YUNEEC E30Z 30x Optical Zoom Drone Camera

YUNEE has a new E30Z 30x optical zoom camera that works in combination with the company’s H520 Hexacopter.

If you want to know more about the H520 drone there is a video above. Due to the drone’s unique design, other cameras can be swapped in and out depending on your requirements.

The YUNEEC E30Z comes equipped with a 30x optical zoom, which can be further enhanced by 6x digital zoom. The focal length of the zoom is 29 mm – 872 mm.

The camera has a variable aperture of F1.6 (Wide) to F4.7 (Tele). YUNNEC claims that you can go from the widest to the longest focal length in just 2.55 seconds. Above you can see the kind of reach the zoom has.

The camera uses a 1/2.8 inch CMOS sensor and it can only record in is HD resolutions. You can record in 25/30/50/60 fps. There is no 23.98p or 24p mode available. Files get recorded in MP4. There is no information about the bitrates.

The ISO can be manually set from 100-6400 ISO and the white balance can be set to Auto or manually adjusted between 2000-10000K.

Having a camera with a long focal reach can certainly be useful for certain applications when flying a drone. I imagine law enforcement and fire and rescue teams would find this very beneficial. Filmmakers could also come up with some interesting shots while maintaining a safe distance from obstacles or people.

Specific camera settings such as photography modes or white balance can be adjusted using the ST16S controller’s integrated touch screen. The focusing of the camera is done automatically via autofocus.

Built-in 3-axis gimbal with 360° rotation

The E30Z comes with a 3-axis gimbal that YUNEEC says automatically compensates for slight gusts of wind and drone movements. It works with ± 0.02° accuracy. The gimbal can achieve 360 degrees of rotation once the landing gear has been retracted.

Price & Availability

I couldn’t find any information about the price, but it is expected to start shipping in Spring 2020.