DJI Tello manufactured by Ryze is an excellent “Toy” Drone Camera that is available for under $100 USD on major online retail sites. While the drone may be OK for kids wanting to have fun, I think it needs the following features to make it useful to small filmmakers and videography enthusiasts.
- 1080p Camera (Vs. 720p camera currently available). The drone is not going to be kept on a Tripod and it can fly up to 10 meters. A 720p camera is just not going to be sufficient for any serious video shoot, especially as it’s going to be moving frequently.
- SD Card Holder for recording videos on the drone. Currently, the videos are being streamed to the phone and recorded on the phone. This affects the footage quality as video streaming over WiFi results in data loss and pixellation.
- GPS. Although the built-in visual sensors do a decent job of positioning and steady hovering, landing, etc. GPS is required for precise controls and smooth movements.
- 100 meters height. A drone should at least fly to a height of 100 meters, right? The current height limitation of 10 meters is a little too low.
- Joystick remote control. I am always wary of anything that is dependent on the phone or computer, especially for flying. Besides, a joystick is easier and more intuitive for manoeuvring.
Of course, DJI/Ryse might want to increase the price slightly for giving us these features, and I am OK with it. My only request to them is – keep the drone under 250 grams so that we would not need any licenses or registration to fly it.
I really like the DJI Tello and how it enables everyone to own and fly their own drone cameras. Just that they need to push their engineering a little bit more to make this product a huge success.
I am waiting 🙂
BTW, here is the DJI Tello Promo Video –