DJI is going to follow the launch of its excellent DJI Mini 3 Pro with a more unusual drone, if growing rumors are correct. The DJI Avata, as recent leaks have called it, appears to be a ‘cinewhoop’ drone with 3in propellors – which means it could be capable of shooting dramatic indoor footage.
What’s a cinewhoop drone? These small models usually have built-in propellor guards and are designed to fly in tight spaces or over people. This means the Avata would differ from the rest of DJI’s current range, which are mainly designed for shooting epic outdoor footage.
Naturally, this means the DJI Avata has been tipped to have a radically different design to its other drones, and some apparently leaked images appear to back this up. We can expect to see some large, built-in prop guards and, potentially, some new FPV Goggles to match the Avata.
So what exactly do we know so far about the DJI Avata and when is it coming out? We’ve rounded up all of the latest leaks and rumors in this regularly updated guide, and sprinkled them with our own analysis of what appears to be an exciting and unusual launch for the drone king.
DJI Avata release date and price
According to the usually reliable DJI leaker @DealsDrone, we can expect to see the DJI Avata launch sometime in July.
This timescale certainly seems feasible, given recent events in the world of DJI. We’ve started to see what look like the first leaked photos of the DJI Avata, and this typically happens around a month or so before an official DJI launch.
Rumor said DJI Avata plan to release at july https://t.co/IVblTuxSClJune 2, 2022
Also, DJI already has another event scheduled for June 15, which the official teaser says is for the release of a new ‘DJI Pro’ product. This event is expected to be for the launch of the DJI RS3 and RS3 Pro gimbals, so we’d anticipate a short gap between this and the Avata release.
So far, there have been no leaks or rumors hinting at the DJI Avata’s possible price. Cinewhoop drones are typically home-built, hobbyist affairs that come with GoPro mounts. That said, pre-built models like the iFlight Bumblebee V3 (with DJI Goggles) can cost upwards of $999 / £999, so there’s no guarantee that the DJI Avata will come in cheap.
With the Avata almost certain to include a built-in camera and some FPV Goggles, it could potentially come in at a similar price to the DJI FPV, but we’ll update this page as soon as we hear more rumors.
DJI Avata leaks and rumors
The leaked DJI Avata images we’ve seen so far point towards a radically different design to DJI’s current drones, but that’s to be expected given it’s a cinewhoop-style model.
Both of the biggest leaks have come from the @DealsDrone Twitter account, which has previously proved to be a reliable source for previous DJI launches like the Mini 3 Pro.
The first images (below), which appeared on May 18, revealed a small, plasticky drone with a design that’s pretty typical of current cinewhoop models, with thsoe large built-in props to make it suitable for indoor flights or around people.
DJI Avata， First Leak pic.twitter.com/OYv7di4ZeaMay 18, 2022
One feature that’s less typical of those kinds of drones, though, is the built-in camera and gimbal. While today’s cinewhoop drones usually have a GoPro mount without the camera, the DJI Avata appears to have a DJI camera module – and one that could, according to @DealsDrone, deliver similar video and image quality to the DJI Mini 3 Pro.
The leaked images also reveal a pretty large battery and were backed up by a separate leak on June 4 of renders that showed an identical design. Slightly less convincing, though, was the accompanying image of some apparently new DJI Goggles, which appear to simply be an edited image of the FPV Goggles V2.
Still, it does sound likely that the DJI Avata will come with a new twist on DJI’s FPV Goggles, which could also support a “head chase mode”, according to another Tweet from @DealsDrone on May 15. Exactly what this will be isn’t clear, but it sounds like a (mildly terrifying) form of subject-tracking.
Avata is compact and weighs about 500gCan fly indoorsThe photo quality is much better (guess that the Mini 3 Pro is the same)Greatly improved battery lifeManual mode is not supportedHead chase modeVibration function Touchpad for glasses menuGlasses can connect to phone pic.twitter.com/WUqpjXXEnKMay 15, 2022
These new Goggles will also apparently connect directly to your phone, and the DJI Avata has also been tipped to come with built-in vibration reduction.
Whether this is referring to gimbal-based stabilization, electronic stabilization like DJI’s existing RockSteady, or perhaps a combination of both, isn’t yet clear. But it could potentially form a part of DJI’s attempt to offer an equivalent to GoPro’s ReelSteady software. The video below, for example, was stabilized using ReelSteady.
ReelSteady is used by most FPV drone pilots to smooth out the bumps and jitters that are common on small, lightweight drones. Because it uses the gyro metadata from GoPro action cams, rather than simply cropping into wide-angle footage, it gives you lots of control over the amount of stabilization in your videos. We’d like to see DJI offer an equivalent for its own FPV drones, given ReelSteady is now owned by GoPro.
Another potential benefit of a DJI-made Cinewhoop drone would be the inclusion intelligent flight modes, like its QuickShots. There haven’t been any leaks about this yet, but it’s something we’d expect to see in some form on the DJI Avata.
DJI Avata: early verdict
The DJI Avata is shaping up to be an unusual drone for DJI, but also one that makes a lot of sense and does fit into its broader strategy.
The drone giant is seemingly on a mission to bring pro filmmaking skills to the masses, whether that’s through making some of the best beginner drones to vlogging tools like the DJI Pocket 2, and the Avata appears to be that only for cinewhoop-style videos.
This style of video has gone viral a few times on social media in recent years, from bowling alley fly-throughs to Tesla’s more recent Giga Factory tour. Many of the drones used in these videos already use DJI tech like DJI HD FPV system, so the launch of an all-in-one option wouldn’t be a huge stretch.
This would put it on another aerial collision course with GoPro, which recently launched its GoPro Hero 10 Black Bones camera for Cinewhoop drones. The latter is built more for advanced hobbyists, though, whereas it looks like the DJI Avata could be a little more plug-in-and-fly, in similar vein to its DJI FPV. Look out for more leaks soon in the run-up to the Avata’s launch, which we’ll report on here as soon as they land.