[Technology] I'm thinking of buying a Camera Drone - advice needed

[Bozza]

Fraser has a Mavic Pro and it is an unbelievable piece of kit. Well worth the money.

Here's his video of our recent holiday in France.

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Nice work.

But it also illustrates that unless you have a talent and aptitude for video editing, then the footage you produce from a drone could be somewhat dull.

An hour, say, of various footage over the Cote D'Azur, as lovely as it is, would quickly get a bit boring.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Nice work.

But it also illustrates that unless you have a talent and aptitude for video editing, then the footage you produce from a drone could be somewhat dull.

An hour, say, of various footage over the Cote D'Azur, as lovely as it is, would quickly get a bit boring.

But if you have an interest in putting together holiday videos for the family (i.e. not to publish online) some video footage of the location would add a nice professional touch. Plus people will watch the exclusive drone footage online if it's of somewhere interesting.

 

[blue'n'white]

Fraser has a Mavic Pro and it is an unbelievable piece of kit. Well worth the money.

Here's his video of our recent holiday in France.

[yt]qg0SvtMmzQY[/yt]

Lovely film - looks like a great place. Cannot say I like the music though !

 

[Bozza]

Another option, maybe, a Parrot Bebop 2 Power (which just appeared as an advert for me in Instagram) >>> http://amzn.to/2xPqcaf

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Another option, maybe, a Parrot Bebop 2 Power (which just appeared as an advert for me in Instagram) >>> http://amzn.to/2xPqcaf

Seems similar to the Spark, if a little less good.

https://myfirstdrone.com/tutorials/buying-guides/best-drones-for-sale/#camera_drones_index

 

[Wozza]

DJI Spark Fly More combo (with controller and spare battery) reduced to £499. GREAT deal.

https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/dji-spark-fly-more-combo-1080p-quadcopter-drone-red-n81ep

 

[Wozza]

That said, updates have REALLY been pissing people off. Review from Amazon...

The DJI Spark is a technical marvel, an operational nightmare and an experiential frustration.

There are some truly amazing things with the Spark. YouTube can attest to that. It can do some stunning stuff. When it actually works as claimed. Which, for me, it rarely does. Some issues:

- Hand gestures: Just look at all the YouTube videos of this failing. People complain it's a gimmick. I have no issue with it being a gimmick ... if it worked reliably. Which it does not. Things that fly through the air should not be this unreliable to control.

- Updates: Just one example. I took my drone out to fly yesterday on holiday. Stunning location. All charged up. So excited. But it wouldn't fly as I needed a firmware update. One hour later - of trying in vain to update it - and I just went home. That night - after so many failed attempts - it finally updated. Went out again today to fly again. Nope, says I needed to update again. Except this time it won't even work when I got home. I've been trying for over 2 hours. Just keeps failing. DJI helpfully suggest I uninstall the iPhone app and reinstall. It's 150MB! What app is that big? Ridiculous. And no way you can do that in the field over 3G, so yet another day flying lost. If you want to understand the scale of the problem, just Google 'DJI 99%' and see how many people get stuck with an update at 99%. If I was a DJI exec and knew how to use Google, I would be ashamed of myself.

- Apps: Just look at the reviews of the DJI 'Assistant' app. Didn't 'assist' me in doing anything, and I'm clearly not the only one.

- Batteries: Poor life, but that's as described, to be fair. But what they don't tell you is that with each firmware update you have to update EACH battery. And that's with a process that fails more often than it works. Nightmare.

- Support: DJI's version of customer support is to provide forums for customers to try and help one another. So when you search 'why won't my Spark upgrade?' you just get threads of people asking each other what to do and commiserating. Useless. How can you sell a piece of hardware this expensive and not actually support it? Shameful.

- Disappearances: This is the really scary part. I bought a Spark for a colleague at another retailed in the US. He promptly took it on holiday, read the manual fully (he's a geek...), calibrated it (has full logs, etc) and then went to fly. About 30 seconds after take off it just flew away and never returned. He freaked out. Searched everywhere. Never found it. Then he started looking online. There are multiple reports of this! DJI are really cagey about it and just said they'd buy him a new one . - presumably to shut him up - but this is super dangerous. It's one thing having your drone crash into the water through recklessness or something. It's another to have it fly off and into a moving car when it's out of your control. Just look this up online if you want to learn more.

