The main purpose of consumer-level users buying UAVs is aerial shooting. However, follow-ups and ring-shots require skilled operations to complete. This huge user threshold may not even be noticed by Dajiang’s giants.
The FLYPRO flying leopard XEagle smart sport drone that we experience today is the first drone to be redesigned for the consumer-level crowd. Regardless of whether or not the drone was previously known, it may refresh everyone's understanding of drones. Let's take a look at this drone, which is quite novel:
FLYPRO Flying Leopard XEagle Sports Edition, priced at 3899 yuan
Measurementmm (without paddle), diagonal wheelbase 350mm, weight 1270g
Hovering Accuracy ±0.5m Vertically, plus or minus 1m Horizontally
Maximum following speed 15m/s, GPS/GLONASS dual mode
16 million pixels, 1/2.3 inch CMOS
F2.8 aperture, wide-angle horizontal 105 degrees, diagonal 140 degrees
2.8K@24fps,2.5K@30fps,1080P@60fps,720P@120fps
Smart watch maximum remote control distance 300m, 450mAh battery
5200mAh (57.7Wh) battery weighs 370g and has a maximum flying time of 22 minutes
FLYPRO Flying Leopard XEagle intelligent sports drones use pure black carton packaging. Machines and accessories are protected by environmental protection brackets. Manual information such as warranty covers is in black envelopes.
FLYPRO vigorously integrates the settings of the drone. Except for the remote watch (official name XWatch) and the rotary wing bag, all other accessories are installed in the power box.
The rotor flaps are provided with two sets of rotors. The power box is the charger for drones and remote-controlled watches, as well as spare feet for drones.
The maximum output of the drone power is 12.6V/4A, totaling 50.6W. The common two-pin plug is used. The drone battery end comes with a cover. This is praised.
The watch uses a fool-proof magnetic interface. Only the correct direction can be absorbed. The charger outputs 5V/1A. The built-in 450mAh battery in the watch requires about 1 hour for 0-100 charging.
The biggest difference between the FLYPRO Fighter XEagle and the common drone is its remote control. The manufacturer integrates the remote control and operating logic into the shape of a watch.
The appearance of the remote control watch XWatch is an enlarged version of an outdoor watch. The back of the silicone watch band has a pattern that improves breathability and wearing comfort. The dial on the front dial is an 8 position adjustment knob, and the side is a commonly used function button. The specific function will be described in detail below.
Although the manufacturers are very black technology to the remote control of radio modules and chips drone into the watch, but the XWatch still larger than the conventional watch a circle. Fortunately, the weight of the watch is lighter, and the silicone strap is soft and docile. It is still relatively comfortable to wear, and there is no problem with running, cycling or even extreme sports.
FLYPRO Flying Leopard XEagle fuselage with silver and black color matching, the overall design has a ribbed edge, the surface of the matte treatment with a reflective metal-like, appearance is estimated to compare the taste of technology users.
XEagle's name carries the meaning of "eagle". The front direction light has a bionic design similar to that of the Hawkeye. The rotor arm is also not a common open drone, but extends from the main arm of the forward-swept wing design. But in fact, after seeing this appearance, the author thinks of the Panthers in the Avenger League wearing a shocked armour...
Rotor has a factory logo and a simple coating. Adjacent motors have different color coating and rotor installation directions. The fool-proof design is very good.
The FLYPRO Leopard XEagle is equipped with a 5200mAh battery and can maintain a flying time of about 20 minutes. The battery compartment is designed for pull-out and comes with a battery indicator and drone switch.
PTZ and bracket
The UAV comes with a PTZ protection bracket and a lens cap.
The FLYPRO Leopard XEagle put the mirco-USB interface for debugging on the PTZ mount. The four silicone balls are hard and medium hard. The main components of the PTZ are metal materials. The material is unexpectedly thick. It may be to increase the "unsprung" weight to improve stability.
camera
The camera is fixed to the head with a metal bracket and a side mini-USB connector. Unscrew the screw to pull out the camera. Although this kind of structure will increase the weight, it leaves room for the upgrade of the camera behind. This is a design idea that the author is more in favor of.
Similar to the camera layout and sports camera, the front is the status display and switch, and the side has a selection button.
The card slot is on the bottom of the camera, and the memory card can be replaced directly without removing the camera. The battery compartment is on the back. The battery capacity of the camera is 1600mAh, but the camera is directly powered by the drone, so this data has no effect...
App, camera and remote
The machine adopts a self-locking design and can be tightened against the color. In addition, the boot mode of the machine is not the common "short press and long press" of the drone, but it is changed to a long press switch that is closer to beginner logic.
We got the sports version this time. Although its app can display the picture in close range (within 10m), the main purpose is to wirelessly export pictures and videos taken by the drone. Flight control features are only available on the later Premium and Professional Editions.
After the camera is connected to the camera's wifi, it can be connected, and it can perform live view and adjust the exposure, resolution, video resolution and frame rate. Even the buffer duration can be customized. The default buffer time is 300ms (0.3 second), the machine The actual picture is delayed by about 3 seconds, similar to common sports cameras.
In practical terms, XEagle's most special is its remote control. It makes the common unmanned bulky remote control a "smart watch", retains one-click take-off, return flight, and other buttons, and makes the surround and follow functions that only high-end drones have.
The dial and dial knobs control the flying height and direction. At the top are shutters for taking photos and videos. The watch can show the strength of the connection and the GPS signal. The lower part is the relative height and horizontal distance between the drone and the watch, and the bottom is the flight status and flight time prediction of the drone.
Actual operation and use
FLYPRO Flying Leopard XEagle is one of the very few drones to achieve truly minimalist operation. The operation has been drastically transformed for 360 degree loop shooting and target tracking. The most intuitive change is canceling the direction and thrust/direction control joystick on the remote control of the drone, and the actual operation is buttoned.
