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CES 2015 – The Drones

24th January 2015

The Consumer Electronics Show – Drones

 

For more than 30 years, I’ve started the New Year with a trip to the Consumer Electronics Show. CES is the premier showcase for new and innovative techie products that are in line to hit the store shelves.

This year I notice the proliferation of 3D printers and picture-taking drones at the show.

Earlier, I wrote a short article about 3D Printing Technology that I saw at CES.

There’s plenty of controversy surrounding the use drones for commercial purposes, manufacturers from around the world are gearing up for battle as they try to outdo each other on features, price, and speed to market. This article presents several of the picture-taking drones that I saw at the show.


Robotix Ghost+

This is the Ghost+ quadcopter.

Its payload is a GoPro camera mounted on a controllable gimbal and has a GPS receiver, gyroscopic controller for smooth flight, retractable landing skids and can stay airborne for 18 minutes.

The WiFi module lets you stream the video remotely to a smartphone and/or tablet.

The suggested price of the Ghost+ is $1300.

For more information about the Ghost+, please visit Thunder Tiger Group.

 


DJI Inspire 1

This is DJI’s newest model – Inspire 1. It has a bult-in gimbal-mounted 4K video camera that can be remotely positioned, real-time feed to the controller and automatic takeoff and landing.


while in the air, the landing pods fold into the “up” position for obstruction-free video recording
Price is $3400 with dual remotes – one for flight control and the other for camera control.

For more info, please visit DJI.

 


Proto-X FPV

The FPV quadcopter is equipped with a 1280 x 720p video camera.

Notice that the controller has a built-in video screen that displays the captured video in real time. It is gyro stabilized for steady movie.

The suggested price is $350.

For more info, please contact Hobbico 


Zano – the nano drone

Zano calls itself a “sophisticated nano drone”. It’s so small that it fits in the palm of your hand.

Your smartphone or tablet is the controller. Simply tilt your phone left, right, forward or backward and the Zano follows. Other onscreen icons control the altitude, rotation, capture, etc.

This is a prototype model and Zano tells me that production begins in July 2015. Price in UK Pounds £170.

For more information, please visit Zano.


 

As a former participant in the flight simulation industry, I’m in awe of the drone “landscape”.

As I watch these new models flying at CES, I am amazed at how quickly the technology surrounding drones has progressed. In addition to highly competitive prices, these devices are much easier to fly – many with auto takeoff and auto landing capability – and features such as gimbals, streaming and navigation are truly impressive.

Written by: Arnie Lee


 

For Movies on the Move

For several years now, GoPro has demonstrated the overwhelming popularity of action videos. They have built an empire of a business around its brand.

Sony’s HDR-AS100V and newer, yet slightly smaller HDR-AZ1 cameras are the center of their video system for recording action in the field. Both units pack lots of features into a very compact space: 1080p with image stabilization, stereo sound, high speed recording, 170-degree view, interval recoding, and WiFi and NFC equipped and GPS (AS100V only).

They are ruggedized and are waterproof, shockproof, dustproof and freezeproof without having to purchase additional accessories.

This AZ1 which is 2/3 the size of the AS100V, is mounted on a drone. Using an optional Live-View Remote (RM-LVR2V) which straps to your wrist you can control the AZ1, change settings and view the playback from afar.

The included Action Cam Movie Creator software lets edit your footage into complete, quality movies using the special recording features e.g. high speed recording, merging multiple clips into a single clip, etc.

 
 
There are a whole host of accessories for the Action Cam system including various camera mounts and straps for bicycling, surfing, boating, diving, snow sports and skateboarding.

List price for AS100V is $279 and for the AZ1 is $249. For more information, see the Sony ActionCam webpage.
 
 
Written by: Arnie Lee
 
 


 
 

Light Field Technology

I made it a point to visit all of the booths at PhotoPlus Expo looking for new and interesting products.

At the Lytro booth, I learned a new term: Light Field Technology. With this camera, the direction, color and brightness of the light rays are captured by a specialized sensor array. Afterwards, this information can be “processed” to refocus and change perspective.

The Lytro Illum is a new, second generation camera to capture light field photographs. Lytro refers to these images as “living pictures”.

The Illum is fitted with a 30-250mm zoom lens with f/2 constant aperture. It has a 4″ tiling LCD viewing screen and weighs just over 2 lbs.

The fast f/2 lens provides an 8X zoom range. Images are stored on an SD, SDXC or SDHC card.

The specialized CMOS sensor has ISO range from 80 to 3200.

The camera also has built-in WiFi for transferring images directly to a smart device.

You can preview the images on the LCD and immediately see these living pictures as the focus and perspective change.

The LCD is touch sensitive – you can touch the part of the image to refocus. A “Lytro” button displays an overlay on the screen that displays the depth of field of objects, indicating the range of refocus.

Use the included Lytro Desktop software to upload to Lytro’s web (no charge) or to Facebook. Viewers can post comments about your pictures on the Lytro Gallery. When you upload, the software creates an animated gif file that animates the refocusing and change of perspective capabilities.

To see this interesting light field technology, visit the Lytro Gallery where you can experiment with these images by moving your mouse over the area to be refocused. I think it’s an amazing technology.

The Illum is available now at a list price of $1599 includes battery and ND filters (since aperture is fixed at f/2).

Written by: Arnie Lee
 
 


 
 

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