Something called the GoPro BombSquad headed to Alaska to shoot this short video of speedflying along some hairy ridgelines and over some crevasses. In a sport where things can go drastically wrong with wind conditions in faraway mountains, I’m glad people are making videos like this so that I never have to think for even a moment about doing so myself.

It’s hard to tell who’s really at fault in this video since you can’t see the ski patroller until he blasts in from outside of the frame. You can tell the ‘troller is running on some serious adrenaline. “You want to ski here the rest of the day? You sure about that?” In either case, the ski patrol guy comes off as a bit of a dick to the very apologetic guy he hi, though he does thank this veteran for his service when he walks away. Also…the video is over at about 1:30…not worth watching after that.

Rather than run commercials, GoPro continues to fund insanely awesome videos that promote their products. It is now a race to see if GoPro or Red Bull is the first to kill someone they’re using in a promo spot. Here, aptly named freediver Ocean Ramsey hops a ride from a Great White Shark. It’s all very peaceful and surreal…entirely because of the music. I suspect Ramsey’s heart was hammering away.

Luca Joel Koller was riding in Switzerland when 30 seconds into his run he found himself facing a rather steep rock crevasse he was unable to avoid. He plunges in, lands on his feet, and manages to get his board off and use it to help him climb back to safety. This is one of those cases where things could have gone much worse. The fall comes at :30, and you’ll see him make his way out over the rest of the video. It’s not going to win any cinematic awards, but it’s better than watching him hang upside-down in the crevasse until his GoPro battery runs out.

GoPro has continued their marketing campaign of making really cool videos using their cameras, thereby promoting their cameras. In this one a couple free divers swim around the Bahamas showing how long they can hold their breath. They also wear odd jetpack pants, and thankfully the guy wears a wetsuit while the woman wears a bikini. GoPro knows why people watch movies online.

via Moldy Chum

After a cash infusion of $200 million from Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Forbes estimates that GoPro founder Nicholas Woodman is now a billionaire. This is the guy who use to walk around the Outdoor Retailer tradeshow handing out GoPros to up-and-coming skiers and making people gather around him and chant GoPro three times before [ more... ]

All the big action camera manufactures have new, improved models out-and just in time for the holidays, what a coincidence! And again, they all make the same claims of best sensor, sharpest image, least noise, etc, etc. Gizmodo goes back for round two and puts the Drift Ghost, Sony Action Cam, Contour+2, and GoPro 3 through the paces in their various modes and configurations. The good news (if you already bought one) is that they’re all pretty good.

Even if you have no intention of ever buying a GoPro, this is five minutes worth watching. And if you are thinking of buying a GoPro, then you’ll be stoked to see the new GoPro 3 is 30% smaller and 25% lighter, though it is not any cheaper. The GoPro 3 Black, which comes with a remote, is $399. Resolutions on the camera are boosted, shooting 1080p at 60 frames per second, 1440p at 48 fps, and 720p at 120 fps, and a new lens purports to offer footage that’s twice as sharp. Nooooo! Why did I shoot all that footage of me crashing over and over with a GoPro 2!

Before there was the GoPro or Greg Marshall and his Crittercam, there was Dr Julius Neubronner who patented the pigeon camera in 1908. The guy was an amateur photographer with an interest in carrier pigeons, so he combined the two to try to shoot aerial photos. His first patent was declined since the patent clerks [ more... ]

The sheer volume of hours of headache-inducing helmet cam footage uploaded by trail runners and mountain bikers is unfathomable. You think there’d be some level of self editing. It’s baffling that not only do some of these videos actually get watched, but the shooters continue to run their cameras after seeing what the footage looks like after their first filmmaking attempt. And you can’t blame them entirely; there’s the chance they’ll have an encounter like this one. Skip to the 3-minute mark of the run (and you can stop watching 30 seconds later).