A drone isn’t competitive these days unless it does more than just fly around with a camera attached, and Parrot is keeping up the pace announcing a couple of new features — implemented in software — to allow its Bebop 2 drone to follow photo/video subjects. If you’ve not seen a drone do this before, it’s something to behold, and that Parrot’s flagship drone now has the feature is a great thing.
Basically the update gives the Bebop 2 two new flight modes, called Auto Follow and Auto Frame. Auto Follow will, once set up, get your Bebop 2 to follow you like a shadow, keeping you in the shot whatever you do and creating some great video sequences.
Some of the Auto Follow modes include:
- Orbit, where the drone does a 360º circle around you
- Parabola, where the drone will fly up to 10m above you and back down, keeping you in the frame
- Boomerang where the Bebop 2 will move forward and then go back 30 metres
- Zenith, where the drone will move forward and climb to 15 metres high above its departure altitude, before going back to its point of origin.
Auto Framing is a bit more precise, using a combination of video tracking algorithms to keep you (or whatever you designate as a target) at the centre of the frame, moving around as needed to capture some great shots.
These new features will be available in the iOS version of Parrot’s FreeFlightPro app for an in-app purchase of $30.99 AUD (but you can try them for free for 15 days). Android compatibility is coming next month in December.
For more info about the Bebop 2, why not take a read of Phil’s review earlier this year?
