thnkng of buying a drone to film birdeye stuff.

[vash]

i noticed prices have come down.

i might try one. any suggestions? i tend to crash flying things, so i want one that is easy to navigate. i heard some come home autopilot style?

i want to film on the water stuff.

so it has to be easy to fly.

[Rusty Heap]

It's hard to go wrong with a mid size DJI Mavic series.

I have the Mavic Air 2, which has collision avoidance, and multiple mile range.

you can get 'em for around $650-999 depending on batteries and accessories.

here's a short 2 minute Tour of our neighborhood. Video is butter smooth.

I use a 7" tablet for viewing / piloting.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

It's hard to go wrong with a mid size DJI Mavic series.

I have the Mavic Air 2, which has collision avoidance, and multiple mile range.

The commercial stuff out there now is insanely good...I have been involved with UAS since 2002 and the sensor/auto pilot capability is sooo much better than the military grade stuff was in those days.

Not even a horse race.

[stevej37]

^^^that's very cool! (The video)

[MMARSH]

I have a few drones. One of which is also a Mavic Air. Its a great drone. The tracking features and collision avoidance work really well on the DJI products. The new Mini 3 is also supposed to be really good, but I don't have any first hand experience with that one.

The cinematic drones are all pretty easy to fly. I'm trying to transition over to FPV and full manual is much more difficult.

[Skip Newsom]

I'd agree with the DJI Mavic series, I've had the "Pro" version for a couple years and crashed it twice, both completely my fault.
First one was flying along a river channel where I was just a little low and clipped a branch, second one was up in the mountains when I pushed the battery longer than I should have and lost it on the way back.
If I had just hit the "return to home" button rather than get a little more footage it would have been fine...
An expensive lesson for sure!
Put myself on "time out" for a few months after that one.

They have great lenses and great stabilization features built in... I'll admit to being addicted to photography and the limitless possibilities that drones open up.

[MMARSH]

I put my first Mavic into the Kern River the exact same way, clipped an over hanging branch. Into the River it went.

If you get a DJI product, I highly suggest the DJI insurance. Cost me 60 bucks to replace my Mavic Air.

[jcwade]

Depending on how you want to use it, you should also look at the Mavic Mini.
No collision avoidance but if you fly line of sight (which you are required to do) it should not be a problem. My one crash was when I didn't follow that rule, but it only resulted in a few bent props.
One of the other selling points is that it weighs just 249 grams.
That means you do not have to register it with the FAA.

You are still required to comply with all the regulations as to when and where you can fly.

From the beach, I was always within 5 miles of Long Beach Airport so I could not "legally" fly it without permission from the tower. That is why I sold my Mavic Air.
Since moving to the mountains, I picked up the Mavic Mini as I am many miles from anywhere, so I am only limited by how annoying I want to be to my neighbors.

They take good pix and video and are a fun toy to learn on.

Also, very cheap on the secondhand market.
I got mine on CL from a professional drone pilot for the studios who bought if for his grandson.
It included 3 batteries, prop guards, case and spare props for $150.
If I lose it, oh well.

[flatbutt]

The Mavic mini has a CMOS camera just like I use in my solar photo train. Cool.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

I use in my solar photo train.

I feel like you've been holding out on us. We need pics from the solar photo train. I'm pretty sure they would be perfect for the astronomy hobby thread.

I need to get it out, but I've got a solar filter for my 8" SCT.

[GH85Carrera]

Vash, you can buy an app for your phone or even better a tablet. Then just pre-program the flight to fly all autonomous. Just be sure you fly above any obstacles. Flying low is cool, but can be risky.

I flew my house at 200 feet up, and ran the images into a mapping program we have, Pix4D. I made a full 3D point cloud, and ortho photo. The resolution is fantastic, and I can measure the mortar between the bricks. Mostly I wanted to draw out the terrain, and map my wife's many flower gardens. Then I could make a planimetric map of my property. It was all just for fun, and kinda cool, but just a waste of time. I had no real purpose for it.

[vash]

Originally Posted by Skip Newsom

I'd agree with the DJI Mavic series, I've had the "Pro" version for a couple years and crashed it twice, both completely my fault.
First one was flying along a river channel where I was just a little low and clipped a branch, second one was up in the mountains when I pushed the battery longer than I should have and lost it on the way back.
If I had just hit the "return to home" button rather than get a little more footage it would have been fine...
An expensive lesson for sure!
Put myself on "time out" for a few months after that one.

They have great lenses and great stabilization features built in... I'll admit to being addicted to photography and the limitless possibilities that drones open up.



[

Spectacular!!

[911 Rod]

I would want one made of rubber that floats.

[rattlsnak]

Anybody use the DJI Phantom series? You can pick them up used pretty cheap now… I know they’re a lot bigger than the Mavericks series, but apparently they fly much better with all the stabilization features… I’m looking into getting one and can’t decide between the Mavericks series or a phantom 4. I do like the size of the Maverick, but the Phantom series is better in every other way from what I read.

[rattlsnak]

Anybody use the DJI Phantom series? You can pick them up used pretty cheap now… I know they’re a lot bigger than the Mavericks series, but apparently they fly much better with all the stabilization features… I’m looking into getting one and can’t decide between the Mavericks series or a phantom 4. I do like the size of the Maverick, but the Phantom series is better in every other way from what I read.

[rattlsnak]

nobody?

[jcwade]

You can do it with a regular camera.

[Steve Carlton]

Has vash retired from Pelican now? Last post was 6/9/2022.

[GH85Carrera]

Drones are fun toys, but kinda expensive toys. You will fly your property a few times, and then your friends or relatives places. And then likely a park or two. And then the new wears off. Likely you can pick one up used.

We bought a drone just to play with, and see what it can do. We flew my house, at a 1/2 inch pixel resolution, and we had a Trimble survey unit here we rented for a particular project. I used the Trimble to shoot some points at my house, cracks in concrete, edges of sidewalks and such. I ran it all through the software we use for our aerial photography, and ended up with a 3D AutoCad, LAS file that I can then rotate, and look at from any angle and measure any part of, and measure the slope of the storm drainage across the back yard, or out to the street.

None of it is even close to certified or engineering grade as I did not spend a penny for a real survey, but I am not going to build anything. I did it just for fun. All cool, and now it just takes up a few gig on my RAID drive.

With our aerial photography shot from a Cessna 182 we usually don't get more than 2.5 inch pixel resolution, so a drone can get super high monster huge files. The is cool for a single house, but pointless on a 1/4 section or a few square mile survey as the files would be crazy silly huge. We have orthophoto images that are 30 gig in a compressed JPG2000 format now.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Has vash retired from Pelican now? Last post was 6/9/2022.

He's a manager at work now, and when he made that transition, I suspect it changed how busy/available he was and his post count dropped dramatically. He was (still is?) also doing a lot of fishing from his kayak which was taking time away from Pelican posting.

Someone needs to find the kayak and drill a hole in it.