The new EVOLVE video drone from XDynamics is a interesting new product, XDynamics is have stepped away from the race to the bottom that currently drives the drone market, and instead they have aimed to product a higher end product, think leica vs panasonic profiling, they have produced a immaculately manufactured carbon fiber drone with interchangeable cameras, which come supported by US tech-support. click through to see how this stacks up.
Concept
Its hard to miss the attention to details on the EVOLVE, is deliberately build for the kind of people who buy the nicer tool for the job rather than the cheapest tool that will do the job. so if you are the kinda person who enjoy the finer things in life, definitely read on.
For starters the EVOLVE combine several components of a professional video platform into a backpack-able system, including a professional grade video downlink, interchangeable camera / and or sensors, and also the tablet for controlling all of this is wrapped into the complete system.
UNBOX
Cameras
The EVOLVE ships with a 1/2.3 camera in the standard configuration, the camera is very good, a strictly 4K / 12megapix which should give some benefits form not needing to interpolate video from a higher resolution sensor.
The camera feature a glass lens with multi-coating, and a quick test on a pin-light-source suggest that the lens indeed have good properties in terms of clarity / contrast / internal flare, its a sharp lens with little internal flare, resulting in crisp images with good contrast.
The camera operate with 60mbps and offer h.264 h.265 compression options,
Personally, I find h.265 do capture more fine details for sure, but its also more complicated to edit with, i typically think about h.265 as raw for compressed video, more effort will get you more details, but its not always the extra layers of complexity is worth the results.
The video and stills from the camera are indeed very sharp and detailed, and video holds up well in editing. That said, the camera is strictly 12megapix, its probably not going to appeal as much to still photographers as it will to videographers.
The M43 camera
We are still waiting for final details on the m43, however from previews the camera appears very well put together, and xDynamic's have sourced a high-end sensor to bring the best possible in m43 4K for the EVOLVE package.
The camera CONNECTOR
The connector is surprisingly simple, a modern clean connector with gold plated contact points and no fuss mounting of the camera. The vibration damper system is embedded in the body of the drone and only the quick-connect mount is visible, its a matter of turning the ring a quarter turn to release or secure a camera or sensor.
Many of us who fly pro or semi pro video rigs, remember the "surge in the force" when it became clear that our XT and X5raw cameras could not be transferred to the inspire-2 platform... ARGH.. the pain. Obviously we also understand that DJI changed the entire recording system, but we still hated to retire perfectly good cameras that could serve use for years to come.
With that event in mind, for me XDynamics announcement that they will be supporting the gimbal - camera mounting standard on future birds is refreshing and helps calm my nerves about buying camera and sensor packages for a platform we all know will be updated in a couple years.
Amimon CONNEX video downlink
Uniquely XDynamics did not develop a in-house video downlink, but instead partnered with one of the industry leaders, Amimon is a established manufacture of broadcast video links. XDynamics are utilizing this relationship by including a 1080p 60fps live downlink with ultra short delay, and have a HDMI port on the controller, the drone operator can plug a video monitor directly into the controller for the DP to view the shoot, or you could plug the controller HDMI into a concert big screen or a live-broadcast van system for event coverage.
This is a feature that probably will appeal to broadcast news types, as high-quality broadcast grade video output without needing additional systems can be a real time saver and also control total system cost.
For the rest of us, well no doubt we will enjoy the clear video on the handheld controller, and I for one will be plugging in my FatShark goggles for sure.
*I should mention the CONNEX system is completely integrated, no visible video-link antennas and XDynamics have managed to completely integrate the connex ground station antennas into the lid of the radio controller unit.
BODY
As mentioned before, xDynamic's aim to be the leica of video drones, and the body definitely live up to the expectations. Made from 3K Twill Carbon Fiber, the body is immaculate, absolutely beautiful, the overall fit-n-finish sets a new standard for video drone appearance, its a drone that begs to be admired over and over.
The EVOLVE body adhere to a simple concept, a long body, with raised arms and forward mounted camera, this give good clearance to keep props out of the video.
The main body is 3K Twill Carbon Fiber, on top there is a plastic cover to permit GPS signals for the flight controller, gotta say, the main body frame is like a work of art in CarbonFiber, this frame keep the motors firmly locked together, and result in a tight locked in flight experience.
The legs carries the control link and Connex video down-link.
LIDAR altimeter
All modern video drones, have some kinda low-level altimeter, most use acoustic (ultrasound) sensors for this task. Unlike most, the EVOLVE have chosen LIDAR for close to ground altimeter, LIDAR is the same technology used on self-driving cars to create a 3D map of the surroundings, LIDAR carries two advantages over acoustic altimeters, for starters its less dependent on the ground quality, its more accurate and also operate reliably from higher than acoustic systems typically do.
BATTERY
The stock battery is said to be good for about 20 minutes of flight time, as always with a drone that most definitely depend a lot on how you fly it.
