After seeing this multiple places I figured it would be a good idea to post it.

http://myfirstdrone.com/news/phantom-4-rumors-leaks/

http://www.quadcopterguide.com/dji-phantom-4-rumors/

See these links for information and photos. I just received my Phantom 3 Pro on Friday and actually just returned it to B&H right now! What do you think about this news?

I'd always expect an update currently once a year - improved gimbal always nice, not sure about the integrated VPS System, 6K camera - well OK but with limited camera direction and not a lot of need for 6K currently I would have preferred a redesign to incorporate retractable landing gear and full 360 degree video.

To be honest if the rumours are true nothing grabs me by the balls and says need to buy than my P3P. So I'm hope I'm wrong!

CFM01 Posted at 2016-2-15 01:42
I'd always expect an update currently once a year - improved gimbal always nice, not sure about the  ...

Only thing that will get me interested is an better/bigger sensor, or radical battery life improvement, neither of which I see happening.

There would have to be something pretty spectacular for me to move up from the P3P right now.  Especially since I have only had it since last fall and haven't even had a full season to fly it.  I was having so much fun with my P2V+ I put off getting the P3 for a long time.  You can easily fan a train with the P2, not so easy with the P3.  It really doesn't like all the metal.  Not impossible, I just find it a lot more difficult to control.

There are a lot of things I would love to see as improvements.  However, all would take lots of battery power.  

Riley-NZL Posted at 2016-2-14 21:47
Only thing that will get me interested is an better/bigger sensor, or radical battery life improve ...

Same here on the camera front for better quality stills.  Not bothered about battery life, it's plenty for me.

Hey guys! I see you posted my article. Just wanted to let you know that I've updated it today with more info, and I have another post that is actually even more interesting than the first. It's about visual tracking:
http://myfirstdrone.com/news/gro ... evealed-dji-patent/

koreysmith@me.c Posted at 2016-2-14 20:03
Hey guys! I see you posted my article. Just wanted to let you know that I've updated it today with m ...

First of all, just want to say that I love your articles.  And second, WOW that is absolutely amazing technology! That is truly unbelievable and really excited for the Phantom 4.  Do you think that the sources that are saying a release on March 1st are accurate?

I'm not sure there has been any radical technology to improve battery life, so I don't see too much on that front for a while.
Better camera is possible
But selling drones is not just for those who want to take great images
I think with all the negative media attention on safety any drone manufacture will want to avoid making a product only a select user will buy.

koreysmith@me.c Posted at 2016-2-15 09:03
Hey guys! I see you posted my article. Just wanted to let you know that I've updated it today with m ...

Will be interested in the release price.
To get a solid 30 min of flight time would be nice.

koreysmith@me.c Posted at 2016-2-15 09:03
Hey guys! I see you posted my article. Just wanted to let you know that I've updated it today with m ...

That stuff is pretty cool, I guess only time will tell what makes it to the Phantom 4, but target tracking would be something I'd be keen to try out.

snowsurferss Posted at 2016-2-14 21:59
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec1EF2UaQ4U&feature=youtu.be

video looks too much like lily drone.

AFAIK there are no readily available small factor 6K cameras at present, so I don't believe that one.

I would like to see an M4/3 camera with improved quality lens and aperture control, but I am not going to hold my breath for that one.

I also don't believe there will be an improvement in battery life, new motors and ESCs wont enable greater battery life, only a larger battery will do that.

And I also don't have any faith in obstacle avoidance at this time either, because no-one has yet demonstrated a working drone with a practical obstacle voidance system. And by practical, I mean one that works at the full speed of the aircraft and can sense small features like whispy branches and power lines.

One of the biggest impediments to obstacle avoidance is that it has to work in all directions, and that requires a lot of sensors and processors using lots of power and weighing lots of grams.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE:

This announcement for the Phantom 4 on March 1 has been 100% confirmed by an authorized DJI Dealer. Although he could say much about it, the following was mentioned:
-Longer battery
-$500 more the the Phantom 3 Pro

And then of course the P3 price will drop. For $500 more, the P4 is going to have to have a ton of high tech technology! What are yr thoughts? Do you think it will be like the Phantom X concept? This is exciting stuff!!!

I really hope that when this is announced, they have a massive huge sale on the phantom 3 lines as I am sure the phantom 4 will be very very pricey,

I'm skeptical about longer flight times. Battery technology has not progressed greatly so it could be larger, more power, but adds to weight. More weight less flight time!

Obstacle avoidance is costly, plus I think it's a number of years before they could detect power cables although larger objects the technology is already there.

