DJI's New Spark Camera Drone Weighs Less Than A Can Of Soda, Controlled By Hand Gestures

DJI Wednesday launched its new minicamera drone Spark, which weighs less than a can of soda — and can be controlled by hand gestures.

The small camera drone can take off from the palm of your hand and automatically goes on Gesture Mode, which features PalmControl, allowing you to control the gadget with hand movements.

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“Even if you’ve never flown a drone before, flying Spark is easy because the only remote controller you’ll need is your hand,” DJI said in a press release.

With Gesture Mode, you can send the drone away from you, take a selfie or call it back by waving your hands. Spark can also be controlled by a remote controller and your smartphone.

Spark QuickShot Modes

Besides the size and hand gesture control, Spark also comes with QuickShot Intelligent Flight Mode, which allows the drone to fly along a preset path, capturing video and tracking a subject. QuickShot modes include: Rocket, which sends the drone up with the camera pointing down; Circle, which rotates around a subject; Helix, which spirals away from a subject as it flies up, and Dronie, which allows the gadget to fly up and away from the subject. For those who like sharing their drone videos on social media, Spark offers a quick alternative by creating a 10-second clip when videos with QuickShot are taken.

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Spark will have intelligent flight modes TapFly and ActiveTrack, which are found in DJI’s Phantom 4 drone. TapFly lets you fly the drone in the direction you tap on your smartphone’s screen, while ActiveTrack recognizes, tracks and keeps moving subjects at the center of the frame. DJI’s new drone also adds two new shooting modes: Pano, which takes horizontal or vertical panoramas, and ShallowFocus, which focuses on specific objects in pictures. You can also apply filters and edit your images using the DJI GO 4 app.

More DJI Spark Drone Features

The drone has a GPS, allowing it to know its location — even if you don’t. The gadget will be able to return to its home point automatically with enough GPS signal. Spark also uses its 3D sensing system to avoid obstacles.

Spark has a speed of up to 31 mph, has 12-megapixel camera and shoots stabilized HD 1080p videos.

You can watch a 2-minute video of how Spark works here.

DJI Spark Drone Price Vs. ZeroTech, Parrot Gadgets

The minidrone, which weighs 10.6 ounces, will sell in five colors: Alpine White, Sky Blue, Meadow Green, Lava Red and Sunrise Yellow. The drone costs $499, more than ZeroTech Dobby Pocket drone, which cost $350. However, Spark costs less than the Parrot Bebop Drone 2, which is priced at $550.

Spark comes with a battery, a USB charger and three pairs of propellers while the $699 Spark Fly More Combo includes the drone, two batteries, four pairs of propellers, a remote controller, propeller guards, a charging hub, a shoulder bag and all necessary cables.