The ones who should consider entering the drone industry and getting in on that soon to be market gap (apart from the ones mentioned) should be Canon, Nikon, Leica, RED, BlackMagic, Panasonic, Fuji, Contax, Pentax, and others, being that they’re the top producers of consumer and professional grade cameras. That would be a huge game changer.
It would arguably result in an incredibly healthy situation for our market...the challenge would and always will be scaling manufacturing to accommodate both price and availability on their products. Most of the companies you added have that part down with their handheld camera systems, so I'd be hopeful!
I don’t think it’s farfetched at all. This is all speculation, which is a nice way of saying I’m talking out of my ass, but based on what I’ve observed and read about each of these companies tells me we at least have a snowball’s chance.
Interesting idea about Tesla entering the drone market. I hadn't thought about that before, but it makes sense. They have the engineering chops and the brand recognition to be successful. However, I'm not sure they would be interested in the consumer market.
I agree with you. The DNA is there to build something successful, but I don't see them actually turning their attention to the UAV market, let alone the consumer/prosumer side any time soon. Which is a shame because it would be cool to see a Tesla drone!
@@TheDroneGeek You're right, consumer drones might not be their initial focus. Maybe they'll develop drone delivery systems or integrate drone tech with their self-driving cars. Who knows what the future holds!"
most rc flyers have no interest in an overpriced American version of the mavic. Many of us build and fly manual acro quads to enjoy the sensation of flight.
Apples and oranges though. The quads you are alluding to are built and purposed differently than what I'd classify as a photography drone. That's not to say folks cannot build their own "photography drones" by essentially utilizing iNAV and a GPS onboard the drone to program it to hold position. The fact is though that a majority of people who fly consumer/prosumer drones do not have the background, savvy, time, or ability to sit down and learn how to do this properly...so having an out-of-the-box solution to succeed the platforms manufactured by DJI would save a lot of people from having to drop out of the industry/hobby. I believe these four companies COULD provide the answer to that problem.
@@TheDroneGeek if these companies can put together a decent mavic style drone it will cost too much for the average consumer. They will only be marketed to Enterprise and city government. This is not how we continue the recreational hobby.
Don't like Gopro. Theirs fell out of the sky. Then they keep releasing the same camera over, and over, and over again. They also don't seem to be interested in making a camera that isn't an action camera. I want a camera to use for long takes that's the size of a GoPro, but that isn't waterproof, doesn't have overheating issues, can film 1080 (2.7K or 4K as well) 10 bit 30p, and has a 1inch sensor with a fixed 20 or 24mm lens. GoPro could have made that camera five years ago, but nope, we have the 9/10/11/12 - which are all the same camera. If they don't come out with a 1" sensor camera this year, they're pretty much done. IMO. DJI could make my camera, and they almost did with the Pocket 3, but I don't want the gimbal part. If they put that camera in a box and let me plug a USBC battery in it, and made sure it didn't overheat after two hours, I'd be so happy! Back to drones: I don't want Tesla to get into the camera business. Nope. Stick to making bad cars. Apple could be an option, the new cameras in the iPhones are pretty interesting. Wouldn't mind seeing what they had to offer, but of course it would need to be a larger format sensor than the iPhone sensors. Sony could be the winner, obviously they have cameras already figured out. A flying FX3 or FX30 would be pretty sweet. Seeing as I'm sitting here holding out for an Air 3S with a 1" sensor, which looks to be eminent, or a new Mavic 4 (maybe it happens within the ban limit), I wouldn't mind paying $2000-5000 for a Sony drone, so long as it works the same as DJI. I wonder how it will work out. Will DJI be able to simply license their patents to Congressional muppet friendly companies? The simple truth is that the market meddling that is going on by US drone companies is just dumb and sad really. Should have put their efforts into making products people want to buy, instead of trying to oust the ones that are actually good by shifty means.
