So, our designers and engineers got to work.

We aim for simple but adaptable designs that put a lot of functionality in the hands of our users.

So, let’s start with a universal camera baseplate that’s made of hard-anodized machined-aluminum with a unibody design. That makes it tough, sleek, and small.

We’ll include two ¼-20” female mounting holes for your accessories like camera straps or flash brackets. We’ll include a slot for your hand and wrist strap.

Let’s give it an extra long mounting slot so you can position the base plate where it makes the most sense to you. Now, you have a total camera platform!

Let’s make it an Arca-Swiss compatible tripod plate so you can just slide your camera into the most common mounting system for tripods. But if you’re using something like a Manfrotto® RC2 ballhead, you can attach the UltraPlate to the ¼-20” screw of an RC2 quick-release plate.

We don’t like tools that get in our way so let’s make it small at 2.8” x 1.7” x 0.5” (7.2 x 4.3 x 1.25 cm) and weighing only 1.65 oz (47g) so that it fits nicely underneath your DSLR camera or compact system camera.

And finally, let’s make it $19.95 so it’s a no-brainer for everybody to have one for their camera.

Check out our video below on the UltraPlate and buy one for your camera today!

But alas, GorillaCam development stopped because of a number of…well…weird…reasons.

JOBY moved on to creating another iPhone app, Frame x Frame, in April 2011. It had a lot of features of GorillaCam but also included stop motion and time lapse features (check out the Frame x Frame contest that we ran).

But alas, Frame x Frame development stopped because of a number of…well…weird…reasons.

…

JOBY. Tis a silly place.

…

People came and went; everybody associated with the app left. And our two apps just sat there gathering dust (and bugs, lots of bugs).

But since our spiffy GripTight phone tripods were coming out in late 2012, a new generation of JOBYians pushed for rebooting GorillaCam. It just didn’t seem right to let GorillaCam wither on the vine. We had to give it a shot, right?

Admittedly, it wasn’t a terribly popular idea at the time. Remember how you promised your mom you wouldn’t forget to feed the goldfish if she just gave you a THIRD chance? Yeah, it was kind of like that.

First off, we had to figure out what we wanted the app to be. Frame by Frame had great functionality, but it was too hard to learn. This was the typical Frame x Frame user experience:

600 shots x 5 second interval per shot x 10 fps = SDFSKLFSJDFDALFK.

GorillaCam had this large following, but well, we didn’t have the code for it. X_x

So, we relaunched GorillaCam with Frame x Frame’s additional functionality as its base but thought about how to make the app a lot easier to use. We wanted an app where beginners could just get started creating their cool photography or time-lapse and stop-motion videos without getting bombarded by a ton of options. For instance…

To shoot say a timelapse video in GorillaCam today, you just say how long do you want to record and then how long you want the video to be. That’s it.

Just start shooting

All of the camera modes are clearly broken out. We’ve grouped the options a lot more logically to make them easy to find. We tried to keep the buttons per screen down to a minimum.

Our first test run of GorillaCam

But we understand that some people wanted those advanced settings so we created GorillaCamPro which has those features. Now, you can set your shots, intervals, fps, time lapse photo series (instead of video) as you see fit for $1.99. To keep GorillaCam free, we had to stick in some JOBY ads in the app to help pay the bills, but hopefully those aren’t too intrusive.

I’d love to say that the GorillaCam relaunch in early February was a smash, but actually it was something of a disaster. We took our lumps from loyal GorillaCam users who were furious for leaving out the tap-screen-to-shoot option as well as the anti-shake option which takes a picture only when the camera is steady.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Ack.

But we’re ready for change this time. Our development goal with GorillaCam now is to introduce small features and improvements over time. Part of it is because of budget reasons. But the other part is that smaller releases let us respond more quickly to bugs or introduce new features.

We managed to re-introduce the biggest missing features (tap to shoot, antishake, beeping on the photo countdown, etc) a few weeks later…

We’re sorry! We’re sorry!

And then in another update just last week, we overcame the limitations of the old Frame-x-Frame code and greatly improved the resolution of the photos and videos. Your iPhone 4S and 5 for instance can now shoot timelapse videos in 1920 x 1080 HD on the best setting. And we’re already at work on the next set of features.

So, please give GorillaCam or GorillaCamPro a shot, and let us know how we’re doing, good or bad. If there’s some functionality that you want to see, please let us know on our blog, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, or by email at community AT joby.com. We can’t promise that we can build every request, but we do definitely want to hear what you’re thinking and how we can improve!

