DRONE STUFF

DJI is loosing their reign. I have been doing a lot of research and have to agree that the best drones are in this 5 drone list.
Top 2 fome me are the Yuneec Typhooh H, Yuneec Tornado and ProDrone Bird.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_bgvxnLdS4
https://youtu.be/H_bgvxnLdS4

Do you own one of these?? You have been researching for drones incidents many many months.. Are you not afraid of it?

Yes, everyday I spend at least 1 hour researching. I have to make sure I make the right choice. Can't risk buying something that will not work when money is so tight. USA FAA laws apply where I live and I am sure they are going make it easier for commercial photography. I believe that 1/3 of the "Best of the Week" sales are aerial shots from AxiomImages and VialFilms so there is a big market out there. Yuneec is integrating the Panasonic Micro 4/3 camera into their system. Prodrone which is very portable is developing a system focused in Sony cameras by the end of this year. For people that hike into the wild, the ProDrone system is very attractive. It is also attractive for people that fly to their photo shoot destination since you can carry it with you in the plane. When fully opened it is the size of a DJI Inspire drone. For people like me that would be driving to the beach using it on the coast or over the ocean the Yuneec 6 blades is more appealing. There is always time for a bad deal, so I am taking my time to make sure it is not a bad deal. People that plan to use their drone at high elevations have to take into account that the air is thinner, so propeller size and drone weight are critical.

Those AxiomImages shots that are selling every week are not (mostly) from drones, as far as I can tell. No drone I know of can fly that fast, that far. At least not in the realm of price/quality you and I can afford. You should start with a small, cheap system ... something basic so if/when you crash or lose it it's not the end of the world. Get a Phantom3 or a small Yuneec and start there. You'll get some very cool shots, and learn what you really need.

Axiom stuff is badass

Agreed. I will learn walking before running.
Beaches and cliff is not necessary a big seller. It has to be famous place (Stone Henge), metropolis etc...

You are right in saying that their shots are not done with a drone. They came to Puerto Rico with their helicopter and uploaded about 600 shots to P5, many of them flying very low over beaches. I believe that this technology will eventually require no experience at all, just set altitude, fly path, camera angle and fly and forget. Of course it depends on where are you flying. There are no mountains on plains, over the ocean or over reefs.. Of course a $100 toy drone to fly manual and scare the crows away is good practice.

So yeah, some of my most rewarding drone shots are very close ... flying in forest, doing reveals past cliff ledges, and rising over treetops, aerial motion inside forest ... most of which "could" be done with giant jib or cable cams ... but would be very difficult. I yearn for the crevasses of a glacier .. like I saw yesterday but well out of range ... even hiking to that glacier, without bushwhacking a mile around the lake and clambering over the sides, was still a mile away as crow flies, and the Inspire didn't want to fly up there because of the catabatic wind ... the trick with these is to be able to get the bird to the location, then fly ... except for the props in the shot, Phantom3 is pretty darn affordable, and in nice light you will get nice shots. Stay away from GoPro as you get too much fisheye when tilting anything from horizontal. But portability, for us "random stock" users, especially when going to interesting locations, is important ... carry more than a drone? It had better be a small drone so you can carry it, a cam/slider/tripod, lunch, and of course, beer. Seen more than one documentary showing a $20K rig going down and the "pro" users just as flabbergasted as I was when I watched my Matrix spiral down. People say "ooh, I would never fly over water" well that's BS because that's part of the POINT of it .. to go cam where you cannot normally go. But you have to be emotionally prepared to lose your investment at any time, your fault or not, because "stuff" happens. If I had a helicopter and a RED I could put my stunning aerial up for $79 like Spotmatik, but instead I'll put my hard-earned shots from the Inspire and the Matrix up for hundreds, because, dammit, they are hard work!

I am going to wait to see what sort of gimbal will be design for the ProDrone.

This one is interesting. You can take out the camera and put it on a handheld holder to film in normal life. And it is cheaper. For a beginner like me will be a good choice.

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0188FJJYG/ref=s9_simh_gw_p21_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=19RGHKNCX0XP16K0V4VQ&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=585296347&pf_rd_i=desktop

That would be great fun, and useful for lots of things. I think the main drawbacks are that it has a very limited range (if I'm remembering right) and the camera codec will be, at best, equivalent to DJI X3/Phantom "4K" which, although it is angry-causing for me, also got some really cool shots too .. just got to have the right light, and not too much detail. Yuneec has been gaining ground in repectability quite a lot lately. That looks like a great kit.