GoPro’s Latest Karma Drone ‘Footage’: Real or Faked?

GoPro will be announcing its new Karma camera drone on September 19th, and the company has been sharing video teasers to drum up excitement for the unveiling. The latest teaser, the 45-second clip above, is titled “Karma is Close.”

The video shows a single continuous take shot in a large library reading room, with library noise in the background. The camera starts from a high vantage point, descends to shelf level, slips through a hole in a shelf from one aisle to another, and then finally comes to a stop directly in front of a reading woman.

Commenters on YouTube are debating whether the video shows real Karma drone footage or whether the whole thing was faked by hand with stabilized gimbals. People point out that one, a drone would be extremely loud in the library, and two, papers and hair would be blown all over the place as a drone flies by.

Other people suggest that the drone may be an extremely small and precise one, or perhaps one that can easily transition from shooting in flight to being grabbed out of midair and shot with handheld stabilization.

The official announcement is just around the corner, so all will be revealed in about a week and a half. You can visit GoPro.com on the 19th if you’d like to watch the unveiling through a live stream.