Lily camera drone – dawn of the throw and shoot camera

We’ve all had point-and-shoot cameras, some of us are happy with smartphone snapping whereas others move on to Micro Four Thirds or full DSLRs. How about throw-and-shoot drones? Well, Lily could be the next evolution of camera.

Lily is a new camera drone that aims to shake up not only the drone industry, but the camera industry too!

The company behind Lily is claiming that it is the world’s first “throw-and-shoot camera” and that it will enable anyone to capture cinematic aerial photos and videos without needing to do any piloting.

These are all quite lofty claims but the tech does make sense and is similar to the one Renault was touting last year.

Using Lily involves keeping a tracking device, which can be worn like a watch, on the subject you’d like the cute camera drone to follow. Then, by simply throwing Lily high into the air, it will fly and shoot all by itself. All you have to do is get on with what you want to be filmed.

Lily uses GPS and computer vision to follow you at up to 25mph and between 5-50ft high, and will keep you in the center of the frame at all times.

The drone itself is waterproof (IP67) and floats, allowing you to safely land it in water if needed. Size-wise, it should easily fit in a backpack (3.22 x 10.29 x 10.29-inches) and weighs 1.3kg.

Onboard is a camera that can shoot 12 megapixel stills, 1080p HD video at 60fps, and 720p/120fps slow motion footage. The camera has a 94 degree field of vision as well as digital gimballing and image stabilisation so your shots should come out silky smooth.

The internal battery allows for 20 minutes of flight per 2 hour charge. The footage is stored on the 4GB micro SD which is provided or you can add a beefier one via the extenal memory slot.