Better camera? Possibly more control but 4K is fine, there is little reason to go to 5 or 6k.

CFM01 Posted at 2016-2-15 18:17
I'm skeptical about longer flight times. Battery technology has not progressed greatly so it could b ...

There are lots of ways to make the camera better without increasing resolution.  It would be nice if you could remove it & upgrade it, like the inspire.

They already have a drone with longer flight time in the Matrice, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility.

nrgwise Posted at 2016-2-14 15:52
There would have to be something pretty spectacular for me to move up from the P3P right now.  Espec ...

what do you mean with fan a train with the p2 ,

why you say that the p2v+ is  beter ,  the p3 is really easy to control

nigelw Posted at 2016-2-15 13:39
There are lots of ways to make the camera better without increasing resolution.  It would be nice  ...

Matrice 100 USD $3299
Yeah, that is a nice machine.  I have a dream, to one day buy one of those..

GTDrone Posted at 2016-2-15 16:21
what do you mean with fan a train with the p2 ,

why you say that the p2v+ is  beter ,  the p3 is ...

I did not say the P2 is better, I said the P3 is more sensitive to metal which messes with the compass calibration.  I love to fly by trains.  With the P3 I get compass and IMU errors whenever I am near tracks.  The P2 is not so sensitive.  It is the same reason I can walk out of my office and into the parking lot and calibrate the compass and fly the P2 no problem.  Since the building is all metal, the P3 will not calibrate the compass unless I go about 250 yards away from the building.  In fact, although I have this huge warehouse with 50 foot ceilings that I could potentially fly the P3P inside of all winter, since it is all metal and steel beam construction the quad won't even power up properly.  I immediately get IMU errors, compass errors, makes no difference what mode the quad is set to fly in.  

The Matrice has a 40 min flight time with dual battery and no payload.

Geebax Posted at 2016-2-15 14:21
AFAIK there are no readily available small factor 6K cameras at present, so I don't believe that one ...

"I would like to see an M4/3 camera with improved quality lens and aperture control, but I am not going to hold my breath for that one. "

DJI already realased this: http://www.dji.com/product/zenmuse-x5s

Riley-NZL Posted at 2016-2-16 11:28
"I would like to see an M4/3 camera with improved quality lens and aperture control, but I am not  ...

Yeah, far, far too expensive for what it is and not able to be fitted to the Phantom.

nrgwise Posted at 2016-2-15 17:55
Fan a train

Head On

oooo i understand , thats true , when ever i try to calibrate the quad need to a desk or something like that it shows Calibration error .  i didn't that it doest happened with the p2v+ well it could happen also but not like the p3

thanks for answering

Geebax Posted at 2016-2-16 08:31
Yeah, far, far too expensive for what it is and not able to be fitted to the Phantom.

Quality costs money. No M4/3 is ever going to fit on a phantom, there simply to  heavy for such a small drone.

Riley-NZL Posted at 2016-2-16 12:02
Quality costs money. No M4/3 is ever going to fit on a phantom, there simply to  heavy for such a  ...

You could buy two Blackmagic Pocket Cinema cameras for the price of the X5, including decent Panasonic lenses. No, it is way above market price for what it is. Even a GH4 with good lens would cost less.

I didn't say what I wanted was practical, only that it is the only improvement that would tempt me.

I suspect a camera upgrade is the main feature that would tempt some- that means a larger sensor and perhaps 2x optical zoom.
Also, the retractable landing gear would leave more programming possibilities for the gimbal and yaw rates - maybe allowing for smoother videos from less experienced operators.

As I see it this is not to replace the P3 (like the P3 was to the P2), but perhaps to fill that part of the market which wants to spend a little more and get a little more.

As it stands DJI is losing $$ in that folks choose either the P3P for about $1150 or the Inspire for well over 2X that. They don't have anything in the $1600-$2300 complete range.

For what many (most?) of us do the P3 is probably more than enough, especially with some SDK apps and some firmware and software updates. But DJI wants to innovate and stay 2 steps ahead of the others - this way they can show this off at NAB and sell a LOT of them to the prosumers.

Geebax Posted at 2016-2-16 09:12
You could buy two Blackmagic Pocket Cinema cameras for the price of the X5, including decent Panaso ...

It's bound to drop in price over time, it's fairly new.

Also both those cameras you mentioned don't come with an gimbal, an Gimbal for the GH4 costs more then the whole X5 platform. Add to that you will need an S1000 to lift it as neither the inspire or phantom could lift an GH4+gimbal.

