Anyone Tried A Remote Control Quad Copter Camera Rig?

Looking good there Ben!

Interesting footage & music. Didn't really notice the fisheye until you came up close on the roof of the house. Speaking of roofs, that carport looks like it could use a resurfacing. One of the advantages of this kind of rig, you can inspect things without getting up on a ladder.

Really like the high altitude & simulated fast tracking shots. I figure once you master the controls you never need a jib, crane, dolly or slider. Except it is kind of noisy if you want dialogue....

We used it for some amazing aerial shots in the 48 Hour Film Project competition here locally this past weekend. It will be interesting to see the reactions to these shots at the screening, and not many folks know how we did them right off the bat.

I would never use it to replace a jib, it is not as smooth or precise, and it can't carry a fully decked out professional 4K camera rig. I see the Phantom/GoPro option as strictly what it is, an aerial shot tool, not a jib/crane tool.

That should be really cool to have that footage...

We used a Go Pro/Phantom rig for these shots over a manor house near Chester UK. The camera can be tilted remotely and is sitting on a brushless gimbal for extra stability. We also flew it inside the marquee. There was a slight breeze on the day but it handled it well. See what you think.
vimeo.com/71021846

Nice work on the wedding video promo piece. Very smooth movements too. How long did it take your operator to master the controls like that?

There was only one slight bobble I noticed as we went thru the hedge arch tunnel. Seemed like a slight variation in yaw I think. Not sure, but maybe FCPX can stabilize that section...

Great music too, instrumental version of Kiss From a Rose, what bride-to-be wouldn't love that?

Thanks. The operator has been flying for 7 months. Before that he was an experienced RC car enthusiast. He is beta testing a Chinese gimbal which is really impressive at keeping things steady. He also uses first person goggles but not on this shoot.

The through the hedge shot did wobble. There was a strong breeze coming off the lake through the arch. Also, that clip was reversed (notice the ripples on the lake moving backwards) as was the shot with the little cottage building. I have added a touch of stabilisation in FCP.

This was our first attempt at aerial video as part of our video portfolio and we are really excited at the potential this tech can bring. The GoPro has its limitations but these are soon forgotten when the shot is from 400ft in the air or flying across a lake!

Great stuff, Murphy. No wonder it all turned out so well, you've got the Top Gun of quadcopters as your pilot.

Use the Phantom with some caution. Mine is now drifting badly to the left, always, and is not very difficult to control. The only way to fix that is by calibrating it with the software DJI makes for it, which is Windows only.

I've read several reviews on several reseller sights of folks losing theirs when it just takes off and vanishes, or suddenly crashes itself totally ignoring what you're doing on the remote (as mine now does).

I wrote to DJI about the software, and they acknowledge that a large portion of their customers are Mac users, and they would like to offer a Mac version of the software, but have no idea when that may ever happen. Nice slap in the face.

So, not "if" but "when" you need to do serious internal calibration to make if fly correctly, you'll have to run Windows somewhere. Which totally bites.

Thus, I urge everyone to write to DJI and complain about no Mac version of the calibration software.

Also note, if you want to use the gimbal or the new high efficiency, stronger copter blades, you'll HAVE to run the (Windows only) software to calibrate it, in order for those to work properly.

Crucial info! That would definitely sway my purchasing decision. Thanks for the update, Ben.

I may actually consider BootCamp now...
Or find a better multiblade UAV.

OK, how can I mount TWO GoPros to a Phantom, one pointing forward, one pointing backwards or straight down?

FYI, it does have a ceiling it can't fly beyond. Anyone know what that is?

In the UK, the legal height is 400ft.
With the first person goggles, our 'pilot' has been able to fly a mile away.

Hi Nick, do you know how this is worked out? Is it 400ft above sea level or above the pilot?

I'm not an authority on this. I believe the rule for the UK describes an R/C craft over 7Kg has a height limit of 400ft in controlled air space (near an airfield) but not sure on the sea level part. Under 7Kg seems to be unrestricted. Obviously the safest approach is to contact any local airfields with your intentions, get any required radio licences and of course insurance, if you're working commercially.

Thanks. There's no rush at the moment, I'd been thinking I'd love to take one of these with me up into the mountains. I hadn't thought about possible legal issues, when I get time I'll research properly.

As a company that offers specialized camera rig and shooting services, this is a HUGE interest for us, on a commercial level. So I've been doing a ton of research for our business.

I found out that in the U.S. the legal hight limit is 400ft, but I know the Phantom gets MUCH higher than that. You can apply to the FAA for permission to go higher for specific situations/times/locations. But there's a catch, or several, of course.

Here's the FAQ from the FAA in the US about UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System, what the FAA calls them officially) operations.
www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/uas_faq/

I've been digging through the FAA's web site about UAS operations, and from what I can find, at this very moment, commercial use (areal photo/video services) of small UAS systems such as the Phantom are flat out illegal in any manner shape, or form. BUT the FAA is studying the issue and is currently in process of working up guidelines for this type of system. "Legally" you can only operate a Phantom as an amateur model RC aircraft, subject to those rules and regulations. Which means, you can't operate it in a populated area, blah, blah, blah, blah. (Dear FAA, Please blow me.)

All that said, no one is running around snagging Phantom users and throwing them in jail or anything, at the moment.

I will be contacting the FAA Monday directly and gathering all of the information I can. I can see a Phantom/GoPro rig being commercially feasible as part of a small videogrphers commercial offerings. My real estate agent is chomping at the bit for me to go do areal photo/video of higher end properties for their promotional efforts. I know my fellow farmers in Mississippi are very excited and asking about the same thing for agricultural uses on their land. I can see wedding & event videographers getting amazing shots quickly with these.

So yeah, the information is sketchy, but at present, "legally" you can only do this stuff as an RC aircraft operator, not commercially. If you go with a larger rig, you can get authorization, but what that exactly entails, I've not yet found out, as you need to apply for an account with the FAA to access that type of certification info.

All of this said, we did use it this past weekend for a few ending "Money Shots" in our 48HFP short. The reactions at the screening last night were really wild. Most folks asked how we got Google Maps to interact with our live action so seamlessly. ROFLMAO!!!!

As alluded to earlier in this thread, a Colorado town is finalizing it's plan to move ahead declaring open season on drones. They are going to issue hunting licenses to shoot drones out of the sky. The comments after the story are hilarious.


Sure wouldn't be happy if your super-rig octocopter with RED Epic on board gets dusted by some backwoods hillbilly riding shotgun in his Chevy. Did I mention he's chewing tobacco & cranking Lynyrd Skynyrd?

Yep, kill your neighbor's valuable business, bring a law suit on your head, 'cause we videogrphers and photographers could use that "destruction of business property" and "prevention of gainful employment" civil suite award money. Yeah bud...

Forget about shooting them down, now they're dropping out of the sky, into crowds of spectators & hitting people in the face!

:ohmy:

Interesting comments follow...