I am kind of excited about this. After a ton of research, though, weighing the practical and legal "what ifs", and finally having my wife say "just buy it!" I finally pulled the trigger on a DJI Phantom 2 V2.0 with 3D gimbal. I already own a couple GoPro 3+ cameras. I've been flying a couple "toy" quads for a few months now just to see if this was something that I really wanted to do. The idea of crash and burning with $1,400 worth of electronics took some serious debate. What I found is that if you can fly a hobby quad screaming through the confines of a house, then flying something like a DJI is a breeze (assuming that you have done your part on the front end). This thing is crazy cool. However the "cool" factor is quickly quenched when you realize the FAA restrictions. So if you are thinking that you want one of these for video work, do your homework and realize the legal ramifications. The rules for these things have not been defined so basically you fall under commercial airplane pilot rules. I am talking Federal crimes if you break the current rules ... so do your homework and don't be stupid. For now, I am simply going to use this thing for personal video work to add a splash to certain video projects. Once the FAA figures out how they are going to regulate the industry then I will decide from there where this hobby and aspect of video goes for me. Fun stuff though ... and be warned if you buy one, this is NOT a toy. It is dangerous and it is a lot of money floating out there in the air. It is no different than gambling ... never risk financially more than you are willing to lose. The nice thing though is that through all of the software you can set limits as to how far and high you can fly. There are also various modes of flight to help you get out of a bind including auto returning to a defined home location, as well as auto landing sequence if you happen to run the battery too low. I have not flown it yet with the camera attached. I want many practice flights before I hang $700 in camera and gimbal equipment off of the bottom of it. But when I do I will post some videos. A couple photos though for now.
Sweet, I've been wanting one but just can't justify the cost considering how much I've spent in the last 6 months on camera gear and my new laptop. That should really help you get some cool footage. I have been looking at this one, it's pretty BA. [video=youtube_share;_yOCTgVqmeQ]http://youtu.be/_yOCTgVqmeQ[/video]
I looked at those and they are pretty sweet. I went with the DJI simply because they have a very proven track record at this time relative to everything else. I look at this unit that I bought as just getting me started. This quadcopter industry is in the infantile stages and it is going to change crazy fast over the next few years. The new DJI Inspire 1 will be a game changer, as well as, many others that are coming out.
Very cool! A drone is on my list, but it's behind a few things. (iMac, couple lenses, and some random photo/video stuff)
I have had one for about a year now, really great tool for what I use it for. The only thing I dislike about the drone is the battery life. 25 minutes comes and goes very quick when you are out flying. The aerial photos are awesome and I am still trying to perfect my videos as they are still shaky which can be due to my lack of flying skills and wind. Here is the link to a video I posted on youtube. It was my first ever flight so its not great. What I purchased for was aerials of 2 golf courses I run. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdghkiA4b20
Very nice! I, too, thought about it, but I wanted it for commercial purposes, and until the FAA figures things out, I couldn't justify it with the other things I'm buying right now. I still think they would be really cool to have and if I filmed more, I would find uses for it I'm sure. Good call on the gimbal, too. Can't wait to see some of your footage with it.
I went flying again today. I had some pretty stiff winds so I didn't push the altitude much and kept it 50' and lower. This thing is crazy fun. It really helps to have been flying a micro hobby quad for a few months. This DJI is simply amazing to fly. I have two batteries so it extends the fun. I haven't pushed the batteries yet. They get to where they are flashing just under 50% and I bring it in to swap one out. Knock on wood but every landing has been smooth and zero issues in flight. I can see HUGE benefits to flipping over to Course Lock mode during flight for video work. Home Lock mode is excellent if you become disoriented as well. I have yet to test the Return to Home feature. Sconley81, do you have any form of gimbal on that thing? I haven't shot yet with the H3-3D gimbal in flight, but while playing with the gimbal and Hero 3+ at my desk, you can shake that copter every direction and the camera sits there level like a rock. Weather dependent, I plan on taking my first gimbal/camera flights this weekend.
DEC, the one I purchased had the built in camera on it so the gimbal may not be as good as the H3-3D. I actually just looked a the H3 and man it keeps the camera rock solid.
A little video flying around my property even looking out over my woods to my back fields. This thing is simply amazing and a joy to fly. I have the ceiling set to 200' in elevation for now and honestly, that is high enough. Loaded down with the Gimbal and camera I get about 15-16 minutes of flight time before I need to bring it down. Video was shot on a GoPro Hero 3+ Black in 1080p-60 Protune. No ND filters were used on this flight. Click on HD in the video. I have ND filters in route which should really improve the video footage. Also in the next couple weeks, I am going to add a monitor to my controls for live video feed and flight data information.