The Spark could have been amazing, but it's a rush job by a company that just wants to sell stuff and move on. I'm excited some people on Amazon have had great experiences. But I feel people should know about my experience as well, before they spend serious money on this beta product.

 

[Glawstergull]

A very close friend ( a west ham fan who has come to 3 albion games this season) is an accomplished photographer of some renown in his field. He has taken a course and has a licence to do this. It also covers his public liability. I'm not saying don't but consider your insurance and is it worth it.
My own opinion is there are a whole bunch of dangers.

 

[Gazwag]

It also covers his public liability. I'm not saying don't but consider your insurance and is it worth it.
My own opinion is there are a whole bunch of dangers.

Insurance will be very useful when the drone kill a young child

 

[Glawstergull]

Insurance will be very useful when the drone kill a young child

My point exactly.

Doing it professionally and understanding all of the dangers and risks as opposed to a bit of fun and then letting your dopey mate or little brother have a go!

 

[The_NitramJohn]

Been believer in my own personal privacy!

Hate the bloody things!

Betters not fly the things over my property.

Only time I would advocate legal gun use[emoji41]

 

[Bozza]

Some nice drone action in Iceland in this Fun For Louis episode I watched last night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AybOx6RBdRw

(Worth watching the whole World Flight series from the beginning if you are so inclined)

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

on the beach in Penera last month and some knob FLEW ONE OUT OF THEIR HOTEL balcony FFS while still in their room
regards
DR

 

[Papa Lazarou]

on the beach in Penera last month and some knob FLEW ONE OUT OF THEIR HOTEL balcony FFS while still in their room
regards
DR

Is that a problem?

 

[Napper]

But if you have an interest in putting together holiday videos for the family (i.e. not to publish online) some video footage of the location would add a nice professional touch. Plus people will watch the exclusive drone footage online if it's of somewhere interesting.

Does anyone have any interest in another persons holiday ? A few snaps with accompanying stories is normally already pushing the boundaries. Can't imagine anyone happily wanting to sit down and watch a video about it.

Each to their own though

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Does anyone have any interest in another persons holiday ? A few snaps with accompanying stories is normally already pushing the boundaries. Can't imagine anyone happily wanting to sit down and watch a video about it.

Each to their own though

I did say the holiday stuff was to NOT be published online. Some drone footage of interesting places is very watchable though.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

Is that a problem?

yes , who wants a drone buzzing about when you're relaxing on the beach FFS !!!
regards
DR

 

[Papa Lazarou]

yes , who wants a drone buzzing about when you're relaxing on the beach FFS !!!
regards
DR

I can understand that. I thought it was the fact that they were still in their hotel room that bothered you.

 

[Bozza]

Some nice drone action in Iceland in this Fun For Louis episode I watched last night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AybOx6RBdRw

(Worth watching the whole World Flight series from the beginning if you are so inclined)

As a follow-up to this, in a later vlog of the World Flight series he loses his drone. It's taking a slow shot passing over the sea and then just drops into the sea for no apparent reason. And that's it - it's gone. Does that happen often?

 

[Hiney]

As a follow-up to this, in a later vlog of the World Flight series he loses his drone. It's taking a slow shot passing over the sea and then just drops into the sea for no apparent reason. And that's it - it's gone. Does that happen often?

Fraser gets around 30 minutes flying time from one battery.

The wind speed will affect this. The other night, he was flying over one of the cruise ships sailing out of Southampton and the battery warning light came on. He turned it round to fly it back but the wind was against him and when the drone was around 1km away from him, it just landed. They don't just drop out of the sky, there is enough power to get them down but they literally come down right there.

He was shitting himself but found it nestling in a bush, still giving off the residual GPS signal.

One potentially very expensive lesson learned.