Drone choice for walking and riding...

[CXRAndy]

Ive had a DJI mini 2, loved it, used it for aerial photos and helped me sell a couple of my properties with more unusual angle photos of the property.

I have the A2 CofC certificate for flying larger drones. I'm now looking at an DJi enterprise model this summer. I know a couple of consultants who expressed an interest in me getting some photos for them. I'll get some commercial cover before starting work

 

[CXRAndy]

To turn up at such a beautiful location and find some "insert name of choice" is ruining it with a drone wold be very annoying, selfish, entitled...

The drones can hardly be heard above 50 metres or so. With a permitted UK flight height of 120m, they are virtually undetectable for sound or sight. Batteries last around 30-45mins so their flight time is minimal and most flights don't take anywhere near that.

Just because you don't like them doesn't mean people should not use them, as long as they follow the rules and guidance for flight and safety

 

[briantrumpet]

Ha. This is one of my favourite spots I very much had in mind to do something with the drone when I got it.

This'll do for starters... it would be even better if I could get some footage on the walk up, but it's all in fairly dense woodland, and I'd undoubtedly crash the drone into something. And yes, I can see my house at the end of it.

 

[briantrumpet]

Latest one. Quite pleased with the 'reveal' in the first shot. The 360-degree panorama isn't at all creative, but given the scenery seemed worth it. If I'd been brave with distance and different altitudes at distance, I could have done a better job of showing the shape of the mini mountain I was on.



I've got cycling/walking friends arriving next week, so hope to get a bit creative documenting bits of our jaunts on wheels or by foot: it's less of a faff when you're not having to go to and fro to get 'action shots' and can just shoot 'on the go'.

 

[briantrumpet]

Interesting that the videos don't seem to get as much 'engagement' as still photos. Certainly the still photos are easier and less time-consuming to process, and have the advantage I'm less likely to fly the drone into something trying to get a nice tracking shot. You can certainly get some nice angles. Today's was at St Benoit-en-Diois, and thanks to the really detailed official map, I confirmed that I was allowed to fly my <250g drone from where I wanted to (to the right of the red zone), and the 50m (yellow) altitude limit only applied to >900g drones. You can see me on my perch up on the right.

 

[briantrumpet]

Today's effort... same viewpoint as a previous one, but a mixture of circular and fly-bys. I think it works, with the 'reveals' in the fly-bys.

 

[briantrumpet]

Ha, that was fun: first time I've had other people to play with as walk-on walkers, so I did a couple of tracking shots, which I think really work. I tried to keep the video as short as possible, while having some logic to the order of the cuts.

This was just the return bit of a shortish walk to the same spot as in the previous video, and it's definitely easier to do a tracking shot when going downhill, as there's no chance of me flying into trees if I fly in a level line (it's also more interesting visually to be looking away from the mountain. It would be great fun to do the whole of the walk as there are some nice exposed sections that would work well, but I'd need to have walkers who are willing to add some time to the walk (normally about 4 hours) while I faff around with the drone.