
GoPro is experimenting with unlocking custom features through QR codes, and you can gain access to the feature now. The action camera giant just unlocked a list of experimental features with the launch of GoPro Labs. The new platform allows GoPro’s biggest fans to play with features still in development, as well as unlocking others that may never actually make it to a GoPro model.
GoPro says that the new platform is more of an “insider look” than a beta program. GoPro Labs may unlock features that the team is working on bringing to the next generation of action cameras, or bring the results of off-the-wall features from internal hackathons to user’s hands, even if those features are never destined for an official launch.
The first features coming to GoPro Labs also offer a glimpse at potential new features for future launches. The first is an option to scan a QR code to instantly set up a GoPro Hero8 Black with specific settings. One of the cooler abilities of the QR code is to program a wake-up timer to start recording at a specific time, which GoPro demonstrated with sample footage from rocket launch that involved placing cameras 72 hours in advance and well out of Wi-Fi range. The cameras waited patiently, turned off and conserving battery power, until the wake-up timer started them up just before the launch.
The custom QR codes could also unlock tasks like motion detection recordings, speed and GPS capture triggers, custom time-lapses, personalized GoPro settings, saving favorite settings into a custom mode, and increasing the length of video segments saved and later stitched together for longer recordings. GoPro has an online tool for programming custom features and generating the QR code. You then simply point your GoPro camera at your screen.
GoPro Labs also brings ReelSteady Go Optimization after the company was acquired by GoPro earlier this year. The ReelSteady GO is a small company building cinematic effects for drone video. With the integration into GoPro Labs, the feature optimizes rolling shutter correction for better stabilization in editing. (This is separate from GoPro’s Hypersmooth stabilization, which works in camera.)
Joining GoPro Labs is free and doesn’t require signing up — customers just need to install the GoPro Labs firmware on a GoPro Hero8 Black. The company says earlier modes and features will not be affected with the installation.
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