Question to Willis Chung

J

Jay Birch

Well-known member
I was wondering if you think that DJI will ever bring out a slightly larger, more powerful Phantom style copter, if a suitable camera is made that falls between the size of the GoPro and, say, a Sony RX100 (213 grammes)?

I, along with 1000s of others, absolutely love the Phantom... It simple to use, yet professional in features.... and the lack of wires and general lack of headaches is just a godsend for people who want to concentrate more on being creative than overly technical.

Unfortunately, the GoPro is still a little lacking in professional features.... Fish eye just looks bad and a lack of manual controls mean that shots can be ruined by auto exposure.

A larger Phantom that could carry something like the RX100 would doubtless sell ALOT of units.

Just a thought
 
While I appreciate the S800 EVO is probably the tidiest solution for large cameras, this is not what I had in mind.

I was thinking more along the lines of a Phantom that is around 50% larger, possibly 6 rotors... but still with an exoskeleton, internal battery, self contained and as "out of the box" as the current Phantom.
 
Jay is basically asking for a Phantom equivalent of the F550. The F550 seems rather neglected by DJI. A Naza with built in iOSD with telemetry recording would be good too.
 
Basically, just a 50% or so step up in power and size, but with the same "out of the box" style as the phantom (enclosed battery, exoskeleton, etc).

Even with all the negative press about copters, the Phantom always gets a warm reception from people, as it looks very complete, an acual product, rather than something hacked together in a garage. Every other copter i've flown is treated with a bit of trepidation by anyone who sees it, even a F550 or something of an equivalent size. No matter how neat and tidy you build it, it doesn't quite look like an out of the box product, which people warm to quickly.
 
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I'd much rather have function and power than something that looks sweet and warm. DJI F series are nice the Flycker scorpion and mh-550 and mh-650, much better. Multirotors are utility helicopters they are not meant to look cool. Want something that looks cool, attach a gimbal to a t-rex or gaui x7.
 
HAPDigital said:
I'd much rather have function and power than something that looks sweet and warm.
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You have about 1000 options that offer more power and function than the Phantom. I'm asking about a potential gap in the market that I think DJI could fill, that is all.

It has zero to do with looking cool, warm, sweet.... But about looking safe and trustworthy.

We did a job for BMW last week.... We took both the Phantom and a Droidworx copter.... They loved the Phantom and were happy to have it flown just inches above the car at very fast speeds. The Droidworx, even though it is set up well and as safe as you can ever make a copter, they were keen to keep away from going directly over the cars.

Do you see my point? It is how the client/actors etc think about what is being flown above them... Not how i personally want it to look.
 
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Jay makes a fair point, personally I'd rather have something that was safe as well as simply looking safe too. A hex or X8 would be nice for some motor/prop redundancy, plus telemetry to diagnose problems and icing on the cake would be dual GPS.
 
Oh absolutely. I think we are gonna get hit by some seriously hard regulations soon, so the safer the better.

If and when the laws get even tighter... It would be good if there is a standard in terms of what is percieved as (and hopefully is) the safest copter.

The Phantom is a brand in itself now, it is the global symbol of what a quadcopter looks like. For better or for worse, people trust brands. I think this is something DJI can build upon to reinforce this idea of an out of the box, throughly thought out product. I just hope for something between the Phantom and a fully rigged S800 EVO (Which looks damn scary to clients)
 
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@JayBirch, excellent question. I asked the same question before I joined DJI. Technology will continue grow, Apple's iPhone gets a refresh every year or so, so will the Phantom. That being said, newer DJI products are always in development by our state-of-the-art R&D team to cater towards the public's needs. I realize I'm not answering your question directly, because I can't, but stay tuned, I've seen the future, and I think you'll like it.
 
Thanks Willis, I appreciate you can't give away much info.... It is great to be able to chat with the people directy involved though.
 
I too would welcome an out-of-the-box solution that supports a RX100 or BMPC in a small form factor.

The key limitation for Phantom sized multi rotors is the current and past iterations of the GoPro. Fisheye, virtually no manual controls, and an inefficient codec, et al.

I know the RX 100 suffers from some micro vibrations, but it would be great to see DJI release a gimbal and vehicle with a GUI where users can in punch in profiles of various cameras on the 275g class.
 
