A flying sports camera that has crowdfunded over 4.4 million US dollars overseas | Product Observation

Written by Hu Yiting

Edited by Yuan Silai

Cycling, skiing, and moving rapidly through the thick forest... People take equipment to the outdoors and record and check in among nature. Mobile phones, cameras, and drones have gradually expanded more perspectives, but they still restrict hands to varying degrees, and thus the sports flying camera with the main feature of intelligent following emerges.

Select the shooting mode, aim the lens at the following target, take off by itself in the palm, and capture the figures and scenery in the frame. The sports flying camera provides another shooting perspective without the need for manipulation.

In 2016, ZeroZero Robotics, which had been established for only two years, began to launch such a camera, named "Hover Camera Passport", with autonomous following and lightweight portability as the main functions. The following year, it entered more than 400 official Apple retail stores in over 30 countries.

After the first product tested the market, ZeroZero Robotics established the "Haver" brand in 2022 and launched the Haver Flying Camera X1, officially entering this category.

The Haver Flying Camera X1 can take off and land in the palm and follow for shooting, equipped with more than ten kinds of shooting modes; in terms of appearance, it adopts a folding design, with the whole machine weighing only 125g, lighter than iPhone 16, and can be carried with you. After its global launch, its cumulative shipments have reached hundreds of thousands of units.

Over the past ten years, drone manufacturers represented by DJI have cultivated an aerial photography consumer group that is passionate about shooting grand scenes. While iterating, they have gradually penetrated into industrial scenarios such as agriculture, geographic mapping, and logistics. In contrast, sports flying cameras are still currently focused on the daily consumer field, attracting a wider consumer group of different age groups with the characteristics of simple operation, portability, and close-range shooting.

After nearly two years, the PRO and PROMAX products based on the Haver Flying Camera X1 were released, and both the photography performance and scene application have been upgraded. The two products were first launched on the overseas crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, and the crowdfunding amount reached one million US dollars in just over two hours. Currently, the cumulative amount has exceeded 4.4 million US dollars.

Intelligent Following, Image Enhancement

A sports flying camera, as the name suggests, is a camera that combines wide-angle shooting in sports scenes and unmanned flight functions. In practical applications, it also fills the limitations of the latter in shooting.

185 years ago, a camera that could image and record was invented and began to be gradually used for shooting the outside world. When the flipable lens and the selfie function of mobile phones were introduced, people widely began to take selfies. However, there are not enough products to achieve the effect of integrating the photographer and the scenery into the same picture without the help of a third party or tools.

In order to achieve this new shooting mode, ZeroZero Robotics began to develop the corresponding category ten years ago. From the first-generation Hover Camera Passport, the Haver X1 camera, to the upcoming X1 PRO series, it continues the concept of sports flying cameras and makes customized investments in image performance, flight power, and remote sensing systems.

Multi-mode intelligent following is the main function of sports flying cameras. According to Wang Mengqiu, CEO of ZeroZero Robotics, the X1 flying camera can already complete multi-angle following from the front, side, and back after a simple body setting. With the cooperation of the fully automatic shooting mode, it can also automatically generate visual effects such as cranes, rails, and flying cats.

The recently launched X1 PRO series integrates and upgrades these functions in following effect and image stabilization. The two products apply AI algorithm automatic recognition technology to achieve high-speed intelligent following, with a following speed of up to 42 km/h. When a person suddenly accelerates to 60 km/h, the camera will not be lost.

At the same time, the X1 PRO series continues the previous generation's multiple flight modes, which can achieve classic modes such as hovering, gradually moving away, top-down shooting, and surrounding to capture dynamic moments; it can also complete advanced modes such as parallel following, super frontal following, and manual control.

Haver Flying Camera X1 PRO series, Image courtesy of the enterprise

In terms of image stabilization and imaging, the X1 PRO series adopts a dual-axis gimbal + EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization technology) + horizon correction, and can resist a maximum of 5-level wind (10.7 m/s) during outdoor shooting.

Wang Mengqiu told 36Kr that even after all the electronic image stabilization is done and cropped, the resolution of the PROMAX can still remain 8K, and at the same time, it can achieve an approximately 107-degree wide-angle effect when shooting.

8K imaging is also a highlight feature of this PROMAX. Wang Mengqiu introduced that it benefits from the optimization and integration of the entire link of the imaging system. This flying camera has customized and upgraded the entire link from the gimbal, lens, photosensitive device, to the ISP graphics processing chip. Among them, in order to achieve both imaging and small volume effects, the lens adopts a combination of 6 plastic lenses and 1 glass lens, which takes into account strong resolution while compressing the volume.

