Hover Camera Design, Price and Battery

The Hover Camera by Zero Zero Robotics has a body made with carbon fiber that makes it lightweight and strong. This Hover Camera has a compact, small and light body is a combination of a camera and a drone. It also has four motors and propellers that are attached to the body. This is due to the design of the body that could be easy on the wallet.

It’s very fun and approachable to use, but the Hover Camera Passport definitely isn’t the drone to get if you’re looking for high-performance flight like Mavic Pro. It tops out at 17 miles per hour (In manual mode), doesn’t have GPS, and has a suggested max range of 65 feet, so it’s not nearly as sporty or nimble as some of the higher-end drones we’ve tested.

The Hover Camera Passport has an accompanying app that gives you a fair number of controller layout options. You can fly with two virtual joysticks if you’re familiar with traditional controls; use the simplified layout if you just need to get the camera in position; or even turn on tilt mode and steer the drone around by tilting your phone in any direction. As with most smartphone-based controls, the Passport’s manual modes do feel a bit loose and imprecise — but we still appreciate the ability to switch up the control scheme.

When it comes to image and video quality, on the other hand, the Hover Camera boasts of results with the same high-quality that most expensive smartphones capable of 4K video recording can offer. Other features include a processor that is used in most high-end smartphones which is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor. Moreover, storage of photos and video is possible using 32GB storage that can also be replaced. Also, the Hover camera uses “follow me” technology that makes it follow the user wherever the location is, either from behind or from above.

Internal battery life, though, is just roughly eight minutes but it can be changed easily as it can easily be removed from the upper section of the Hover camera. For the ease-of-use feature, the Hover Camera has automatic hovering capacity and by simply throwing it in the air, it can start operation. It also has an Algorithm Face tracking feature that makes it capable of following the user by just determining the face. It is also equipped with automated image stabilization and capable of shooting at 360 degrees. For controlling the device, an app can be downloaded to a compatible mobile phone or tablet.

The Hover Camera Passport is currently available for $599.99 with the extra battery pack running $44.99.So just what does your $600 investment in the latest drone to hit the market get you?You can get a very capable DJI Phantom 3 Standard $499 for less,or just $399 more to get DJI Mavic Pro.Or you could get them if don’t go with the $599 Hover Camera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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DJI Technology- Video Transmission

Multi-rotor aircrafts use wireless technology to transmit the images captured to ground devices, pilots can view the video in real time. To provide environment information and camera views in time, video transmission requires low latency, long transmission range and excellent anti-interference ability.

Video transmission is realized by either digital signal or analog signal. Usually drones without gimbal cameras apply analog signal. Despite that video rarely gets stuck or loses frame with analog signal, it is highly power-consuming. With transmission range being 2km, the transmitted power goes far beyond what is allowed by authority. Moreover, video streamed back is in standard definition, which is unsatisfying.

Three major video transmission technologies using digital signal are: DJI Lightbridge, OcuSync and Wi-Fi. DJI Lightbridge and OcuSync are DJI’s patent communication link technologies. With transmission range of 7km and ability to stream video as clear as 1080P, DJI Lightbridge and OcuSync outpace Wi-Fi video transmission greatly.

DJI Lightbridge

Fast Communication Link

Wi-Fi uses traditional protocol stack, so a handshake mechanism must be established between transmit end and receive end first. It takes several seconds to ten seconds to establish or re-establish the communication link (when step-out happens), leading to latency in communication. The communication in DJI Lightbridge is directly linked between physical layers, so the communication link is fast and prompt without protocols.

Long Transmission Range and Ultra-clear Image

Lightbridge is able to transmit 1080P video. With optimized compression algorithm, video can be streamed fluently on complex channels. Advanced codec algorithm and improved frame structure ensures demodulation process even with weak signals. Meanwhile, the RF circuit is optimized to receive weak signals without being greatly interfered by noises.

High Reliability

DJI Lightbridge 2 applies a wireless HD image transmission technology, which dynamically weighs transmission distance, electrical environment and image quality for best effect. In addition, Lightbridge 2 would automatically choose the best channel, switch to a better channel or adjust the band width of video when necessary. In this way, the occasion of losing frames and video stuck could be avoided as possible, increasing the reliability of wireless video transmission.

Multiple devices

Lightbridge supports multiple controllers to control one aircraft at one time. In a typical scenario, pilot would use master controller to command the flight, while gimbal operator uses the slave controller to adjust gimbal to finish complex shooting task. With multiple controllers connected, each of them could send order to aircraft via master controller, or receive video and flight data from aircraft via master controller.

