DraganFlyer X4 UAV puts the camera where it needs to be, even when the floor is lava
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Aug 11th 2009 8:37PM
posted Aug 11th 2009 8:37PM
It's been a while since we've heard from Draganfly, a name familiar to connoisseurs of unmanned aerial photography. The company's latest outing, the DraganFlyer X4, is a four-rotor UAV that measures only 30.5-inches across and since it ships with your choice of either a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX580, Watec WAT-902H2 Ultimate (for shooting in low light), FLIR Photon TAU (infrared), or the Highg Res 480 Board Camera (analog motion video with an 8GB DVR), we imagine that this thing ain't going to be cheap. That said, if you are a well-heeled creepy stalker, southern border vigilante, or even someone with legitimate military / industrial business, there are plenty of features to make it worth a second look, including: computerized stabilization, altitude hold (maintains its position in the air without user input), and an automatic landing feature that kicks in if the control link is lost. But most importantly for the airborne auteur, this guy sports a wireless video downlink that sends the viewfinder signal that can be displayed either on the device's handheld controller or a pair of video goggles, allowing real-time manipulation of zoom, tilt, and shutter settings. Get a closer look at the thing after the break.
Nice!
"even when the floor is lava"
or acid.
I wants one, i have no use but its epicXD
Daniel Tosh?
Nasty. I have a friend who's really into model aircraft's, i bet he'd love that.
You could make some pretty difficult to get shots with this (photo of you standing on the mile-high bridge in the Rocky Mountains, from off the bridge, anyone?) I don't want to know how much it costs, though.
If anyone wants to get me a Christmas present though...
This is dumb. You'd have a better setup, for probably less money, using a POV system on a remote controlled airplane + a digital camera LED.
#1 You put on the helmet and you fly the plane from a first person view.
#2 you have a button on the remote which takes snapshots.
#3 you land the plane and retrieve the SD card - after having the most fun you've ever had flying an aircraft like you're the damn US government flying a Predator drone.
$4 This costs less than $400
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj4Ey8Srisc&feature=related
Battery life? The bluetooth helicopters from a few years back only lasted 5 minutes. And probably weighed less.
@quantumphysics.
There is a huge difference in space needed between a helicopter/VTOL vehicle and an airplane. You can get this into WAY more spaces using hover than any airplane could ever get. (I say this as an RC plane pilot.)
very much reminds of the defcon17 talk on diy low cost quadrotor uav. holds 3 cameras for mapping landscapes. ymmv
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackfeathers/3800043290/in/set-72157621852301845/
had my eye on draganflyer & quadrotors for some time. still pricey (though i love these). but, it's good to see they are continuing to improve their model line up. hopefully they become more affordable with time.
I missed out on going to that talk. Was in the hacker vs disasters talks.
Why spend $6000 when a $10 kite or even a $20 helium balloon and cord will loft your timer-equipped $100 digicam into position?
This is easier to steer. You try getting good pics of that hot chick that lives next door sunbathing with a kite cam.
Agreed - there's a really limited number of uses for this thing, and most of those would be sufficiently covered with a kite/balloon with a camera strapped to the front of it.
That's like saying why drive a car to the store when you could take a hot air balloone. It's completely better in nearly every way.
I want one. But it's probably too expensive :/
I agree, I definitely want one!!!
this toy has a sign all over it saying it's a prop for some low spy budget movie or aerial movie cam... can it lift a camcorder???
It's bigger brother can.
I'm just going to assume that was a pun. and hope I don't kill it.
Well there are alternatives that are in most cases cheeper then that and can do the same and even more:
http://www.mikrokopter.de
http://openmulticopter.org
For a full list of multicopter projects: http://multicopter.org/wiki/Multicopter_Table there are really plenty of projects. When looking at the news posts I am really asking myself why only the commercial expensive ones are mentioned. With most of the alternative projects if you invest some of your time you can build any arbitrary size and form of a multicopter that can easily lift a heavy camera or even several cameras.
So, it's the Human-tech version of a Combine scanner?
The X6 costs about 16k USD - i got a quote. nice but very expensive.
that's brilliant
*cough* http://www.mikrokopter.de/ucwiki/en/MikroKopter *cough*
... did I mention the design is opensource? :)
*cough* ... it is not open source ... it uses a noncommercial proprietary license ... that has nothing to do with open source ... you can take a look into the source but that is it *cough*
Did I miss something or what about this UAV has to do with lava, can it fly close to volcanos or something?
"even if the floor is lava"
hahahahaha.
People, this is not a toy. This is aimed at commercial, government, law/security, rescue and military use. Maybe for some rich person too.
Think about it. With a helicopter, you can move in all directions, hover, enter buildings, hide behind trees and other plants, etc.
Planes need to keep moving forward. Kites and balloons are limited by their strings, wind, obstructions like trees and utility wires/poles, not to mention having a direct trail back to the operator.