The Drone Thread

[olbriar]

Here is the first drone footage of Mt Everest captured by a DJI Mavic 3

 

[Unforgiven]

I finally got one. Actually, I've had a couple, but this is the first one that isn't a $100 POS. It's a $300 toy. It doesn't have all the features of the DVI, but enough that I can stay legal, safe, and get some cool photos and video. The biggest thing it doesn't have is collision avoidance. Other than that, it's pretty solid. I played with it today on a fairly blustery day at ~190' max altitude and it was great.

 

[Rob]

The biggest thing it doesn't have is collision avoidance.

My first drone was the now-defunct GoPro.

I got it, unboxed it, and promptly crashed it into my neighbor's tree with that selfie-fly away mode lol... what a disaster.

I really love the idea of having a drone, but I worry too much about disrupting other people in serene places, the risks of something going wrong in crowded places, or crossing paths with someone who feels I'm invading their privacy and flips out on me.

Where are your favorite places to fly? Any tips on approaching the situations mentioned? Would love to see some of your footage!

 

[Unforgiven]

It only arrived Monday, and today was the first day I had to try it out. So far I've kept it mostly over my yard, or high enough that I wouldn't be "staring" at someone, mostly taking in New England foliage. I'll see if I can post some video later Here's some stills:

 

[olbriar]

Cool beans! My DJI is sitting, all boxed up, needing a different owner. I'm far too limited of places where I can fly it for it to be fun. It was one of those $1,600 hobbies that just wasn't as fun for me as anticipated. I should have started cheap and worked my way up instead of jumping in with both feet.
I wasn't satisfied in just buying the drone. I bought the fly more package which included a carrying case, a better charger, and extra batteries. I flew it maybe a dozen times at my cabin which was technically not legal air space... and the cabin is in the middle of nowhere.

Your pics are cool. They are so much fun to fly too. Mine had the avoidance system or I'd probably have crashed the drone with all the trees at the cabin. Do you use your phone in conjunction with the controller? I understand some of the newer models have a display of their own. Drones are far cool tech. Glad your have one and are having fun. I look forward to more pics and vids.

 

[Unforgiven]

Cool beans! My DJI is sitting, all boxed up, needing a different owner. I'm far too limited of places where I can fly it for it to be fun. It was one of those $1,600 hobbies that just wasn't as fun for me as anticipated. I should have started cheap and worked my way up instead of jumping in with both feet.
I wasn't satisfied in just buying the drone. I bought the fly more package which included a carrying case, a better charger, and extra batteries. I flew it maybe a dozen times at my cabin which was technically not legal air space... and the cabin is in the middle of nowhere.

Your pics are cool. They are so much fun to fly too. Mine had the avoidance system or I'd probably have crashed the drone with all the trees at the cabin. Do you use your phone in conjunction with the controller? I understand some of the newer models have a display of their own. Drones are far cool tech. Glad your have one and are having fun. I look forward to more pics and vids.

So the controller / phone work together. It has GPS, will land back at it's take off point on command or if it loses communication with the remote. It does OK, but it's a toy.

Ass promised, here is some video. It's my son flying it also for the first time. We're both pretty wobbly, the gimbal helps, but we have to keep practicing.

 

[Unforgiven]

So I've sent it up a few more times, still mostly staying withing the confines of my yard. I kept the camera looking out and grabbing the (muted) fall foliage this year.

 

[olbriar]

If you just had some trees in your area... ! Cool pics!

 

[treb1797]

I see your mother-in-law quarters are coming along nicely

 

[NightAngel79]

My first drone was the now-defunct GoPro.

I got it, unboxed it, and promptly crashed it into my neighbor's tree with that selfie-fly away mode lol... what a disaster.

I really love the idea of having a drone, but I worry too much about disrupting other people in serene places, the risks of something going wrong in crowded places, or crossing paths with someone who feels I'm invading their privacy and flips out on me.

Where are your favorite places to fly? Any tips on approaching the situations mentioned? Would love to see some of your footage!

Love these things! And I either dont linger, or stay high enough I dont bother people. I have had someone come up to me and accuse me of spying on them (in this video

) and I had to explain to them that whiel I may have been over top of them, I was filming the courthouse. Never had any issues at all.

Cool beans! My DJI is sitting, all boxed up, needing a different owner. I'm far too limited of places where I can fly it for it to be fun. It was one of those $1,600 hobbies that just wasn't as fun for me as anticipated. I should have started cheap and worked my way up instead of jumping in with both feet.
I wasn't satisfied in just buying the drone. I bought the fly more package which included a carrying case, a better charger, and extra batteries. I flew it maybe a dozen times at my cabin which was technically not legal air space... and the cabin is in the middle of nowhere.

Your pics are cool. They are so much fun to fly too. Mine had the avoidance system or I'd probably have crashed the drone with all the trees at the cabin. Do you use your phone in conjunction with the controller? I understand some of the newer models have a display of their own. Drones are far cool tech. Glad your have one and are having fun. I look forward to more pics and vids.

Crap thats right. Which DJI did you get again?



By far my favorite drone video I posted was in Arube, where I asked a cop on the beach how high I could fly here and he said he didn't care, so I took it up to around 1700 feet

*Thumbnails curtesy of @lunatic59

 

[olbriar]

Love these things! And I either dont linger, or stay high enough I dont bother people. I have had someone come up to me and accuse me of spying on them (in this video

) and I had to explain to them that whiel I may have been over top of them, I was filming the courthouse. Never had any issues at all.



Crap thats right. Which DJI did you get again?



By far my favorite drone video I posted was in Arube, where I asked a cop on the beach how high I could fly here and he said he didn't care, so I took it up to around 1700 feet

*Thumbnails curtesy of @lunatic59

Cool videos @NightAngel79 !! In watching these vids and @Unforgiven is what drones are all about.
Kansas is not nearly so photogenic I have a near new DJI Mavic 2 Zoom. It was a lot of fun to fly but the hobby was just not me. Bad on me for not selling it while it had some value.

 

[ocnbrze]

thought that this was appropriate for this season: