My dad has recently bought himself a DJI Phantom drone so we went out for a little play to test it out.
Unfortunately my MK was off the road at the time so I had to use my daily
Photo Archive
Building: Stuart Taylor ST1100 V4 BEC (built)
posted on 28/3/15 at 01:49 PM
Very nice. I'm currently building my fourth quadcopter (the other 3 are still working fine but this one is bigger and able to carry a camera)
and am starting on aerial videography. I guess the question is- should a quadcopter filmed scene make it obvious it's filmed from a quadcopter
as opposed to, for example, a boom camera or a crane hoist? Too often there's a "zooming-into-the-sky vertically" end shot to make
it obvious it's a quad or unnecessary weaving between trees for the same purpose. I'm undecided! Flying round things from a bit of height
gives a unique viewpoint and is somewhat more subtle. But nose-in hovering a quad takes serious practice!
There's a good Flitetest episode of quadcopter videography that's worth a shoofty.
I'm wondering if its possible to set to so it maintains the same height and distance, ie, get it up in the air, go for a blast and will it
follow you along the road.
Obviously not going along at 80 or anything git fast!
Photo Archive
Building: Stuart Taylor ST1100 V4 BEC (built)
posted on 28/3/15 at 07:55 PM
Doubt they'd do anything considering Team Black Sheep were just told off for doing this:
.....which considering how twitchy the police with machine guns are around the House of Commons is saying something. If it was in protected air space
etc etc it would be prohibited (such as the one above) but otherwise they'd have to prove breach of an air navigation order (ANO). If it's
for commercial gain it's all change and if it's FPV then there are regulations about how far away the quadcopter (I refuse to use the term
"drone" can be....
the drone is a DJI Phantom 2 vision plus.
You can get one that you mount your gopro too as well, but this has the camera built in
as for the remote, you can fly it manually or pre-program a flight path into it, which we still need to test out.
When the wind dies down hes going to try flying it from his house to mine by programming the flight into it.
Im pretty sure you can set it to follow you too, but dont quote me on that.
Hes got a few other videos uploaded too which are worth a watch
And legalities.... its all quite legal, there are a certain few laws you have to follow which hes aware of, im not, I know it has to be flown 50m away
from persons out of your control and from buildings that arent yours. So aslong as your 50m+ high your ok!
We had it at 300m altitude the other day and you literally cannot see it! It can go to 1000m too but hes not that brave yet!
The view from 300 is great!
Photo Archive
Building: Stuart Taylor ST1100 V4 BEC (built)
posted on 29/3/15 at 07:55 AM
It's worthwhile checking that you're not in controlled airspace if you're going high- there are quite a few flying clubs (full size)
in operation which will have mean there will be restrictions in place. Can't recall if the DJI Phantom 2 vision plus has an FPV screen- I seem
to recall it does. Certainly by 1000M it's going to be so small it will be invisible so it better do. Trouble is legally it's max 1000ft
altitude via FPV.
The local plod won't be bothered if you're flying but the CAA sure will if there's a Phantom vs small aircraft incident. Worth
checking.
People just don't understand the risks. One of my acquaintances put a video on youtube of him flying a r/c plane above the clouds in central
london IE bang in the middle of the London Control Zone. The plane was 2000ft plus. So dangerous when you consider the height helicopters fly at
particularly police helicopters... Regardless of weight the ANO means you can't be doing anything which puts others at risk so breach of ANO.
What's the maximum penalty?
I'm sure when they had the UAV problem over Paris earlier this year the BBC report the maximum penalty for breaking the laws was prison. I would
imagine there will be changes in the law very soon as camera equipped devices are becoming popular and many people are operating outside of the law
already as they're pretty much illegal in built up areas.
I know a few people who work with these kind of things (And a few people in the CAA) and I'm pretty sure you need to always have line of sight
to remain with in the law, but I'm not sure if that means you literally have to be able to see it.
Awesome video though. I wish they'd replace some of the police helicopters with these things.
In a White Room, With Black Curtains, By the Station.
I've been back in Filton 3 weeks now and been woken up almost every night by police helicopters, UAV's are so much quieter. I don't
want more surveillance, just fewer helicopters.
In a White Room, With Black Curtains, By the Station.
There is set 'no-fly' zones built into the firmware, it just doesn't allow you to fly in them at all.
I'm not sure what areas are covered but looking on the map on the screen teesside airport is one of them!
Photo Archive
Building: It is an ex-Locost - it has gone to the IOW!
posted on 31/3/15 at 02:36 PM
quote:Originally posted by BenB
It's worthwhile checking that you're not in controlled airspace if you're going high- there are quite a few flying clubs (full size)
in operation which will have mean there will be restrictions in place. Can't recall if the DJI Phantom 2 vision plus has an FPV screen- I seem
to recall it does. Certainly by 1000M it's going to be so small it will be invisible so it better do. Trouble is legally it's max 1000ft
altitude via FPV.
The local plod won't be bothered if you're flying but the CAA sure will if there's a Phantom vs small aircraft incident. Worth
checking.
People just don't understand the risks. One of my acquaintances put a video on youtube of him flying a r/c plane above the clouds in central
london IE bang in the middle of the London Control Zone. The plane was 2000ft plus. So dangerous when you consider the height helicopters fly at
particularly police helicopters... Regardless of weight the ANO means you can't be doing anything which puts others at risk so breach of ANO.
What's the maximum penalty?
can be....
been there many times as its only 30 min from me. 
