Drones and Photography

[rexboggs5]

I am thinking about purchasing a drone for photography. I would like to hear from others who have already done this and have advice on which brands and models to consider, who can share photos they have taken, and who can advise on anything that a potential drone-meister should know.

Thanks.

[rexboggs5]

I posted this about 7 months ago, but with no replies. So I will bump it up by replying myself

Cheers

Rex

[Mark L]

There's been a few threads about this, though not recently.
I assume you know about the laws around drones. Not hard to comply with but they do exist. https://www.casa.gov.au/aircraft/lan...ones-australia

[feathers]

Have busted my budget a bit, but have pre ordered the phantom 4 pro. 20mp pics. and 4k video and Bracketed shooting. But most importantly, it has more stuff on it to prevent it crashing with dummies like me When l get some stuff on it, l will post. Cheers.

[rexboggs5]

Mark - thanks for the link, as I hadn't seen that before. It is clearly written, and seems sensible.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi Feathers - wow 20 mp pics + bracketed shooting. And collision avoidance. I am amazed at how far drone photography has come in recent years.

I recently bought a GoPro Hero 5 Black for a) taking underwater photos and b) attaching it to a Karma drone once it became available and c) getting the Karma stick for free with the Karma drone. The Karma stick is an amazing stabilising device.

Alas, the Karma drone has been recalled due to quite a few of them dropping out of the sky with no warning within a few days of its launch. So I don't know whether to wait for the Karma to become available, or to go with the latest and greatest Phantom, or to go with the DJI Mavic Pro.

Hence this forum topic.

Cheers

Rex

[feathers]

Looked at the mavic pro, and those who do a lot of hiking and stuff, reckon its the way to go, over the phantom. The video is right up there, and the pics aren't too bad either. Its small and compact. It also carries some fail safe devices.

And a few hundred dollars cheaper. I will mostly be close to the car, so the phantom was a better choice, as its a lot bigger. Handy for aerial wedding shots and stuff, so l might get some money back See what happens? Cheers.

[J.davis]

'Close to the car' and 'wedding shots' both alarm me, as they need to be breaking the CASSA rules to take place.
If you can drive your car there, you will probably be flying over a building and if at a wedding, too close to people.
These things 'DO FAIL' and fall out of the sky.
Been flying with radio control experts for a long time and eventually something will fail.
Have a look at the CASSA rules and then some pics from drones - usually see the mistakes.

[feathers]

'Close to the car' and 'wedding shots' both alarm me, as they need to be breaking the CASSA rules to take place.
If you can drive your car there, you will probably be flying over a building and if at a wedding, too close to people.
These things 'DO FAIL' and fall out of the sky.
Been flying with radio control experts for a long time and eventually something will fail.
Have a look at the CASSA rules and then some pics from drones - usually see the mistakes.

If l did do a wedding shot, it would have to comply with Tha aviation requirements, and you don't have to fly the drone directly above. The last thing l would want to do is hurt some one. If it was windy etc, l wouldn't launch. I do intend to get pretty familiar with it first. It also has a beginner mode that keeps it pretty stable. Not interested in putting it sport mode. It's the hdr I'm primeraly interested in. Don't want it way too high or too far away . Cheers.

[enseth]

I bought my first drone back in 2013. A DJI Phantom Vision 2. Unfortunately back then the cameras weren't brilliant and fish-eyed the photos big time. I ended up taking the camera off and for the next three years I hung a Sony A5000 off it and set it to take a photo every 4 seconds. This way I ended up with quality photos but the downside was I didn't have First Person View (FPV) so had to rely on having the camera pointed in the right spot rather than having the ability to compose the shot. 99% of the time I got the shot I was after.

Since the early days camera technology has improved significantly and I decided it was to afford myself of the luxury of FPV. After considerable research last month I bought myself a Yuneek Q500 Typhoon which all in all I'm pretty happy with. It doesn't fly as fast as the Phantom but I don't mind that at all. It has a good list of accessories, a storage box and has a built in touch screen in the controller for FPV. For DJI drones you need to have a Smart Phone or Ipad for this. The Yuneek also comes with a "Steady Grip" which allows use the camera gimbal for terrestrial based video. The camera is a 4K video & shoots 13mp stills. From my research I think the DJI camera may be slightly superior but for what I need (Real Estate photography) I decided to go with the Yuneek as it was significantly cheaper than the DJI equivalent.

[Toddyh]

I have a Phantom 3. 12MP camera. Here's some examples of mine

[AlexP]

Flown both the Mavic and the Phantom 4. The mavic is a BEAST and it's portability makes it so powerful. The fact you can throw it in the backpack is super cool. BUT...you do need to pretty much have the mindset that you may lose $1600+ in any given flight when something random happens.

As for weddings....hmmm.....It's commercial use and therefore needs to be licensed and heavily insured so when this happens you don't lose your house --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-0MA6QNj6g

[enseth]

It's commercial use and therefore needs to be licensed

CASA rules have changed. For a UAV under 2kg you no longer need a licence however you do need to have an Aviation Reference Number (ARN) which you apply for with CASA and then register each individual flight with CASA.

[feathers]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm staying amature, and giving commercial a miss for now. ( no weddings etc) Great pics toddyh looking forward to trying mine out. Cheers.

[Mark L]

I posted this about 7 months ago, but with no replies. So I will bump it up by replying myself

Cheers

Rex

You don't need to reply to yourself now. Good bump.