The X5 with the lens and gimbal also weighs less then the GH4 body by itself without an lens, a lot of what you are paying for in the cost involved in getting the weight down.

Riley-NZL Posted at 2016-2-16 13:27
It's bound to drop in price over time, it's fairly new.

Also both those cameras you mentioned don' ...

Whether it drops in price or not is not the issue, it is far too expensive for what it is, and DJI are not regarded as a prime camera manufacturing company, so they have no cred in terms of camera manufacture. As for the gimbal, you can buy a gimbal for A$400, so that does not account for the price.

The weight of the GH4 does not matter either, I am not advocating it as an aerial camera, I am saying what it costs in relation to the X5 is much less.

You can defend it all you like, but it is an extremely expensive camera for what you get, and just not worth the money.

Geebax Posted at 2016-2-16 10:42
Whether it drops in price or not is not the issue, it is far too expensive for what it is, and DJI ...

The weight of an GH4 DOES matter, the heavier it is, the more expensive the drone that has lift it is, and the more expensive the gimbal.

When you look at the whole package price of getting an X5 into the air, vs an Gh4,

Inspire 1 pro kit : $7800 AUD
GH4:  $5899 AUD for an S900 kit with gimbal for the GH4, without an battery ($$) or remote controller ($$), or camera ($1800AUD) or lens($$).

All of the sudden the X5 looks pretty cheap.........

Personally, I will wait.
Quality control has to improve for me to spend more money with DJI.
They just haven't convinced me that they are ready to start "improving" the next line when they can't fix the current line.
I will wait. New Phantom, and the price will drop just like the 3.
I don't mind spending money, but I am going to see how this pans out with a new version first.

Mike

Riley-NZL Posted at 2016-2-16 14:34
The weight of an GH4 DOES matter, the heavier it is, the more expensive the drone that has lift it  ...

Look, forget flying the GH4, I am not advocating it, nor am I going to try and do it.

I am talking about value for money, which the X5 is not. In my opinion. That's all, finito....

I will avoid talking to you in future because you seem to want to engage is a pissing contest every time.

Riley-NZL Posted at 2016-2-16 11:34
The weight of an GH4 DOES matter, the heavier it is, the more expensive the drone that has lift it  ...

Also forgot to add, you'll also need to purchase the DJI lightbridge for the GH4 setup....There goes another $1700 AUD

Geebax Posted at 2016-2-16 16:40
Look, forget flying the GH4, I am not advocating it, nor am I going to try and do it.

I am talking ...

How is not not value for money, please point me to where I can get better quality aerial video/photos, for less money?
Edit: Didn't even realise it was you! Feel free to end your engagement in this discussion with me if you wish. Although you genrally do bring good information/enlightments to discussions, I feel correcting miss-information is far from an "pissing match"

Riley-NZL Posted at 2016-2-16 15:18
How is not not value for money, please point me to where I can get better quality aerial video/phot ...

I don't see why you can't read what I have written, forget the aerial camera. Just consider value for money in terms of a camera.

Spending A$3,800 on an very ordinary camera compared to A$1240 for a GH4 body, or A$2020 for one with a superb Lumix f2.8 12-35mm lens is not good value for money.

DJI are not a recognised camera maker, and there are no rave reviews out there for the X5. It has few to no features at all compared to other 4K cameras. Why should I get excited about it?

And it is not misinformation, I am exprressing an opinion, and an opinion can be right, wrong or indifferent.

They key word is "senses", so it could be limited Sense & Avoid technology, similar to what Intel did for Yuneec recently.

CFM01 Posted at 2016-2-15 12:17
I'm skeptical about longer flight times. Battery technology has not progressed greatly so it could b ...

See the MIT demo of planes and quads flying full speed through a room filled with strings of yard.  entire room looks like a jumbled mess of a spider web and these quads and planes flying thrugh the room at a very fast pace and without human control avoid every obstacle.

CFM01 Posted at 2016-2-16 11:20
The Matrice has a 40 min flight time with dual battery and no payload.

Yes, and much bigger in size and should not be compared against a 350 quad for flight time capabilities.

All I want upgraded is the live video feed quality, from 720p to Lightbridge 2.Other than that, I am very happy with the P3P.

jayredone10@yah Posted at 2016-2-15 09:21
Will be interested in the release price.
To get a solid 30 min of flight time would be nice.

price and battery life! i hope it does not start at 1700 because 700 more than the phantom 3 is a lot. but to be able to get 30min flight time would be great!