Because the operation modes are completely different, the operations are described below in the order of use. After the remote control and drone are turned on, no manual calibration is needed. The machine and watch will position themselves by GPS. Wait until the indicator light on the underside of the arm turns green to take off:
Take off: long press a key to take off for 4 seconds, the watch vibrates and unlocks the motor to take off, the machine will automatically hover after taking off;
Return flight: Short press vertically to descend. Click again during landing to re-enter hover. Long press to start returning. If the flight altitude is less than 15 meters, the machine will fly to 15 meters and then return to the takeoff point and descend vertically. During the return journey, a short press may also enter the hover.
Shutter: Short press to take a picture, long press the video. There will be a flashing icon on the watch during recording.
The above is the most common operation of drones, different parts of the style will come:
Height adjustment knobs: In hover and surround modes, scrolling up/down can control the machine's rise/fall. When following the pattern, pushing it will move up and down by 1 meter.
Circular azimuth knob: Although the robot head has the ability to automatically track the target, but the drone hover after the intense action, the flight buffer action in the process may cause the lens orientation and the target to be misaligned for a short time, so the dial is used 8 azimuth knobs for precise adjustment of the drone's position.
360 surround key: Short press will start with the user as the center, 360 turns around with a distance of 5 meters, and a short press stops. Short press when hovering, the machine will center around 10 meters in front of the nose. This mode is used to shoot fixed objects.
One-key follow key: After short press, the machine will follow the horizontal distance of the watch wearer by 5 meters, and short press again to stop following. In addition, the height limit of this model is 50 meters and the minimum is 3 meters.
Contour follow: This is a self-contained recognition function, no operation, but it is a very important and practical feature. When climbing a mountain or shooting on a site with obvious gradients, the drone needs to follow the height change of the target to make height adjustments, so as to ensure that the drone will not hit the obstacle when following, and secondly, ensure the smoothness of the shooting picture.
The XEagle drone adopts a completely different technical route from Dajiang's visual identity and zero-degree TOF/ultrasound avoidance. Feibao made a remote control watch and added GPS positioning to allow the drone to automatically surround and follow the user's location. The complete solution is simple and crude, saving a lot of circuit and mechanical structure, and the reliability is even higher.
The greatest use experience of the machine is certainly peace of mind. Without any training, the drone can be directly manipulated by clicking a button on the instruction sheet, and the surround and follow operations that were previously performed smoothly by high-end users can also be realized directly. It is worth mentioning that its position control method, because there is no common joystick, the machine needs to move in the follow mode, the user is like playing AR games such as Pokémon GO, through the actual movement of the control of the position of the drone And direction.
In this way, we can let the drone automatically follow the video while running or cycling. Because the GPS signal that follows the watch, whether it is around, or suddenly change or accelerate, the drone will not lose. And drones have a top speed of 50 km/h, and they can follow even if they are sitting in a car.
In addition, whether it is a 360 degree loop or follow, the UAV's camera has always been automatically chasing the operator to move, with the direction and height knob can shoot the kind of high-strength screen around the rise / fall of the film.
The direct integration of the remote control into the watch also brings a completely different meaning. The drone operator and the person to be shot can be the same person, which means that even if only one person can shoot the aerial photography that everyone sees online Video. The user's hands can be liberated while exercising outdoors. To a certain extent, this is actually a high-tech selfie tool.
http://player.youku.com/embed/XMTY3OTEzNzQ5Ng
In actual flight, the machine is able to fly and follow wind resistance and response speeds well. In the video, it can be found that when the pan/tilt automatically follows the photographer, the rotation is relatively smooth, and it is more than sufficient to shoot outdoor sports video highlights.
Imaging, the camera comes with a camera equipped with 1/2.3 inch CMOS, you can shoot 16 million pixels, resolution 46,438,456 photos, supports 2.8K @ 24fps, 2.5K @ 30fps, 1080P @ 60fps, 720P @ 120fps video capture. Lens F2.8 aperture, official wide-angle horizontal 105 degrees, diagonal 140 degrees, is the level of ultra-wide-angle, the camera comes with support for picture correction, but it will lose part of the clarity.
We shot with the highest wide-angle maximum pixel by default, and the camera's field of vision is more than twice that of a normal mobile phone. The first look is quite shocking. As a price, there will be more obvious wide-angle distortion at the edge of the picture, and the power of discrimination will be affected. The automatic white balance of the machine is more accurate, the metering is more conservative, and the latitude is high. At over 3pm on a cloudy day, even without HDR/WDR (High Dynamic Range), it is enough to accommodate the shadow details of the sky and the shadows at the bright spot, and the overall camera performance of the camera is remarkable.
In the video section, we shoot with 2.5K30fps more suitable for the motion scene and open WDR. As you can see from the video screenshots, after the WDR is turned on, the metering of the machine is obviously brighter, the picture is brighter than what the naked eye can see, and the dark details are quite rich. The difference between the resolution of the video and the proofs is not big. This is quite a big surprise.
to sum up
The FLYPRO Flying Leopard XEagle smart drone is just like the one specially designed for outdoor sports and travel lovers. The operation is simple and can be completed with one hand. It does not depend on the second person to shoot, allowing us to focus more on sports and Traveling fun.
However, this setting is not perfect. First of all, we cannot control the speed and distance when we wrap around. Although shooting is a breeze, there are few controls. It is impossible to directly control the direction setting, but it will make the senior drone users less secure.
However, even if its use is limited to more drones than DJI and Xiaomi, for most users who want to follow and wrap around, this customized drone that simplifies operation is more like Is a professional tool.