Sony Opens Preorders for Airspeak S1 Professional Drone

December 1, 2021

Sony Electronics has announced the availability of the company’s first-ever professional drone. The Airpeak S1 is the “world’s smallest drone” that can be equipped with a full-size mirrorless interchangeable-lens Alpha camera, and is designed for cinematographers and other visual storytelling professionals. Sony said presale ordering is now available, with an expected customer ship date of Dec. 24, 2021.

Announced earlier this year, the Airpeak S1 drone is compatible with several of Sony’s camera bodies, including the Alpha 1, Alpha 7S series, Alpha 7R series, Alpha 9 series, FX3 and others. The drone integrates proprietary technology to deliver smooth maneuverability at high speeds with highly stable wind resistance, enabling better quality aerial images and video content, Sony said.

“We’re excited to now make the new Airpeak S1 drone available for purchase, and for the amazing set of possibilities this drone opens for cinematographers,” said Yang Cheng, vice president of imaging solutions at Sony Electronics. “The drone’s compact size, new software features and advanced imaging, sensing, AI and robotics reflect the high quality the industry respects Sony for, and enables content creators and commercial professionals to capture images and video not possible before.”

The drone includes Aipeak Flight, an iOS-based application that integrates and monitors hardware related with the drone, giving an operator real-time status display and on-screen updates. The Airpeak Base web application is also available, which lets an operator manage the equipment, create advanced flight plans, run the same pattern repeatedly, and manage and troubleshoot flight logs. For multiple operators, the Airpeak S1 includes dual operation mode, allowing one user to operate the drone as another operates the gimbal and camera, with both operators monitoring the content being recorded. An optional cloud service, Airpeak Plus, is a paid subscription ($300 per year) that provides additional data storage, advanced geofencing options, and the import/export of flight logs.

The drone will retail for about $9,000, and will ship with two pairs of propellers, a remote controller, two batteries and a battery charger. A third-party gimbal made specifically for the drone will be sold separately. 

More details on the drone are available at this Sony Electronics website.

 

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