Jay Birch said:
You have about 1000 options that offer more power and function than the Phantom. I'm asking about a potential gap in the market that I think DJI could fill, that is all.

It has zero to do with looking cool, warm, sweet.... But about looking safe and trustworthy.

We did a job for BMW last week.... We took both the Phantom and a Droidworx copter.... They loved the Phantom and were happy to have it flown just inches above the car at very fast speeds. The Droidworx, even though it is set up well and as safe as you can ever make a copter, they were keen to keep away from going directly over the cars.

Do you see my point? It is how the client/actors etc think about what is being flown above them... Not how i personally want it to look.
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yeah but once you start going up into a rig that can support a bigger camera, everything else increases in size too. Looks or not something that can lift a BMPCC will be much more dangerous than a phantom. Quite frankly a phantom can hurt you pretty good too. Nobody should be completely comfortable around multirotors, they are dangerous. I prefer my clients and actors to understand the risks involved rather than deceive them with something friendly looking. I currently run a Zero UAV High One RTF that comes with a gimbal set up to fly a gh4. It is a quad but don't be fooled, it is a beast. If it goes down and hits a person it is bad news. Any time I use a multirotor on location I make a statement about weather, population and damage risk. If the weather is bad and or there is a lot of people I do not fly. I don't decide to fly simply because the rig looks safe and friendly like a phantom. I make sure everything is right.
 
You come across as very condescending.

I have displayed in my comments that I full well know the risks of using a multirotor (You will not meet a much safer flyer than myself). I want a copter that IS safe as well as looking safe, that goes without saying. I am not trying to trick or deceive anyone, safety is always our first priority.

That doesn't mean we can't chat about what we would like out of a copter though.
 
Jay's also asking for a copter that is a genuine gap in the DJI line up, photographers won't necessarily want to build an F550, so you have the choice of the Phantom with a GoPro or the S800 with a GH3/4 or similar, when there would be interest for something in-between, a ready to fly multicopter that had a 3 axis gimbal capable of carrying a small mirrorless camera. The fact the GoPro lacks dynamic range and suffers from very bad noise in poor lighting means that has limited appeal and an S800 isn't simply a small step up.

The Zero UAV isn't a small step up either, with relatively few people flying them I wouldn't trust them personally. I like products where I can see the testing taking place, so if I wanted an RTF bigger than Phantom I'd got for a 3D Robotics X8; though personally I'd most likely build a Vulcan Mantis, probably with a Pixhawk.
 
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Jay Birch said:
You come across as very condescending.

I have displayed in my comments that I full well know the risks of using a multirotor (You will not meet a much safer flyer than myself). I want a copter that IS safe as well as looking safe, that goes without saying. I am not trying to trick or deceive anyone, safety is always our first priority.

That doesn't mean we can't chat about what we would like out of a copter though.
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Not trying to condescend. Just sounded funny to me that the one of the reasons you'd want something in between the s800 and phantom is for the look of safety. It was odd to me.

"The Zero UAV isn't a small step up either, with relatively few people flying them I wouldn't trust them personally. I like products where I can see the testing taking place."

Zero UAV is just as stable and reliable as DJI. Maybe you don't hear much about it because it doesn't have the apple flair and advertising like DJI does in the photography realm. You also need to frequent the rc forums and multirotor forums more. You'll hear the accolades there. IMO Zero UAV is a good contender to take out DJI as the mainstream solo act. Looking at my High One, the quality blows away anything DJI ive used. I've owned WKM, NAZA, Phantoms F550s, F450s and on and on.
 
HAPDigital said:
Zero UAV is just as stable and reliable as DJI.
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I'm not sure that gives me much confidence as one issue I have with DJI is poor software testing. :grin::evil:

I've been following videos and information on Zero UAV for a while, it looks like nice gear and has redundancy, however I still think there's far better value for money to be had, whilst still having power features.
 
P13 said:
I'm not sure that gives me much confidence as one issue I have with DJI is poor software testing. :grin::evil:

I've been following videos and information on Zero UAV for a while, it looks like nice gear and has redundancy, however I still think there's far better value for money to be had, whilst still having power features.
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I've never heard of a Zero UAV "flyaway." But that's probably because noob users don't flock to it. I've never had a DJI flyaway either. But yeah, DIY is the way to go for value/features.
 
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