By technical editor Matt Allard:
DJI has announced the release of new Intelligent Flight Modes for the Phantom 3 and Inspire 1 via new firmware. The modes allow for simpler flying, allowing you set up pre-planned routes that the craft will follow. For users, the ability to have the Phantom or Inspire do most of the work for you should make getting good shots easier.
Here are all the new features available according to DJI:
Waypoints
Record a flight path, then tell your Phantom 3 or Inspire 1 to fly along the same path repeatedly while you control the camera and orientation. Save your favorite missions, customize speed, and more.
Point of Interest
Tell your Phantom 3 or Inspire 1 to automatically revolve around a designated object, person, or place in a perfect circle. Automatic and customizable, get shots that only experts could before.
Follow Me (Phantom 3 series only)
Tell your Phantom 3 to follow you, and it automatically flies and keeps you in the camera’s view you wherever you go.
Home Lock
Customize your flight controls to be relative to you at all times. Flick a switch, and forward/backward and left/right flight will be set in relation to the Home Point.
Course Lock
Easily fly along a set path by putting your platform into Course Lock, which sets all flight controls to directions relative to its current heading.
Note: Intelligent Flight Modes are only available when sufficient GPS signal is available. Always fly safely and with your hands on the controller at all times, even when using these automatic functions.
To take advantage of these features, visit your product’s download page at DJI.com, download and install the latest firmware, and update the DJI GO app to the latest version (iOS V2.2.0 and Android V2.1.0 ). With this firmware update, the Phantom 3 Advanced will also be upgraded to support 2.7K (2704x1520p30) video recording.
Inspire 1 Latest Firmware：v1.4.0.10 | DOWNLOAD NOW |
Phantom 3 Professional/Advanced Latest Firmware：v1.4.0010 | DOWNLOAD NOW |
Phantom 3 Standard Latest Firmware：v1.1.0030 | DOWNLOAD NOW |
UPDATE:
Paul Antico has just tested out the new firmware and here are his thought-
“I had a chance yesterday to update my DJI inspire 1 with the latest firmware and give it a test run at a local park. While the Inspire 1 does not gain the follow me function, all the other new intelligent flight modes are included.
Perhaps the most interesting for filmmakers is the new point of interest and waypoint modes. Both seemed extremely accurate in my testing, and quite flexible. I was able to do controlled, very smooth orbits around objects as small as a person as long as the diameter of the circle was 15 feet or greater.
Waypoints are recorded in flight, and can be saved as missions for later use allowing you to repeat the same shots over and over. Notably, it is not the same as the ground station concept previously available when you plot points on a map; you must fly in the new “F” mode to set them.
The maximum distance allowed for waypoint setting is 500 meters (about 1/3 a mile.) Once you fly and set your way points, which includes full height of course and distance and orientation of the aircraft, you can have the aircraft play it back at any flight velocity you want: fast or slow. You then maintain independent control of the camera while it’s flying. On the Inspire in particular this is of great use because you have a nearly full 360° panning capability without obstructions. Unlike on the Phantom 3 series, where you would have to program your pans in using the yaw of the aircraft in advance, on the Inspire you do not have to do this. The aircraft flies at any orientation, and you can control the camera at any angle without obstruction while it flies. I found this function quite useful. The aircraft becomes like a dolly track in the sky and you can get very smooth and controlled shots as a single operator using this functionality.
I’ve been using the inspire 1 since its release in late December of 2014. The firmware has come a long way since, and is quite reliable now in most respects. The DJI Go app too is quite an improvement on the original. What was already a great filmmaking tool has only gotten significantly better with this latest update and I encourage all filmmakers in particular to move onto this new version. ”
