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Unfortunately, GoPro still hasn’t delivered this camera, but that could change on 28 September at its “The Moment” product launch, where we think the company will at the very least lift the veil on the new Hero6.
Worse news for GoPro, though, is that not only has Garmin beaten it to the 360-punch with the VIRB 360 camera but also a new software update that allows for what the brand is calling HyperFrame Director Mode.
Garmin's HyperFrame allows you to mimic camera movements using 360 video
According to a press release from Garmin, “The powerful new HyperFrame feature enables customers to create beautifully stabilized traditionally framed content out of their high-quality spherical footage. The ability to re-frame content after filming — using smooth camera pans, incredibly wide angles and even tiny planets — will change the way customers choose to capture and share their content beyond VR.”
Sound familiar? We're not sure if Garmin got the idea from GoPro or if it was the plan for the VIRB 360 all along (probably the latter). The fact is, it's available now for Garmin and we're still waiting on GoPro's version.
The new update will allow you to stitch together high-resolution RAW video and provide smooth stabilization to video captured in 5.7k using VIRB Edit — Garmin’s free desktop software.
The new update also has something called Power Tools, which Garmin claims can boost video quality and allow for features such as burst photos and long exposures.
GoPro has had its fair share of false starts over the past year with the Karma debacle, falling stock prices and major staff cuts, and it's also a safe bet there are a fair few Hero5 owners who aren’t particularly stoked the brand has ditched its traditional two-year product cycle. So Garmin releasing a feature that GoPro CEO Nick Woodman deemed "state of the art" before GoPro probably doesn’t bode well either.
The OverCapture software update for the VIRB 360, as well as the latest edition of the VIRB Edit software, are available for download now.