Recently, Hasselblad released a 20-megapixel, 1-inch sensor on DJI's new Mavic 2 Pro, but in the grand scheme of things, Hasselblad may have a few bigger plans for the future when it comes to cameras that can fly. Having the ability to throw an A6D on a Matrice 600 Pro to capture 100-megapixel raw images has never been so easy.
Being an aerial photographer myself, I would love to shoot with a drone and camera like this for almost all of the aerial photos I take. I remember making the jump from a Phantom 3 Pro to the Inspire 2 with the X5S and just being blown away by the difference in quality. This really inspired me to go out there and spend more time shooting things that stood out to me. Thinking of having 100 megapixels of quality on a medium format sensor is something I could only dream about, because still to this day, it is rare to find people flying still cameras like this for aerial photography.
Shot on Hasselblad A6D
A few weeks ago, I had the honor of meeting up with the guys from DJI and Hasselblad at their headquarters in NYC to discuss doing a shoot with this drone and seeing what it was all about. After doing a little bit of planning, we ended up meeting at Teardrop Memorial in Bayonne, NJ to shoot some video with the M600 Pro and A6D on board. We wanted to show people what this drone is capable of doing and remind them that flying something as crazy as this is actually pretty possible to do.
Shot on Hasselblad A6D
Shot on Hasselblad A6D
After having a few encounters with this drone, I think it's safe for me to say that this technology is nothing but impressive. This drone felt more like a heavier Inspire 2. For those of you who have flown bigger drones, you may understand how it feels to fly something like this. For me, it would certainly take a little bit of getting used to, but it was a lot steadier than I had initially imagined something this big would be while carrying such a payload.
Attached to a Ronin MX, the A6D is connected with a few simple cords that communicate with the flight board and controller. The connection from the A6D to the DJI interface is nothing but flawless compared to some of the other systems out there. In fact, they make it so easy to set this thing up that if you have the knowledge using the DJI GO app even with just a Mavic, you would be more than able to use this interface, because it is pretty much exactly the same.
Having the opportunity to work with Hasselblad and DJI the past few months has been one of the best experiences yet. It feels great to constantly learn about drone technology and be a part of everything as it continues to develop. I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds with this DJI/Hasselblad partnership.
It looks like a great system to use. I think a slighly cheaper option would be for DJI/Hasselblad to use a version of the X1D. Now if only they could make it to shoot video...
Definitely, an awesome system and it's super simple to use the interface. Would be nice to throw the X1D on there but I also agree about the video features. I would love to have the option to do both though I primarily shoot stills when I fly.