It is impossible to precisely determine who, where and when created the first action camera.

Even though early attempts to capture footage from first-person view with a camera attached to a helmet were made back in 1960s, those were all DIY attempts by innovators in various industries for single project needs.

First commercially available action camera was introduced by Woodman Labs (which later became GoPro) in 2004 and costed 20$. The camera GoPro made a decade ago came a long way from 20$ analog in a waterproof case to a device people in film industry use today.

Action cameras we use now improved significantly over the last few years. But long before POV 4K, WiFi, wide field of view, mobile apps and other fancy bells and whistles, creatives willing to push their limits for the sake of storytelling attempted to capture a footage with a camera strapped to their head in various ways.

For easier understanding , I will divide action camera evolution into three parts.

• Early action cameras 1960-1990
• 2002-2012 GoPro Era
• Post GoPro Era

The reason for categorization like this is simple. Influence of a GoPro has on marketing and commercialization of helmet cameras can not be surpassed. Its their business model that made action cameras available to an average Billy down the street.

Prior to that, athletes, actors and astronauts all had something that can be considered as an point of view camera, therefore their influence can not be ignored either.

Here are some facts :

• People tried to find solution for a camera that can capture videos from first person view, decades before GoPro founder did.
• GoPro did not make a first action camera, but had incredible influence on its development.
• Today we have incredible amount of brands all trying to stand out from the crowd, innovating and making action cameras grow like never before.