Drones Drones Drones

The Garage
#1

Continuing the discussion from New purchases thread!:

Following on from the recent purchases thread, who else has a drone?

I have a DJI Phantom 3 Standard. I bought it a couple of years ago because it was cheap(er) at the time. I sort of wish I got the higher end model with Light Bridge rather than WiFi for the connection for better range. Mine only manages about 500m, but the reality is I can’t really see it once it’s out at that distance anyway. Mostly the stuff I want to film would be well within that, I mean really, you don’t usually want to take a photo with a camera from 500m away? Although I suppose following a track or path or something could be fun.

I tend to pull mine out for car shows mostly, but I do try and take it when we go on adventures to new places. I’m still a little wary using it, partly because it’s an expensive thing to crash and partly because I don’t want to hurt anyone. I do have blade protector guards I use when it’s anywhere near people and I do make a real effort to fly around the outside of things rather than over the top of people. I’m also getting over the expensive thing as it gets older… also I’m just trying to use the bloody thing rather than not.

Here is a couple of videos I’ve done, no real production value, just throwing things together.

There is more on Youtube if you’re keen.

Like I said, I don’t use it nearly enough, but like any good tool, when you do want to use it it’s awesome. It provides a perspective that you don’t normally get and I think that’s the attraction.

So what do you have? Have any video’s to share? Where do you fly?

#2

I convinced my 10yo to buy a $39 drone from Target or Kmart or something. And basically it’s only been flown in the back yard, because once we started looking at the legal places you’re meant to fly the things, parks are out, gardens are out, beaches are out, see where I’m going with this?

Btw - Not passing judgement! I understand the reasoning behind no drone laws, but I think in a lot of cases they are overkill. Has certainly stifled my son’s interest. Guess we need to get the app referred to in the above link - tells you where you can fly.

#3

Just had a look at the web app, and you’re right, theres hardly anywhere to fly, even in places you’d think would be OK. I don’t have a drone, but I wanted one, and now, I’m not even going to bother.

#4

I’ve been into drones for a few years now, started in 2015 with a Phantom 3 Advanced.

My uncle and I now run a very successful videography company on the Sunshine Coast which was originally centred around drones, but we soon realised that drones were going to be a complement to the videos we were producing, not the main platform. We do videos for small businesses, the local council, a couple of the big developers and many others.

We are both CASA certified and licensed drone operators which is a necessity in this field. I personally have a Mavic Air as I travel a fair bit so having something portable was a must. I’ll be upgrading to a Mavic Pro 2 soon. In our company fleet we also have a Phantom 4 Pro Plus, Mavic Pro, and our flagship is the Inspire 2 which is an incredible machine!

I adore using drones - I’ve always had a fascination with flying and seeing the world from above, so being able to view it with my own drone is so cool!

Some of my videos are here: https://vimeo.com/theflyingelephant

3 Likes
#5

Nice work AVC!

How’s the Inspire to fly/work with? I’d love something like that but I travel too much to lug it around with me.

That being said, I’m super impressed with the Mavic Air’s capabilities. For such a small unit, it’s more stable than it has a right to be given its size :no_mouth: and the camera is pretty decent too. Although not a candle to the 1" sensor on the new Mavic 2 Pro :drooling_face:

#6

The Inspire is a beast. It’s so powerful yet manoeuvrable so it’s pretty great to fly. It’s also a lot more complex as the camera moves independently of the drone, so you really have to be thinking!