look Out GoPro, Drone massive DJI Is entering the handheld digicam trade

appear out GoPro, DJI’s coming into the hand-held digicam industry.

these days, DJI, the world’s biggest maker of shopper drones, unveiled the Osmo, its brand-new stand-by myself high-end digicam, and its first non-drone product aimed at consumers.

The 6.four-inch-long, fastened-aperture, Osmo, which weighs lower than 1/2 a pound, is a 4K digital camera established atop a handheld stabilizer. it is designed to allow users to shoot smooth, high quality video regardless of how they dangle it or transfer it. The 12-megapixel digicam itself, the Zenmuse X3, is identical as the one that comes integrated with DJI’s encourage 1 drone.

constructed with DJI’s three-axis gimbal stabilization know-how and a 94-degree box of view, the $649 Osmo was designed to shoot 60 minutes of no-shake 4K video with its constructed-in battery, or can be utilized to take top of the range nonetheless pictures.

the company is anticipating the Osmo to appeal to each photography and videography fanatics alike.

The Osmo deals ISO settings from a hundred to 1800 for nonetheless photographs, and up to 3200 for video. it might probably also robotically take 360-stage panoramas and lengthy-exposure photos, and may shoot gradual-movement video of as much as 1080p at one hundred twenty frames per 2nd.

while it doesn’t offer totally handbook white steadiness, the digital camera does enable customers a couple of white steadiness picks: automatic, sunny, cloudy, water, and incandescent.

whether or no longer the digicam is an intentional shot across the bow of GoPro—which is planning to launch its own drone in early 2016—there’s little doubt that the Osmo, which is good for a lot of sorts of motion images, shall be considered via some as DJI’s response to GoPro’s decision to get into drones.

DJI, of course, has built its trade on drones. because it sold an increasing number of of the flying vehicles, together with its common Phantom line and the upper-finish inspire, it additionally changed into recognized for its digicam expertise. except now, alternatively, it has by no means bought cameras particularly meant to be used at ground level. the company says the thought behind the Osmo was to bring its digicam expertise again to Earth.

increasingly, DJI and GoPro have discovered themselves as opponents as a lot as companions. In DJI’s early days, lots of its buyers established GoPro’s cameras on their drones.

more lately, however, DJI’s drones have come with built-in cameras, and last month it unveiled a new set of top quality Zenmuse cameras intended for use with the encourage. It’s no longer identified whether that vary prompted GoPro to launch its own drone product—or what with a purpose to look like when it hits the market—however it’s develop into abundantly clear that the two companies might be going head-to-head, particularly now that they are going to be competing on both the drone and digital camera entrance.

alternatively, GoPro shouldn’t fear that the Osmo might supplant it throughout the full spectrum of journey sports. That’s as a result of, as DJI itself acknowledges, the Osmo isn’t durable and may’t survive being dropped or submerged in water. In other phrases, it’s now not intended for skiers, surfers, or mountain bikers, even if DJI imagines individuals using the Osmo to film people performing these actions.

On its drones, DJI’s cameras are primarily a lens coupled with sensors, with all the image processing executed on board the flying vehicle. With Osmo, all the processing is done in the handheld stick itself. It features a small smart joystick for panning and tilting whereas shooting video, and a shutter button for taking nonetheless pictures.

The stick also has a built-in smartphone holder that simply carries an iPhone or Android cellphone running DJI’s cell app. That makes it conceivable to view what the digital camera is seeing in real time.

just The Stick

whereas DJI probably hopes most buyers will purchase the Osmo with a digital camera, it’ll additionally promote the mount as a stand-on my own product, since it is suitable with the full line of Zenmuse cameras which might be offered with the encourage.

DJI says it will start taking pre-orders for the Osmo nowadays and it expects to begin shipping inside two weeks.