By the end of 2025….

[Mrktn]

What are your predictions on how much further drones will have advanced by the end of the new year. What features and capabilities do you expect to be on the Mini, Air and Mavic series?

 

[DARKSeifer]

Camera drones have already peaked, we've been on a plateau for several years. On 2025 they won't do much more things or images will get much better. A bit less noise, a bit better dynamic range, but talking about final image wise, no one will tell the difference if you made an architectural photo with a Mavic 3 or a Mavic 4, for example.

• The Mavic 4 has a camera that can tilt upwards +80º so it prevents camera bumps while flying fast and can do 360º shots without a hole in the sky. It's also useful for photogrammetry or inspections.
• The Matrice 4T comes in a foldable factor, has a laser range finder, thermal, zoom and standard cameras and inbuilt RTK module.
• The Flip is coming out soon.
• There seems to be another little FPV coming out.

On the hobby side, drones will still be a marginal hobby as overregulation and bans tighten over, and the mass media keep promoting paranoia over flying cameras (NJ for example).

On the positive side, drone-hacks seems to keep up with the releases and almost every DJI drone can be hacked to remove the limits. It would be a nice addition if they'd be able to disable RID/Aeroscope too.

On the personal side, I'll probably get a Mavic 4 as soon as it gets hacked, and I also want to pick a thermal drone this year. Now that the M3T enterprise can be hacked to FCC mode, I will probably pick that one second hand.

The meta seem to not be drones anymore, but bipedal robots and AI, that will peak in 10-15 years rendering human workforce obsolete, because they can work on any place on the fly, unlike the robot arms that we've had until now that needed a fully customized factory. Hal, bring me a beer and cut the grass while I long range with my drone, thanks

 

[Mrktn]

Scary stuff. Just seen on the news the Chinese are making taxis using drone technology.

I agree with much of your predictions. Interesting to revisit this in December to see if contributors predictions become reality

Happy new year to you!

 

[Cafguy]

On the hobby side, drones will still be a marginal hobby as overregulation and bans tighten over, and the mass media keep promoting paranoia over flying cameras (NJ for example).

I would just add the fact that if DJI does not release the Air Unit4's we have all seen and that some reviewers HAVE, Soon Walksnail is gonna put a HUGE dent in DJI's FPV Hobbyist sales.

 

[DougMcC]

Possible ASP-C camera sensor???

 

[Oldwest2]

Camera drones have already peaked, we've been on a plateau for several years. On 2025 they won't do much more things or images will get much better. A bit less noise, a bit better dynamic range, but talking about final image wise, no one will tell the difference if you made an architectural photo with a Mavic 3 or a Mavic 4, for example.

• The Mavic 4 has a camera that can tilt upwards +80º so it prevents camera bumps while flying fast and can do 360º shots without a hole in the sky. It's also useful for photogrammetry or inspections.
• The Matrice 4T comes in a foldable factor, has a laser range finder, thermal, zoom and standard cameras and inbuilt RTK module.
• The Flip is coming out soon.
• There seems to be another little FPV coming out.

On the hobby side, drones will still be a marginal hobby as overregulation and bans tighten over, and the mass media keep promoting paranoia over flying cameras (NJ for example).

On the positive side, drone-hacks seems to keep up with the releases and almost every DJI drone can be hacked to remove the limits. It would be a nice addition if they'd be able to disable RID/Aeroscope too.

On the personal side, I'll probably get a Mavic 4 as soon as it gets hacked, and I also want to pick a thermal drone this year. Now that the M3T enterprise can be hacked to FCC mode, I will probably pick that one second hand.

The meta seem to not be drones anymore, but bipedal robots and AI, that will peak in 10-15 years rendering human workforce obsolete, because they can work on any place on the fly, unlike the robot arms that we've had until now that needed a fully customized factory. Hal, bring me a beer and cut the grass while I long range with my drone, thanks

I think your summarization is spot on, I too think the camera side might have peaked or close to it, but DJI might surprise us in the near future with camera advances.

 

[MARK (LI)]

I would like some system that can filter out at least most of the motor noises and pick up the rest of the audio

 

[hank970]

Possible ASP-C camera sensor??

Possible ASP-C camera sensor???

As a general rule, the larger the sensor, the larger and heavier the lens(es) needed for compatibility. And so, on a relatively lightweight and inexpensive prosumer model like most of us own and use, an APS-C sensor would probably be out of the question. If you're willing to pay for the kind of drones that Hollywood filmmakers use, then the sky's the limit.

 

[moldorf]

something I've wondered about:

is it feasible (both technically and expense-wise) to install a laser range-finder on the bottom of a drone in order to determine the actually altitude above ground?

 

[Mrprop365]

I would like some system that can filter out at least most of the motor noises and pick up the rest of the audio

That's actually possible being that DJI is inching their way into the mic industry with their new Mic mini.