At a time when 8K has not yet become the mainstream imaging effect, the positioning of the Haver X1 PRO and PROMAX is also slightly different. The former focuses on sports and can meet the needs of outdoor scenes such as cycling and skiing. Its image performance can achieve 4K 60-frame shooting, and the price is 3499 yuan (499 US dollars overseas), which is more cost-effective compared to PROMAX.

The PROMAX is equipped with 8K imaging, and is more suitable for content creators or photography enthusiasts who have higher pursuits for image and picture quality. Its official standard configuration is priced at 4999 yuan (679 US dollars overseas), which is a rather rare thousand-yuan-level 8K device. Currently, the X1 PRO series has been launched on online platforms.

Covering Multiple Age Groups, Targeting the Global Market

Flying cameras are a sub-category of drones. For most people, this type of product is still relatively new, but with the popularity of outdoor travel in recent years, the user group of Haver flying cameras has gradually increased.

Compared with consumer drones on the market, Haver flying cameras do not target the product's user group at professional groups who are passionate and skilled in photography, but at men, women, and children who casually hold ordinary devices such as mobile phones to check in and record.

In the already launched Hover X1 APP, a community for users to upload and share photos or videos is designed. Browsing shows that different groups such as teenagers cycling outdoors, young people raising pets, and middle-aged and elderly people traveling and checking in have uploaded short videos using multiple shooting modes in outdoor scenes.

In order to facilitate users to generate short videos for sharing on multiple platforms, the Haver X1 PROMAX supports 4K 30fps high-definition vertical shooting mode, which can match the corresponding picture quality and specifications.

In addition, in addition to the APP community, Haver flying cameras also have nearly 100 WeChat communities and overseas social media communities, where users spontaneously share shooting scenes during daily life, travel, cycling, skiing and other sports processes.

The application of Haver flying cameras in skiing and cycling scenes, Image courtesy of the enterprise

While trying to match a wider group of people, Haver is also continuously expanding the application of complex scenes. Compared with indoor environments, outdoor environments have many uncertainties, and the complex and changeable terrain environment also challenges the recognition and response ability of the equipment. If not careful, the drone may crash.

Previously, it was not uncommon for drone users to experience crashes in complex environments such as water surfaces and dense forests. Some models of manufacturers such as DJI and Skydio will also remind users to be cautious when flying in scenes that are difficult to control, such as water surfaces, before use.

Wang Mengqiu told 36Kr that the main reason why water surfaces are not suitable is that water absorbs wavelengths. When the drone equipment emits laser on the water surface and does not receive reflection, it cannot confirm its own position; under the continuous fluctuation of the water surface, it is also difficult for the drone to calculate and evaluate how to adjust itself.

The previously launched Haver X1 flying camera also has this usage limitation. In order to achieve complex scene applications, the X1 PRO series adopts multi-sensor fusion technology and is equipped with an all-terrain flight system, which can fly over complex terrain environments such as water surfaces, snow, cliffs, and low-light conditions.

While iterating and upgrading, Haver has already started sales both domestically and overseas. It has been launched on Amazon and its independent website overseas, and in China, it mainly uses e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and offline experience stores as the main sales channels. Currently, its overseas sales proportion is higher than that in China.

In order to enter more countries and regions, Haver flying cameras customize local products. In Japan, the law stipulates that drones under 100 grams can be used without registration. It launched the Haver Flying Camera X1 Smart, sacrificing the folding function to reduce the weight to 99 grams, making it convenient for users to shoot.

This product was launched in the form of crowdfunding in Japan and Taiwan, China. The crowdfunding amount in Japan is approximately 212 million yen (about 1.41 million US dollars); the crowdfunding amount in Taiwan, China is more than 28 million New Taiwan dollars (about 870,000 US dollars).

Up to now, Haver flying cameras have established the business prototypes of overseas marketing, distribution, compliance certification, and after-sales service.

At a time when the growth rate of consumer drones is slowing down and product homogeneity is emerging, even though the flying camera category is relatively sub-category, the competition has already begun. In the second half of this year, DJI launched the neo drone, which also takes palm takeoff and intelligent following as the core functions. Compared with the X1 flying camera that Haver has launched, the price is nearly one thousand yuan lower. Less than two months after its release, the sales volume of a single-channel online official flagship store has exceeded ten thousand units.

Flying cameras have undergone several years of upgrade and iteration, and they are gradually no longer unfamiliar to people. The entry of giants may bring it into a new stage of development.