The PfCO courses are a little bit cheaper than when I took mine but they are still pretty expensive definitely. For someone starting out, doing property shots or similar work, you can easily do that with a Phantom 3 or 4. For video work, the Inspire 1 & 2 are better options, but even they have their limitations. The Inspire 2 with the X5S camera is over £6000 so for that kind of layout you have to know you've got or have a realistic enough prospect of getting enough work to be recouping that investment. I'm looking at building a drone that will carry a DLSR or even a professional video camera, such as the RED Weapon, the cost of the drone with the gimbal and everything I'd need is a massive investment for me but the work I've got on the books and the additional types of work I could carry out justifies it. A couple of points I'd mention to anyone considering going down the same route I did. The NQE's (National Qualifying Entities, the training providers) that are selling the courses are making out work is easy to pick up once you've gained your PfCO. It really isn't, it's competitive and and it's only getting more competitive as more people are qualifying. You have to make yourself stand out from the crowd somehow. Also a lot of people don't appreciate the amount of work that goes into flying drones commercially and they undervalue the service massively. You have to carry out a pre-deployment survey, onsite survey, risk assessment and then carry out the flights, so you are spending a lot more time doing admin than actually flying. Because some clients don't see or understand the admin side of it they think what is really a full day's job is actually a 10 minute thing and expect prices to reflect that wrong assumption. That did sound negative but it's not all bad, when you get a decent day of flying in some cool locations, the rewards most definitely outweigh the negatives. I love being outdoors and my work lets me do that, I love photography and I love flying drones so I wouldn't be doing anything else now. If you're interested, go for it, just be aware of the rough and smooth to the job In terms of experience, I think knowledge of cameras and video work is essential and that's where some commercial drone operators fall down. The drone is a tool to get the camera in places previously you couldn't or it would have been cost prohibitive. If you don't know how to get the best out of your camera equipment then it's always going to be a struggle. With the Inspire I operate with a professional photographer on some of the commercial tasks we undertake. He tells me where to put the drone and he takes care of the camera and gimbal via the other controller. Most of the work I do requires smooth and steady movements with the drone, so you don't need to be pulling Top Gun-esque manoeuvres. Even on the flight assessment, you just have to show basic competency flying skills. The safety procedures are as important.
That's kinda what I mean about expense: when you're making a living doing this stuff, a £6000 quad is justifiable - and so is the PfCO for that matter - if you know you can recover that investment. Funny thing I was looking at DSLR rigs earlier, purely out of curiosity. That kind of flying camera rig is getting well into "serious ****" territory - I think flying a 550mm hexacopter will be hair-raising enough, I can't even imagine flying a 900-1000mm octacopter frame with a pro-grade Red or DSLR camera hanging off it! That's a lot of money to lose on a bad landing! I'm not really entertaining the idea of quitting my job to do aerial photography full-time. It would be awesome, but it's not exactly a realistic career move at this point . At the moment this is just a hobby; I've always enjoyed photography and hanging a camera from a flying platform is a great way to explore that. I'm kinda getting the hang of flying a twitchy little quad so I think it's time for an upgrade. (Though the twitchy little quad will still stick around, because I can safely chuck that about without fear of breaking something expensive! The worst I've ever done to it - besides grinding the odd prop - is snap an arm.)
got bored and did a thing..... couple of things to note. Its a bit nippy for a 90mm quad and the cheap kingkong props are as soft as cheese. Pull a 90deg yaw and they flex that much they hit the frame and break. Have to get something different.
All of my parts have now been delivered... except for the frame kit, the most important bit! Damn frustrating, hope it isn't on the slow boat from China!
Got myself a tiny Hubsan Q4 H111 nano. No FPV but it's surprisingly good fun and plenty good enough for me to practice with. I'm keeping in beginner mode for now which locks the left stick to throttle only (no yaw) but the brief spell I had in intermediate mode was great fun if a bit hectic - it's a very nippy and agile little bugger!
Picked up another set of Steele motors this week for cheap and another F4 fc for my spare LoFlo frame. been umming and ahhhhing on the esc situation and decided to pull the trigger on these... Wraith_32 escs. A new generation of esc on the market and run the new Blheli protocol.. Blheli_32. I will be able to run Dshot1200 and all sorts of digital tomfoolery as Blheli_32matures.
