Something I'm trying to persuade Madam that it would be a good idea to get, boy's & their toy's etc
Is anyone using one of these? Any help or suggestions would be great.
No experience but a couple of the lads here have got them recently with GoPro cameras.
Expect legislation soon for commercial use.
Likewise - phone your PL insurer - they might be especially pleased to hear from you if you want to use it on jobs (think £££ extra).
Hi
This video (promo for new Panasonic GH4) credits an octocopter technician - very impressive ;-)
Many thanks guys! Interesting video, we`ll be there soon
staying at Playa del Carmen which isn`t far from Chitzen Itza & the Cenotes.
I allowed Madam to buy a Panny DMC-FZ72 yesterday, just going over to Dawlish to try it out, so maybe!!!!!!!!!!!!
Someone on the Edius forum suggested that the "Phantom Vision 2" is the one to look at!
making great use of 'copters in the winter Olympics on the snow board run :)
robo
You'll get the very best help and advice from www.quadcopters.co.uk
It's a huge topic for discussion, but the simplest and cheapest way to start would be a Phantom and a GoPro.
Later add a gimbal, and FPV wireless transmission so you can monitor the picture while recording.
The Vision 2 provides all of this but at a much higher price tag, and without the flexibility of using the GoPro for other work.
My GoPro is used more and more for time-lapse, wide shots as well as getting in some otherwise impossible positions.
I was told that you start with the cheapest and learn to fly it then progress to more expensive gear as it's not a case of if you crash it but when! I guess it can be an expensive game if you get it wrong.
That's certainly been the case with Helicopters and Quadcopters of a few years ago where you have to manually adjust everything on the fly so to speak.
But a modern Quadcopter like the Phantom can be learnt in probably 15 minutes. Up is up, down is down, etc. Let go of the control and (if you have it in the standard flying mode) it just hovers.
Switch off the controller and it will fly back to where it took off from. There's an orientation mode where no matter which direction it's facing, pushing forward will always send it away, and pushing backwards will always fly it toward you.
It's setup so it can't do complex extreme manouveures like loops so it's almost crashproof, what it's can't help with is if you fly it into something horizontally.
But the Phantom seems fairly easy to fix, and upgrade. They even make blade bumpers if you have a particular habit of flying into trees or walls for fun.
The Phantom price bracket puts it firmly in the hobbyist range and it will play very nicely with a GoPro.
Then if you want to mount a larger DSLR type camera you start looking into hexa/octocopters with much larger payloads and much price tags.
This is information I've gleaned from a lot of research on the internet, I don't own a Phantom...yet.
Duncan.