Very few drone enthusiasts can have missed out on the fact that leading Chinese drone manufacturer DJI have launched an FPV Drone at the beginning of the March 2021. Is this exactly what the drone community have been waiting for?
What is FPV?
FPV stands for First Person View, and is a discipline of drone flying that is quite different to the standard cinematic filming drones. FPV drones (up until now) have been home-built devices that are operated with a radio controller and flown with the pilot wearing goggles. The FPV drone streams a low latency image from the onboard camera to the built-in screens of the pilot’s goggles. This is where the name FPV comes from since the pilot is not flying by line of sight or from a screen but directly from the feedback of the onboard camera as shown in their goggle display. FPV drones are known to be much more agile, flexible, faster and gives a completely unique perspective compared to traditional camera drones.
DJI FPV Drone Specs
Takeoff Weight
- Approx. 795 g
Dimensions
- 255×312×127 mm (with propellers)
178×232×127 mm (without propellers)
Max Ascent Speed
- M mode: No limit
S mode: 15 m/s
N mode: 8 m/s
Max Descent Speed
- M mode: No limit
S mode: 10 m/s
N mode: 5 m/s
Max Speed
- 140 kph; M mode: 39 m/s (27 m/s in Mainland China)
S mode: 27 m/s
N mode: 15 m/s
Max Acceleration
- 0-100 kph: 2 s (in ideal conditions while flying in M mode)
Max Service Ceiling Above Sea Level
- 6,000 m
Max Flight Time
- Approx. 20 mins (measured while flying at 40 kph in windless conditions)
Max Hover Time
- Approx. 16 mins (measured when flying in windless conditions)
Max Flight Distance
- 16.8 km (measured while flying in windless conditions)
Max Wind Speed Resistance
- 39-49 kph (25-31 mph)
Transmitter Power (EIRP)
- 2.400-2.4835 GHz
FCC: ≤ 31.5dBm
CE: ≤ 20 dBm
SRRC: ≤ 20 dBm
MIC: ≤ 20 dBm
5.725-5.850 Ghz
FCC: ≤ 31.5 dBm
CE: ≤ 14 dBm
SRRC: ≤ 25.5 dBm
Number of Antennas
- Four
Supported SD Cards
- microSD (up to 256 GB)
Internal Storage
- N/A
Sensor
- 1/2.3” CMOS
Effective pixels: 12 million
Lens
- FOV: 150°
35mm Format Equivalent: 14.66 mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Focus Mode: Fixed Focus
Focus Range: 0.6 m to ∞
ISO
- 100-12800
Shutter Speed
- 1/50-1/8000 s
Still Photography Modes
- Single shot
Max Image Size
- 3840×2160
Photo Format
- JPEG
Video Resolution
- 4K: 3840×2160 at 50/60fps
FHD: 1920×1080 at 50/60/100/120fps
Video Formats
- MP4/MOV (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, H.265/HEVC）
Max Video Bitrate
- 120 Mbps
Color Profile
- Standard, D-Cinelike
RockSteady EIS
- Available
Distortion Correction
- Available
Supported File Formats
- exFAT (recommended)
FAT32
Mechanical Range
- Tilt: -65° to 70°
Controllable Range
- Tilt: -50° to 58°
Stabilization
- Single-axis (tilt), electronic roll axis
Max Control Speed
- 60°/s
Angular Vibration Range
- ±0.01° (N mode)
Electronic Roll Axis
- Available (can stabilize footage when the aircraft is tilted at angles of up to 10°)
* all information above comes from DJI. See further specs on their website.
Price of the DJI FPV Drone
The price of the DJI FPV Combo is 1349- 1399€ in the EU, 1249 GBP in the UK, 1299 USD in the US and 154,000円 in Japan.
Weight & Rules
The DJI FPV Drone weights 795 gram which places it in the Open Category group A2 in the EU. This requires the operator and pilot to register and take an online test to be eligible to fly.
Examples of rules from the Open Category, A2 are:
- No flying over uninvolved people
- Keep horizontal distance of 50m to uninvolved people
- No flying over, or near buildings. Keep a safety distance of 150m.
A FPV Drone falls under the same legislation as any other UAV. See our summary on the new EU drone laws here or see all details on European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
Pictures of the DJI FPV Drone
*All product pictures borrowed from DJI.
Comments from our Contributors
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