Possibly you’re searching for a solution to fly the Sony Alpha full body cameras. Maybe you want an ultra-reliable drone for enterprise operations that has impediment avoidance and holds up in excessive winds. Otherwise you’re you’re searching for a drone that’s particularly not made in China (or simply that doesn’t include DJI). The Sony Airpeak drone checks all these bins. So with that, right here’s my Sony Airpeak evaluate of the Airpeak S1 drone:
A quick historical past of the Sony Airpeak
The Sony Airpeak S1 was first teased at CES 2021 because the world‘s smallest drone that may carry a full body Alpha collection mirrorless digital camera. It initially focused critical photographers given its functionality to hold the corporate’s beloved line of Alpha mirrorless cameras. Sony is among the largest digital camera makers on this planet, and its line of Alpha collection is essentially thought-about the most effective.
However till 2021, there was a void: no nice drones might maintain the Sony Alpha digital camera and maintain the combination in controls inside the pilot’s fingertips. There have been different heavy-lift drones on the market that would carry cinema-quality cameras just like the RED Digital Cinemas, however most had a comparatively excessive diploma of DIY-droning concerned — cobbling collectively components from completely different producers and hoping they labored collectively (in the event that they have been even out there).
Then there have been workhorse drones just like the Encourage 2, which is an unimaginable high-quality, highly effective quadcopter that’s nonetheless pretty straightforward to fly — and in addition not fairly as massive as many opponents. However the Encourage 2 solely helps DJI in-house cameras, reminiscent of the Zenmuse X4S, Zenmuse X5S and Zenmuse X7. For people searching for to fly one thing completely different, that wouldn’t work.
The flexibility to carry the Alpha in an built-in mid-size, heavy-lift bundle promised to be a game-changer. So is it really a game-changer?
I flew it for myself for the primary time in March 2023. I spent a weekend with it, utilizing it for take a look at flights consultant of all kinds of purposes. I took it out over the water to movie some jet ski athletes, and I used it to make a LiDAR map. I flew it in solar and in gentle drizzle. So with that, right here’s my full Sony Airpeak evaluate:
Sony Airpeak evaluate: the S1 drone itself
The Airpeak is a quadcopter drone weighing practically 7 lbs (and that’s earlier than you strap on gimbals, batteries or the digital camera). It’s designed to hold the Sony Alpha collection of full body cameras, and might fly payloads as much as 5 lbs and 9 ounces.
Some people discover the quadcopter type of this heavy-lifting drone to be a turnoff. That’s versus one thing like a hex or octcopter, which offer for redundancies if one of many rotors dies off. Whereas I discovered the drone itself to be sturdy and highly effective, that’s actually a danger, contemplating that the drone is often value nearer to $20,000 as soon as the gimbal and digital camera get wrapped in (and also you possible don’t wish to crash your Sony Alpha collection digital camera).
Price
$17,000? On the floor, the Airpeak drone itself prices $9,000, however that’s hardly what you’ll pay for it. You’ll want your personal digital camera and lenses. Do you have to want a gimbal, that’s additionally not included.
I’ll define extra later what kinds of cameras this drone is appropriate with, however count on to pay an extra $2,000+ for the gimbal, between $1,800 and $6,500 for the digital camera physique, and we’ll say not less than $1,000 for the lens.
This isn’t the drone for an informal photographer searching for another digital camera drone to DJI. That’s, except you’re ultra-rich and cash isn’t an object in any respect.
Given the worth level alone, this drone is clearly for critical photographers taking cinema-quality footage (maybe for movies, TV commercials or billboard-type ads. On the enterprise finish, it’s for high-budget companies, particularly these on the lookout for the highest-quality drone in any respect prices (and significantly a non-Chinese language made drone).
The way it flies
For people who’ve by no means flown a heavy-lift drone earlier than, the Sony Airpeak S1 would possibly look intimidating. With a 25.5 inch diagonal wheelbase (and that’s with out propellers) it’s actually an enormous drone. The propellers themselves are 17 inches, which is sort of twice as massive because the propellers on the DJI Mavic 3 collection (the propellers don’t fold both).
However when you get your arms on the sticks, you’ll understand it’s really one of many best drones to fly — in a way feeling like a small, manageable drone. This drone is actually confidence-inspiring for hesitant pilots. Takeoff and touchdown really feel principally computerized. The drone has touchdown gear that raises and lowers robotically. As soon as in flight, the maneuvers are the identical as another drone, and there are toggles to even fly it FPV type.
It stays secure in enclosed areas or when out of vary of International Navigation Satellite tv for pc System (GNSS).
The drone flies by a controller, which has customizable buttons. The controller works with the “Airpeak Flight” app to regulate the drone (and see what it’s seeing) in flight. There’s additionally an “Airpeak Base” internet app for built-in administration of flight plans, flight logs, and gear.
Highly effective in heavy winds
I flew in San Diego in February throughout California’s unexpectedly turbulent storms, and the drone held up with no issues. It has a maximal wind resistance of 44.7 mph (that’s 20m/s, and in addition assumes no payload), which is greater than what you’ll discover on the Matrice 300 RTK (the DJI Matrice 300 RTK has a max wind resistance of 33.5 mph or 15 m/s).
It could possibly fly in temperatures as chilly as 14℉ and as heat as 104 ℉.
Sony Airpeak drone security options
This drone can cater to any pilot, whether or not completely newbie or seasoned execs. An enormous cause for that’s what’s thought-about probably the most essential security characteristic: multi-directional sensing, coupled with an impediment braking operate (so if the drone senses an object in its path, it’ll hover however not crash into it). However it doesn’t simply brake abruptly, as is the case with many different drones. The Airpeak’s imaginative and prescient sensors allow it to see roughly 180 ft (55 meters) away. On condition that, the drone is ready to sense and object and decelerate moderately than come to a sudden halt.
Relying on the use case, superior pilots would possibly select to show off these sensors (the imaginative and prescient sensors are a stereo digital camera in entrance, again, proper, left and downward instructions).
Sony Airpeak battery life
That is the largest space the place the Sony Airpeak falls flat: battery life. Whereas Sony touts this drone as having 22 minutes of battery life in most of its advertising supplies, it’s really removed from that. That’s and not using a payload, which is an unlikely use case. Add in commonest payloads, like an Alpha digital camera and gimbal, and the battery life drops all the way down to 12 minutes. Account for time to fly the drone from its takeoff web site to the place it really wants to collect photographs, plus some security buffer time, and that’s painfully missing flight time.
Whereas the battery life itself is atrocious, there may be some excellent news: batteries are scorching swappable. That principally means you don’t must fully energy down the plane to alter batteries.
Usually while you purchase the Airpeak, it comes with two batteries. You may purchase spares for $230 every. However the price is hardly the annoyance right here; it’s that particular person flights are dramatically restricted.
Once I fly drones alone, my extraordinarily cautious self usually perceives the 10-minute mark because the time to begin returning to dwelling. With the Airpeak, the ten minute mark happens while you’ve simply gotten began.
Utilizing the Sony Airpeak drone for cinematography
DJI began off making drones that didn’t have cameras, so it needed to learn to change into a digital camera firm after changing into a robotics firm. However, Sony had an fascinating leg-up. Most people agree that the road of Alpha cameras is a good product, so — when Sony made the choice to construct a digital camera drone — it actually solely needed to construct the drone itself because the digital camera was already made.
The Sony Airpeak is appropriate with the next Sony cameras:
It’s appropriate with the next lenses:
- SELP1635
- SEL14F18GM
- SEL20F18G
- SEL24F14GM
- SEL24F28G
- SEL28F20
- SEL35F28Z
- SEL35F18F
- SEL40F25G
- SEL50F25G
- SEL50F18F
- SEL50M28
- SEL55F18Z
- SEL85F18
Although notice that when utilizing some wide-angled lenses, the plane itself can sometimes partially impede the shot, significantly when sharply transferring. It’s additionally appropriate with lenses as much as 100mm; that’s to keep away from the lens by accident contacting the touchdown gear or the bottom.
I’ll spare you the evaluate of every particular person Sony digital camera (the opposite massive digital camera blogs may give you much more complete opinions of those cameras than I can). However know that, as a result of the Sony Airpeak helps all the above, there are such a lot of sorts and combos of cameras and lenses you should utilize with this drone, unlocking huge potential within the sorts of images and movies that this drone can take. Select the digital camera you need with the lens you wish to allow your imaginative and prescient to shine.
There are a number of different notes on utilizing the Sony Airpeak drone for pictures:
- Your complete digital camera system, together with physique, lens and potential extras like lens filter or hood, can’t weigh greater than 1.1 kg.
- You may fly this drone by way of twin operator capabilities, so one individual can deal with flying the drone whereas the opposite individual can maneuver the gimbal.
The Sony Airpeak gimbal
For now, the Sony Airpeak S1 drone is simply appropriate with one gimbal, the GBL-T3 from Gremsy. Gremsy is a Vietnamese gimbal maker that’s identified for gimbals together with the Gremsy T3, Gremsy S1, Pixy F, and Pixy U. Its merchandise are utilized in a wide range of enterprise and cinema drones, together with German-based Digicopter and a few Auterion-powered drone platforms.
And it integrates seamlessly with the Airpeak, too. It’s straightforward to make use of, conveniently connecting to the Airpeak S1 by way of a fast launch mechanism. It presents 345° of panning and 120° of tilt adjustment.
The kicker is that it doesn’t include the drone; it comes at an extra price. The Gremsy gimbal usually sells for $2,200, and it’s vital if you happen to intend to make use of this drone for aerial videography.
The gimbal itself weighs 2.5 kilos (1.1 kg), or 3.1 kilos (1.4 kg) while you issue within the damper plate and cables. Assuming you’re utilizing the gimbal, you’ll must issue that weigh into your (already-limited) flight time.
The gimbal is superb by way of high quality, capable of quickly reply to fast turns. I carried out a take a look at flight the place I admittedly, deliberately flew like a maniac, tilting the drone back and forth in fast succession, and you may see no distinction within the footage. It’s impossibly clean.