2.4/5.8GHz Control Frequencies

Selectable 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz frequencies are supported by the Inspire 2. Generally speaking, a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi video transmission system is used with a 5.8GHz remote control link providing aircraft control. This is because if the video transmission and the remote control links use the same frequency, interference between the two may cause signal loss. This same rationale is why interference may be caused by other users of radio frequencies in surrounding areas. The Inspire 2’s new Lightbridge HD video transmission system uses a Time-division multiplexing mechanism to transmit both video feed and remote control signals on the same frequency. In urban areas, the 2.4GHz frequency band may suffer from high levels of signal interference from sources such as Wi-Fi routers and 4G base stations. As an option, the 5.8GHz frequency provides a broader communication bandwidth and has more available channels for transmission, making it more suitable for stable signal transmission in these types of environments. After powering on, the Inspire 2 automatically scans the environment and selects the band with the least amount of interference, ensuring optimum video feed quality and remote control reliability.

 

OcuSync

The Mavic uses DJI’s newly developed OcuSync transmission system. Part of the Lightbridge family, OcuSync performs far better than Wi-Fi transmission at all transmission speeds. OcuSync also uses more effective digital compression and channel transmission technologies, allowing it to transmit HD video reliably even in environments with strong radio interference.

Excellent Video Quality

Compared to traditional analog transmission, OcuSync can transmit video at 720p and 1080p – equivalent to a 4-10 times better quality, without a color cast, static interference, flickering or other problems associated with analog transmission. Even when using the same amount of radio transmission power, OcuSync transmits further than analog at 4.1mi (7km)*.

Stable Communication

OcuSync goes even further than optimizing the communication mechanism and parameters of aerial imaging. There are several video transmission systems on the market claiming to offer video transmission with zero latency. However, it should be noted that the physical layer of those transmission systems is too simple to adapt to changes in the environment. When affected by signal interference, the image quality of the video being transmitted will fall sharply. This means these systems are not suitable for far field transmissions and transmissions in interference-heavy environments.

Also, because these video transmission systems are not integrated into the whole system, latency will immediately start to rise up from 0 when working with devices including cameras and displays. OcuSync is able to strike a perfect balance between latency and receptivity, reducing latency to 5ms for remote controller transmission commands, 10ms for video data and 130ms for videos. More than low enough to ensure that Mavic is able to fly reliably despite interference. OcuSync’s integration with video processing, coding, and signal transmission systems also make it more cost effective. Before taking off, OcuSync will automatically scan the environment and choose the frequency band with the lowest interference, ensuring more stable video transmission.

Fast Communication Link

As Wi-Fi was primarily designed to connect electronic devices locally, it works best when connecting to nearby devices. As it was designed for short range, Wi-Fi systems use low cost transmitters that suffer from weak data links. This means that a Wi-Fi cannot detect weak signals or signals with interference. OcuSync however, uses many cutting-edge communication industry technologies to outperform Wi-Fi in terms of sensitivity, anti-interference, and anti-fading, as well as when flying at high speed. It also supports simultaneous connection to multiple devices.

Multiple Devices

As well as point-to-point video transmission, OcuSync also supports wireless connections to multiple devices. For example, you can connect the DJI Goggles, remote controller, and Mavic wirelessly to OcuSync all at the same time. You can also add an additional remote so that you can control the Mavic with two remotes or share First Person View (FPV) videos.

* Unobstructed, free of interference, when FCC compliant.

 

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Ultimate 2016 Mavic Pro Flight Test!!!

So last time we got our Mavic Pro on a voyage of epic proportions when it clocked a whopping 11km. But some of you trolled us complaining we didn’t show the return journey! Oh well. Haters gonna hate, so this is for all the doubters! It’s got to be the craziest Mavic Pro flight test yet – 14.4km!!!

Mavic Pro has got 53% battery left after 7.2 km, we decided to let it return.It went back above the home point with 15% battery, which was 1.5 minutes to go, but we ordered it to go on flying.

After another 717m, 10% left, it was time to come back.

Home point again with 6%. Well, I thought we could have one more adventure…

It went another 191m, I really really think it needs to land.

Well, we actually made it fly:

(7210+717+191)*2＝16236m

OMG, 16.2km.

Is this the end of our test? Of course not!

We went on to test Mavic Pro, Xiaomi Mi Drone 1080p and Yuneec Typhoon H480 in downtown, to see how they work with heavy interferences in urban area.

Here is the result:

You might think these actual numbers is so much shorter than official ranges, are the manufacturers lying?

Well, the official transmission range is the maximum number acquired unobstructed. In real flight, this range will be affected by many factors.

Today I got a few more to say about video transmission. If you don’t know which drone to buy, get the one with better video transmission. Most drone companies are using digital video transmission on market, using 2.4 or 5.8 GHz.

Digital video transmission is convenient to use: just with a smart phone or tablet on RC, you can have the view. For middle-to-high end products, you can have quite good image quality of 720p or even 1080p, and a transmission range around 2km. Checking what you have shot is also easier.

Most low-end digital video transmission solutions are based on Wi-Fi. It costs fewer, but has many shortcomings: usually with longer latency, low anti-jamming ability and low channel availability.

