Hey All -

Considering purchasing a DJI and curious if it is capable of a sideways tracking shot - for example while I am driving down the road if I point my camera out the drivers window that is what I am trying to replicate.

this is to be used for real estate and driving down a street but instead of focusing forward I want to focus the camera sideways.  Looking at buying the Phantom 4 to do this?

Thank you in advacnce?

The Phantom 4 is only able to point the camera in the "forward" direction , but you can track an object abeam of the quadcopter by piloting the aircraft sideways.   The obstacle avoidance feature in the Phantom 4 will not detect obstacles to the side, so that feature will bot be of assistance while doing this.  But yes, the Phantom 4 will be able to do this about as well as a Phantom 3 can, with the added bonus that you might be able to use ActiveTrack feature of the Phantom 4 to track your vehicle, provided your speed is limited to the sideways speed capabilities of the Phantom 4.   There are some limited test videos of this feature online, but experiences are quite limited since they are not really out in the wild yet (I have one here at home eagerly awaiting the DJI GO app update so it can fly).   Also note that ActiveTrack may not produce the straight side tracking you are looking for, but have a look at the videos (google should pick them up easily for you) and see what you think.

The Phantom 4 includes the Intelligent Flight Modes of previous models. The mode that you want is the Course Lock mode that allows you to set a heading that the aircraft flies and you can then rotate the craft to point left or right. You can use this for flying down the street of a property while turning the camera to the left or right to film the property as if driving by. Take a look at this tutorial video from DJI: