DJI Phantom 3 4K

The fourth installment in the well-known DJI Phantom 3 series has been released by the company at CES 2016, in Las Vegas. The new DJI Phantom 3 4K is aimed at aerial videographers who want to record high-quality UHD 4K videos. The company claims that with this new drone "Now anyone can capture amazing 4K aerial images and video in areas with weak GPS signals and even fly indoors."

The previously released models in the series include the DJI Phantom 3 Standard, Professional and Advanced, which have all done extremely well with consumers.

Structure and features

The Phantom 3 4K is similar looking to DJI's other Phantom models, specifically the Phantom 3 Professional, and has a white plastic body, 4 rotors and fixed landing legs underneath. It's light to carry around and can even fit into a bag pack when you remove the rotor blades.

The built is sturdy and the drone can easily survive small bumps and crashes without any problems. You can also replace its rotor blades incase you break them.

The drone also comes with some important sensors needed for flying it and keeping track. It comes with a GPS Positioning Module and a Vision Positioning System with ultrasonic sensors that provide an unobstructed and no interference flight.

Camera and recording capabilities

Just like prior models, the camera is placed under the drone’s body and the drone is equipped with Sony EXMOR 1/2.3" CMOS sensor that help in improving dynamic range and provide better balanced bright skies.

It has a 12 MP camera to take great stills, and the drone can also shoot videos in Ultra HD with 4K resolutions. Different Video Recording Modes are –

UHD: 4096 x 2160p 24/25, 3840 x 2160p 24/25/30

FHD: 1920 x 1080p 24/25/30/48/50/60

HD: 1280 x 720p 24/25/30/48/50/60

The camera lens has a field of view of FOV 94° 20 mm (35 mm format equivalent) f/2.8, which helps in keeping distortion low and also needs lesser post processing. The camera can be attached on to the three-axis stabilizing gimbal that helps in recording smoother footage.

What sets this Phantom 3 model from the Professional apart is that the Phantom 3 4K uses Wi-Fi Video Downlink instead of DJI’s Lightbridge Video Downlink to transfer the data and thus the result may not be as high quality. This is also the reason for a cheaper price tag on the Phantom 3 4K, because otherwise the features are pretty much the same as the Professional model.

Battery

The DJI Phantom 3 4K should be able to fly continuously for about 25 minutes on one full charge. The battery is a LiPo 4S battery with a 4480 mAh capacity. You will also have the previous return to home function when your battery is about to die. 

Controller, app and live streaming

The controller is pretty much the same with 2 main control sticks and a clamp to attach your smartphone or tablet on. It also features buttons to adjust the camera’s settings and for beginning and ending recording.

The DJI app that is available for both iOS and Android, can give you a live video feed from the drone and also let you know vital information like battery, speed flight time and height at which the drone is flying. You can also change certain camera settings like exposure and white balance.

You can even stream live video taken from the Phantom 3 directly on to YouTube and be more spontaneous, while saving time in transferring your videos first.

Over all the DJI Phantom 3 4K is a great new drone that has amazing recording capabilities and great new features. The cheaper price tag than the Professional and Advanced models is also a good addition to give competition to other popular drones in the same category like Hubsan X4 Pro, Walkera Scout X4 and QR X350, and 3D Robotics Solo Quadcopter.

Alternately, if you want to protect your new investment you can also check out our articles about DJI Phantom 2 carry cases and DJI Phantom 3 hard cases to know more about keeping your drones and quadcopter protected properly.