Xiaomi Drone and Yuneec use Wi-Fi based transmission. As you can see I our test, Xiaomi Drone had a transmission range of only 360m, which mean it had very poor performance with interference.

In unobstructed environment, transmission range is closely related to transmitting power and band width. If the transmitting power increases, flight range would increase, while band width shrinks. In my point of view, so far Mavic Pro makes a best balance between transmitting power and band width.

Both OcuSync on Mavic Pro and previous LightBridge are digital video transmission systems. But OcuSync uses technologies similar to Software Defined Radio (SDR).

Comparing Mavic Pro and Phantom 4 in terms of transmission channel (shown in pictures below), you will see Mavic is more flexible.

LightBridge provides 13 channels between 2.400GHz-2.483GHz, the system will choose the channel automatically (10MHz/step).

DJI Phantom 4 HD Interface

OcuSync on Mavic will automatically choose channel (1Mhz/step) with less interference in its working spectrum, in order to reach a better effect of video transmission. When confronting severe jamming, Ocusync lower frequency to secure Mavic Pro.

Mavic Pro HD Interface

This test is not only about how far a drone can fly— also about flight controller and video transmission. Drones are not toys, but a flying camera.

 

 

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In-depth know-how: workflow of DJI Inspire 2

Inspire 2 is a professional aircraft for aerial imaging, with newest image processing and storage system CineCore 2.0.

Apple ProRes：

ProRes is a line of intermediate codecs, which means they are intended for use during video editing. The benefit of an intermediate codec is that it retains higher quality while still requiring much less expensive disk systems compared to uncompressed video. It is also native compatible to apple platforms. More mainstream companies start to introduce ProRes recording into their products (free or add-on service), including ARRI 、RED 、ATOMOS、BMD etc.

However, as early as 2015, DJI has introduced ProRes into Cinelight, DJI’s material import software on Inspire 1 RAW.

Now there are 6 different ProRes:

Apple ProRes 4444 XQ，

Apple ProRes 4444，

Apple ProRes 422 HQ，

Apple ProRes 422，

Apple ProRes 422 LT，

Apple ProRes 422 Proxy

The data rate of each format is not constant. It subjects to frame rate, resolution and content, here is Apple’s official statistics:

Now Inspire 2 only supports Apple ProRes 4444 XQ（no alpha）and Apple ProRes 422 HQ. They have high data rates and keep much more details of image, thus, the file is huge:

ProRes 422 HQ is the most popular one in post-processing. It supports 4:2:2 format, after several turns of decoding and encoding, you can hardly tell any loss visually.

ProRes 4444XQ uses 4:4:4 format of sampling.

In pictures above, each square represents a pixel. 4:4:4 format samples all colors of one pixel, taking biggest band width, while 4:2:2 format does not, it’s a compromise that keeps colors and saves band width.

CinemaDNG is the result of an Adobe-led initiative to define an industry-wide open file format for digital cinema files. RAW is widely used by a lot of companies, but each RAW has its own set of workflows. For example, ARRI has ArriRAW, RED has R3D and Sony’s got Sony RAW.

I made a Cinema DNG process according to my experience:

Basic steps are:

1. Import material, finish project setting;
2. Load LUT for each shot, tone roughly, transcode the original file and export proxy editing file;
3. Edit on proxy file, then export editing solution
4. Import editing solution (EDL/XML/AAF) to match original video;
5. Tone precisely.
6. Render and export.

H.265

H.265 is a video compression standard, one of several potential successors to the widely used H.264. In comparison to H.264, H.265 offers about double the data compression ratio at the same level of video quality, or substantially improved video quality at the same bit rate. It supports resolutions up to 8192×4320, including 8K UHD.

H.265 thus has higher demands for hardware. It would still take some time before H.265 goes very popular. There are not many software that support H.265 now. We believe as more companies are using H.265 codec, 4K video will become more popular along with it.

5.2k（5280×2972）12bit

Before 4K is widely used, many companies start to launch their 8K products. DJI has launched 5.2K CinemaDNG video with its new Inspire 2. DJI mentioned 10bit/12bit on Inspire 2’s product page.

12 bit here refers to bit depth that describes color. Bigger the number is, more details would the image have, and the color would seem more natural. Picture below shows the difference of 8 bit/10 bit in terms of color bit depth.

You can also see the color difference of the sky in two images above. Sky color in left one is not continuous.

Moreover, with higher color bit depth, more freedom is allowed for Cutout, toning and special effects.

SSD

The imaging processing system has been separated form camera and replaced on Inspire 2, making SSD on X5R no longer compatible on Inspire 2. New SSD comes available in 480G/240G/120G.

New card reader has shining appearance, uses USB3.0 Type B to USB3.0 Type A when connected to PC. It’s quite fast: you can copy footages of 200G within 10 minutes.

