Buzz about the Lily Drone Camera caught our attention Wednesday morning, and you can check out the GIFs below to see why.
We've seen drones that can follow you around to capture video before, but this one seems quite a bit more special.
Here's why:
Just throwing it up in the air will turn on its rotors and get it flying.
Or just chuck it off a bridge.
Or into a river while you're at it, because it's also waterproof.
So how does it follow you? You just need to carry around a little tracking device so Lily can follow you around up to 100 feet.
The tracking device also lets you change the shot angle so it can shoot you from behind or in front, as well as record sound that automatically syncs.
As you can see below, the camera is following the subject from the front.
The Lily looks more rugged and portable with its foldable rotor blades and waterproof casing than some of the delicate camera drones we've seen, and you can even carry it around in a backpack. You'll know when it's ready to fly when its eyes flash blue. Just look at that face.
As with many camera drones, the Lily doesn't come cheap. It's up for pre-order now for about $500 until June 15th, and it's full retail price will be $1000 when it's officially released in February 2016.
The Lily captures 1080p footage at 60 frames-per-second (fps), or it can capture 720p slow-motion video at 120 fps. It's flight speed is limited by software to 25 mph.
Most camera drones have pretty short flying times due to limited batteries, and the Lily is no different with its 20 minute battery life. It's also notable that the batteries aren't replaceable in order to keep it waterproof.
But it does look like one of the more exciting innovations in this realm. And it will be very interesting to see how people use it once it's released into the wild.
