DJI Because Life Is Big event banner

The world of drone releases is no different than most technology events these days, you can’t always believe what you hear on the internet. That said, we want to believe what we’re hearing about the DJI Because Life is Big event coming November 28th in New York.

In summary, there are two prevailing rumors for new devices to be announced, the DJI Phantom 5 and a new Osmo Pocket.

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What do we know?

This is going to be shorter than we’d have liked, all we know for sure is that DJI has an event in New York at 2PM EST on the 28th of November. It’s called Because Life is Big and there is a teaser video that helps us not at all positively identify what is on deck.

What we think we know?

Truth is, through all the things we have seen leaked (for the Mavic 2 series) and the sort of hand-held camera vibe we get from the teaser video, we’re super excited that this may be a new Osmo system with the Mavic 2 series cameras on top.

We’re seeing the name Osmo Pocket floating around, but DJI could just as easily add this to the Mavic line and call it the Osmo Mavic or Mavic 2 Osmo or something.

The early leak looked like the 1-inch camera from the Mavic 2 Pro sitting on top of a very pocket-sized Osmo handle.

Related reading:

Previous iterations of Osmo devices have relatively large handles, the type that do not fit in your pocket. Creating a smaller device that can fit in a pocket is a smart move. Or, it can be smart, if functionality is not compromised.

We are fairly certain of one thing, if the plan is to attach the full camera and Gimbal system from the Mavic 2 Pro onto a handle with a battery, that could work extremely well. DJI is best know for its drones on this site, but they are leaders in hand-held camera Gimbal systems for pro-sumer camera systems as well.

dji-mavic-2-pro-front-camera-4

What we are hoping for?

In terms of this potential Osmo device, we are really hoping it will offer interchangeable cameras. We would love to be able to buy a ~$50 handle that allows us to attach the camera from our Mavic 2 Pro or Mavic 2 Zoom. I know, the cameras are not exactly user-removable from the drones right now, but I can dream!

A new drone?

Simple enough, we hope to see a DJI Phantom 5 release. That said, we honestly will be surprised if they announce it at this event. We hope we’re wrong.

If you need a brush up on what a Phantom drone is, click that link you just read past.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro first flight DR flying front

The rumor mill is talking about a few iterative updates in the Phantom 5. Flight time and other in-air improvements are to be expected, maybe defaulting to OcuSync 2.0 and adding Quickshot modes for consumer users.

The most prominent rumor is for a brand new camera system. To date, Phantom drones offer a fixed camera, topping out at a 1-inch 20MP sensor being the latest. Judging by the advancements found in the Mavic 2 Pro 1-inch camera, I’d expect no different in a Phantom 5.

Related: DJI Phantom 4 Pro review

The real update in the Phantom 5 camera is interchangeable lenses. Or so the rumor goes. This rumor may be confused with some of DJI’s private drone orders, but it would make sense to offer three or four different lenses of varying focal lengths.

Most drones offer a lens around 24mm to 28mm focal length. The larger DJI drones offer lens packages, such as the Zenmuse X7 with 16mm, 24mm, 35mm and 50mm options.

Let’s be fair, the value of multiple lenses can be negated by a quality zoom lens. Remember that Mavic 2 Zoom? It has a 24 – 48mm zoom without needing to land to change up hardware.

We’re not sure what to expect, but we would be very surprised if the upcoming Phantom 5 did not offer various focal lengths.

Aside from the rumors, we expect the Phantom 5 to introduce a more versatile platform, if only in the same way that the Mavic 2 comes in the Zoom, Pro and Enterprise variants.

Now we wait

2PM on the 28th is just a few days away, we can’t wait to see what DJI has in store. We will have boots on the ground at the event, please hit the comments below if there is anything you want us to watch out for, or specific questions you would like us to ask DJI directly while we’re there.

What’s next?
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