DJI INSPIRE 1 DRONE
The DJI Inspire 1 Drone ($2900) is the companies latest flagship model. Make no doubt, it is a higher quad that is made for professional use or high end hobby use. The main thing that makes this quad unique is during takeoff the arms move into a wing shape and gives the camera a full 360-degree unobstructed view.
The drone is just under 3 kilograms, has 13-inch props, and 22 volt 6-cell battery that quite frankly makes it overpowered for most situations. With that kind of juice it should be able to handle most winds and gusts quite easily.
The camera is 4K, takes 12 megapixel stills and sits on a 3-axis gimbal. Also the rectilinear lens removes the barrel distortion you usually see on most drone cameras.
Inspire 1 has an added stabilization package that includes optical flow and sonar that measures the distance to the ground and its rate of change. This is useful for landing when GPS or battery power are lost, and for low position flying where ground effects would impact control.
Additional features include 18 minutes flight time, and a 720p video feed from as far as 1.7km. The remote has been updated with dedicated buttons for video and camera capture, a gimbal control dial, an the ability for two people to control for extremely complex shots.
This may be the perfect drone for up and coming cinematographers.
