A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to pick up a new DJI Phantom 4 Drone. The reason behind getting is 2-fold, which I will cover in a later blog, but for now, it’s been a fun learning curve getting to know the Drone and it’s capabilities.
Let me start off first by saying, the DJI Phantom 4 is a phenomenal piece of technology. We are moving into a new era where Drones are going to become more accessible to the consumer market, and I reckon loads of people will soon start purchasing them for personal use.
I bought mine from the guys at CopterShop.co.za, who were incredibly knowledgeable and helpful throughout the purchasing process. I bought the extra 2 batteries package, as you definitely need extra batteries when flying.
I’ll be the first to admit that flying Drones is NOT as simple as picking up a remote control and flying it off into the sunset(or sunrise) These things are technically advanced so much so that one slip of the finger and you will be in tears. They take a number of hours of practice, but more importantly keeping a level head and not fooling around is far more important.
The most unique feature of the Phantom 4 has to be it’s obstacle avoidance sensors. This means, then when flying forwards (not backwards) the Phantom has sensors built in that will automatically stop the drone from flying into any obstacles. This is really handy when flying close to trees & buildings etc, as it almost makes it impossible to crash. Almost.
The standard flying time on the battery is around 20-25 mins, but the software is designed to bring back the Drone once it sees you running out of power. The range on the Drone is around 5km, yes FIVE Kilometers!!, although I haven’t tested that (and probably won’t) and you can go up to a maximum altitude of 500m. Again, that is incredibly high, so the max I have been is 150m and I started getting a bit nervous.
Attempt at editing one of my flights
The camera on the DJI Phantom 4 offers full 4K video recording with 12MP stills. Live images are transmitted back to your Smartphone at all times, and you can download the images & video from the SD card which is on the drone. The camera is mounted on a very, very stable Gimble, and once that Drone is in the air, you will see almost zero shaking on your pictures.
All in all this is a fantastic device, and I am going to be focusing a bit more of my content on some Drone tips & tricks as well as apps etc. I am really excited about how this is going to work out ;)