The announcement of this collaboration should not come as a surprise, considering DJI acquired a majority stake in Hasselblad earlier this year. Not to mention, the two companies have teamed up in the past for a drone/camera collaboration.
What is surprising is the fact the two companies are pushing it as a “world’s first” when in reality, there is nothing new about the system. Every component of the setup can be purchased individually and combined to create the exact “platform.”
The only difference is the fact that it will soon be sold as a package, which would presumably lower the cost compared to buying the components individually. However, neither DJI nor Hasselblad has announced a price for the platform, so there is no guarantee that a package discount will indeed be the case.
Individually, the components add up to roughly $40,000, without a lens for the setup: $33,000 for the H6D-100c, $5,000 for the M600 Pro, $1,600 for the Ronin-MX.
As much as this platform is designed for professional photographers, it’s also designed with industrial, commercial, and scientific applications in mind. Drones are becoming more popular than ever in fields outside traditional photography and the combination of pixels and power makes perfect sense for artists and scientists alike. In the announcement, DJI and Hasselblad even hit on the topic of these applications, saying the “enhanced accuracy [of the M600 drone’s instruments] over typical barometer, compass and GPS systems makes it ideal for exacting commercial, industrial and scientific applications.”
According to the press release, the 100-megapixel drone platform, deemed “the next era of aerial photography” will be released in the third quarter of 2017. We will be sure to update this post when pricing is made available.
