Chris Anderson’s pitch for the new Solo drone by 3D Robotics comes down to this: “Don’t fly the drone. Fly the camera.”
Solo, a $999 drone unveiled today and set to come out in May, isn’t a toy made for users to enjoy the thrill of flight. To hear Anderson tell it, it’s more like an autonomous flying camera dolly—a drone that flies itself as much as possible so the user can focus on capturing the footage. It will even perform Hollywood-style camera moves at the push of a button.
As part of 3DR’s attempt to make the dream vehicle for aerial cinematographers, Solo features full integration with GoPro—a huge get—allowing users to mount the action cams they already own to the drone’s gimbal and control the GoPro from their drone control pad.
Just a few days ago, Chinese drone heavyweight and 3DR competitor DJI released its new top of-the-line Phantom 3 series, which will inevitably be compared to the Solo. When I asked him to evaluate his competitor, Anderson laid on the measured praise: Phantom 3 is an incredible machine with great features. And then, with a wink, he stopped short: “DJI is all about piloting. It does one thing very well.”
Learn more about 3DR Solo Specs here.