Recording time with a 480G SSD:

format	resolution	Frame rate／fps	Recoding time with480G SSD
Cinema DNG	5280×2970	23.976	15mins
	4096×2160	59.94	17mins
	4096×2160	23.976	30mins
	3840×2160	59.94	18 mins
	3840×2160	23.976	20mins
ProRes 422 HQ	5280×2970	23.976	70mins
	3840×2160	23.976	51mins
ProRes 4444 XQ	3840×2160	23.976	33mins

exFAT／FAT32 File System

When data rate, resolution, color bit depth and frame rate are high, the file would be huge. If you’ve used X5R with macbook, you will have to use DJI’s software CineLight to import footage. PC user needs another software, DJI Camera Exporter.

But now with Inspire 2, users can export footages into their computers directly. FAT32 File System is applied, it is quite popular and simple in features. exFAT is a compromise between FAT32 and NTFS, which might be available on DJI product in the future.

Files are named differently. Previously, they were named as DJI_00XX. To avoid files being accidentally replaced, a new method of naming comes available. A039 refers to SSD, C001 refers to lens, 20161208 is the date. New method makes it convenient to manage and search your files.

Conclusion

The improvements of image processing system on Inspire 2 are very eye-catching and professional. 5.2K/12bit CinemaDNG video and Apple ProRes, would bring users exciting and efficient experience in their work.

Although X5S and X5R camera use m4/3 sensor, X5S has got a few major updates: quick-release connector, 4.2Gbps bit rate and higher ability of anti-jamming, anti-thermal noise. The max resolution reached 20.8M pixels. SNR is also improved. Oversampling technology would provide more vivid pictures.

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DJI Tech-Flight Controller

In recent years, multi-rotor aircraft has become the main form for drones. Compared to the helicopters, multi-rotor aircrafts feature simpler structure and cheaper cost; compared to fixed-wing aircrafts, multi-rotor aircrafts are easier to operate and ready to hover with less requirements for the flying fields. This helps explain why a wide range of drones from aircraft toys to industrial drones are made into multi-rotor ones.

All multi-rotor aircrafts are similar in mechanical structure where you only have to mount the propellers on the motor, yet their flight performance varies due to different flight controllers. The flight controller can ensure precise operation and stable hovering by controlling the motor speed, making it possible for beginners to quickly get the hang of drones through simple learning. So to speak, a drone’s performance is mainly decided by its flight controller.

Flight Status

Before attitude control and navigation, the flight controller needs to check the aircraft’s flight status first, which includes 15 parameters such as the three-dimensional location, three-dimensional speed, three-dimensional acceleration, three-axis angle and angular speed. As the multi-rotor aircraft itself is not stable, the motor power has to be constantly tuned for stable hovering and flying. Therefore, even for the simplest action of releasing the joysticks to keep the aircraft hovering, the flight controller has to consistently monitor the 15 parameters and conduct a series of “cascade control” in order to achieve stable hovering.

The first technical difficulty for the flight controller is to precisely perceive the flight status. At present, drones normally use GPS, IMU, barometer and magnetic compass to measure these parameters. The GPS can track the location, sometimes even the altitude and speed; IMU can measure the drone’s three-axis acceleration and three-axis angular speed, and obtain the speed and location through calculation; the barometer is used to measure the height above sea level; the magnetic compass is used for orientation and navigation.

Due to limited sensor design level at present, the data collected by these sensors will generate certain errors and might be disturbed by the environment, consequently reducing the precision of flight status. In order to guarantee normal flight performance, the data collected from different sensors should be fully integrated to conclude 15 high-credibility parameters. We call it as integrated navigation technology which makes the most of the advantages of the GPS, IMU, barometer and magnetic compass and integrates various sensors’ values through electronic signal processing technologies to acquire more precise status measurement.

Integrated Navigation

In order to improve the drones’ sensory ability and flight performance, apart from adopting basic sensors mentioned above, DJI also equips its popular drones with advanced vision sensors, ultrasonic sensors, and redundant IMU and Compass navigation system. For example, DJI Inspire 2, Phantom 4 series and Mavic Pro are equipped with these sensors and intelligent navigation solutions. The dual vision sensors can calculate the object’s three-dimensional location based on continuous images. In addition to obstacle avoidance, it also supports positioning and speed measurement. The ultrasonic sensor can help monitor the flight height. Thanks to the redundant IMU and Compass, when the system detects an inconsistency in one sensor, it switches to the other one, keeping your flight steady and reliable.

The intelligent navigation system in addition to these sensors can increase the drone’s accessibility to more environments and improve its reliability. The drones using traditional navigation system cannot fly stably in environment without GPS while the intelligent navigation system can improve the precision of speed and location measurement through visual sensing system with good GPS signal. With weak GPS signal, the visual sensing system can replace the GPS to provide positioning and speed measurement so that the drone can fly stably indoors and outdoors.

