The world through the eyes of birds: five quadcopters for video filming from the air

The first "pen tests" of the world-famous action camera manufacturer in the field of drone production leave behind two impressions. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The quadcopter is designed to compete with DJI Phantom 4 , in comparison with which the brainchild of GoPro is more compact and does not require extra gestures in preparation for launch. It is enough to take the drone out of the backpack for carrying, straighten its beams with propellers and lift it into the air by pressing one button on the remote control. After that, the pilot receives the surrounding space within a radius of 1 km — this is how much the copter can fly away from the operator while maintaining a stable signal.

As a camera, the quadcopter uses a camcorder familiar to many adherents of active filming GoPro HERO5 . The action camera is not always included in the package and is often supplied as an option. But "out of the box" the drone is equipped with a removable suspension for the camera, which can transform into a manual stabilizer (analogue steadicam DJI Osmo ). With it, wide features open up in video shooting not only from the air, but also in everyday life.

Most flight modes require constant monitoring by the pilot, since there is no "follow me" function or collision warning system on board the device. In addition, it can not last much in the air on a single battery charge — the time of autonomous flight of the quadcopter does not exceed 20 minutes. However, for many, these parameters are uncritical. If you are one of those, then GoPro Karma is definitely your choice.

The DJI Spark mini copter combines maximum compactness and ease of use. At the same time, he has remarkable abilities both in terms of flight characteristics and in terms of video shooting from the air.

The drone can be launched into flight directly from the palm of your hand, which is facilitated by the small weight of the model and its size. The length of the DJI Spark case is only 143 mm, which is one and a half centimeters less than the length of the Apple iPhone 7 Plus smartphone, which can be used as a remote control for a drone. The quadcopter also supports pairing with Android gadgets and more innovative gesture control using hand gestures (allows you to set the direction of flight).

4 propellers accelerate the copter to a maximum speed of about 50 km/h (in sports mode). But most of the time the flight speed does not exceed 20 km /h. At the same time, the battery charge lasts for about 16 minutes of the device being in the air — not so much by the standards of serious quadrocopters for video production, but quite enough for philistine filming.

The camera on board the device is mounted on a 2-axis mechanical suspension. Her "peephole" looks at the world from an 82° viewing angle and transmits what she sees to a 1/2.3" matrix.Videos are recorded on a microSD media in a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels with a frame rate of 30 fps. The operator can also control the camera turns up and down.

They managed to put a full set of sensors in the small body of the drone to ensure flight safety and build a route through the air. DJI Spark automatically recognizes obstacles in its path, and in case of low battery charge, it returns to the starting point itself. The quadcopter will appeal to novice pilots, video bloggers and travelers, for whom compactness is extremely important not to the detriment of functionality.

In the second coming of the popular amateur quadcopter with French roots in the pedigree Parrot Bebop Drone improvements have affected many aspects.

The drone has learned to follow the object and shoot in five different modes at once — from the classic tracking of a person in the frame to several interesting versions of the selfie. The video is recorded in FullHD format using an advanced camera with fisheye optics, capturing 180° of the surrounding space in its field of view. The picture quality in daylight is excellent, but with a decrease in the amount of light, noise appears in the image.

In the horizontal plane, the maximum speed of the drone reaches 65 km/h, and when climbing up, the Parrot Bebop Drone 2 is able to accelerate to 21 km/h. The flight range when used as a remote control gadget based on Android or iOS is 300 m. Together with the remote control Parrot Bebop Drone 2 + Skycontroller it increases to 2 km, however, you will have to spend a lot on it — the cost of this accessory is almost equal to the price of a quadcopter.

The time spent by the drone in the air is within the 25 minutes stated by the manufacturer. And if you fly with low gas, then you can look at the world from a bird's-eye view for 40 minutes in a row. When the remaining battery charge is low, the drone automatically returns to the starting point. Also, its safety system includes locking screws in contact with obstacles. The copter is something in between a "toy" and a working tool, and in the amateur segment it holds the laurels of one of the most balanced devices for its cost.

DJI Mavic Pro is a compact drone with a "filling" from the top DJI Phantom 4 . From an older brother, the "kid" got a camera and a sensor system with which flight parameters are determined and obstacles on the way are recognized.

Thanks to the folding design, the copter fits into any backpack or can be hung directly on the operator's belt. In addition, the weight of the drone barely exceeds 700 g, which is very important when traveling. On the other hand, the low weight makes the model sensitive to wind gusts, so it is not particularly recommended to take it into the air in windy weather.

With the use of a complete remote control, it is possible to make an air tour at a distance of up to 7 km from the starting point. And if you control the copter from a smartphone or tablet, then the flight radius will be limited by the power of the Wi-Fi signal (about 50-80 m). In the air, DJI Mavic Pro is able to reach speeds of up to 65 km/h. At the same time, the flight time in perfect conditions will be about 27 minutes.

The camera on board the drone has proven itself in the best way even in DJI Phantom 4. It is mounted on a suspension that stabilizes the image along two axes, and supports video recording in Cinema 4K (4096x2160 pixels, 24 fps), as well as in 4K formats (3840x2160 pixels, 24/25/30 fps), FullHD and HD. Taking photos in a resolution of 4000x3000 pixels is carried out in the "raw" RAW format, which opens up wide possibilities in post-processing of images.

One of the innovations introduced in DJI Mavic Pro was the gesture recognition system — the copter learned to change the camera angle with a wave of the hand and perform a number of other useful functions (for example, refocus from one object of the shooting to another). As a result, DJI turned out to have a really cool drone for everyday flights, which provides uncompromising picture quality without burdening its owner with large dimensions and excess weight.

The Pro version differs from the usual DJI Phantom 4 by an even more advanced 20-megapixel camera with an inch matrix and an increased number of optical sensors to ensure flight safety.

The improvements also affected the maximum flight range, which is now 7 km (the ceiling of the copter lift is limited to 6 km), and the duration of the model's stay in the air (half an hour versus 28 minutes. at the base modification). In one of the many "smart" flight modes, the quadcopter moves in the airspace at a speed of up to 50 km/h, and in sports mode it can fly at a maximum speed of about 72 km/h.

In addition to outstanding flight characteristics, the camera on board the drone deserves special respect. It is used to record videos in UltraHD resolution (3840x2160 pixels) with a speed of up to 60 fps and with a maximum bitrate of up to 100 Mbit/s. In the photo mode, a series of pictures are taken with a rate of fire at 14 fps. The mechanical shutter in the camera design allows you to get rid of the so-called "jelly effect" in the picture. In terms of the flexibility of adjusting the shooting parameters, DJI Phantom 4 Pro is even head and shoulders above the manufacturer's purely professional line of drones under the name Inspire.

During the flight, the copter can broadcast videos directly to social networks or video hosting. In general, the model demonstrates impressive results in almost everything: a full-fledged autopilot, an obstacle recognition system and the widest possibilities in video shooting elevate DJI Phantom 4 Pro to the first step of the pedestal among all modern quadrocopters designed for the mass consumer.