My favorite feature on the battery is the smart % indicator, push the button once and you get a clear readout of battery capacity in actual numbers, not just 1-4 bars.
Its basically a 4S 6700mah battery, which is what it need to be to fit inside the TSA 100wh limit.
The battery charge from about 20-25 % where I typically land, to 100% in about an hour, I find that 45 minutes get you as much as 90% or more, the last 15 minutes is mostly balancing the battery and goes slower.
* About the TSA 100wh battery limit, you may take batteries with more than 100wh with the airlines case by case approval, but if more than 100wh you are limited to only 2 batteries, practically speaking that means its easier taking 10 100wh batteries than 2 200wh batteries. and you will notice most big drones are now flying on multiple 100wh batteries rather than single smaller batteries for this reason.
The CONTROLLER
XDynamics have gone their own way with the controller, and included a build in two screen android tablet, this is a interesting system in that they feature a vertically mounted narrow screen between the controllers sticks, intended for the pilot to interact with the system and for setup.
Before continuing, I should mention that XDynamics describe the radio-controller as the "Ground Station" which really is a pretty accurate description since it combines the radio controller, the pilots tablet and the connex video down-link into one unit, yet I'm going to refer to it as the Radio Controller here since thats how most of us RC geeks think about this unit.
To accommodate the dual screen setup, XDynamics have created a clamshell "laptop style" RC controller, which have surprisingly good balance because of the main battery being in the bottom of the radio towards the pilot.
The lid of clamshell contains the CONNEX link antennas, so its important to face the screen towards the bird for best possible reception.
The vertical screen both serve the functions typically served by a pilots iPad or Android tablet, but it also handle some of the options we used to have switches for on the radio. the result is that the XDynamics controller is very un-cluttered, with just the sticks, flight mode, and functions such as start-stop video, and still capture, and exposure buttons, in addition to that there are two programmable buttons on the bottom of the controller.
Probably the most prominent feature of the controller is the video-feed screen, by default it will show the live video feed from the camera, however you can also throw the map up on the big screen which is convenient if you are preloading maps before flying in a remote area.
Look close on the big screen and you will find a selfie-camera, at first it seems odd, but its a quite cool little additional feature that XDynamics have packed in here. because when you link the controller to your mobile hotspot, like your smartphone, you can use the build-in live streaming apps for YouTube and Facebook live events. the app use the build in camera and microphone to do a PIP of the pilot with voice-over for your livestream, this feature should definitely play well with the many pilots who have started live-streaming when flying in interesting or specially beautiful areas.
*I have never live-streamed myself, but have seen many friends use live streams of flights, I can only say that 5 years ago,I would never have guessed we would have radio-controllers with build in live streaming option.
Couple extra great features have sneaked into the radio-controller, one I really appreciate is the 1/4-20 tripod tread on the backside of the radio, permitting you to mount the radio on a photography tripod, simple and elegant, its one of those why did nobody else think of that features. The other feature is the removable radio battery, a feature thats well known in RC hobby, but strangely mostly absent from the video drone market, the huge benefit here is that you can bring multiple batteries for a long shoot and keep your radio working all day without having to stop for charging.
In terms of size, the EVOLVE is smaller than the inspire1 and larger than a Phantom, this is a huge benefit if you need to backpack a m43 platform or travel with it for a documentary situation.
Conclusion
As I mention in the beginning, the unique character of the EVOLVE revolves around two main points. Firstly, XDynamics have wrapped a interchangeable camera system, together with a professional grade video downlink and also a build in tablet with more functionality that we typically get from an iPad configured flight control system
Secondly, as far as I am concerned, XDynamics have established a new build benchmark for video drones, the mind boggling attention to details simply is hard to miss, they have created a drone thats not just functional but must also be admired as a object of art, there is no doubt this bird will pull at the heart strings of a particular market demographics simply for being beautiful in a form-folow-function kinda way.
Most of us still have to answer to the bottom line, and if you ignore the build quality and looks of the EVOLVE video drone, it still stacks up surprisingly nicely.
The Standard EVOLVE ship ships for $2499, remember this price include Connex professional video downlink, build in tablet which each would add to the cost of any other system as well, the interchangeable camera option is on top of this, honestly thats maybe the most attractive part of the EVOLVE, as when picking up the EVOLVE you also have access to the expanded system which can grow with your drone video business.
I personally will be wanting the m43 from day one, as I have jobs that require a m43 camera, however I suspect the EVOLVE will appeal to a large number of skilled drone video pilots who don't currently need a m43 camera, and probably will be picking up the standard package knowing they can upgrade it with m43 or Thermal cameras in the future when needed, also knowing XDynamics are committed to maintaining the camera mount standard is reassuring as you know your investment in m43 or thermal can be used on future XDynamics birds.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.