Post: #1

Anyone on here own a drone for shooting video or just for flying?

Was thinking about getting one to take some aerial footage with my GoPro. Would be quite fun where I work to get some cool aerial drilling videos and the scenery is amazing too.

I was hoping to get something that could pan/tilt the camera as it flies but that isn't a huge requirement.

Any recommendations?

I like this one so far...

http://www.amazon.com/DJI-Quadcopter-act...ords=drone

Post: #2

With or without Hellfire missles?

On a serious note, reddit filmmakers have had that question asked a few times. This might help.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Filmmakers/searc...ance&t=all

Post: #3

Phantom is a good choice. You can make some pretty amazing and accurate maps with just GoPro stills, a few ground control points and a demo version of Pix4d/agisoft

A pan/tilt gimbal mount for the Phantom is a nice upgrade but you'll have to add a FPV kit to get the most out of it.

Whatever you end up buying you should practice in controlled conditions for at least the first 5hrs (i.e. >5mph wind, no vertical obstructions within 300m)

Realize that you will eventually crash it, probably beyond repair depending on your altitude. The goal is to not do so without getting your money's worth first.

Post: #4

you are better off building your own
look into 250 and 450 chassis with beginner build/kits
I wouldnt go with pan tilt off the bat, but once "servostab" comes out it should be pretty dope.

Post: #5

Considered it for a long time, but decided not to commit yet since I won't have a chance to put it to good use at the moment, and I don't want to buy it and have it lying around collecting dust. Cool idea though especially if you have a specific vision in mind of what you want to achieve with it.

Bare in mind that GoPros have a significant fish-eye effect going on so horizons will look curved...generally not a good thing, depending on what you have in mind. You can try to correct it in post but then you will be losing a lot of the wide-angleness of the shot, so you may be better off just getting a different wide-angle camera, without a fish-eye effect.

Post: #6

No...You are better off buying one.Unless you have built these types of scale models before Or have skill in flying other toys.
A person that has not dabbled in building things like this.. will fail extravagantly multiple times.

The Pre bought ones have already been programmed and stabilized.
You wont spend days or more trying to program yourself... or build and crash until you get it right.


I really suggest you start off by buying much cheaper model helicopters and quadcopters first
Something like this
http://www.amazon.com/F645-2-4GHZ-Single...B007SI2YEC
At the 4 channel range.. to learn how to fly.. then move to something more expensive.

The last think you want to do is slip up and throw away 500 dollars in a couple seconds

Post: #7

^^
we were talking about multicopters

Post: #8

Why have I heard the word 'go-pro' here 5 times in two days and never before? What is it? Camera I know but what else

Post: #9

I was thinking about building one, but from what I can gather the battery powered ones have a very limited flight time of about ~12 - 15 minutes. Maybe a petrol one would be better!?

Post: #10

Holy shit 600 dollars is cheap as hell compared to what I thought. I always thought those things were only created and used by the government and large corporations. Hell of a toy right there.

Post: #11

(12-12-2014 05:19 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  Why have I heard the word 'go-pro' here 5 times in two days and never before? What is it? Camera I know but what else

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nigamarora/2...eculation/

GoPro is pretty much like Redbull.

Post: #12

(12-12-2014 05:00 PM)Sourcecode Wrote:  No...You are better off buying one.Unless you have built these types of scale models before Or have skill in flying other toys.
A person that has not dabbled in building things like this.. will fail extravagantly multiple times.

The Pre bought ones have already been programmed and stabilized.
You wont spend days or more trying to program yourself... or build and crash until you get it right.


I really suggest you start off by buying much cheaper model helicopters and quadcopters first
Something like this
http://www.amazon.com/F645-2-4GHZ-Single...B007SI2YEC
At the 4 channel range.. to learn how to fly.. then move to something more expensive.

The last think you want to do is slip up and throw away 500 dollars in a couple seconds

For Flying

Note that a single rotor heli beyond 4 channels (collective pitch) is very difficult to fly. It can take a few months just to learn how to hover. Having said that, if you want to learn to fly it's recommended to indeed go for a collective pitch heli.

This is the one I have:
http://www.amazon.com/Blade-450-X-BNF/dp...helicopter

I have this binded to an 8 channel radio.

This is the size recommended to beginners getting into collective pitch, however keep in mind that you WILL crash at-least once. For this reason I recommend you get this instead if you want to learn to fly collective pitch:

http://www.bladehelis.com/Products/Defau...ID=BLH3300

This will give you full collective-pitch capabilities and you can fly around your house without worrying about replacing parts from a crash. The learning curve will also be steep, even more so as the smaller the heli gets, the more dexterity you'll have to have to stabilize across 6 channels of control. You essentially learn on hard mode for much cheaper.




For Video Capture

It will take you a couple of years to learn how to stabilize a payload (camera) on a collective pitch heli. If you're only looking to do aerial photography you should skip the steep learning curve and go for a ready-to-fly quad-copter instead. Something like this:

http://www.bladehelis.com/350QX3/Default.aspx

Post: #13

http://wilddrones.com/ here are some cool drones, I love these things

Post: #14

Parrot Drones look decent.

Post: #15

Post: #16

The fireworks thing was a cool idea. Another one was Pripyat in Ukraine:

Post: #17

While we are on this topic, let me throw this out there..

I fly drones professionally for survey assessments, forestry mapping, and large-scale agriculture health assessments.

This type of business here in the States is difficult to build due to the restrictive FAA policy for drone use and government interpreted illegality of selling drone-based imagery/data for commercial use. But the concept does work and customers are willing to pay for the data/products.

Drone based aerial imagery is needed anywhere in the world where agriculture, logging or infrastructure development takes place – SEA, Latin America, EE, etc.. Outside the US there are dozens if not hundreds of companies flying drones to fulfill these needs, from small startups to large corporations. Even some US firms have contracts to fly and image large tracts of agriculture with Drones (sugarcane plantations in Brazil, for example).

If I ever considered starting an overseas/location-independent business it would be using drones for these purposes.. only I do not have the foreign contacts to get work and my language skills aren’t up to snuff (espanol).

But I know exactly what is required to make it viable, how to operate the aircraft, process the imagery and the analysis piece as well.

So if anyone with an aviation / remote sensing / business background and hopefully speaks better Spanish (or other non-English language) wants to kick around some ideas, send me a pm and we can discuss. Thanks

Post: #18

I bought a small hand held one for $20 on eBay. It's a 6 axis one with rings around the propellers to protect it from smashing into walls. Novelty Christmas present for my kid.

Post: #19

Hey Atlantic I bet you could start a pretty popular youtube channel just filming some of the things that go on on a drilling rig in crisp HD.

I'm not talking about rig pig fuckery but things like connections, tripping, what the driller does, your MWD work, directional drilling, pressure testing, equipment breaking etc.

When I try to find drilling rig vids on youtube they're generally all grainy and shitty. A lot of people might find it interesting to know what goes on to really pull hydrocarbons out of the ground. Plus aerial shots using a drone would add big value to these videos.

Just a thought!

Post: #20

I know this guy who built a drone and mounted a GoPro on it and now makes some nice side cash shooting events like weddings and festivals and mansions for real estate agents. This is definitely a niche market to exploit as the regulations slack off in the future. Depending on where you are, drones are only allowed to fly at model aircraft clubs so you might get a hefty fine ($1,000 in Canada) depending on the regulation in your area.