It was over two years ago when the Selfly drone first showed up on Kickstarter. At the time I was just a couple of months removed from attending my first PAX South show with a press pass, and was growing more interested in improving both my convention and motorcycle photography skills. However, as a blogger/cameraman army of one, there remain a number of limits on what kind of pictures I can get without resorting to tripods and complex timers. The idea of a small camera drone which could be fitted right onto the back of my phone had a lot of appeal.
Originally the Selfly was supposed to ship by September 2017. That would have put it in my hands in time for Twitchcon, which I was planning to attend. My attendance plans didn’t work out, but neither did the Selfly’s delivery date. Over the next couple of years, those of us who backed the project on Kickstarter would receive occasional updates speaking to delays in manufacturing, problems with prototypes, issues with shipping, further software revisions, etc.
But then, in April 2019, something started happening! Credit cards suddenly got billed for addon hardware! People were confused. But within a couple of weeks, boxes started showing up on doorsteps! In my specific case, the box included the Selfly drone, two iPhone X cases, and a powerbank/battery charger.
So, only about a year and a half later than expected, I finally have my phone-sized camera drone. Which now brings up three questions: 1. Was it worth the wait? 2. Was it worth the cost? 3. Can it fill the mission I wanted? The answers to those three questions are, in short, No, Maybe, and Kind Of.
Let’s get into a little more detail.
- Was it worth the wait?
Since successful Kickstarter campaigns take your money immediately after the campaign ends, the group behind AEE had my $100 for about two years before delivering a product. In that time, a large number of miniature FPV camera drones have come onto the market, many for less (in some cases significantly less) than the Selfly. Granted most of them don’t have the Selfly’s trick of being entirely phone controlled and fitting onto a special phone case, but many of them are also more capable than the Selfly. In terms of miniature FPV drone tech, a hundred dollars in 2019 gets you a lot more capability than a hundred dollars did in 2017. - Was it worth the cost?
As noted above, camera drones have improved a lot in the past two years. As such, the Selfly isn’t king of the hill for picture quality, battery life, or altitude, even among the other microweights. On the other hand, the ability to fold a camera drone into the back of your phone is still a neat party trick, and handy when you just want a single go anywhere microdrone package. - Does it fulfill my mission?
Here’s the crux of the issue. Can the Selfly fulfill what I wanted out of a microdrone? For indoor photography from a slightly different angle, it’s okay. The camera doesn’t tilt, which limits usable picture height, and the drone itself seems to have problems keeping stationary, but it can work. However, I’d be extremely wary of using this in a crowded convention hall, both because I’d need to ensure that it was above everyone’s head height, and also because landing this tiny drone in a crowd would require catching it in midair.
When it comes to one of the original Selfly’s video promo uses, where the user lofts the drone in a bar for a “dronie” with his date, well, not only can I not imagine too many other patrons being okay with the sudden angry bee noise of a tiny quadrotor launching from a nearby table, but I can’t imagine what kind of narcissistic asshole would actually do that.
Under very specific, controlled conditions, I might be able to get some nice spontaneous group shots indoors with this, or a cool wide angle shot in an air museum. Maybe.
Then there’s the outdoor shots. They look great in the video, but in practice, unless you’re launching your Selfly in absolute dead calm, the wind is going to move it like a leaf. So much for those station keeping camera shots. Although, with a battery life of only about five minutes, you’d best be quick anyway. South Dakota (and the Midwest in general) doesn’t have many calm, windless days. Given perfect conditions, I may be able to get some nice motorcycle shots, or a fun action shot of myself jogging, or a big group photo at a picnic. But most of the time, even for those cases, I’d probably be better off handing the camera to one of my now reasonably capable kids, relying on professional race photographers to capture a good shot, or using a tripod and a good DSLR camera.
In short, the Selfly is a fun little gadget, but mostly it’s a solution in search of a problem. It’s too light for functional use outside, too noisy and obtrusive (and potentially dangerous without the rotor guards) to be spontaneously used inside, and too battery limited for professional use. Since I sunk the money in already, I’ll keep looking for ways to actually use this drone on a phone, but unfortunately, the design compromises required to make a phone-sized, folding, lightweight drone also render the Selfly less capable at its primary missions than other lower cost drones.