I've got the hang of controlled ascent & descent, hovering, and flying about in a kind of headless mode (left stick locked to throttle only, drone always pointing away). I set up a small circuit in the garden last night and had great fun buzzing around/over/under things and got a reasonable "flow" after a while (and a couple of battery charges). Next step is going to be trickier: yaw. First step will be flying a circle with the drone always facing the direction of travel, then I can have another go at the circuit. I'm definitely getting a bit more Biggles and a bit less Boggles, largely down to beginner guides on YouTube, and practice of course.
Well this is starting to look like something... I knew this thing would be big, but... holy hell that's big! Seriously... it's huge! Also: Worst. Solder pads. EVER. Not because they're bad quality or anything, but because they're massive (I didn't get a "before" photo, too eager to assemble )... I had to dig out the massive chisel tip and turn the temperature right up on my soldering station. Getting there though. Still plenty of assembly left to do before I can start calibrating everything and setting everything up in Mission Planner. Aww, it's so cuuuute! Those tiny nano-quads are surprisingly quick, I found it impossible to control one when I tried it. If you do find yourself struggling to control it, try gluing or attaching some extensions to the sticks on the controller. I think I posted a link a few pages ago to 3D printable extensions, so I'll dig out the link if you have access to a 3D printer. That little bit of extra leverage allows you to make much smaller movements on the controls. Like you say, it all really comes down to practice.
Cheers, yes it's great fun. I'm finding it not too much trouble to control, in beginner and intermediate settings at least. My current favourite move is alternating loops around the seat and back of a dining chair in a kind of figure of 8. It's quite hypnotic once you get the flow. Unfortunately I lost a prop in the garden earlier so I'll have to get myself a big bag of spares - I have a feeling props are like drone sundries.
Anyone seen the newly announced DJI Spark? It's quite tempting. It's only 3300 CNY = £370. Plus a spare battery, exactly the money I'm willing to part with for photography drone. Shame the arms stick out, may be have to wait a few more months for another drone with folding arms......... The lack of controller as standard is also bothersome, and I've read sports mode is only available with the controller. So without controller, it's essentially a selfi-drone: can't fly far, can't fly fast. Hum.... decisions decisions........ wife always says to buy the one I want and not buy the cheapest one, that means Mavic Pro......
the arms arent in shot. the gimbal is only 2 axis and not 3. that means it will go up and down and rotate but not left and right. I suspect it will also be hugely locked down in respect to where it will fly. DJI are pushing out new software with a ton of limitations in it now to try to kerb the issue with flying where you shouldnt as far as I understand it.
They're 2212 920 kV motors. Seems to be about standard for this size & configuration. After finishing installing the gimbal and flight controller I attached the props, just to see what it would look like. Freaking huge, is the answer... I think I've done about as much physical assembly as I'm going to be able to do at this point - time to start reading up about first-time setup and Mission Planner... It seems... expensive for what it is. No doubt it'll perform very well and the camera will be very good quality, but it just seems quite expensive for what looks like a selfie drone. Not to mention having to hand over personal details or have your quad's capabilities crippled:
So. Mission Planner is a bitch, amirite? Mental note: Do not buy another ArduPilot flight controller because Mission Planner is a pig. Next time get the DJI Naza-M Lite like you originally planned to... *mumbles to self in corner*
I've already handed them some (very generic) information to register to update the Phantom 2 V's firmware. To be honest, restricting drone usage by location and force firmware update to add new locations should be standard in the industry, prevents bad press for the drones. I'm still torn between Mavic vs Spark. Mavic is more capable in every way, and folds down smaller, easier to carry. Spark is quieter and smaller in flight meaning attract less attention, much lighter to carry. Possibly more durable in a crash compared to Mavic's dangling gimbal. Cheaper to purchase. And Hand control! Spark will miss out my parent's return date, where I originally planned to get a nano drone to play in-doors. I've got until September to make up my mind. When other relatives will be coming and able to take a one bought from China for me. They are more than 25% cheaper over there!
Got my hexacopter up in the air for the first time today. Just starting to get the hang of it when this happened. At least 1 prop dead and the frame is banjaxed. The snapped arm actually looks OK - it's the PCB frame which actually snapped. But the one of the landing gear supports also snapped, so I can't just replace the PCB plates. It was quite a windy day, totally the wrong day to try and fly, so I was planning to pack up and leave after having used one battery. The low battery alarm came on which engaged the return to home failsafe. Except it came down very hard into an embankment and did that. Not really what I'd call a "fail safe". I got video of it on my phone which I'll edit and upload soon.
Oh man, what a nightmare. Would you be better sticking to a smaller/cheaper one until your flying skills are tip-top?
