{"id":1371,"date":"2015-04-28T09:09:32","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T08:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/?p=1371"},"modified":"2016-07-03T12:03:23","modified_gmt":"2016-07-03T11:03:23","slug":"the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/","title":{"rendered":"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR will be released at the end of May. 3DR touts the quadcopter as <em>\u201cthe world\u2019s first <strong>Smart Drone<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em> There is a ton of info over at the <a href=\"http:\/\/3drobotics.com\/solo\/\">3DR website<\/a>, so I won\u2019t go into the details here, but I\u2019ll discuss some interesting points.\u00a0It\u2019s fairly clear this product is a direct competitor to the <a href=\"http:\/\/click.dji.com\/D-APGys4zqa3HxsO?pm=custom\">DJI Phantom<\/a>, but while this post isn&#8217;t a side-by-side spec analysis, there are some comparisons drawn.<\/p>\n<h2>Technology<\/h2>\n<p>The Solo boasts some impressive and forward thinking technology for this particular class of multirotor device.<\/p>\n<p>Firstly, the airframe itself uses a combination of flight controller (running Pixhawk 2 autopilot software) and a 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A9-powered computer (running Linux).<\/p>\n<p>Secondly the controller uses another 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A9-powered computer (running Linux). In addition to regular flight controls, the controller provides\u00a0HDMI output\u00a0and full GoPro control, allowing settings to be changed on the fly. It also features two user-definable buttons, haptic feedback, and an on-board screen showing flight telemetry and battery status.<\/p>\n<p>Thirdly, the incredibly enticing computer-assisted cinematography features, enabling precise control over the camera. A\u00a0single operator can achieve a fair amount of shot types using currently available small multirotors, but freeing up camera control while the aircraft is essentially flying itself on a pre-determined path, truly makes dual crew style shots possible by a single operator. No doubt this is the thinking behind the &#8216;Solo&#8217; moniker.<\/p>\n<p>It should be noted that these \u2019smart drone\u2019 features come straight out of the box, not relying of third party developers to build these features as does the <a href=\"http:\/\/click.dji.com\/D-APGys4zqa3HxsO?pm=custom\">Phantom 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"blockgrid small-block-grid-1 medium-block-grid-2 large-block-grid-2 \">\n<li>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/solo-flight-500x500.jpg\" alt=\"3DR Solo\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" \/><figcaption>3DR Solo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/solo-controller-500x500.jpg\" alt=\"3DR Solo \u2013\u00a0Controller\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" \/><figcaption>Smart\u00a0Controller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Piece of mind<\/h2>\n<p>3DR seem very confident of their technology. For any technical issues resulting in airframe loss \/ damage, i.e, non-pilot error, they are offering flyaway replacements \u2014 not only the airframe, but the gimbal and GoPro too.<\/p>\n<p>As the smart controller is essentially the black box collecting and storing all the data (<em>&#8220;500 flight parameters during flight, ten times a second&#8221;<\/em>) even if you loose your airframe, the data is preserved and can even be instantly uploaded to the 3DR technical support team.<\/p>\n<p>This is a very assuring move by 3DR and will certainly put their customer support in a world beating position for these types of devices. Aside from user error, the biggest factor for crashes and flyaways is inevitably the software \/ hardware symbiosis.<\/p>\n<p>This type of offering will bring more much needed confidence, especially for new users.<\/p>\n<h2>Expandability<\/h2>\n<p>As I mentioned above, it\u2019s clear this product is a direct competitor to the <a href=\"http:\/\/click.dji.com\/D-APGys4zqa3HxsO?pm=custom\">DJI Phantom<\/a>. DJI have decided to not support third party cameras such as the GoPro (for the time being at least) on their latest <a href=\"http:\/\/click.dji.com\/D-APGys4zqa3HxsO?pm=custom\">Phantom 3<\/a> models, favouring their own camera offerings.<\/p>\n<p>While DJI have opened up third-party software development, where the Solo seems to differ greatly is its open nature regarding hardware expandability, in addition to software development.<\/p>\n<h3>Other Cameras<\/h3>\n<p>Speaking of opening up\u00a0hardware expandability, one prospect I&#8217;m particularly excited about is the potential to use different cameras. It would be very interesting to see if the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.blackmagicdesign.com\/products\/blackmagicmicrocinemacamera\">Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera<\/a>\u00a0could be utilised by the Solo.<\/p>\n<p>I read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3drobotics\/videos\/845637378850613\/\">on this Facebook post<\/a> that the Solo\u2019s estimated max. payload is conservatively around 800g. The BMMCC weighs in around 300g.\u00a0If a capable gimbal was produced and a lightweight lens used, the Solo + BMMCC could conceivably be a real possibility\u00a0\u2013 especially considering the expansion capabilities both the Solo and the BMMCC offer.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"blockgrid small-block-grid-1 medium-block-grid-2 large-block-grid-2 \">\n<li>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/bmmcc-500x500.jpg\" alt=\"Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" \/><figcaption>BMMCC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/bmmcc-flight-500x500.jpg\" alt=\"Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera Drone\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" \/><figcaption>Camera Advancements<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s an increasingly interesting time for multirotor drone technology. In the past few months, I&#8217;ve gone from considering an ALIGN M690L, to an <a href=\"http:\/\/click.dji.com\/D-APGys4Xr0MF5up?pm=custom\">Inpsire1<\/a>, and more recently to a <a href=\"http:\/\/click.dji.com\/D-APGys4zqa3HxsO?pm=custom\">Phantom 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Now I&#8217;m also considering the 3DR Solo although\u00a0I&#8217;m not sure the Solo&#8217;s, albeit useful, enhanced shot capture features would be enough to move me away from my current Phantom 2 \/ GP4 setup.