It would fly further away from me if I had let it. I stopped it going over the trees when it just got to where I was going to lose visual contact due to the tree tops. You want to always maintain visual contact. It will fly further than you can see it if you wanted to. Guys are getting a mile or more ... certainly not recommended. Thankfully you can set distance limits and height limits in the software so that you cannot push the range more than you feel comfortable. I have my limits set right now to 1500 feet out and 200 feet up. That is plenty far for me right now.
DEC, I know with mine I just downloaded the DJI app on my phone and used the dock on the control for my phone. There I can view what my camera sees along with distances and etc. Can you not do this since yours is the gopro version or do you have to install something else? The stability of your camera and video was awesome, going to look into seeing if I can swap my gimbal for that one. Doing a little research and I have the Phantom Vision 2 that I have does not have a gimbal and it looks like DJI does not have one for it. The new Vision 2 Plus has a new camera and Gimbal so that would be the upgrade.
Sconley81 ... No when using a GoPro you cannot use a smart phone or other wifi enabled device to view what is being seen by the camera. The reason is that the wifi signal runs on the same 2.4 ghz bandwidth as the radio controls for the quad. They got around that with the Vision series of quad in that they use the 5.8ghz bandwidth for control so that the wifi bandwidth is open. Still the controller has to have a booster mounted to it as you are aware and it comes with the Vision package. There are pros and cons to each setup. The Vision set up gives you the obvious less convenience of using a smart phone or tablet as your monitor. It gives you your image and flight telemetry on screen and it lets you start/stop recording on screen. It is an all in one convenient package. The newer Vision 2+ gives you the same 3D gimbal benefits (i.e. stable video footage) that I am using on my quad. So as nice as that sounds, why did I go with the non-Vision model? 1) I own several GoPro 3+ cameras already. 2) The GoPro Hero 3+ and 4 cameras give you better quality footage and more flexibility in setting your camera up exactly as you want for the given scene and lighting conditions. For instance, I can run my camera in a flat picture profile in Protune and add an ND filter to the lens, to give me the best overall image that I can then do anything that I want to in the post edit. For a higher end video product and maximum editing flexibility the GoPro is a better option. 3) I can take my GoPro with me and use it on other projects. On the Vision series of drones, the camera cannot be used for anything other than flying. 4) If I crash and burn I can buy/repair camera and gimbal related things in individual pieces. If you crash and burn on the Vision and damage any part of the gimbal or camera you have to replace the ENTIRE unit at $600-$700 (Vision 2+ camera & gimbal). 4) Cost ... there is no arguing that the GoPro set up costs more than what you have in a Vision series set up. However, I have more flexibility and a better end product ... not that the Vision product or the video it produces is bad, just the non-Vision and GoPro set up is better in every category. So then how do I as a GoPro user do I get real time video and telemetry data in my hand like the Vision user gets? I have to add more pieces. Right now I have all of those pieces on order and should be up and running full speed with them in a week or so. I had to order a video transmitter, a telemetry device that feeds to the transmitter, a plug and play cable system for those on board devices, a monitor with built in dual receivers, a monitor mount, and high powered antennas. In all ... another $450 or so in add on expenses. But in the end, I have a more robust and superior system to what the Vision series offers. It is all in what you want as your end product and what your plans are for your finished video work. When all is said and done, there is about $2000 in this setup. It is not a venture that I went into lightly and I have bigger long term plans for this quad and/or future ones.
Yea I didn't do to much research when I purchased mine, I'm kind of spontaneous with purchases. I saw one at a trade show, they were using it to fly through and it was the vision 2 and I had in my head that's what I need! I plan on using it to do fly overs at our 2 golf courses for hole by holes on our websites. I also now have some pretty neat and different photos of our courses as well. Plan on trying to use the waypoints here soon, hopefully the video will not be as shaky as when I fly, who knows it could be worse. If so I will probably get rid of and upgrade to a different unit.
Thats very neat, would make for awesome vids! I use to be big into RC airplanes before electric was popular! Nothing like the smell of nitro LOL I had one with a 6' wing span that i dropped water baloons from and another quickie 500 racer that would absolutly screem! I would love to do what your getting ready to do!
