Drones have made aerial photography and videography more accessible than ever before, but getting professional-looking shots is still fairly tricky. Unless you’ve had years of practice, it’s pretty difficult to fly a drone and control a camera at the same time.
That’s where the Solo comes in. 3DRobotics designed this $800 bird specifically for shooting aerial video, and equipped it with a range of autonomous flight modes that make it easier to capture those smooth, sexy, professional-looking cinematic shots. We took it for a spin to find out if it can compete with DJI’s Phantom 4 as the beginner’s drone of choice.
Features
This drone has a lot going on under the hood, so let’s start with what sets it apart from other drones on the market.
For starters, the Solo is the only drone on the market right now that boasts not one, but two dedicated 1GHz Cortex-A9 Linux computers. There’s one in the controller, and one onboard the drone itself that handles all high-level flight scripting, freeing Solo’s Pixhawk 2 autopilot to focus solely on keeping the copter in the air. This configuration makes the drone incredibly reliable, as there’s a much lower chance of a firmware freeze.
It’s abundantly clear that the Solo is a tough little toy.
Second of all, you won’t find a camera on this drone. You’ll need to bring your own GoPro to the party, and it’s only compatible with Hero models 3, 3+ and 4. Obviously, the downside of this is that if you don’t already own a GoPro, you’ll need to drop an extra $400 or $500 before you can film anything from the air. The upside? You’re not married to the same camera forever, and can upgrade to a nicer model when better tech becomes available. And if you’ve already got a GoPro handy, you’re golden.
3DR didn’t just bolt a GoPro mount on the bottom of the drone and call it good — the company actually worked with GoPro to build a custom drone integration. Once your camera is plugged in, you can control all its settings during flight, right from the 3DR controller. The two might be sold separately, but they work together like a team.
Third, this drone can fly like a bat out of hell. 3DR doesn’t boast about it very much, but Solo can hit over 55 MPH if you take the training wheels off. That’s 10 MPH faster that DJI’s new Phantom 4, and it’ll go even faster with a good tailwind behind it. If you need a drone that can keep up with a car, motorcycle, snowboard, mountain bike, or anything else that moves fast, Solo would be a fantastic choice.
Solo’s autonomous flight modes, which include Selfie, Cable Cam, Orbit, and Follow, are designed to make it easier to get professional-looking aerial video. The drone handles all the flight, which allows you to focus solely on capturing a great shot. Cable Cam mode, for example, allows you to choose two different points for the drone to fly between, like it’s zipping down an invisible cable. Along the way, you have full manual control over where the camera is pointing. There’s also Orbit Mode, which tells the drone to fly in a wide circle around the point of your choosing; Follow Me, which is self-explanatory; and even a Selfie mode, in which the drone will focus the camera on you, then fly up and back to create a dramatic reveal shot.
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends
That’s not all. In addition to these autonomous flight modes, Solo also has a number of flight modes that provide advanced pilots with full (or only slightly assisted) manual control over the drone’s flight. We’ll spare you the gory details on all that — all you really need to know is that Solo basically offers a full spectrum of flight options. It’s got everything from fully unrestricted manual control, all the way up to totally autonomous, push-of-a-button flight — and everything in between.
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