Man, thank you for the thoughtful and thorough comment! I don't disagree with your position on GoPro...they've been leaving a LOT on the table in the last few years and it sucks because there is so much potential there from a true American brand (albeit, they manufacture the tech in China). However, I think that if they decided to light a fire under their collective rear-end that they COULD be poised to take another crack at drones -- this time maybe getting it right and making a drone that can stand up to the expectations of the market. Tesla is a long shot and I don't see them dropping what they're doing to manufacture consumer drones anytime soon...but an interesting thought -- especially since I do think they will eventually start manufacturing enterprise drones at some point down the line. Apple...I'm holding out hope on this. They could be the savior of the industry if they open their horizons to making better small format cameras with larger sensors (~ 1"). At the end of the day though...Sony (and other camera companies like Canon, Blackmagic, etc.) are the ones in the best position to make a run at the consumer/prosumer drone market. I could see Sony leading the charge since they already have experience with the Airpeak S1, but wouldn't be surprised if Canon and others maybe follow their lead. Time will tell. While I'm mad as hell that DJI is getting treated the way they are right now...I'm trying to find silver-linings wherever I can and believing in these companies to do the right thing and make something cool for those of us that need it most is my current silver-lining hyper-fixation! xD
@@TheDroneGeek I haven’t been paying attention enough, is a DJI ban a done deal? Or is there room for hope that it’s not going to be a thing? I already got burned a bit. I have a Mini 2, I got my part 107, then RID came along. No RID for mini 2. Not sure about a dongle to tape to it, don’t really want to change flight characteristics. Been grounded since I guess. Haven’t actually gotten any drone jobs to justify buying a new drone with RID, don’t like the Air 3, don’t want to buy the Mavic 3 if a 4 is imminent, but maybe if that Air 3S has a 1” sensor I’ll go for that. Might even line up with a possible gig in August!
Build your own, you do know GoPro tried to shaft DJI and 3DR, they failed all around. You remembered really poorly, the GoPro Karma was physically badly made. There are plenty of made in the US companies building right now. No need to dream and scheme.
Name 3 US companies that are making a drone equivalent to the Mavic 3 Pro, Air 3, or Mini 4 Pro for around the same price. I’ll do you a favor and give you a $1,000 buffer. As for building - that’s not a real option for many of the small business owners and casual pilots flying DJI right now. They don’t have the bandwidth, savvy, or time to build their own drones. Especially not drones that are equivalent or near-equivalent to what DJI has put into the market. Plus there’s already talk of certain parts manufacturers being banned in the future - T-Motor being one of the more prominent companies…so if that becomes the next target, where do you suggest we source parts that will allow us to build drones that stay within a reasonable budget? And I’ve got a very clear memory of the Karma. The drone was not good, especially stacked up against what DJI was putting out at the time. Plagued by bugs and mechanical failures that made it unreliable. This piece is purely speculation and examining potential in companies that could have the means to serve an audience that is being forgotten about entirely in this whole conversation.
The ones who should consider entering the drone industry and getting in on that soon to be market gap (apart from the ones mentioned) should be Canon, Nikon, Leica, RED, BlackMagic, Panasonic, Fuji, Contax, Pentax, and others, being that they’re the top producers of consumer and professional grade cameras. That would be a huge game changer.
It would arguably result in an incredibly healthy situation for our market...the challenge would and always will be scaling manufacturing to accommodate both price and availability on their products. Most of the companies you added have that part down with their handheld camera systems, so I'd be hopeful!
No headband?
Damn, Snake. ;)
Your channel has grown a lot; you deserve it!
Great content , enjoyed the thought process.
Thank you! I'm glad to hear it and appreciate the kind words.
IOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, macOS, visionOS, and now droneOS. That really doesn't seem that farfetched...
I don’t think it’s farfetched at all. This is all speculation, which is a nice way of saying I’m talking out of my ass, but based on what I’ve observed and read about each of these companies tells me we at least have a snowball’s chance.
Interesting idea about Tesla entering the drone market. I hadn't thought about that before, but it makes sense. They have the engineering chops and the brand recognition to be successful. However, I'm not sure they would be interested in the consumer market.
I agree with you. The DNA is there to build something successful, but I don't see them actually turning their attention to the UAV market, let alone the consumer/prosumer side any time soon. Which is a shame because it would be cool to see a Tesla drone!
@@TheDroneGeek You're right, consumer drones might not be their initial focus. Maybe they'll develop drone delivery systems or integrate drone tech with their self-driving cars. Who knows what the future holds!"
most rc flyers have no interest in an overpriced American version of the mavic. Many of us build and fly manual acro quads to enjoy the sensation of flight.
Apples and oranges though. The quads you are alluding to are built and purposed differently than what I'd classify as a photography drone. That's not to say folks cannot build their own "photography drones" by essentially utilizing iNAV and a GPS onboard the drone to program it to hold position. The fact is though that a majority of people who fly consumer/prosumer drones do not have the background, savvy, time, or ability to sit down and learn how to do this properly...so having an out-of-the-box solution to succeed the platforms manufactured by DJI would save a lot of people from having to drop out of the industry/hobby. I believe these four companies COULD provide the answer to that problem.
@@TheDroneGeek if these companies can put together a decent mavic style drone it will cost too much for the average consumer. They will only be marketed to Enterprise and city government. This is not how we continue the recreational hobby.
