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Did you ever think of getting into drones?

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DDTJRAC

DDTJRAC

Member
Allowing Ads
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L.A. - NYC - Rustbelt
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What sort of mp cams are out there?

Would they produce the quality you would like?

How much do the drones cost to do the job?
 
How about a pair of them with flashes to position light exactly where it’s needed?

I guess someone has done flashlight painting of landscapes, pretty weird.

I have a Facebook friend who does drone work, his fireworks movie was tremendous.
 
I'd like a drone to send into neighborhoods that are too dangerous to walk around in.
 
I fly helicopters, not drones. I have some pretty big helicopters, but still probably not able to haul a 35mm camera.

IMG_2241.JPG


I had considered getting a 800 Trekker but still, no way to know what the camera sees. It is also too dangerous to fly anywhere outside of a designated airfield.

attachment.php
 
Drones seem like a world of stills from video. I watched a guy trying to land his drone on a rock we were standing on. He stepped back to get out of the way of his drone and fell off the rock. 20ft. Took an hour for help to arrive.
 
Saganich said:
Drones seem like a world of stills from video. I watched a guy trying to land his drone on a rock we were standing on. He stepped back to get out of the way of his drone and fell off the rock. 20ft. Took an hour for help to arrive.
Click to expand...

I'm not interested in video much. More interested in Hi Q stills. I wonder how many lose lots of $$ with crashes, esp over water.
 
ic-racer said:
I fly helicopters, not drones. I have some pretty big helicopters, but still probably not able to haul a 35mm camera.

View attachment 215774

I had considered getting a 800 Trekker but still, no way to know what the camera sees. It is also too dangerous to fly anywhere outside of a designated airfield.

attachment.php
Click to expand...

You have to have skill to fly those...lots of skill.

I like the dlsr model, but I need something easy right out of the box and idiot proof.
 
Bill Burk said:
How about a pair of them with flashes to position light exactly where it’s needed?

I guess someone has done flashlight painting of landscapes, pretty weird.

I have a Facebook friend who does drone work, his fireworks movie was tremendous.
Click to expand...

I saw a drone at some fireworks display. It had blinking lights. I think they were green or red lights. Are lights mandatory at night?

The light painting sounds interesting. But I'd forget what I already painted with my ADD.
 
rorye said:
I have my 107 drone pilot's license and a P4P as part of my photography business. I much prefer my Hassleblad.
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rory do you ever race your drones using the video footage from your camera as your eyes? i heard a wild story on the radio about 6 months ago
with these drone pilots who have their lisence and race .. the reporter doing the story got to try and felt sort of sick soon after it started ( relative speed was about 200 mph ).
 
jnantz said:
rory do you ever race your drones using the video footage from your camera as your eyes? i heard a wild story on the radio about 6 months ago
with these drone pilots who have their lisence and race .. the reporter doing the story got to try and felt sort of sick soon after it started ( relative speed was about 200 mph ).
Click to expand...

To be honest John the whole thing makes me nauseous, I don't even like standing on a ladder, it's a cold tool that I use to supplement my stills work!
 
If I were to try it, I think I might start with an entry-level DJU Spark. Specs suggest that it's image quality is about on par with a compact small-sensor camera, but unless I discover that drone photography is the Best Thing Ever, it may be more than good enough for me.
 
I have lately become fascinated with powered paragliding. There are zillions of in-flight videos on youtube, but it would be a lot of fun to use it for still film photography.
 
4season said:
If I were to try it, I think I might start with an entry-level DJU Spark. Specs suggest that it's image quality is about on par with a compact small-sensor camera, but unless I discover that drone photography is the Best Thing Ever, it may be more than good enough for me.
Click to expand...

That is no good for me. I'm not a pixel pepper, but would like something decent, like 24mp FF or more.

I wonder if you can you fly drones over downtown L.A. / Venice / Santa Monica CA? Maybe better to pay to rent a helicopter for taking photos. But how close can a helicopter get to the ground in the city for photos??
 
pbromaghin said:
I have lately become fascinated with powered paragliding. There are zillions of in-flight videos on youtube, but it would be a lot of fun to use it for still film photography.
Click to expand...

