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tgr news |snap |google news |flying camera |drone |dji phantom |dji inspire |4k
Retailing for $895 and weighing just over a pound, the Snap is big news for amateur filmmakers. Snap photo.
The latest drone to hit the market, Snap, weighs just a hair over one pound, is controlled directly by your smartphone, and comes apart in seconds to be easily tossed in a backpack. Developed by a bunch of Stanford nerds and a DARPA Grand Challenge winner (A Department of Defense contest for autonomous vehicles), Snap is looking to be one of the most consumer-friendly drones on the market (although it's developers call it a "flying camera" instead), and at $895 retail, jumps into the market at the lower end of the price scale alongside the popular DJI Phantom 3.
The Snap packs a 4K gimbal-stabilized camera with a 20-minute flight time and a top speed of 30 mph and, so they say, faster acceleration than a Ferrari. Unfortunately, we don't have the resources to test this claim, but we could definitely put it up against an Outback or Tacoma. It also sports an auto-tracking mode, perfect for following you down the trail or up a rock wall, along with pre-packaged modes like "orbit" and "out and back."
Controlled from your smartphone and with blade protectors that keep the drone airborne even after it's bumped into something. Snap photo.
On the shooting side, the Snap uses a Sony Exmor IMX 377 1 / 2.3” camera sensor to capture 4K images at 30 frames per second, and can shoot 1080p at 120 frames per second. While TGR's resident drone pilot, Austin Hopkins, says the Snap is too small and lightweight for TGR to consider using it in its regular production shoots, he is a big fan of what this drone is capable of for personal use. "To have a drone that's this easy to use, that you can control from your phone, and that shoots 1080 at 120 fps is ridiculous," Austin said.
For now, TGR will continue using bigger drones like the DJI Inspire, which handle better in the wind and carry a better camera, but for everyday amateurs, the Snap is something that they might actually be able to afford and, given its small size of roughly a square foot fully assembled and half that packed down, something they might actually bring with them. After all, the best camera is the one you have with you. The Snap is now available for pre-order and will start shipping in spring 2016.