by The DJI Mini 3 Pro has just taken flight, but it is already rumored that the king of drones will follow with a compact, indoor-friendly version of his DJI FPV model.
According to leaks from @OffersDrone Y @OsitaLVwho have previously been reliable sources of DJI rumours, the DJI Avata will be a much smaller version of the DJI FPV, which is a ‘First Person View’ drone that you fly with a headset.
Some early versions of the drone (below), which appear to be based on a DJI patent, show a drone with large prop guards and a very different design than DJI FPV. This suggests it will be a so-called ‘cinewhoop’ drone, which is known to be small, agile and ideal for indoor filming.
The @DealsDrone post claims that “Avata is compact and weighs around 500g”, that it “can fly indoors”, and that “photo quality is much better” than the DJI FPV, with a camera that could be in the ballpark of the Mini 3 Pro. That drone has a relatively large 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor, which could be useful for a drone designed to shoot primarily in low-light indoor conditions.
Avata is compact and weighs around 500g. Can fly indoors. The photo quality is much better (I guess the Mini 3 Pro is the same). Battery life has improved a lot. Manual mode is not supported. Head chasing mode. Vibration function. WUqpjXXEnKMay 15, 2022
Some of the other rumored features suggest that the DJI Avata will be aimed at beginners rather than experienced pilots. Apparently there will be a “head chasing mode” – perhaps referring to subject tracking – as well as “goggles” that can be attached to your smartphone.
Interestingly, @DealsDrone says that “manual mode is not supported”, which would be unusual for an FPV drone. Apparently, the DJI Avata will also have “greatly improved battery life,” which presumably refers to the DJI FPV’s relatively limited 20-minute flight time.
If you like the idea of shooting cinematic videos indoors like Tesla’s recent viral flight at its Giga Factory in Berlin, DJI’s next drone could be an exciting and specialized new option. And it looks like we won’t have to wait long for it to land, as @DealsDrone predicts a release date between “July and August”.
Analysis: The missing piece for DJI drones?
From flights through the bowling alley to Tesla’s impressive Giga Factory promotion, the little FPV drones have been behind some impressive and viral videos on social media in the last couple of years, so it would make a lot of sense for DJI to finally do an indoor-friendly ‘cinewhoop’. ‘ model.
Your current DJI FPV is a lot of fun, but quite large and designed more for shooting video outdoors, while your DJI Digital FPV system is an add-on to existing drones. The DJI Avata, meanwhile, appears to be an all-in-one cinewhoop-style drone, with a compact design and kickstands to make it safer to fly indoors.
Crucially, it’s also rumored to bring a camera similar to the one we recently saw on the DJI Mini 3 Pro. One of the big challenges of shooting indoors is the relative lack of light, which is why FPV drone pilots often they use GoPro cameras (or cut-down versions of them) to capture images.
GoPro actually made a dedicated FPV version of its Hero 10 Black action camera for this purpose, as you can see in our GoPro Bones hands-on review. So it looks like GoPro and DJI could once again go head-to-head in the drone space.
The difference between the GoPro Bones and the DJI Avata seems to be the audience they target. The GoPro camera is highly designed for DIYers in the FPV drone community who like to fly their drones manually.
But if the DJI Avata really lacks a manual mode, as rumors suggest, then it might be more aimed at beginners and hobbyists who want to shoot events like weddings without needing the impressive piloting skills that traditional FPV drones require.