There is some famous Nat'l Geo photog that does that. Can't remember his name. I think it begins with an 'S.' And he may use a non-powered glider.

I thought that the drones would have killed the helicopter photography, but it looks like the best work still needs a copter ride with a medium format cam or something hi-res.
 
Drones are pretty cool tools for photography, but the problem is the payload capacity.
It takes a large and powerful drone to carry a decent SLR, but their are options out there for smaller cameras.
I fly actual helicopters for a living, and one thing that is important to understand is the legal and safety aspect of operating
a drone...ultimately, you become part of the Federal airspace system, depending on altitudes and your proximity to airports.
When I flew tours in Vegas, one of our pilots almost hit a drone over the city doing 140mph. It would likely have been fatal.
I believe newer drones have safeguards preventing their use in close proximity to Controlled airports and in areas covered
by FAA TFR's (Temporary Flight Restrictions). For instance, if their is a wildfire, a TFR goes up preventing the flight of drones
and non-essential aircraft into that area, but their are still morons who manage to do it, causing potential risks to aerial firefighting and police traffic.

The FAA has been cracking down heavily on drone use. https://www.faa.gov/uas/ is a link that is provided by the FAA here in
the U.S to explain drone use and req's.

It is just a matter of time before a drone gets sucked through a Commercial jet engine or takes out a tour helicopter. Surprised it hasn't happened yet.
 
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[QUOTE="

The FAA has been cracking down heavily on drone use. https://www.faa.gov/uas/ is a link that is provided by the FAA here in
the U.S to explain drone use and req's.

[/QUOTE]

It's amazing how some drone pilots just don't seem to care about the rules, never mind common sense and courtesy. Unfortunately their antics lead to a lot of people just not liking drones and I totally get that. Just like stills, some of us have the "Leave no trace" mentality, others don't seem to care.
 
[/QUOTE]

It's amazing how some drone pilots just don't seem to care about the rules, never mind common sense and courtesy. Unfortunately their antics lead to a lot of people just not liking drones and I totally get that. Just like stills, some of us have the "Leave no trace" mentality, others don't seem to care.[/QUOTE]

Ultimately, the non-aviation public just don't know about the rules, and I can't blame them for that really. It's a murky world of rules when it
comes to aviation, and your average person wouldn't likely even know where to go for answers.
2019 FAA CFR FAR/AIM...this book is a thick as War & Peace and breaks it down completely.
 
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pbromaghin said:
I have lately become fascinated with powered paragliding. There are zillions of in-flight videos on youtube, but it would be a lot of fun to use it for still film photography.
Click to expand...

There are some remote places around my home that people regularly hang-glide by. The photos they send are remarkable (because I can only imagine the scenes from the trails and cliffs I have to stay on when walking around).
 
I'd be afraid to invest much money into a drone at this time. Right now, it's kind of the wild west. I'm betting we'll see heavy regulations surrounding them in the near future.

I have a friend who's a forester and uses them for work often. They make some cool videos and are very useful for jobs like his. But I dont think they'll ever be taken seriously for landscape still photography. It's hard to get anything in the foreground and the perspectives often seem unnatural. They make cool videos, but don't often impress me for stills. Like anything, it's a tool, and a tool is only as good as the person using it. But it's not a tool whose usefulness justifies the price, in my opinion. Plus my father owns a small airplane and I've shot enough stills from that thing and various helicopter tours I've taken to know that it makes for a much better personal experience than photographic tool.

So I'd say buy a drone if you want to fly a drone. But dont buy a drone if you're looking for a serious photography tool. On the rare chance that you actually have an idea for a photograph that requires a drone, search for someone that already owns a drone and rent their services. Craigslist in my area is often littered with people wanting to rent out their drones to help them recoup some of their costs.
 
The era of recreational drones use is rapidly coming to an end. There are just too many restrictions on where drones can be flown. Some restrictions make sense, but too many others don't. Too many wet blankets out there!
 
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