We spoke with DJI about the future of drones

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Drones are the perfect emblem of how technology evolves. A few decades ago, these unmanned aerial vehicles were the remit of science fiction.

But nowadays? You and I can order drones online that are capable of incredible achievements, whether that’s displaying unparalleled feats of acrobatics, or filming the sorts of videos you used to need a camera crew and helicopter to produce.

Sometimes, we need to take a step back and appreciate just how mind-blowing technology can be.

Despite this, it’s been a couple of years since I really explored what was happening with drones, so to discover what’s happening on the cutting edge, I spoke with Ferdinand Wolf, Creative Director at DJI.

What’s happening with drones?

One of the first things Wolf pointed out to me was the recent “major innovation” of adding multiple lenses to drones. This move brings “more visual creativity to aerial photography through compressing the depth of field and depth of focus to highlight the subject.”

They pointed towards their flagship camera drone, the DJI Mavic 3 Pro, as an example. This has a 4/3 CMOS Hasselblad camera, a 1/1.3-inch CMOS medium tele camera, and a 1/2-inch CMOS tele camera.

This allows aerial photographers incredible control over their shots and, for many movie or television creators, has led to drones being a vital part of their toolkit.

But this isn’t all the innovations DJI has introduced in recent years.

“Features such as 40+ minutes battery life and omnidirectional obstacle avoidance were only available on flagship drones,” Wolf tells us, “but now we have brought them to more drones in the DJI portfolio such as the DJI Air 3, allowing content creators to fly with ease.”

In other words, drones are moving so fast that technologies that, until very recently, were only available on the highest end models, are now available in entry-level machines.

Drones: only getting better

The exciting thing is that these advancements in drone technology are showing no signs of slowing down.

Wolf tells me that “DJI will keep innovating,” with the goal of “meeting the diverse aerial photography needs of our large customer base and taking the flight and imaging experience to new heights.”

As an example, Wolf points me towards a feature called Vision Assist. This provides “black and white visual images in four directions: front, back, left, and right to assist users during flying and to help observe obstacles in the flying direction,” which will make the whole experience safer.

Another upcoming innovation is integrating AR tech with DJI’s RTH (Return-to-Home) function. This will enable users “to check [the drone’s] return route in real time via the remote controller.”

All of this points to one thing: drones are only going to get more advanced and exciting in the coming years. 

And I, for one, can’t wait to see where we end up.

Did you enjoy this article? Join us at IFA to hearing more about this and similar topics. DJI will be in Hall 22 Booth 301. Get your ticket for IFA 2023 here.