Action camera maker GoPro on Tuesday announced the Hero 8, its flagship camera packed full of new features and capabilities aimed at adrenaline junkies. GoPro also unveiled the Max, a dual-lens camera that looks a lot like the GoPro Fusion, the company’s first 360-degree camera.
The GoPro Max is available for preorder starting Tuesday on GoPro.com. It costs $499. International shipments start Oct. 24, and U.S. shipments start one day later.
The Max is a dual-lens GoPro camera that looks a lot like the GoPro Fusion, the company’s first 360-degree camera. Like the Fusion, the Max has one lens on each side of the nearly square housing. There’s a front-facing color display that doubles as a viewfinder with shotgun mic capabilities for those who want to use the Max for vlogging.
Of course, you can use just one camera on the Max for the more traditional action shots, or use both cameras for a 360-degree photo or video. The Max has a total of six microphones for 360-degree stereo audio.
There are four digital lenses to give you the option to switch between views based on the shot’s requirements.
The Max also has an ultra-wide Max SuperView that GoPro says is the widest field of view from any GoPro camera, That should make for interesting shots, and there’s even the ability to take a 270-degree panoramic photo without having to move the Max, thanks to its PowerPano feature.
The Max will record up to 5.6K 360-degree video, 1440p and 1080p Hero video at 60 frames per second, as well as capture 5.5-megapixel Hero photos or 6.2-megapixel PowerPano shots.
You’re able to stitch photos and videos directly on the camera and export them to the GoPro mobile app to finish editing.
And what would a GoPro be without a rugged housing? The Max includes protective lenses for those extreme moments and is waterproof to 16 feet.
It’s interesting that GoPro is re-upping it’s 360-degree camera efforts. LG and Samsung released products in this category a few years ago, but have ultimately stopped releasing new hardware, partly because viewing photos and videos shot with the specialized cameras hasn’t been streamlined.
The Fusion was $599 when it debuted. With Max, GoPro has lowered the entry price and added new features that might make it more appealing to a wider audience.
We’ll have to wait and see when it launches later this month.
Note: The prices above reflect the retailer’s listed price at the time of publication.