These sensors have significantly improved the intelligent navigation system’s data volume and complexity. Regarding the vision and sensors, DJI conducts several system reconfigurations for the navigation and flight control algorithm and adds new software modules and architectures, comprehensively improving the flight performance and reliability.

 Control Performance

Advanced control algorithm empowers DJI’s flight controller with remarkable control quality, featuring high control precision at normal flight state and ensuring stable and high-speed flight. The Inspire 2 can reach a maximum horizontal speed of 94 km/h, the Phantom 4 can reach 72km/h and the compact Mavic can reach 65 km/h, while other similar drones can only reach 30 to 50 km/h. High-speed flight requires high control quality and response speed in addition to powerful propulsion system. Apart from high-speed flight, DJI drones also support high-precision hovering and idling control, making for flexible flying and image composition.

While designing the flight controller, DJI not only pays attention to the control precision at normal flight state, such as hovering position and attitude control precision, but also particularly enhances the control quality for unusual flight status. In case of broken propellers, sudden clash, added weight or external force interference, DJI drones feature strong recovery ability and robustness and can survive various extreme situations, keeping your flight safe and reliable.

Fault Diagnosis

Before or during the flight, any tiny fault may result in flight accidents. If the flight controller can monitor and diagnose faults in real time, the probability of accidents can be dramatically lowered. The flight controller can monitor various flight status parameters such as vibration, voltage, current, temperature and motor speed and diagnose potential fault through these characteristic signals. Yet these signals are generally complex and irregular. Based on massive data mining and Deep Learning technology, DJI builds a fault diagnosis system to tell the fault probability through pattern recognition. The fault diagnosis system enables early forecast or emergency treatment of various faults such as broken propellers or IMU failure, helping you fly without worry.

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The Most Complete Gimbal Camera Development History

Aerial photographers may frequently see the word “gimbal” and know that it is a component used to mount the aerial cameras. Well, do you know the development history of gimbals and why a camera on a gimbal is often called as a “gimbal camera”? We will answer your questions in this article.

Fixed Gimbal—Fixed Suspension

The word “gimbal” is originally defined as an equipment to mount and fix a camera. Before the rise of aerial photograph, a gimbal mainly refers to the mechanical component connecting the tripod and DSLR camera, mainly used to fix the camera and enable multi-angle (normally 3-axis) adjustment.

In order to meet aerial photography requirements, military fixed wing aircrafts mostly use fixed aerial gimbal to shoot the ground from a vertical view without motion compensation or other equipment to ensure stability.

Before consumer drone appear on the market, most drones are also equipped with fixed gimbals. For example, DJI Phantom Series adopt fixed gimbal design to fasten the camera with the aircraft so as to alter the aerial view by adjusting the aircraft’s angle.

Electrical Gimbal—Remote Control

In security industry, the monitoring cameras are often mounted on electrical gimbals which perform similar functions to the fixed gimbals. The only difference is that the electrical gimbal has a motor on its axis that can receive remote control signal to adjust the cameras’ direction or scan the monitoring areas.

Stabilization Gimbal—Maintain Stability

The gradual development of motion photography and aerial photography endows gimbals with new definition and demands. When the camera moves, the gimbal needs to ensure stable footage and eliminate low-frequency shake. In this case, the fixed gimbals can no longer meet the demands, so the electrical stabilization gimbals are invented, which can also be called as stabilization gimbals.

The stabilization gimbal works on the principle where the upward motors create appropriate downward force so as to neutralize the relative motion on the flight platform. Taking the popular brushless motor gimbal as an example, normally the attitude sensor will read the attitude data first, then the correction angles for each axis can be obtained through the IMU at the gimbal bottom or by directly comparing with the attitude angles of the gimbal’s main sensor. Then the brushless motor will quickly make correction actions after receiving the PWM signal to keep the camera stable all the time.

The most commonly used gimbals include 2-axis and 3-axis gimbals. The 3-axis gimbal supports stabilization compensation in yaw, tilt and roll axis. Without yaw stabilization compensation, the 2-axis gimbal has poorer stabilization effects than the 3-axis one. So the 2-axis gimbal is mainly used in low-end drones (the Zenmuse H3-2D on the earliest DJI Phantom used the 2-axis gimbal).

Gimbal Camera—Imaging System

The separation of gimbals and cameras make players have to purchase and assemble them on their own. Considering the usability, especially for non-DIY lovers, it’s not convenient. Thus the gimbal camera emerges in this situation. The most commonly used models on the market are DJI’s Inspire Series dismountable gimbal cameras, including Zenmuse X3, X5, X5R, zoom Z3 as well as thermal imaging cameras (applicable to Inspire 1) XT, X4S and X5S (applicable to Inspire 2). With mature technology, these gimbal cameras are now fully equipped with encoders and 3-axis brushless motor gimbals. However, it is a pity that these gimbals are only applicable to DJI cameras due to port limit.

