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DJI teases November 2nd date for possible Mavic 3 Classic drone announcement

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DJI has posted a new teaser to Twitter and put up a trailer page on the DJI website for a new product announcement event on November 2nd. Along with the date and a 9am Eastern start time for the event, we also see the slogan “Explore Vivid” and a picture of what looks like the Mavic 3 camera but with a single lens.

A filing with the FCC was recently published for a Mavic 3 Classic drone and the image in the new teaser looks pretty much identical in form to the images leaked a couple of weeks ago. So, I think expecting it to be the Mavic 3 Classic announcement isn’t unreasonable. It’s expected to be a cut-down version of the existing Mavic 3 line, with the same design and mostly the same electronics but with a single camera for a lower price.

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DJI files with the FCC for a cut-down “Mavic 3 Classic” drone with just a single camera

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It looks like being added to yet another blacklist isn’t deterring DJI from working in the USA. As DroneDJ reports, a new paper filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) presents a new drone that will be joining their Mavic 3 product line. It’s called the Mavic 3 Classic and as the name suggests, seems to be reminiscent of, well, the older Mavic models. They’ve filed for a Class II permissive change with the FCC which essentially means it will have modifications to the Mavic 3 to dumb it down a little from its original filing.

The new Mavic 3 Classic, DJI says in the filing, will essentially sport the same construction as the original Mavic 3 drone announced in November 2021. It will have all of the same mechanics and electronics with the exception that it will feature just one camera instead of two, dropping the telephoto camera.

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The US Department of Defense has formally blacklisted DJI as a “Chinese military company”

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It seems that DJI is facing even more struggles in the US as the Department of Defense (DoD) adds the companies to the list of Chinese companies on its official blacklist classifying them as a “Chinese military company”. DJI’s been facing problems with the US government since at least 2017 when the US Army banned the use of DJI drones over perceived cyber vulnerabilities. DJI was then added to the US Economic Blacklist in 2020.

Being added to various blacklists doesn’t seem to have stopped the sale of DJI products in the USA but this latest addition to the DoD alleges that DJI is a Chinese military company, something which DJI has disputed many times now. The DoD announcement adds DJI along with a dozen other Chinese companies to the list, joining the 28 others previously included.

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No more crash landings: Now your drone can land on a steep slope

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Researchers have developed a new landing system that allows drones to land in rough conditions, even on surfaces sloped as steep as 60 degrees. That’s great news for any drone operators out there who don’t fly in 100% ideal situations. Although most drones are able to land themselves, their automated landing systems require a flat landing site, minimal winds, and low speeds to safely touch down.

Researchers at the Createk Design Lab in the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada noticed that most drone makers assume that landings will be performed in ideal conditions at optimal locations. Due to this, they rely on rigid landing gear that doesn’t provide enough friction to steady a drone on inclined surfaces.

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DJI has officially announced the Avata – Their new “cinewhoop” style FPV drone for filmmakers

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DJI has announced the new DJI Avata drone, their attempt at a teeny tiny “cinewhoop” style FPV drone. On paper, it makes DJI’s previous FPV drone pretty much obsolete overnight, with a slightly wider field of view, a stop better ISO performance, larger max image size, higher video bitrate and more in a much smaller package. Bad news for those of you who were hoping it would fall under the 250g weight limit, though. It doesn’t.

What it does have, though, are built-in prop guards – making it safer while reducing the chances that it hitting something is going to cause it to crash – and a compactness that makes it much easier to travel with and use. The DJI Goggles V2 have shrunk a pretty significant amount over past DJI headsets. The Avata also features downward-facing obstacle avoidance to help prevent you from crashing into the ground.

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Adorama lists DJI Avata accessories for pre-order before DJI even announces the drone

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The DJI Avata has been a hot topic in the drone world since rumours of its existence first started to appear. And once leaks of its design started to appear, things got even more exciting. There’s been no official announcement from DJI about the upcoming cinewhoop style FPV drone yet, and they haven’t even said when we can expect one yet. But that hasn’t stopped one retailer from listing a bunch of the accessories already.

Adorama has listed a number of new accessories for the DJI Avata drone on their website, along with the accompanying new FPV Goggles 2. The individual product pages have already been taken down already but they do still show up in the website search results. Fortunately, DroneDJ managed to get screenshots of the individual listings with some of the details on each, revealing a few things about the drone itself.

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This DJI Mavic Mini goes up against a bald-faced hornet’s nest and… well, it wins

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This probably isn’t a tutorial you’ll see on the DJI YouTube channel anytime soon and it’s almost certainly not a suggested use for the DJI Mavic Mini – or any of their other drones for that matter – but when a photographer who goes by the name Dripped found his backyard infested with a bald-faced hornet’s nest, his go-to was indeed the DJI Mavic Mini.

Well, ok, his go-to was to call around and get some quotes from local companies to have the nest removed but after receiving quotes that he says were “into the thousands”, he decided to give it a go himself. That’s where the Mavic Mini came into play. Does it really need to be said that you probably shouldn’t try this at home?

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The XDynamics Evolve 2 is an entry level cinematic drone that shows a lot of promise

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As drones go, the XDynamics Evolve 2 drone sits in an interesting place. It’s an entry-level professional cinematic drone that’s above the likes of the DJI Mavic 3 (even the Mavic 3 Cine) and the Autel Evo II Pro but a hair below the DJI Inspire 2. It’s aimed primarily toward hybrid shooters who use mirrorless cameras on the ground for both stills and video and want to get the same or similar quality of photos and footage from the air.

It comes with a price tag to match, but it does feature an interchangeable lens gimbal-stabilised Micro Four Thirds camera, giving you a lot more filming and photography options than most drones below this price point. And if you’re already a Micro Four Thirds shooter, it can use the lenses you already own. But does the Evolve 2 live up to expectations? Let’s find out…

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30 mistakes new drone owners make and how to prevent them

At some point, everybody who’s flown a drone was a beginner. And beginners are picking up a drone for the first time every single day. Maybe you’ve just got your first. Maybe it’s the DJI Mini 3 Pro featured in these videos from Jeven Dovey and Jake Sloan where they go through thirty of the biggest mistakes drone pilots make – particularly new ones – when it comes to getting into the air for the first time.

Even if you’ve been at it for a little while, there are still mistakes you’re probably making when it comes to flying your drone. In a list this big, it’s almost a certainty and I’m definitely guilty of a couple of them myself. The 30 tips are split up across the two videos from Deven and Jake, so be sure to watch both to make sure you don’t miss anything. You might not even realise you’re doing some of this!

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DJI to drop support for some Phantom drones from the end of September

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DJI has announced that as of September 30th, 2022, they will no longer be providing maintenance or technical support for their Phantom 2 (2.4G) and Phantom 3 4K drone models or their accessories. It’s not much of a surprise, given that DJI hasn’t manufactured these products since 2017 and drone technology has come a long way, but there are still a lot of Phantom 2 and Phantom 3 models out there still flying.

Naturally, DJI is suggesting that users of the Phantom 2 and Phantom 3 drones update their kit to a more modern drone. They don’t specifically say a new DJI drone and don’t mention any specific models but obviously, they want you to buy more because that’s what businesses do. But drone technology has come a long way since the days of the Phantom 2 and 3.

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