Five Reasons NOT to Buy the DJI FPV Drone

On March 2, 2021, DJI released its first-person view (FPV) aircraft - the DJI FPV. From its launch, the product was marketed as capable of both traditional drone aerial photography and the high-speed thrill of FPV flight. The DJI FPV offers a ready-to-fly experience, reaching a maximum speed of 140 km/h, with a maximum hover time of 16 minutes and a maximum flight time of 20 minutes. The accompanying Goggles support HD video transmission with a screen refresh rate of 144Hz, a maximum transmission distance of 10km, and latency as low as 28ms.

The launch of the DJI FPV was seemingly great news for drone novices like myself. No DIY required, ready to fly out of the box, promising the combined experience of an FPV drone and an aerial photography drone. However, after getting my hands on it and flying for a while, I found a considerable gap between expectations and reality.

Based on nearly 8 months of flying and filming with the DJI FPV, I’ve summarized 5 reasons why you might not want to buy it. I hope this helps you compare it against your actual needs before deciding. This advice is mainly targeted at drone novices or beginner pilots; experienced pilots can handle various aircraft types and might disregard these issues.

Single-Axis Gimbal, Tilted Horizon in View

FPV drones provide pilots with an immersive, first-person perspective flight experience through goggles. To meet the pilot’s demand for speed and maneuverability during flight, FPV drones typically feature fixed cameras. The DJI FPV, positioned as an FPV drone, also uses only a single-axis gimbal to ensure the pilot’s view aligns with the aircraft’s flight attitude.

The DJI FPV’s single-axis gimbal has only one axis of rotation, allowing the camera lens only to tilt up and down. In Normal and Sport modes, the pilot can manually adjust the gimbal’s vertical angle using the remote controller’s dial. However, in Manual Mode (the FPV mode), the gimbal angle is fixed and cannot be adjusted. When the drone banks or turns, the horizon in the field of view will tilt accordingly. This allows the pilot to judge the drone’s attitude from the visual feed and react correctly.

When used as an FPV drone, the DJI FPV’s video recording is fine. However, if you intend to use the DJI FPV as an aerial photography drone, filming cinematic shots while flying straight in strong winds can be problematic. To maintain its flight path, the drone will constantly be tilted, resulting in a continuously tilted horizon in the recorded video.

Traditional aerial photography drones almost always use 3-axis gimbals to achieve smooth, stable video footage. These gimbals have rotation axes in the X, Y, and Z directions between the drone body and the camera. Regardless of the drone body’s tilt in any direction, the horizon in the view remains level.

While the stable footage from aerial photography drones can sometimes seem monotonous, videos with a tilted horizon can offer a more dynamic visual impact. However, if the flight speed is too fast or the tilt angle changes rapidly in the video, viewers might experience dizziness or discomfort. If you want to use the DJI FPV for landscape aerial photography, controlling the flight speed and trying to maintain a consistent tilt angle would be a better approach.

Poor Performance in Low-Light Conditions

We often see stunning drone videos capturing cityscapes and building lights at night. The DJI FPV is advertised as having aerial photography capabilities, but attempting to shoot video in low-light conditions with the DJI FPV will likely not be a good experience.

I once attempted a night shoot with the DJI FPV, and the experience was genuinely nerve-wracking, nearly ending in a crash. The resulting footage was worlds apart from video shot in good daylight conditions.

This disparity is due to the inherent limitations of the DJI FPV’s camera hardware and is basically unchangeable. The DJI FPV camera has a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor with 12 million effective pixels. In comparison, the DJI Air 2S features a 1-inch CMOS sensor with 20 million effective pixels.

If you frequently plan to shoot in dimly lit night environments, the DJI FPV is really not a suitable choice.

Camera Does Not Support Zoom

Most aerial photography drones feature cameras with optical or digital zoom capabilities to facilitate better shot composition. However, because the DJI FPV is primarily positioned as an FPV drone, pilots in Manual Mode need to focus entirely on controlling the aircraft, making zoom operations impractical. Therefore, the DJI FPV is equipped with a fixed-focal-length camera that does not support any zoom function.

Drawing an analogy with regular cameras: when using a zoom lens, the photographer can stay in one spot and change the focal length to frame the subject closer or further away. With a prime (fixed-focal-length) lens, the photographer needs to physically move closer or further away to achieve the desired composition.

With the zoom lens on a standard aerial photography drone, framing distant or close subjects simply requires adjusting the focal length. Since the DJI FPV has a fixed-focal-length lens, changing the size of an object in the frame requires maneuvering the drone closer to or further away from the subject, which is inherently more dangerous.

The DJI FPV’s camera has a field of view of only 150 degrees directly forward, and its obstacle sensing system only covers the front and downward directions. When we need to descend to capture a clear, magnified image of an object, or fly sideways or backward for better composition, we cannot see obstacles to the sides or rear through the Goggles’ view. The obstacle sensing system also provides no effective help or warnings in these directions.

This significantly increases the probability of crashing. Therefore, it’s generally recommended to have a spotter assist you when flying the DJI FPV and to keep the drone within your visual line of sight whenever possible.

Heavy Weight, High Inertia

Moving objects possess inertia; the greater the mass, the greater the inertia, and the faster the speed, the greater the inertia. When we say the DJI FPV is heavy and has high inertia, it’s mainly in relation to its flight speed.

Let’s compare the DJI FPV with the DJI Air 2S:

Converting the speeds, the DJI FPV’s maximum horizontal speed in Manual Mode is nearly 140 km/h. It accelerates to this speed in about 2 seconds, and braking also takes roughly 2 seconds minimum. At 140 km/h, the DJI FPV travels approximately 78 meters just during braking (assuming constant deceleration over 2s). [Translator’s Note: Original text calculation was simplified, provided a more physics-based estimate here, though the core point remains.]

As mentioned in the fourth point, the DJI FPV camera lacks zoom. If the pilot flies low and close to subjects for better video effects, any operational error during high-speed flight can lead to quite severe impacts upon collision.

Purchase Recommendation

If your primary goal for buying a drone is to capture smooth, stable, bird’s-eye view footage typical of traditional aerial photography drones during travels or outings, or if you frequently shoot in low-light night scenes, the DJI FPV is not the best choice. However, if you find the conventional, stable video style of traditional drones somewhat uninspiring and want to experience more of the thrill of flying, the DJI FPV could be a good option.

Just be sure to fly the DJI FPV away from crowds and maintain a safe distance from your subjects. You should have a spotter to help monitor the surroundings, who can promptly warn you of any threats to the drone’s safety or your own.

For FPV beginners, my advice is to practice extensively using a simulator. This way, you’ll be less likely to crash immediately (“提控回家” - literally ‘bring the controller home early’) when you start flying the real thing.