The downfall is that, with only one gimbal to select from, the GBL-T3 from Gremsy, you haven’t any choices by way of a lower cost nor a lighter weight. I’ve a sense Sony will finally permit for extra appropriate gimbals to combine with its drone, however for now that is it.
Utilizing the Sony Airpeak drone for enterprise purposes
Sony initially marketed its Airpeak drone closely towards skilled photographers. I get the sense that even Sony was shocked by how quickly it was adopted by the enterprise and industrial aspect of the business.
There are a number of the reason why the Sony drone is so nice for enterprise purposes. Given options like ultra-high wind resistance (that’s increased than most opponents) and sense and avoidance, the construct of the drone itself is superb. It’s dependable in all kinds of how. For instance, the compass on the Sony Airpeak cycles by itself so — if flying in areas which may in any other case trigger electromagnetic subject points — the drone’s compass stays sturdy and dependable.
Then there’s the crossover between Sony’s Alpha collection of cameras and different industrial imaging purposes. In February 2020, Sony launched a brand new SDK (software program growth package), giving third-party builders the flexibility to create instruments to regulate cameras together with the Sony α7R IV and α9 II cameras. That’s enabled extra purposes together with real-time visualization, augmented and digital actuality options, photogrammetry and 3D scanning. (In reality, I used Sony’s drone to make what was my first-ever LiDAR map in an expertise I’ll element in a future weblog publish).
After which there’s another reason why Sony is wildly widespread in industrial purposes — that Sony type of lucked into: Sony isn’t a Chinese language firm.
Many within the drone business have pushed again laborious on Chinese language companies. Whereas many of us desire drones made in America (Sony is a Japanese firm), not less than Airpeak isn’t made by a Chinese language firm — and it’s positively not made by DJI.
In reality, Congress in 2019 handed laws particularly banning the Division of Protection from buying and utilizing drones and parts manufactured in China. On the finish of 2020, the U.S. authorities put dozens of Chinese language corporations, together with DJI (and others reminiscent of China’s high chipmaker, SMIC) on a restricted commerce record.
Guidelines have gone backwards and forwards on whether or not or not the federal government should purchase drones (it could fluctuate by company and whether or not these companies have waivers). However the proposed American Safety Drone Act would prohibit all U.S. federal companies from buying Chinese language-made drones. (As of December 2022, the invoice is sitting with the Committee on Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs).
Alas, for corporations seeking to purchase a drone sure they will use, skipping Chinese language-made drones appears to be the transfer.
Sony Airpeak evaluate: is it value it?
For people particularly searching for to fly the Sony Alpha collection of cameras, this drone is the one to do it. Sony already shines within the brand-recognition of its cameras, and the combination with the Alpha digital camera ensures unparalleled picture high quality.
No different drone presents the combination that Sony does between the Alpha digital camera and the pilot. It’s ideally suited for cinematographers who need too incorporate drone footage into their movies, whereas nonetheless sustaining the aesthetic of their different photographs. Generally different drone cameras just like the DJI drone provide what is just a differing picture high quality. That may generally stick out like — not essentially a sore, however — a unique thumb.
The Sony Airpeak S1 drone can also be proving its personal in lots of enterprise use circumstances. It’s able to thermal imaging, high-powered zoom and mapping. I used it to make a Lidar map, and for mapping purposes this is among the finest payloads within the enterprise.
That mentioned, the flight time is atrocious. If flight instances below 15 minute are a dealbreaker for you (and they’re for a lot of folks) skip this drone till Sony solves that downside. For what it’s value, I get the sense that bettering battery life is a excessive precedence (and maybe a high precedence) within the second iteration of Sony’s Airpeak drone.
Moreover the battery life, the Airpeak wants to resolve having a fully-integrated digital camera payload. The Gremsy gimbal works nice, nevertheless it’s nonetheless tough to spend time on a third-party gimbal.
There are some clear alternatives for enchancment within the subsequent era of Sony Airpeak. On condition that, it could be value ready for the second version, earlier than selecting up this one. However for folk needing one of the simplest ways to combine a Sony Alpha digital camera into their flights (and for folk searching for a sturdy, dependable DJI different), the Sony Airpeak S1 is completely a winner — so long as they don’t thoughts the tough battery life.
Editor’s notice and FTC disclaimer: My Sony Airpeak evaluate is predicated on my expertise flying the drone on the Sony Airpeak Summit in February 2023 in San Diego, which was an invitation-only gathering hosted by Sony. Usually I evaluate drones solely alone — alone time and at my very own expense. However given the character (and excessive price) of this product, it was solely doable for me to evaluate this product below the purview of Sony itself.
Whereas Sony didn’t pay for me to evaluate the Sony Airpeak S1 drone, the corporate did cowl lodging in San Diego which was needed for me to take part of their summit (and was the identical place I reviewed their drone). Sony didn’t affect this evaluate and didn’t see the contents of the Sony Airpeak evaluate earlier than it was printed.