All-in-one Gimbal Camera—Entirely All-in-one

As the market for gimbal cameras expands, some users have higher requirements for the usability. Under such circumstances, the all-in-one “package” products start to make inroads into the market. Now most products on the market, from Zero Zero Robotics’ Hover Camera to DJI’s Phantom 4 Pro, the gimbals, cameras and aircraft are designed all in one. It will undoubtedly be more convenient for non-professionals.

At the same time, the handheld gimbal products also appear. As the handheld gimbals can better meet the demands of most users, the convenient all-in-one design is undoubtedly an important orientation for the handheld gimbals.

Not long before, the all-in-one gimbal camera may be the users’ expectation—especially those who are not enthusiastic about DIY. Yet after the all-in-one design is realized, there comes the problem of changing the cameras due to actual demands alternation. As a result, the handheld gimbal camera starts to have an independent handheld gimbal to mount the camera in order to meet the actual needs.

For the aircraft, if you want to change cameras freely, you will need a large gimbal such as DJI Matrice 600 which can mount Ronin-mx.

Let’s wait and see where the gimbal technology will take us in the future.

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Trends in the Drone Industry From CES 2017

At this year’s CES, we saw a lot of new drone technology. Drones are possibly one of the most notable pieces of future tech exhibited at technology conventions, combining tons of features into tiny packages. So what does the future of drone technology look like? Let’s take a look at it from a few different perspectives, commercial, enterprise, and hobby.

On the commercial side, we had DJI, Yuneec, Autel, GoPro, and Powervision showing what they plan on bringing to the table. DJI already seems to have the lead, announcing a bunch of new tech late last year. This includes the Phantom 4 Pro, Inspire 2, Mavic Pro, and more, each surpassing anything else on the market. At CES, we saw X-Star comparing themselves directly with DJI by releasing yet another similar craft to the Phantom. However, the new X-Star offers modularity that may give recent Phantom buyers second thoughts. As we’ve seen, copying DJI tech is not easy and many have failed spectacularly.

Powervision, a brand new drone company, is going after the same market segment with their PowerEgg drone, a name only made sense by their craft’s shape. Although we’ve never seen a drone shaped like an egg before, it will be interesting to see if the downsides (hard to repair, weird to store) are worth the intriguing design. Strangely enough, it seems Polaroid is also going after this market with a drone of their own. Unfortunately, like almost everything else at their CES booth, their drone enforces the idea that Polaroid simply has no idea what their doing. Surprisingly enough, GoPro announced they will be re-releasing the Karma drone. Apparently, the issue was related to the battery popping out of place, but even when working perfectly, the Karma was disappointing.

On the enterprise side, DJI still was the company to beat. With their release of the Inspire 2, Agras agriculture drone, and industrial Wind line, companies like Yuneec and Powervision have huge competition. Yuneec announced their H520 hexacopter, modeled after their Typhoon H. It sports an orange high-visibility paintjob and the ability to carry a range of camera types from thermal to multi-spectral. For those industrial drone pilots with no brand preference, the FLIR Duo camera will certainly be found on a number of DIY crafts, giving budget builds the ability to record thermal video. An underwater drone announced by PowerRay was also exciting news.

For every-day consumers, both “selfie drones” and racer drones were announced. Manufacturers are looking to demystify drones and get them in every household. The ZeroTech Dobby drone, announced mid-2016 isn’t much larger than a smartphone, sports a similarly sized camera and computer vision technology. Racer drones like Unify’s Draco HD are being marketed more towards non-techies being ready to fly, hard to break, and able to stream HD video rather than the usual low-quality video racers are used to.

What we would have liked to see more of was the combination of the exciting augmented reality or virtual reality tech with drone tech, but maybe that is soon to come. DJI and Epson are currently working together to get augmented reality glasses used in conjunction with their drones, most notably the Mavic which is nimble enough to be a racer. Overall, this year’s CES wasn’t as exciting for the drone industry as other years as companies are making their existing crafts more useful, powerful, and portable (not that we’re complaining). It will be exciting to see where this burgeoning industry goes next.

 

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Flying Hover Camera in your room

The Hover Camera Passport is an easy-to-use flying camera, safe, portable and takes up little space because it is foldable. It does not “fly up” like a drone, but can simply be aired. Among its main features is the face tracking so that the focus of the image is on the faces, even with movement. It also has body tracking, allowing images to be taken even if the person is walking, jogging, skating, cycling or dancing because the Hover Camera can follow the activities following the person and run in 360 ° orbit.

As the Hover Camera has a closed fiber protector, it is possible to pick it up even in the air, without problems. The whole apparatus weighs only 242 grams, which facilitates the transport and allows the use in any place. The camera reaches a maximum speed of 8 meters per second and a height of up to 2000 meters. Its maximum navigation time is 10 minutes, without wind. It can operate in temperatures of 5 to 35 ° C. For those who like high technology, it records videos in 4K with 13MP in MP4 format, in addition to producing photos. It has 32G memory capacity.

