DJI’s New York event brought along the surprise we were all waiting for. The company unveiled their tiniest drone yet, Spark #actionmagic
As the name suggests it, Spark is a drone for spur-of-the-moment adventures. As soon as you lift it in the air, it disappears from sight. The reason? Well, this selfie drone is as small as a soda can. The “fun-to-fly mini camera drone” as DJI describes it, weighs less than a pound (0.6 pounds, to be more exact). Even so, it packs up as much smarts as its bigger brothers.
You’ll find intelligent flight controls like ActiveTrack and TapFly back on the menu… with a twist. TapFly has now a sub mode called Coordinate that allows Spark to fly to a location you tap on your mobile device screen. Put in Sport Mode and you’ll get it flying at top speed – 31mph – with the gimbal set on first person view. By the way, Spark is compatible with DJI Goggles.
As always, the moment you set it off, the drone will actively sense obstacles and avoid them. You can control Spark with gestures from the second it flies off from your hand. Use your Jedi-like movements to send it off, take a selfie and call it back. Alternatively, get the companion app and maneuver it from your smartphone up to 109 yards away.
The camera is supported by a two-axis gimbal and captures 1080p video and 12MP photos. DJI has added two new camera modes: Pano Mode and ShallowFocus. The first allows you to capture horizontal or vertical panoramas while the second keep in focus the point you want, creating a shallow depth of field (perfect for selfies). There’s a new video mode too, called QuickShot. This lets the drone capture one minute of footage on a preset flight path and edit it until you’ve got 10 seconds of good, Social Media-ready video. In QuickShot, Spark can fly in four different styles.
The company has given Spark 16 minutes of flight time with the possibility of charging it on the go via micro USB. If all of that sounds great, are you ready for the best news yet? Spark drone costs only $499! A bargain, if you take into account the rest of DJI’s portfolio of drones.
Spark is already up for pre-order here and you can choose one of five colors to fit your lifestyle. Also, there’s an extra $200 bundle with charging hub, propeller guards, extra battery and a remote controller, if you’re interested. DJI says that shipping should begin at the middle of June.
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