Recently it has become quite popular for people to use a drone to film themselves. Usually it being for sports. However that can be quite impossible to achieve when you have to use radio control to fly the thing. Thankfully though, GPS functionality has gotten better and more affordable.
Autonomous Video Drones
Firstly what do we mean by autonomous? Well it’s simple, you can choose a path on a digital map that you want your drone to follow. This means that you don’t have to use a controller to fly the drone. Instead you can for example make it shoot a video of you riding a bike down a hill.
To be honest this is quite new in the commercial drone industry. In a weird way though they don’t cost that much more than drones that don’t have that functionality.
IRIS+ By 3D Robotics
This is one of the best GPS drones out there by far. 3D Robotics has been in the commercial drone market for a long time and has insane experience in the drone industry.
IRIS+ is a highly capable aerial video quadcopter. With a price of $750 it competes with companies like DJI. What makes IRIS+ stand out is the features and high build quality. For example it can fly for 20 minutes which is a lot for quadcopters. Secondly it has a full on 3PV Follow Me mode which makes the drone follow you! Not to mention they have clever software for tablets which lets you easily draw a path you want your IRIS+ to follow.
Another clever thing with the IRIS+ is that you can choose for extras to be added. Such as gimbal, propellers, legs, LiveView for GoPro which allows you to fly FPV. If you wish to buy one with extras then you’ll have to visit the 3D Robotics website.
HEXO+
HEXO+ is a brand new completely autonomous drone that is made for aerial filming. Unlike most other drones, you don’t control the HEXO+. What you do is set your framing in their special app and you are good to go. The drone follows and films your every move exactly how you set the frame.
HEXO+ has not been released to the public yet. It was funded on Kickstarter and managed to get over 1.3 million dollars. You can pre-order the drone on their website hexoplus for a price of $1149, which includes a GoPro Gimbal. Shipping has been said to start in September 2015.
Since HEXO+ has not been released yet, there is not much to know about the drone. Personally I would wait till the official release and see what others think.