Don't like Gopro. Theirs fell out of the sky. Then they keep releasing the same camera over, and over, and over again. They also don't seem to be interested in making a camera that isn't an action camera. I want a camera to use for long takes that's the size of a GoPro, but that isn't waterproof, doesn't have overheating issues, can film 1080 (2.7K or 4K as well) 10 bit 30p, and has a 1inch sensor with a fixed 20 or 24mm lens. GoPro could have made that camera five years ago, but nope, we have the 9/10/11/12 - which are all the same camera. If they don't come out with a 1" sensor camera this year, they're pretty much done. IMO.
DJI could make my camera, and they almost did with the Pocket 3, but I don't want the gimbal part. If they put that camera in a box and let me plug a USBC battery in it, and made sure it didn't overheat after two hours, I'd be so happy!
Back to drones:
I don't want Tesla to get into the camera business. Nope. Stick to making bad cars.
Apple could be an option, the new cameras in the iPhones are pretty interesting. Wouldn't mind seeing what they had to offer, but of course it would need to be a larger format sensor than the iPhone sensors.
Sony could be the winner, obviously they have cameras already figured out. A flying FX3 or FX30 would be pretty sweet.
Seeing as I'm sitting here holding out for an Air 3S with a 1" sensor, which looks to be eminent, or a new Mavic 4 (maybe it happens within the ban limit), I wouldn't mind paying $2000-5000 for a Sony drone, so long as it works the same as DJI.
I wonder how it will work out. Will DJI be able to simply license their patents to Congressional muppet friendly companies?
The simple truth is that the market meddling that is going on by US drone companies is just dumb and sad really. Should have put their efforts into making products people want to buy, instead of trying to oust the ones that are actually good by shifty means.
Man, thank you for the thoughtful and thorough comment! I don't disagree with your position on GoPro...they've been leaving a LOT on the table in the last few years and it sucks because there is so much potential there from a true American brand (albeit, they manufacture the tech in China). However, I think that if they decided to light a fire under their collective rear-end that they COULD be poised to take another crack at drones -- this time maybe getting it right and making a drone that can stand up to the expectations of the market.
Tesla is a long shot and I don't see them dropping what they're doing to manufacture consumer drones anytime soon...but an interesting thought -- especially since I do think they will eventually start manufacturing enterprise drones at some point down the line.
Apple...I'm holding out hope on this. They could be the savior of the industry if they open their horizons to making better small format cameras with larger sensors (~ 1").
At the end of the day though...Sony (and other camera companies like Canon, Blackmagic, etc.) are the ones in the best position to make a run at the consumer/prosumer drone market. I could see Sony leading the charge since they already have experience with the Airpeak S1, but wouldn't be surprised if Canon and others maybe follow their lead.
Time will tell. While I'm mad as hell that DJI is getting treated the way they are right now...I'm trying to find silver-linings wherever I can and believing in these companies to do the right thing and make something cool for those of us that need it most is my current silver-lining hyper-fixation! xD
@@TheDroneGeek I haven’t been paying attention enough, is a DJI ban a done deal? Or is there room for hope that it’s not going to be a thing?
I already got burned a bit. I have a Mini 2, I got my part 107, then RID came along. No RID for mini 2. Not sure about a dongle to tape to it, don’t really want to change flight characteristics. Been grounded since I guess. Haven’t actually gotten any drone jobs to justify buying a new drone with RID, don’t like the Air 3, don’t want to buy the Mavic 3 if a 4 is imminent, but maybe if that Air 3S has a 1” sensor I’ll go for that. Might even line up with a possible gig in August!
Build your own, you do know GoPro tried to shaft DJI and 3DR, they failed all around. You remembered really poorly, the GoPro Karma was physically badly made. There are plenty of made in the US companies building right now. No need to dream and scheme.
Name 3 US companies that are making a drone equivalent to the Mavic 3 Pro, Air 3, or Mini 4 Pro for around the same price. I’ll do you a favor and give you a $1,000 buffer.
As for building - that’s not a real option for many of the small business owners and casual pilots flying DJI right now. They don’t have the bandwidth, savvy, or time to build their own drones. Especially not drones that are equivalent or near-equivalent to what DJI has put into the market. Plus there’s already talk of certain parts manufacturers being banned in the future - T-Motor being one of the more prominent companies…so if that becomes the next target, where do you suggest we source parts that will allow us to build drones that stay within a reasonable budget?
And I’ve got a very clear memory of the Karma. The drone was not good, especially stacked up against what DJI was putting out at the time. Plagued by bugs and mechanical failures that made it unreliable. This piece is purely speculation and examining potential in companies that could have the means to serve an audience that is being forgotten about entirely in this whole conversation.
Tesla already made two drones out of their German factory
Sweet! We just need 499,998 more now.
This country today is toxic🤢 to my health and well being 😡
I'm not stoked about how things are either...