Droning on about drones...

[buckshot]

Anyone using a drone for aerial shots / shoots - other than for real estate pics or golf courses   ?

Interested to hear your feedback if you are.

Saw a demo for the NuvAero MovieCopter last week (a $17k octocopter). Very impressive in the hands of the two trained operators - one flying the rig, the other operating the camera. Couldn't imagine one person flying the rig and shooting quality moving footage however, despite the fact that with a GPS on board and autopilot the air frame can be programmed to fly to/between various waypoints.

Shooting still images is probably doable by a single person (using the fact that the drone can be flown to a point and made to stay there), but far safer/more productive I would imagine is to keep the two roles (pilot/imager) separate - especially in built up areas - one of these going out of control could do some serious damage.

Lots of different models out there - from $50 to $25k+ , but not a whole lot of information available outside of DIY robotics forums. Had a chat with one of the operators, and he said to watch out for 3D printed parts on many of the lower-end rigs (basically, anything under $15k). Wouldn't want to sling your RED Epic onto one of those!

Jim

[KevinA]

In most Countries you have to work in a grey area regarding the law to make any money. They will be a dime dozen soon and everyone will be racing to be the cheapest. That's the only business plan most have.
I dabbled with one a couple of years ago.
The BBC are using them a lot at the moment, you can get great shots with them. Like I said I just see it as another area to attract the cheap skates, just like the ones with a pole on a van.

[langier]

Do a google search for the DJI quad and GoPro. Lots of nice work, especially video with the combo. Photoshop worald in Las Vegas this year featured the combo in a workshop.

Check Russell Brown's website for his ariel pano tutorial. For a $1000 rig, it's pretty impressive.

[John Nollendorfs]

The DJI with the Hero 3 seems to be the hot combo, but add a stabilized 2 axis gimbal such as--
http://rotorpixel.com/gimbals/

Everything is changing, including the local laws "outlawing" drones.

It truly is amazing what creative minds can do to remote aerial imaging.

[LKaven]

The demo reel using that gimbal mount looks very smooth.  It no longer looks like toying around.  One could do some very cinematic shots with that setup and a Blackmagic 4K camera. 

[OldRoy]

Everything is changing, including the local laws "outlawing" drones.

It truly is amazing what creative minds can do to remote aerial imaging.

I fell about laughing when I read that. Conjured up all kinds of images...
Roy

[MarkL]

Depending on how good the footage/picures needs to be I wonder about the practicality of owning and learning to fly it which is perhaps similar to just splashing out on a steadycam rig. For something so expensive and requiring time to learn skills to get good results it may just be easier to hire someone as required.

[LKaven]

Depending on how good the footage/picures needs to be I wonder about the practicality of owning and learning to fly it which is perhaps similar to just splashing out on a steadycam rig. For something so expensive and requiring time to learn skills to get good results it may just be easier to hire someone as required.

With stabilization, I don't know if it beats the steadicam at its own game, but it certainly seems to beat the crane shot.  I would still expect that a skilled operator is necessary for any serious production.

[MarkL]

With stabilization, I don't know if it beats the steadicam at its own game, but it certainly seems to beat the crane shot.  I would still expect that a skilled operator is necessary for any serious production.

I probably used a poor analogy, I was thinking more of it as an example where dropping lots of money may not be worth it due to difficulties in getting proficient enough with it to get professional results or making it worth the outlay at all.

[John Nollendorfs]

I don't know about the proficiency thing for the quad drones, but a a lot of people are buying $1-2k camera's and think they are "good enough" to be professional photographers. Isn't that why they have the "P" on the mode dial (Professional)? ;-)

I've been looking at RC helicopters, and now the RC quad copter for several years. Having been a model airplane flyer 30 years ago, I agree it can be quite a learning curve. But it seems with the computerized controls they have on these Quad copters, it looks to be much easier to master the basics of flight.

At $1500 or so including a Hero III, cost of entry is not that high, and probably a lot of fun just learning to fly the thing. Once that's mastered, then learning to fly it to take good footage is the next challenge. You can probably even put together a sample reel with all the oops moments, and tree and object encounters. They had something on the national news just recently showing a drone striking a bride groom in the face!