Despite having challenges in meeting demands for the Mavic Pro, DJI has continued to launch two new professional drones to its product line up, the Inspire 2 is now more powerful with improved battery life, while the DJI Phantom 4 Pro is the most safest drone to fly with side sensors and comes with a new 1-inch 20-megapixel sensor, these significant new updates are going to make aerial photographers and videographers eager to take their work to the next level.
The Inspire 2 features a new magnesium alloy body that increases stiffness while lowering weight, its top speed maxes out at an blazingly fast 107km/h 93km/h and takes merely 4 5 seconds to reach 80km/h, flight time has also been increased up to 27 minutes all thanks to a new dual battery system. The Inspire 2 will offer two separate views to the camera operator, one being a new forward facing camera on the drone and the other from the Zenmuse camera mounted on the main gimble, two brand-new Zenmuse X4S and X5S cameras have also been announced to be used with the Inspire 2 with more to come in the future, the Zenmuse X5S in particular has a micro four-thirds 20.8-megapixel sensor and 12.8 stops of dynamic range, it is able to shoot 20fps continuous burst DNG RAW pictures, the Inspire 2 comes equipped with the Zenmuse X4S by default, which has a 1-inch 20-megapixel sensor with 11.6 stops of dynamic range and a 24mm equivalent focal length.
In terms of image quality, the Inspire 2 will capture 5.2K video at a staggering 4.2Gbps bitrate for Adobe CinemaDNG RAW videos and leverages a newly-designed, fast CINESSD storage for a smooth work experience, it processes large files with a new imaging processing system called the CineCore 2.0, which is embedded into the airframe, video compressions formats by this systenm includes Adobe CinemaDNG, Apple ProRes 422 HQ and ProRes 4444 XQ, H.264 and H.265. Recording bitrate for 4K videos on H.264 and H.265 is at 100Mbps, which is very impressive.
Despite being made for professionals, the Inspire 2 is also easier to fly as it comes with obstacle avoidance sensors on the front and bottom, there’s also upward infrared sensors on top of the drone to assist flying in enclosed spaces, it also has smart features such as TapFly, ActiveTrack and Spotlight Pro Mode, which eases the camera operator’s job of taking beautifully tracked shots of subjects on air. For broadcasters, the Inspire 2 is able to stream videos at 1080i50/720p60 broadcast standard through an optimized mode and enhanced Lightbridge video transmission. Flying high is also possible with optional high altitude propellers that could go up to 16,404 feet above sea level, while the self heating dual battery redundancy system maintains good performance of the battery to -20 degrees celsius.
The DJI Phantom 4 Pro on the other hand is technically more pro than the standard Phantom 4, apart from having a better camera, its flight time has also been increased up to 30 minutes and now has obstacle sensors included on the side and back, which makes it literally impossible to crash if activated. With its improved FlightAutonomy obstacle avoidance system, the Phantom 4 Pro will now be able to sense obstacles up to 98 feet and in the case of landing when returning home, it is able to detect and help avoid landing on uneven ground or water. The Phantom 4 Pro also flies faster, up to 49km/h in P mode with obstacle avoidance and 72km/h in sport mode.
As a Pro model, the Phantom 4 Pro now comes with a new remote controller that pilots can choose to pair it with an optional high luminance display, this avoids the need to have a tablet or smartphone as the drone’s viewfinder, the drone will also automatically choose between 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz bands once powered on to gain a clear signal in areas with high radio interference. Since it can now be paired with a built-in display, DJI has built-in GPS, compass, a MicroSD card slot and HDMI port on the remote controller.
DJI is currently accepting preorders of both the Inspire 2 and Phantom 4 Pro, the Inspire 2 retails at US$2,999 (RM13,046) and the Phantom 4 Pro retails at US$1,499 (RM6,521), which isn’t too far off from the launch price of their predecessors, the Inspire 2 will start shipping in early December 2016 while the Phantom 4 Pro will ship a week after launch. Meanwhile, we could expect a price drop in the current models. If you can’t wait to own one, head on over to http://store.dji.com to place your order.
