The Draganfly series of heli cams have been impressive, but the just announced X6 is freaking amazing. The triple-tipped carbon fiber body has two carbon rotors on each end. The design allows it to move in all directions rapidly, provide enough control to zip around indoors yet resist up to 18 miles per hour of wind.

The oil-dampening vibration killing mount can be loaded with an HD camera, night vision camera, still camera, low light camera or thermal imaging camera. The machine also has GPS, which feeds positioning data into the remote control’s LCD. The X6 even can maintain flight if one of its 6 motors stops working. The battery can be charged in 30 minutes, yet can supply the device with 450 watts of power, which allows the machine to climb 23 feet per second, turn 90 degrees in the same time or do fly-bys at 30 MPH. I don’t know how much these cost, but I’m getting enough enjoyment out of watching the videos at Dragonfly’s site.

Most mobile phones don’t have optical zoom for a couple reasons. First, they take up a lot of space, and second, good optics can be expensive.

If you’re willing to give up one of the inconvieniences (the size), you can get this inexpensive zoom lens from Brando for the inexpensive price of $19USD from Brando in Hong Kong.

At that price, it probably won’t have the greatest optics, but that’s okay, since the iPhone’s camera isn’t even close to “high quality photographic equipment” either.