I am surprised no-one else has beat me to this,but the DJI phantom 3 has been released and is not as expensive as you might think when considering that is packs the same tech as the DJI inspire 1 (such as lightbridge and the indoor vision sensors)
Today DJI has announced the new Phantom 3 quadcopter which is released in two flavors, the Phantom 3 Advanced, and the Phantom 3 Professional
With the previous DJI Phantom releases, DJI have usualy have one version in each phantom series as the budget option with no integrated camera, but today there was no mention of this as the naming of the phantom 3 Pro and Advanced leaves some scope for a camera-less version so you can use other third party gimbals or cameras such as a gopro.
Apart from the new fancy 4K camera the other neat features (inherited from the DJI Inspire) include a indoor optic flow sensor for indoor flight, and a ne GPS receiver that supports GLONASS like the new walkera drones. But my favourite feature is the integrated of the DJI lightbridge system built into the DJI phantom 3 allowing you to stream 720p video back home to your android or IOS device.
In terms of the 4K camera, some thought has gone into this, with a f/2.8 shooter now has a 94-degree fixed field of view which is narrower than the DJI Phantom 2 Vision + which means your videos and pictures will not be distorted with the fish eye effect. Furthermore the narrow field of view means that you are less likely to get any props or legs in the video when banking at extreme angles. Also you have more control over the camera allowing you to adjust things like ISO, Exposure, shutter speed and color filters etc..
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I do agree with many people, the phantom 3 does not have any new groundbreaking tech onboard, but given the price for all the gear that is packed into it (especially the HD video transmission) you cant really go wrong. True it might not have all the cool features and openness of arducopter which I love, the phantom 3 is going to be hard to beat given the price. I see is as a smaller version of the inspire 1, with a longer flight time, and about half the price, and from the specs it seems that the camera sensor is exactly the same. But I think the phantom 3 might just annoy everyone who recently purchased an inspire 1...
Thats a lot of features for the price though. Nothing new I agree, but the package price is very attractive. I am excited to see what the solo will bring... I hope it is competitive because the market needs a strong competitor to DJI.
Apart from the HD Down-link which I truly hope 3DR has been working on, I am going to have to say +2 MEH.
@Rob +1 I was surprised just how meh they were. Two sticks and four motors can only go so far at the minute. I have a feeling much of the development work carrying on in the background here will usher in the next generation proper. If you look around most professional inspection operators (the group making the most cash) you will see they don't use Phantoms or Iris or shortly Solo.
I've been avoiding buying a phantom... until now. Been sorely needing a tiny drone that can shoot good quality footage, and then pack up into a backpack, so I'm sold.
It has all the makings of a GMH v Ford type battle,bring it on I say.
yep RTF package with gimbal, PIDs that work, etc.. and HD transmission to top it off.
Now I'd rather see 3DR being the ones coming out with a better thing - and arguable ArduCopter is better, even the SDK looks nicer.
The Iris is also a very nice quad. But that's not RTF4K+HD video...
I don't know what 3DR will come up with on monday but I fear that DJI pre-announced the P3 just to make sure it steals 3DR's thunder on this one.
I think everyone here knows we could easily build something with a gopro hero 4 etc for under $1200, but it's more the fact that it's a ready to fly package and there is nothing to compete with it. i'd much rather see people buying 3dr RTF packages than DJI!
@Rob - True, but it's not really about the copter is it? It's about the entire package for those that want to do aerial photography. A copter that anyone can fly, a very friendly user app, a 4k camera, a gimbal that can't be beat and HD video downlink. All that for under $1,000 and they have a winner. Who else offers that?
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