Who's got a Drone?

aldread

Well-Known Member
I bought an Autel XSP 4k drone last fall. I've taken some decent footage, but I need to catch up on video editing/software. Its a fun hobby and opens new dimensions to photography.
 
I bought an Autel XSP 4k drone last fall. I've taken some decent footage, but I need to catch up on video editing/software. Its a fun hobby and opens new dimensions to photography.
Out of the blue, my girlfriend bought me a Mavic Pro for my birthday in December. I casually mentioned that I would like to have one when I was watching a Youtube video, but I sure was't expecting one. I still haven't flown it because of the weather and the fact that I am still trying to find a location, but I am excited about it. In the meantime, I bought something called a Polar Pro Katana (that gives you a way to used the camera on the Mavic when not flying) and it works pretty well.

The thing I have been running across is that there are a lot of places you can't fly it. No National Parks is a bit of a bummer. However, I am sure they are worried about people flying them in busy areas.
 
We have MQ-9 Reapers flying out of Des Moines 132nd Wing ANG.

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Almost smashed one a few months back that someone hovered in front of me while I was trying to do something....
Where were you when this happened? I rarely see them around here. Someone was flying one at the beach last summer, but he kept it over water until it was time to land. The only other one was at the park, but he was the only one there. I think he was just practicing with it.

I have a feeling if this kind of thing continues to happen, they will be banned from a lot more places. Too bad because they give a completely different look at areas you are shooting. At least the one i have has 4k and a camera with a built in gimbal, so I will be using a lot with the wings off.
 
Does a SO count as one?:D


Seriously, was looking for one, but don't want to go over $250-$300 range. Can you get something fairly decent for that money?

Q
 
I have one of the palm sized indoor drones, no camera.
I used to be on a drone crew at Oro Grande NM. We flew Northrop Ventura/ McCollough target tow Radioplanes for Ft Bliss and McGregor ranges in the 1960s.
 
I have one of the palm sized indoor drones, no camera.
I used to be on a drone crew at Oro Grande NM. We flew Northrop Ventura/ McCollough target tow Radioplanes for Ft Bliss and McGregor ranges in the 1960s.
I forgot that I actually have a small toy drone. It is actually pretty fun to use. I think it is called a Lumi. It does a few tricks that you can control or it lets you program a bunch of different tricks to music and it will just perform them. They sell it as a kid's toy for using in the house, but it could still ram into a TV or something, which is why I mainly used it out in the garage or in the backyard.
 
I bought my 10yo a medium sized quadcopter with FPV via wifi to his iPhone, still and video capability. It can do crazy 360 degree flips in any direction and is quite amazing for the money. Video and still images are pretty crap, but an amazing toy.

We also have a DJI Phantom 3 advanced used for real estate/property build videos. We can get progress videos and incredible views of developments with that. The gyro stabilized camera is unbelievable.

Just don't fly it near (50m away) 275kV power lines- it loses GPS, the return to home fails and all telemetry scrambles. I was lucky, I was able to get the thing back- only just. It was spinning like a top but got it to crash land on thick grass- no damage- phew.

My mate flew it after too many margaritas and crashed it into the guttering of a two storey house and it landed on top of a brand new Mercedes Benz (not his car either) in the driveway. He was lucky- no damage to the Benz and not much to the quad.
 
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I have one but I don't trust it. I had to crash it to avoided the possibility of hitting a couple. They thought I was just a crappy pilot but it started doing the whirlpool thing where it started circling with minimal control. Managed to chop the power and it hit hard on the grass loosing 2 props. Better that than 2 people. For me the thrill is gone and thats too bad because it had a pretty nice built in 1080P camera.
 
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I found one that had crashed in my backyard. Unfortunately it looks like it had crashed a while ago and everything had rusted and fused together. I guess the owners didn't know where it had fallen. It wasn't expensive though. It was a Parrot Quadcopter with the foam body.
 
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