But despite having good features, this camera should not be used over long distances, as from 60 meters you can lose the wifi connection. When this happens, it hovering in the room waiting for the person to come in to reconnect. But the Hover Camera is perfect for flying in small spaces, such as a house or an apartment, by the size, stability and sensors it has.

It also has a flash, plus a fact that reiterates that it was designed to be used in close-up photos and not in the distance. Hover Camera does not make images that can be used in movies, but are great for work, social networking or personal use.

The application is self-explanatory and very easy to use. The Hover Camera can also be flown manually via joysticks on the screen of the mobile application, a great additional benefit. It is a very good experience, because at least part of the fun of owning a drone is that it is capable of flying alone. Firmware updates are provided regularly with great upgrades, new features and more intelligence.

The new “toy” is impressing. The Hover Camera is being sold on average for $599.

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Should the average working Joe get a Hover Camera?

If you are a selfie addict, this gadget should be in your arsenal of selfie accessories. Introducing the Hover Camera Drone.

A less known Asian company, entitled Zero Zero Robotics, hopes to fix the drones’ amateur users’ biggest problem by launching a very easy to fly model. Pictured rather as a drone that flies on its own, Hover works more for capturing selfies or for recording action clips, while the pilot focuses on an extreme sport maneuver rather than controlling the flying creation.

Unlike other drones, Hover Camera flies on its own. It can take pictures of 13 megapixels and shoot at a 4K resolution.

To materialize this project, the Zero Zero Robotics company has received 25 million dollars in funding from a significant number of investors, and the final result seems to be in line with the expectations.

Although it is flying on its own, the Hover Camera drone has a few options that you can activate with a button, and these include facial and body recognition, floating in one place, user tracking and 360 degree panoramic recording. However, if you have the necessary knowledge, you can fly the drone as you like, with almost Swiss precision.

Under no circumstances, this product was created to be a serious competitor for DJI. It is dedicated to extreme sports and entertainment enthusiasts who want to capture their fun activities without too many buttons.However, it’s not cheap. The Hover Camera Passport drone will cost at least $600 while its battery lasts only eight minutes.And its construction makes it feel like it costs a lot less.

Hover Camera would be extremely fun at parties because it has the ability to “follow”, using facial recognition. In addition, it can rotate during flight to capture outstanding views. That being said, if you aren’t a professional athlete or celebrity and you don’t have a real good use for the Hover Camera, then be sure to get it only if this won’t hurt your financial safety.

(Source)

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Which Osmo should I get?

In August 2016, DJI quietly released Osmo+ through their official website. And just one week after that at IFA in Germany, DJI unleashed another Osmo family member to the world: Osmo Mobile, a smart motion camera.

Just by looking at the handle, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this isn’t exactly a revolutionary product. That’s probably because the handle inherits a lot of the attributes of previous Osmos – with its all-black ergonomic design, streamlined body and concise control panel. It feels great in the hands.

As you can see, the panel buttons are almost exactly the same as before. The Joystick, record button and shutter button are all in the exact same place.

Physically speaking, the only real difference is that the gimbal is now attached to the handle and can’t be detached. Oh and the mobile phone holder is where the camera used to be. So there are two knobs behind the phone holder. One is the Holder Lock Knob, which adjusts the width of the camera holder, so it’s easier and safer to clip the phone in place. The holder’s width range is 58mm-84mm, so It’s definitely compatible with most mobile phones on the market.

The other one is the Balance Adjustment Knob on the adjustable arm. Just remember to press your phone level against the holder so that it lies flat in place before turning on the power.

Osmo Mobile uses Bluetooth so when you’re using it for the first time, you’ll need to connect it with your phone. After that, it should connect to your phone automatically when you switch it on and it won’t block any Wi-Fi signals or mobile networks.

The 3.5mm port on the front side is for charging and firmware upgrades only, so it won’t respond to other inputs like a microphone.

Without a camera, DJI have successfully manufactured a more affordable hand-held gimbal that is already more available and appealing to the wider market.One thing to note is that the main power cable is specific to Osmo Mobile and is incompatible with other devices.

Using the trigger is easy. Press it once and the gimbal will lock. Press it twice and the gimbal will re-center. Press it three times to switch between the phone’s front and rear cameras. All these cool features are accessible via the DJI GO app.

As we’ve said the handle feels great feel and you’ve already seen a bit of what it can do. So let’s talk about the gimbal.

Osmo Mobile allows you to control the gimbal with the joystick, but you can also use your phone’s touchscreen for fast, accurate framing. There are 4 main operation modes: Upright Mode, Portrait Mode, Underslung Mode and Flashlight Mode.

