DJI + thermal imaging == a new landmark for drones

It doesn’t just stop at aerial photography anymore when it comes to drone hobbies and usefulness. Now DJI has partnered with FLIR–the world’s largest company dealing with thermal imagery–to add thermal cameras to their quadcopters to help rescue teams of all sorts accomplish their jobs more effectively.

The Zenmuse XT is a special edition of DJI’s award winning gimbals that features a thermal camera and is designed to be paired with either the Inspire 1 (review) or the Matrice 100 quadcopter models.

Obviously you don’t have to be a member of search and rescue to get your hands on one of these, but there aren’t a lot of uses outside of that. These models are targeted for rescue, military and other industrial departments and offer a new look into their territory (or at least a more cost effective one).

The image quality doesn’t compare with today’s 1080p and 4K solutions as thermal imagery is a completely different ball game since the camera is doing much more than just displaying an image, but it provides just the right resolution to accomplish what it was designed for. Models include resolutions of 640 × 512 at 30 fps or 336 × 256 or 60 fps.

Specifications: 

The Zenmuse XT can be controlled completely through the DJI GO app, providing a real-time, low latency view of what the camera sees, and instant access to core camera functions including:

• Spot metering, temperature measurement at the mid-point
• Digital zoom
• Single or interval shooting modes
• Photo, video preview and download
• Take photos while recording video
• Various camera settings and parameters including:
  • – Palette, also referred to as Look-up Table (LUT)
  • – Scene, also referred to as Automatic Gain Correction (AGC)
  • – Region of Interest (ROI)
  • – Isotherm mode