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Camera equipped Quadcopters......

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Yup, I went an done it..... cancelled my pre-order for the Tamron 150-600mm and rolled the store credit over into getting a DJI Phantom Vision 2 Quadcopter with FPV camera. Hard to believe after tripping shutters since the 60's I am going to try something completely new in photography for me.... arial photography with it's 14mp camera. I doubt if I will do much video stuff but hey it's a open door hard to say what will come in. ;) Once I get it and get it setup and updated I will post some pics. Kinda exciting to have something completely new to learn.

 

This thing is neat because you control the Quadcopter with a RC transmitter but can control the camera and gimbal with your smartphone through a wifi booster. This way I can see what I am going to take the pic of and then trip the shutter when I want to. I have lots of videos and manuals to go through before my first outing. Heck it will even fly back to it's starting point if it loses signal or whatever using GPS. Who needs a 600 when I can just fly it in and land it near it's location and fire away with the camera as needed ;););)

 

The adventure begins....... anyone else using these quadcopters feel free to post here on this thread or those just who may be interested and have questions... we can all learn this stuff together....

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I bought a phantom as a Christmas present to myself in December. I haven't used it nearly as much as I wanted to due to the lousy winter we've had, but the couple hours I've flown it I have found it to be incredibly easy to control. Use the GPS setting and its ALMOST foolproof.

Mine doesn't have the built in camera like the vision, so I mounted a gopro black 3+ to it, which takes, quite literally, stunning video. I haven't tried stills with it yet, but plan to as soon as the weather warms up and the wind dies down. Wind is really the biggest obstacle I've found with these things.

 

I know the vision has a newer battery system, with more expensive batteries, but let me suggest extra batteries as your first accessory, you'll need them. My batteries last about 10-15 minutes of flight before recharging. I also bought a quality charger instead of the crappy one that comes with it.

 

For me, now its all about video editing. You know my feelings on post processing? Well they're worse when it comes to video.

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Mike, One of the selling points for me was a free $150 spare battery that came with the deal. The battery is rated for 20-25 minutes and I figure two is just the bare minimum for battery power. I am sure more will come but I will wait for a deal.

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No eagle fluke....... would be illegal in many ways. One other thing is several people have told me their quadcopters have been attacked by raptors and crows. I'd hate to see a eagle destroy my drone over the Susky river and watch $1200 sink ti the bottom right in front of my eyes.

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Damn!! $150?

Is that how much they are? I can get the ones for mine for $25, but they are a much simpler battery without as much life to them.

 

I've seen videos of them being attacked by hawks....and videos of them flying away never to be seen again, and videos of them crashing into lakes, etc. I figure everything is a risk. Be careful, take precautions, learn how to use it before taking stupid chances like flying it over the ocean.

 

I also hear a lot of rumors about the government trying to ban or at least limit their use. Wouldn't stop me from using it. I'm not gonna fly it over an airport or the Pentagon, so I'm not that worried (wait, maybe I shouldn't even be typing here ;) )

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Using one commercially will get the FAA on you quick but for personal use and flying under 400' the FAA right now is sort of playing a see no evil approach at this time. I know any RC aircraft is illegal to fly over areas controlled by the State Parks in DE. Also they are illegal within 5 miles of a airport or over federal park lands. Delaware as a state is one of 28 states without specific language about these and there are 30 states that have proposals in their legislature to limit their use...... So far that is all I know about the legalities about their usage. My thought is if I am away from people and no where near areas which this could cause property damage I am feeling I will not be harassed legally. Oh I forgot also that I am not using it to spy on celebs or nudist camps too... ;)

 

I see it as a tool to use over wetlands where it is near impossible to get to in other ways. I truly think if I use common sense and go to beaches at times of little human traffic I will be ok as well. How the laws develop will be due to just how stupid the owners of these use them.

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Using one commercially will get the FAA on you quick but for personal use and flying under 400' the FAA right now is sort of playing a see no evil approach at this time. I know any RC aircraft is illegal to fly over areas controlled by the State Parks in DE. Also they are illegal within 5 miles of a airport or over federal park lands. Delaware as a state is one of 28 states without specific language about these and there are 30 states that have proposals in their legislature to limit their use...... So far that is all I know about the legalities about their usage. My thought is if I am away from people and no where near areas which this could cause property damage I am feeling I will not be harassed legally. Oh I forgot also that I am not using it to spy on celebs or nudist camps too... ;)

 

I see it as a tool to use over wetlands where it is near impossible to get to in other ways. I truly think if I use common sense and go to beaches at times of little human traffic I will be ok as well. How the laws develop will be due to just how stupid the owners of these use them.

 

So true. Unfortunately, a lot of people will suffer for the actions of a few stupid people.

 

I've seen a lot of really great uses for them, and again, it's a matter of how comfortable you get with it. A lot of people are taking them out over water in places I definately wouldn't feel comfortable with yet, but down the line, I could see myself taking it out over the ocean or lakes.

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As long as you have gone through all the pre-flight checks and assured everything went as it should then I don't think flying over water will bother me much. If I lose connection she should go to 60' and make a bee line back to where it started due to the nag system. Thing is you do see stories of it taking off and never being seen again but I bet there was something done wrong initially.

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As long as you have gone through all the pre-flight checks and assured everything went as it should then I don't think flying over water will bother me much. If I lose connection she should go to 60' and make a bee line back to where it started due to the nag system. Thing is you do see stories of it taking off and never being seen again but I bet there was something done wrong initially.

 

Funny story about that, I went down to the park with my brother and the phantom about 3 weeks after I got it, and my brother talked me into testing out the auto return feature on it. I was a nervous wreck as I switched off the remote, but it worked exactly as it should. Went up to around 60' right above where I lauched it from, and slowly lowered itself to the exact spot it took off from and landed perfectly.

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Yeah if you remember to do all the pre flight stuff then it should work as indicated unless you have a mechanical like a motor burning up or a wire breaking...... Just like real aircraft... lol I have spent most of tonight watching DJI training videos and reading the downloaded manuals... my head hurts.

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Well, it came yesterday in the brown truck. Did the minor amount of assembly that is required. I loaded the app to my iPodTouch4 to work the camera, loaded the two applications to download firmware updates on a MAC. And read the manual for the third time while batteries charged. Once charged I updated the firmwares, set the unit to FAA setting, and calibrated the control levers on the TX.

 

Did check the cMera and gimbal functions and specified my settings. At first I am shooting jpg with this being as its RAW's are only supported with Adobe in DNG... The only thing left to do is calibrate the compass and give it a go. That sadly will not happen till I see more grass outside ;)

 

So far I am thinking I am really going to enjoy this .... Nice to be doing something with a camera I have not done before...

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