]]> http://joby.com/blog/2013/04/return-of-the-gorillacam-directors-commentary/feed/ 0 http://joby.com/blog/2013/02/stop-making-shaky-vine-videos-use-a-tripod-already/ http://joby.com/blog/2013/02/stop-making-shaky-vine-videos-use-a-tripod-already/#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:36:13 +0000 Stephen http://joby.com/blog/?p=3563 After Twitter introduced Vine, it seemed like the most common adjective that I saw tied to Vine videos was “shaky.”  When you’re holding your iPhone and shooting, there’s always a bit of shake. The fewer parts of your body that are stabilized, the more magnified the shake becomes. Things like breathing, slight shifts in posture, the distance your hands are from your body, etc all contribute to shakes in your videos. Vine makes video even more twitchy because when you press down on the screen to shoot, the pressure moves your phone a bit. You might not notice all the shake when you’re shooting, but it becomes pretty obvious when you watch your video playback.

Here’s our first attempt at doing a Vine video:

Not a lot of shake, right? That’s because we’re using our GripTight tripods to capture the shot. Our GripTight mount holds any iPhone, and you don’t even have to remove your case. It also allows you to use accessories like the awesome Olloclip iPhone lens for even more unique Vine videos. Plus, they are tiny —you can easily fit them in your pocket or your bag—and easy to set up. Taking a minute to set up your tripod will save tons of time by eliminating the hassle of retakes because of annoying camera shake.

But, which GripTight should you use for your Vine videos? Well, it depends on the equipment that you have and how you think you’ll shoot.

Want to shoot shake-free Vine videos with any camera tripod?

Use our GripTight Mount which can attach your iPhone to any tripod uses a common ¼-20” screw mount (which means it also fits on any GorillaPod that you have!) They fold up nicely and won’t snag on anything in your pocket or backpack.

Need an iPhone tripod for Vine that’ll always be with you?

There’s this saying that the best camera is the one you have and that’s definitely true with iPhone tripods too. Maybe even more so because people don’t really associate tripods as something you’ll always have with you. But part of the fun of Vine videos are the spontaneity of it so you really need a tripod that’s small enough to take with you automatically. Our GripTight Micro stand is the iPhone tripod you’ll never leave home without. It folds up nicely to fit in your pocket which makes it the most compact iPhone tripod out there (and tough too with its aluminum legs!).

GripTight Mount + GorillaPod flexible legs = iPhone Vine domination

The GripTight GorillaPod iPhone stand is easily our best-selling GripTight product out there because it lets you attach your iPhone to branches, rocks, pipes, etc. and lets you stabilize your iPhone on almost any uneven surface. Shoot your Vine videos in portrait, landscape, or any angle you want.

You can also use our GripTight GorillaPod Magnetic for a flexible iPhone stand that now has magnetic feet! Why would you want magnetic feet for your iPhone? We’ll let Safe Solvent demonstrate:

Joby GripTight Demo 4 from *safe solvent™ on Vimeo.

Want to do a lot of smooth panning Vine videos?

That would be our GripTight GorillaPod Video. Now you can pan and tilt seamlessly thanks to a mini ballhead and guide stick. Plus, it comes with the same flexible legs and the magnetic feet of our GorillaPod Magnetic.

Now go out there and make the world a better place by showing off your shake-free 6 second Vine masterpieces!

Share your masterpiece with us by tagging them #gorillapod. We’re @jobyinc on Vine if you want more GorillaPods in your feed!

Not just any wheels, but super-smooth wheels that only need a simple push or pull to get that seamless tracking shot you always wanted.

Or maybe you subscribe to the Spider Man school of filming?

Right now, Justin is using Kickstarter to fund his operations. If enough people commit to buying a set of CineSkates (you don’t pay unless the funding goal is met), he’ll be able to start production. So, if you’ve got a GorillaPod Focus and always wanted to use it for tracking shots, check out Justin’s video describing the story behind CineSkates (we’re already standing in line to get ours), and if you’re interested in getting some wheels for your Focus, visit his CineSkates Kickstarter page!

Think of the possibilities!

Ok, maybe that’s a bit nuts. But when Splashtop reached out to us saying that they thought the GorillaMobile Yogi and Ori are the perfect displays for their XDisplay screen-extending app, we saw a match made in heaven. XDisplay lets you extend the screen of your Windows 7 desktop or laptop on to your iPad. Now, you can put that second screen exactly where you want it.

So, to help kick off XDisplay’s launch, we’re teaming up with Splashtop to offer prizes for their “Extend Your Screen” Contest. To learn more, go to the Spashtop contest page and show how you’d use your iPad with XDisplay.

What could you do with Splashtop and a Yogi?

They will be awarding prizes to the winners of four categories

- Most original / creative / unique extended display usage
- Most humorous extended display usage
- Geekiest (most advanced / cutting-edge) extended display usage
- People’s Choice (the entry with the most Likes  on Facebook)

Winners will get their choice of a free GorillaMobile Yogi or Ori! The contest ends 8/21 so head on over to their app contest page and let your imagination go wild.