<\/p>\n<p>The BMMCC&#8217;s 13 stop dynamic range capabilities has got me drooling and is certainly on my aerial camera wish list.\u00a0If I could\u00a0purchase a highly\u00a0portable airframe which would carry one with\u00a0decent endurance \u2013 I&#8217;ll be all over it.<\/p>\n<div class=\"links\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/3drobotics.com\/solo\/\">3DR Solo<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3drobotics\">3DR Facebook Page<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blackmagicdesign.com\/products\/blackmagicmicrocinemacamera\">Black Magic Micro Cinema Camera<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thoughts on the new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR, the world\u2019s first Smart Drone.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[52,5,54,19,25,24,7,53],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR - Jaybee Productions UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR will be released at the end of May. 3DR touts the quadcopter as \u201cthe world\u2019s first Smart Drone.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR - Jaybee Productions UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR will be released at the end of May. 3DR touts the quadcopter as \u201cthe world\u2019s first Smart Drone.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jaybee Productions UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-28T08:09:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-07-03T11:03:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.4muladesign.com\/clients\/jb\/assets\/uploads\/2015\/04\/solo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jaybee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jaybee\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/\",\"name\":\"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR - Jaybee Productions UK\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-28T08:09:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-03T11:03:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/#\/schema\/person\/231990d332b8549ce8d09f4bd1085aa0\"},\"description\":\"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR will be released at the end of May. 3DR touts the quadcopter as \u201cthe world\u2019s first Smart Drone.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/\",\"name\":\"Jaybee Productions UK\",\"description\":\"Designer &amp; Filmmaker - Bristol\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/#\/schema\/person\/231990d332b8549ce8d09f4bd1085aa0\",\"name\":\"jaybee\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/360ca2c40299db43f2204f71fb7529ff?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/360ca2c40299db43f2204f71fb7529ff?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jaybee\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/author\/jaybee\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR - Jaybee Productions UK","description":"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR will be released at the end of May. 3DR touts the quadcopter as \u201cthe world\u2019s first Smart Drone.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR - Jaybee Productions UK","og_description":"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR will be released at the end of May. 3DR touts the quadcopter as \u201cthe world\u2019s first Smart Drone.","og_url":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/","og_site_name":"Jaybee Productions UK","article_published_time":"2015-04-28T08:09:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-07-03T11:03:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":340,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.4muladesign.com\/clients\/jb\/assets\/uploads\/2015\/04\/solo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"jaybee","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jaybee","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/","url":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/","name":"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR - Jaybee Productions UK","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-04-28T08:09:32+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-03T11:03:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/#\/schema\/person\/231990d332b8549ce8d09f4bd1085aa0"},"description":"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR will be released at the end of May. 3DR touts the quadcopter as \u201cthe world\u2019s first Smart Drone.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/aerial-photography\/the-new-solo-quadcopter-from-3dr\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The new Solo Quadcopter from 3DR"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/","name":"Jaybee Productions UK","description":"Designer &amp; Filmmaker - Bristol","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/#\/schema\/person\/231990d332b8549ce8d09f4bd1085aa0","name":"jaybee","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/360ca2c40299db43f2204f71fb7529ff?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/360ca2c40299db43f2204f71fb7529ff?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"jaybee"},"url":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/author\/jaybee\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1371"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2146,"href":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371\/revisions\/2146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiebrightmore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}