As Washington moves closer to banning DJI drones over national security concerns, shelves in US stores are already running bare – and filmmakers are bracing for a future without the market leader in aerial cinematography. Can US-domestic or allied brands fill the gap, or will creative professionals face higher costs and fewer choices? The United States government is poised to clamp down on DJI, the Chinese drone giant whose products have become a mainstay of aerial photography and filmmaking. Citing national security concerns, officials have set in motion measures that could effectively ban DJI drones from the US market by the end of 2025. For American filmmakers and other creative professionals, the prospect of losing access to DJI’s affordable, high-quality drones has stirred anxiety – a collision of national security policy with the needs of a creative industry that has come to rely on these tools. As DJI’s presence in US stores fades and no clear alternative has emerged, the filmmaking community faces an uncertain future where creative freedom and budget-friendly innovation could be the collateral damage of geopolitics. DJI drones dominate skies around the world. Image credit: CineD DJI – a cornerstone of aerial filmmaking and creativity In the world of civilian drones, DJI is nothing short of dominant. The company commands an estimated 70% of the global drone market (some analyses put its share even higher, above 90%), and over the past decade it has defined what modern camera drones can do. DJI’s Phantom and Mavic series became...
Published By: CineD - Today