Sony has announced the launch of Airpeak, a new brand that will produce drones. Apparently we can expect to see the new buisness begin operating in spring this year and it’s aiming to meet the needs of professional photographers and videographers.
The first drone will be capable of carrying a Sony Alpha camera and Airpeak will be the smallest class of drone that’s capable of carrying an Alpha camera.
The image below shows it carrying a Sony A7S III, a 12Mp full-frame mirrorless camera capable of capturing very high-quality 4K video.
Sony is currently working with other parties to bring the first drone to market and there will be updates on the progress over the coming weeks.
This announcement comes just after European drone laws have changed with new legislation and qualifications being introduced. The regulations governing drone flight have changed to take a more risk-based approach based upon the weight and speed of the drone as well as the location of the flight and its proximity to uninvolved people.
It will be interesting to see how much the Airpeak drone weighs and whether it will fall into one of the new drone categories. Judging by Sony’s video, which shows two people lifting it out of the boot of a car, it’s a substantial weight. My guess is that it’s heavier than the 4Kg limitation of the C2 class drone that can be flown in the Open Category A2 sub-category with the A2 Certificate of Competency qualification.
From the images revealed so far, it seems that the Airpeak drone will be capable of carrying a full-frame Sony A7-series camera and another smaller gimbal-mounted camera higher up, closer to the airframe.
