Many would argue that the DJI Spark is a game-changing device as far as solid consumer video drones go and a lot of that has to do with giving the user the ability to fly the drone (in a meaningful way) purely through gestures.
However, there was always one big thing that the videography drone could not do…until now.
A new firmware update to the fascinatingly small drone now allows users to start and stop recording videos with a simple hand gesture — a feature many of us were disappointed to find omitted from the initial drone’s firmware. In any case, here’s what the gesture looks like:
Basically, you will have to hold your hand out to your side at a 45-degree angle and wait for the front LEDs to blink red. However, through my personal experience, DJI’s hand gesture controls have been rather hit or miss, as our Facebook live video below demonstrates:
All we’re saying is that your mileage may vary.
However, this new hand gesture is an awesome addition to the Spark’s already respectable roster of hand gesture commands. In fact, it further enhances the Spark’s biggest selling point and that’s lowering the barrier for entry into the wondrous world of drone flying — something the Spark already does very well.
Besides that, DJI also improved the Spark’s existing autonomous flying features. Quick Shot has been improved, plus users can now control which direction the drone flies during Circle and Helix modes. The Spark will also be able to fly higher during Dronie mode and better smooth out its camera pitch in Rocket mode.
The Chinese drone maker also improves photo resolution to 3968×2976 pixels with this update and added the ability to get the drone to take a 180-degree photo of their subject. The drone will fly in a circle around the subject and stitch together 21 individual photos.
Overall, a pretty nice set of upgrades for the DJI Spark and we’re looking forward to taking ours for a spin soon.
Spark owners can upgrade to the latest firmware starting now.
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