DJI went live with their highly anticipated Firmware update today. Everyone has been waiting for the automated Flight modes since the Inspire 1 was released.
The big news is the 5 Intelligent Flight Modes, essentially turning your quadcopter into a flying robot!
There are 5 modes:
Course Lock
(Part of the old IOC controls) The drone flies in a straight line (course) no matter what the orientation of the nose is. This allows for some unique shooting opportunities, with a lot of camera mobility, not much different than moving a camera out the side of a helicopter or out of an airplane.
Home Lock
Never lose your drone again. Pull the right lever towards you and the drone will come back to you no matter where it is or what direction it’s facing. You are the hub on a wheel and your drone revolves around you.
Follow Me
Your drone will follow (you) your GPS signal (Must have a wireless signal on your device for this to work). This is a great mode for anyone doing sports or any activity and wants an automated eye in the sky filming you.
Point Of Interest
You choose and object and your Phantom or Inspire 1 will orbit around it while keeping the camera pointed at it at all times. I was able to get some very fast and tight circles with this. Of course, you would normally want slow sweeping arcs for nice video.
Waypoints
The best till last. This is the most anticipated feature for quite some time. It’s a bit different than what I was expecting. It actually works more like the 3DR Cable Cam than the old Phantom 2 waypoints. Rather than adding points on the map, you fly to a point, and press a button on your controller to set the point. You then fly to the next point, and press then button again to set a 2nd, then 3rd.. point, etc. The copter will then fly between the points at a speed of your choosing. The camera can tween in an arc between points, or can be pointed forward at all times. It works very well and you can adjust the gimbal while flying, but you can’t yaw. 3DR Solo still has a 1-up with Cable cam, because it can automate Gimbal tilt, something that the DJI app cannot, at least at this time.
Phantom 3 Advanced users get a big boost today, their cameras are now firmware upgraded to shoot at 2.7k video. Thats a nice jump from 1080.
Check out the video I have made and see all the modes in action. You can also get a feel for some of the different options in each. Do I like the update or not? Watch this video to find out!
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