Drones

[wide eyed and legless]

I would love a drone and I live in the perfect place to fly one....or loose one.

I found one today, it was up on my roof. All I have to do now is find a controller for it.

 

[manticle]

We were camping at Copeton Waters near Glen Innes at Easter and there were some long distance swimming events on the weekend. A couple of drones were used with the vision shown on a large TV on shore, was good for spectators to be able to see the race progress. They definitely have their uses.

Dunno. When I go camping, not having a giant television screen nearby is something of a welcome bonus.

Get off my lawn.

 

[AlbertP]

Hi bradsbrew get the “can i fly there” app its issued by CASA free on app and play store showing all restricted airspaces, enjoi and I hope you get a nice big Tuna

 

[Phoney]

I bought a DJI Spark just a couple of weeks ago. Loving it so far! Have operated it in about 25kt wind and despite a high warning coming up on the controller it had no problems flying into it.

A mate of mine has a DJI Mavic Pro (basically a slightly larger Spark), him and his wife are in the middle of a sailing adventure from Europe to Australia at the moment, he takes awesome footage of all of the anchorages that they find themselves in. You can find their videos here: http://www.sailingbarefeet.com/blog

 

[Dave70]

I've got a Parrot Bebop drone which is probably more of a flying machine first, camera platform second. The camera is front mounted and 1080p which is awesome. It's also got an app add on where you can program routes, camera angles, hover heights etc. It gets a bit nerve wracking when it flys autonomously out of sight and loses contact with the controller. The 5 minutes or so seem to take ages and you swear a lot at losing a few hundred dollars... but then you hear the buzz of it overhead again!

We're in the draw for one of those in some kind of Bluescope promotion designed to make us purchase more material from them. Looks pretty sweet.
I hope I win it. And I hope its the kind where you wear one of those transponder thingies on your person and the drone chases you. Makes dirtbike footage far more interesting than the old GoPro stuck on your helmet.
More interesting still when I dart under some trees and the thing slams into the branches at full tilt.

 

[earle]

Dunno. When I go camping, not having a giant television screen nearby is something of a welcome bonus.

Get off my lawn.

Agreed, and having a massive swimming comp in the neighbourhood was not not exactly what we were looking for when camping either. but since it was on we thought we would go and have a look.

 

[flocculated]

I have a DJI Mavic for work, and we previously had a Phantom 2. They are great fun.

+1 for the CASA ‘Can I fly there’ app. It will tell you everything you need to know.

CASA allows you to fly up to 120m (except in restricted airspace). You can change your drone’s altitude limit in the software somewhere.

 

[S.E]

Agreed, and having a massive swimming comp in the neighbourhood was not not exactly what we were looking for when camping either. but since it was on we thought we would go and have a look.

Fit ladies in swimmers, why wouldn’t you?

 

[Schikitar]

There's a new DJI drone coming out in a couple weeks that's meant to be 60% quieter amongst other things (saw it on The Verge the other day). I'm not an owner but if it wasn't for this other hobby I have *ahem* I'd love to have the disposable income for a drone! The footage these things capture are phenomenal!

 

[scomet]

Great Drone Bradsbrew, remember your not flying it (the gyros are doing that) your just telling it what to do there’s a big difference, learn simple things over and over like fly a square standard pattern I’m writing safety guidelines for a local school who just bought them for the kids, 4xP4s, schools changed since I was there!! but operational safety is a mine field but I get to play with it for free :-}

Its not just casa regulations you have to be careful of, our local councils are (have) enacting bans on all radio control devises including kids model cars!! $5K fine for operating in a public space! its not about safety, its about who to blame in this neoliberal litigious world we’re being forced into.

Please be safety conscious they have the potential to do serious harm, ie. spit a prop and take someones eye out!! always have a spotter, never fly it behind you or over peoples heads… Have fun they’re great (fun) bits of kit.

 

[evoo4u]

Great Drone Bradsbrew, remember your not flying it (the gyros are doing that)

Re the gyros and GPS, I continue to be amazed at how stable the platform is when you just let go of the sticks. Even in quite breezy conditions, when it's shooting video, you look at the video and you'd swear you were looking at a still picture! The only way you can tell it's a video is by looking closely at the video and observing the trees swaying.

 

[Phoney]

There's a new DJI drone coming out in a couple weeks that's meant to be 60% quieter amongst other things (saw it on The Verge the other day).

That's the Mavic Pro Platinum. The 'other things' is longer flight time (30 mins)

It's been out for about a month. At $2200 I couldn't justify the price for what I want it for - which is mostly mucking around. So my Spark "only" does 16 min flight time and 1080p instead of 4K but was less than half the price, and suits me fine.

 

[Aus.Morgo]

I have a DJI Mavic pro and a Spark. Gave the spark to my dad for his trips overseas which is what I use my Mavic for. Cant beat the Mavic for portability and performance.