DJI Inspire 1 takes flight with a 4K camera

There are quadcopters with cameras out there that could be considered nothing more than toys. The DJI Inspire 1 is no toy.

Billed by DJI as the world’s first 4K flying camera, the Inspire 1 is a step-up model from the Phantom 2 Vision+ released earlier this year. And it’s a pretty big step-up, too, with a matching price tag: $2,900. (Pricing was not announced for the UK and Australia. The US price converts to around £1,839 and AU$3,329, for comparison.)

With carbon-fiber landing gear that lowers and lifts automatically on take-off and landing, the camera’s 94-degree field of view is left unobstructed as it captures video at resolutions up to 4K at 30fps (it does 1080p at 60fps as well) and 12-megapixel stills. The camera rotates a full 360 degrees and tilts 125 degrees.

Similar to the Vision+, the camera is attached to a three-axis gimbal for smooth video even with sudden movements or high winds. The whole thing looks sturdier, though, and more importantly it’s easily removable. So if you want to fly without the camera, replace it if it gets damaged or perhaps upgrade it in the future, it’s a no-tool affair.

There’s no more taking your hands off the controller to fiddle with camera settings on your smartphone, either. The remote controller for the Inspire 1 has camera controls built into the top left and right corners. Or, you can give a second controller to someone else for dedicated control over the camera.

The controller also has DJI’s Lightbridge wireless transmitter technology that live-streams 1080p video to an iOS or Android device so you can set up shots at distances up to about a mile away (1.7 kilometers). WIth USB and HDMI outputs on back, you can directly connect a smartphone, tablet and/or display.

As for piloting the Inspire 1, it should be easier to fly than the Vision+, which is saying something, because that one is pretty easy to fly. Since this is a ready-to-fly (RTF) model, there’s no tinkering here. You just spin on the color-coded self-tightening props, charge it up and that’s pretty much it.

The Inspire 1 can take off and land at the push of a button, and if you choose to land it on your own, its wider base and shock absorbers mean there’s less chance of tipping even if you come down a little hard or off-kilter.

To help with drift when shooting indoors or whenever you can’t get a GPS lock, DJI added a camera and sensors on the bottom of the copter that create a stereoscopic image of the ground to keep the Inspire 1 steady without constant adjustments.

For safety, DJI made its return-to-home feature dynamic, so your home is now wherever you are. This allows you to calibrate and take off from one location and if you move, it will come back to you and not where you launched from. (A feature you definitely want if you plan to take off from a moving boat, for example.)

Like DJI’s other copters, the Inspire 1 can be set to return home when battery power runs low. The new iOS and Android apps created for the Inspire 1 will also let you see exactly how much power is left in each one of its six cells. (You can use this to see the health of the cells as well in case one isn’t performing properly.)

The app gives you full telemetry from the Inspire’s sensors and control over all the camera’s settings along with the capability to adjust the remote controller’s settings. And for those who want to have it fly autonomously, you’ll be able to plot its course on a map simply by drawing it out on your mobile device’s touchscreen.

The biggest downside for most potential buyers (other than price) will be its flight times. On a full charge the Inspire 1 can only fly for up to 18 minutes. I’m told that’s while recording 4K video at 30fps, so that’s good. It will more likely be wind and the speed at which your flying that will shorten it.

You can read more details on the Inspire 1 on DJI’s site and preorder them as well. The DJI representative I spoke with said the plan is to have them start shipping by the end of November.