Drones have changed the landscape of photo and videography. Shots that previously required massive cranes and even helicopters can now be accomplished by virtually anyone anywhere in the world.
At the forefront of drone development is none other than Chinese company DJI and they’ve just brought their iconic Phantom drones into Malaysia.
DJI Phantom 4
The Phantom series of drones have to be one of the most iconic drones in the world, making appearances in movies and cartoons around the world. It has become difficult to think of a drone without the image of the Phantom’s iconic design popping into your head.
DJI’s brand new Phantom 4 keeps to that same look plus a few added improvements. The arms that hold the propellers are slimmer and thinner to help the drone be more aerodynamic. Its camera also gets a new gimbal and even the propeller blades can be mounted more easily.
The Phantom 4 is designed to make flying a drone easy and from what I could tell based on their brief demonstration — it does. One of the most astounding things the Phantom 4 brings is its obstacle avoidance function.
Thanks to two front mounted optical sensors, the drone can “see” obstacles when it’s flying and will stop when it thinks it’s going to crash. This works both when the drone is flying on autopilot and when you’re flying it via the controller.
On autopilot, when the drone detects an obstacle, it will make one decision: Can it fly over the obstacle? If the answer is yes, then it will do just that, otherwise the drone will stop and beep your controller. If you’re the one behind the wheel (controller?) and you mindlessly run into an obstacle, the drone will stop and beep your controller to let you know you’re being a bit of a tool.
Not into using a controller? You can also tap on your connected (via the DJI app) smartphone’s display to tell the drone to “Go” to a particular location.
The Phantom 4 also has an active track function that allows the drone to autonomously track a subject of choice. Simply select the subject on your smartphone’s display and the drone will scan it, recognise its shape and features. then proceed to track the target.
This gives pilots the freedom to move their drone without worrying about losing their subject in the frame — an awesome feature for new pilots who aren’t that good with the controls yet.
DJI’s Phantom 4 shoots crisp 4K video at 30fps and full-HD 1080p at 120fps. What’s more, the camera gets a new 8-element aspherical lens that eliminates unwanted fisheye distortion and reduces chromatic aberration in its footage. The drone’s battery gets a boost too, allowing DJI to rate flight time at 28 minutes per charge.
DJI Osmo
The Osmo is an interesting piece of tech. It’s sort of like a drone’s camera and camera mount without the drone. DJI are calling it a stabilised handheld 4K camera — and it’s exactly that.
A Zenmuse X3 camera mounted on a stick allows DJI to bring their drone’s video stabilisation to the ground. It’s fairly simple to operate with only two buttons and a trigger. The video stabilisation is pretty awesome but I believe its portability and light weight are the Osmo’s strongest features.
Camera stabilisation rigs usually weigh a tonne, but the Osmo shoots crisp 4K video while weighing about the same as a 500ml water bottle.
A pretty penny
This is the first time DJI are bringing their drones into Malaysia officially. Partnering with ECS Malaysia, these drones will make their way into all ECS retailers like All IT hypermarket and online at sites like Lazada.
If you want to pick a Phantom 4 up, be prepared to pony up as the drone will be priced at RM6,199. However, if you’re on a tight budget, ECS have also brought in three different variants of the older Phantom 3 (priced at RM2,129 for the Standard, RM3,499 for the Advanced and RM4,499 for the Professional). The Osmo OM 160, on the other hand, costs RM2,499.
For now, ECS Malaysia is only bringing in these three models. However, they did say that if there is a demand for the other drones in DJI’s extensive lineup, ECS Malaysia will bring put them up for sale as well.
I know what drone I’m looking forward to — the Inspire 1 — but what about you guys? Or are these products everything you need? Let us know in the comments below.
