Drift Industries Announces New, Faster Ghost-S POV Camera
Meet the new Ghost-S, the latest POV HD video camera from Drift Innovations. The Ghost-S builds on the previous HD Ghost platform with a better lens, a new Sony CMOS sensor, more speed and improved battery life – basically, across-the-board performance upgrades. Video speed has been doubled so the Ghost-S can record full HD video at 60 FPS and 720p at 120 FPS. Other highlights are best-in-class battery life, 12-megapixel still photos at up to 10 FPS, improved low light quality and new Clone mode for controlling multiple cameras at the same time. And it’s all packaged in Drift’s original design, featuring a 300-degree rotating lens and 2-inch color LCD display for composing, playing back video, and changing settings.
Drift Innovations Ghost-S Key Features & Specs:
- New Sony CMOS sensor
- New 7-element aspherical lens
- Lens totates 300 degrees
- 1080p at 60 FPS and 720p at 120 FPS
- 12-megapixel still photos at up to 10 FPS
- Adjustable bit rate
- 10x digital zoom
- 3.5 hours of battery life
- 2-inch color LCD display with Corning Gorilla Glass
- Waterproof to 3m / 9 ft. without special housing
- 2-way remote control included
- Free Drift app mobile app for iOS and Android
- New Clone mode for controlling multiple cameras
- New Video Tagging
- Adjustable Timelapse mode
- Live Wi-Fi video streaming
- Wide selection of mounts and accessories
Price $399
Competition is brutal in the POV camera arena. Drift Innovations has differentiated their cameras with a unique user-friendly design. The Ghost-S is bigger than other POV cameras but it has very real benefits. The rotating lens makes it easy to mount, the 2-inch color LCD display makes it easy to set up the camera and allows you to playback videos, and the self-contained waterproof body means you don’t need a special housing unless you plan to go deeper than 9 feet. There are four shooting modes that are easily accessed and set up via the LCD display: Video mode, Photo mode, Photoburst, and Timelapse. For straight-out-of-the-box plug-and-play ease-of-use, the Ghost-S is hard to beat.
No – the Ghost-S doesn’t have 4k video. But who’s shooting 4k POV video, anyway? Let’s be honest – most POV videos will end up on YouTube where 720p is perfectly adequate. What most of us really want is better video quality with faster frame rates so we can get those sweet slow-mo clips when we go over the bars. And the new Ghost-S delivers there. With 60 FPS at 1080p and 120 FPS at 720p it matches the competition. Plus, Drift says the new lens, Sony CMOS sensor and improved low-light recording mean “extraordinarily smooth, rich video in any condition.” That 18-inch kicker jump down the street is gonna be epic at 120 frames per second, dawg.
Drift Industries Ghost-S Promo Video:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IVnBzjXmrA
So you don’t have to remember to start and stop recording all the time, Drift added a new featured called “Video Tagging.” Essentially, Video Tagging records in a continuous loop. When you have some footage you want to save, you tag it and it gets saved to the Micro SD card – up to the last five minutes of footage. So you don’t have to know in advance when something cool is going to happen. When it happens, you tag it and save it.
For more sophisticated video makers who are using multiple cameras, Drift gave the Ghost-S a new “Clone” mode. The Clone mode uses Wi-Fi to sync and control up to five cameras at once. Start recording on one and they all start. Change the shooting mode on one and they all change.
Like the HD Ghost, the new Ghost-S comes with an easy-to-use remote control that can be worn on the wrist. You can use the remote to start and stop recording or change the shooting mode. The shooting mode is clearly displayed by matching colored lights on the remote and the camera. Yellow shows the camera is in photo mode, purple is for Timelapse, blue indicates Photoburst mode, green is for video mode, and red shows that the camera is recording. There’s also a mobile app for iOS and Android Smart Phones. Install the Drift App on your phone and you get full camera control on your phone from up to 60 meters away (192 feet).
It’s good to see Drift staying true to the design that makes them special; and staying competitive with their video performance. The Ghost camera platform provides a very nice, easy to use alternative that’s arguably the most user-friendly on the market. The specs on the new Ghost-S look great and hopefully we’ll be able to get one for review soon. There are a bunch of new POV cameras on the market now so it’s also about time for a new POV camera shootout. After all, specs are one thing. But real world performance is what really counts.
The new Drift Innovations Ghost-S POV camera is scheduled to be available on November 26th (2013). The suggested retail price is US $399.
Find out how the previous Drift camera, the HD Ghost, measured up to the competition in our last POV camera shootout:
Spring 2013 POV Camera Shootout »
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