Select ActiveTrack in the bottom left corner of DJI GO and frame the object you want to track. Since I’m here, let’s select me. Once we’ve done that, the gimbal will follow the framed object independently, tracking it as the object of its focus. If I move away from its focus, or move too fast like this, it might lose track of me. But if I return quickly, it will start to follow me again.

So when you select your target and then it moves, DJI GO will tell the gimbal to track it. Motion Timelapse is a cool feature that’s really easy to use. All you have to do is set waypoints in DJI GO. You can select a maximum of five waypoints. Click “next” to set the time-lapse and shoot duration. The camera works out the length of the final video based on your input settings. It saves images chronologically and then generates a time-lapse, saving you significant hassle in post-processing.

Moreover, you can edit what you shoot in DJI GO, change tones or add music. Why not share your new videos and pictures to social media instantly? Osmo Mobile even supports live streaming, perfect for capturing and sharing live events or concerts in real-time.

Through DJI GO, you can even adjust different parameters of your phone’s camera including ISO, shutter speed, long exposure, slow motion and more.From camera settings to editing,  sharing, live streaming and gimbal control, DJI GO covers most of what you’ll need to make a professional looking film.

DJI GO is a highly integrated app that supports a host of DJI hardware including the Osmo family, Phantom series and Inspire drones.

And now you’re probably thinking, ‘well, which Osmo should I get?’

Ok, so let’s go through the main differences. Osmo and Osmo+ come equipped with outstanding 4K video cameras.

Now both of these, aside from being ultra portable, will give you stable, high-quality video. But we’re going to suggest that these Osmos are for more experienced filmmakers who need a separate camera.

With Osmo Mobile your phone is the camera. So depending on which way you look at it, there are advantages and disadvantages. The downside is that Osmo Mobile’s video quality depends on the resolution of your mobile phone. But on the plus side, Osmo Mobile is compatible with anything from an iPhone 5c to a Huawei Mate 8 and a lot more.

Battery life is about 4.5 hours meaning it’s fully operational for at least a half day of continuous filming on a single charge. But if that’s not enough, you can buy the portable charger and effectively have another round for a complete shoot day.

What else is there to add other than this is just a fantastic tool for making professional films on your own smart phone? It’s portable enough to take anywhere, and if you really get into it, you’ll never miss the chance to preserve a lasting memory.

I don’t know about you but I personally love Osmo Mobile. With DJI I’m always excited to see what they’ll release next, just like the newly Osmo Mobile Silver.

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DJI Phantom 4 Pro vs DJI Mavic Pro: Who is more Pro?

The king of drones has unleashed its latest release in the DJI Phantom 4 Pro. Yup, it’s done so right after the unveiling of its new Mavic Pro drone. So surely they’re very different.

Indeed there are differences but when it comes to specs they’re actually quite similar – and that’s a good thing. Many advances in the Mavic Pro that made the Phantom 3 look less appealing now appear in the new Phantom 4 Pro.

 

So which is the drone for you? Here are the key features and differences you need to know between the DJI Phantom 4 Pro and the Mavic Pro.

Obstacle avoiding system of Phantom 4 Pro is on an entirely different level compared to the Phantom 4 and Mavic Pro. It has cameras in the back and infrared sensors on the sides to give it 360-degree obstacle avoidance. With all of these new sensors, you can now fly backward, forwards and even sideways with more confidence that you won’t crash. It can also travel 10 MPH faster in than the other two drones with obstacle avoidance turned on.

Besides the safety benefits, the Phantom 4 Pro also has a new intelligent flight mode called Draw. In this mode, you literally draw a line on the screen, and the go app will generate a flight path which it then overlays on the screen. Using the draw mode, the drone will fly on a set path, and you’re free to pan and tilt the camera.

The Phantom 4 Pro takes the lead with a top speed of 45 mph, which lasts for 30 minutes on a charge and can hit a height of 6,000 metres. Comparatively, the Mavic Pro hits 40 mph top speed, which lasts for a decent 27 minutes on a single charge and tops out at 5,000 metres.

Both feature Gesture Mode that lets you wave to activate the camera so you can take a selfie without the need to actually use the controller. Ascent and descent speeds are a little faster on the Phantom 4 Pro.

But the Mavic Pro folds down into a handheld compact unit that fits in its own safety case and weighs just 734 g. While, the Phantom 4 Pro, owing to its fixed size and shape, is less portable. It’s also heavier at 1,388 g.

Without a shadow of a doubt the Phantom 4 Pro produces far superior images to the Mavic Pro. I was impressed by the footage you could capture and it’s amazing to think just how good it is considering it’s essentially a consumer product (despite having the word Pro at the end of it). With an improved camera, higher bit rate codec, as well as a host of safety features and flight modes, the Phantom 4 Pro sets a new standard for drones at this price point. But if you want to travel freely I think Mavic Pro is no doubt the best choice for you.

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