As the turn of the year approached us, Parrots Bebop was unleashed upon drone and aerial photography enthusiasts, with an f2.2 fish-eye lens, a 180-degree angle of view and a 14-megapixel sensor, it clearly had them in its sight.
The video footage itself is captured at 1080p full HD a step up from its AR Drone predecessor which is limited to 720p, the Bebop has internal 8gb storage recording in MP4 format. Photos can be captured in JPEGs or Adobe DNG raw format.
The Bebop does not use the conventional gimbal but has opted to stabilising shots on three axis, although this may not be the best solution it would appear to make this drone lighter at only 410 grams. although the lighter framework has its benefits it can also be problematic when it comes to other components, like the battery shall we say? which only has a flight time of 11 minutes. shorter if flown flat out, on a positive note the battery can be removed and replaced for additional flight time.
Parrots Bebop drone has a GNSS chipset which allows you to set waypoints for setting out flightplans, making it fly on auto pilot so to speak, GPS, Glonass, and Galileo are also built in. this allows it to return to its take off position and hover independently should you loose GPS lock .Parrots FreeFlight app is available for the Bebop drone currently supporting Android, Windows Phone and iOS, this allows you to pilot and take control of the camera through your smartphone or tablet in addition to accessing photos and videos.
If you are a more traditional pilot who likes the sticks between the thumbs then Parrots Skycontroller is also available.
Current features include
- 2 batteries each capable of 11 minutes of flight time
- 3 color options (blue, red, and yellow)
- Compatibility with numerous FPV glasses
- Ultrasound and pressure sensors
- Four shock absorbers that cushion engine vibrations
For further information on the Bebop please visit http://www.parrot.com/