OK, probably not what you guys are into, but DJI must be nervous
On the face of it, a very complete package for an amateur film buff. I like how the stability gimbal is removable for hand-held use...it's basically a Steady-Cam. I can see a lot of people using that by itself for action shots, mounting on whatever-it-is they are throwing down a mountain. Flight-sim built into the controller to teach control, and one thing I quite like, a second person can control the camera.
Price is about what was expected (£720, but you will need a new GoPro to fit in it, so another £300-£350).
Things it's missing;
- Auto-tracking (DJI have partially implemented this)
- Obstacle Avoidance (again, DJI has this partially)
Be interested to see how it reviews...this is the first "big" company to throw it's hat into the Drone arena as far as I know, and they've spent a fair while on development...
Comments
I'm not really in the AP drone market as it were but I've been keeping an eye on this thing that they've been teasing for at least six months now so it's good to see some details.
It does seem this is the only way GoPro can survive they are slowly getting priced out of the action cam market as the chinese knockoffs get cheaper and better (still not as good as gopro image quality but getting to the point where the difference is not worth the 200 to 300 dollar price difference) they need to open up a new market where they can sell their cameras and since dji and people like yuneec have their own cameras and gimble mounts they are no longer selling into the Aerial Photography drone market as much as they could. I was beginning to wonder if they'd missed the boat on this that they had left it too long to come out with their own AP drone that they were too far behind DJI and it's competitors to really get into the market but perhaps they can still make it with this thing.
Looks like a fairly good design has a the screen stuff built in which DJI leave to an additional phone or tablet price wise in the same area as DJI phantom or the yuneec Typhoon H. Being able to fold it up and sling it in a backpack for an AP drone is pretty good the phantoms and others are not really backpack friendly. The dual control with one person running the camera and the other flying is nice it's something DJI have with their more advanced Inspire1 but don't have in the phanton4. It's a little behind on some of the more advanced features things like optical tracking that DJI have and obstacle avoidance that both DJI and Yuneec have.
I wonder if it is a bit late to the party tho given the refresh cycle on the phantoms I wouldn't be surprised if we see a phantom 5 early next year with more refined avoidance and tracking features GoPro could be playing catch up releasing their AP drone with last years features just as the next big thing comes out.
I'm sure it will light a fire under DJI's R&D people so that's good for everyone. At the moment DJI while not the only game in town is certainly the biggest player in the AP drone market to have a competitor with the sort of punch GoPro have is going to be interesting. I suspect this will be kill or cure for GoPro though their original market is dwindling they need to innovate or die and this area is ideal for them to move into but we'll see if it's too late or not.
I saw this pop up, am waiting for the reviews of it to appear on the normal places. It's comparable to the DJIs but I think most of the cost is in brand rather than in the quad. I'll be waiting to see what Chinese copies come out.
I'm surprised at how few chinese cameras I see on bikes, it's still probably 90% GoPro's. I also know of a few people with buyers remorse after getting a chinese action camera (normal complaints are poor battery life, poor compression on the video, and narrow FOV).
I actually had another notification last night...DJI have an announcement on the 27th September, so they have obviously been planning for this.
Probably one of the biggest barriers to entry on the drone market is the fear of crashing/control, so it will be interesting to see how GoPro's controller helps with that aspect.
I saw some people trying DJI's optical tracking and obstacle avoidance. Flaky at best.
Obstacle avoidance is a crazy difficult problem to solve. I think the DJI in "cotton wool" mode is very, very easy to fly (I had a brief go with one last year). A million times easier than anything I have. I takes some skill to line up and execute smooth-panning shots but I think that's as much to do with knowing what shot you want as it is controlling the thing.
It certainly used to be that gopro's rulled the roost when it came to quality and it's still the case to some degree but the gap is getting much smaller from the reviews I've seen with things like the Xiaomi YI 2 and the like.
yeah from what I've seen the object track and obstacle avoidance is a bit flakey so probably not much use in it's current state I'm sure it will slowly get better.
This is interesting http://www.tested.com/tech/583254-tested-yuneec-breeze-4k-quadcopter/
4k selfie drone with most of the same features as the karma but significantly cheaper. No gimble so it only does digitial stabilization that is limited to full HD but still who really needs 4k.
Hmmm looks like DJI were ready and waiting for the karma and they just announced the mavic pro that basically bitch slaps the karma in every possible way
http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/27/13058722/dji-mavic-pro-drone-foldable-...
smaller faster about the same price (maybe a tad cheaper) with all the features of the phantom 4 including a 4k camera, the sense and avoid, optical flow, object tracking and some new additions like gesture control
Go Pro must be crying into their expensive hipster beards right now