Any drone pilots?

[Welshbloke]

Finally got the right weather to take my Gopro Karma drone out:

 

 

 

I'm still learning to fly smoothly, it's easy enough to stay clear of obstacles but keeping a steady speed while moving is a bit harder.

[Kiha66]

Nice videos, how hard is it to learn to fly the drones?  I've grown more interested recently, but I need to sell off a few trains before I could afford to get one.

[Welshbloke]

I can only speak for the Karma as I've never flown any other serious ones (had a cheap toy one before minus camera which was good for learning) but it's very easy. If you let go of the sticks it will just hover. Obviously it will wander a bit in wind until the GPS catches up but it won't fall out of the sky. Unlike a conventional RC aircraft it trims and balances itself, so you just have to concentrate on avoiding the scenery and getting the camera pointing the right way.

 

I went for the Karma as it's neatly integrated - the gimbal just plugs into the front, a Hero 5 or 6 camera plugs into that, the controller has the FPV screen built into the lid so you don't have to mess around with phone apps, and it comes with a semi-rigid backpack case to hold drone, controller, spare battery, charger and spare rotors. You can also unclip the gimbal from the drone and use it hand held with the grip they include in the box. You can spread the cost by buying in stages too - I bought the camera first, then the stabiliser, then the flight kit with the drone and controller.

 

About the only weakness is that you have to turn the whole drone to pan the camera. It's smooth though and this does mean you won't accidentally get bits of drone in the corners of footage.

[serotta1972]

Wow, good stuff man!  You needed another hobby huh. :)  Beautiful area you live in.  Thanks for sharing.  Next is filmng and flying next to trains. 

[Welshbloke]

The area I filmed in (the Elan Valley Estate) was bought by the city of Birmingham in the late 19th century and flooded to supply drinking water. They bought the land up to the highest point all around the planned reservoirs in order to protect the water supply. There was an extensive standard gauge branch line which left the old Mid Wales Railway just south of Rhayader to bring materials and workers to the construction sites. I've walked a fair bit of the old trackbed and would have loved to see it running. Little tank engines wrestling with heavy stone trains on steep hills would have been spectacular.

 

Fast forward to the present day and it's pretty similar to a national park. There are a few tenant farmers but no other permanent inhabitants, pretty much the entire area is open for walking with marked cycle trails and a road through the valley. It's also a dark skies park thanks to the lack of major development and the ensuing light pollution. It gets horribly crowded at weekends, but go up mid week or on a sunny summer evening and you can find your own corner of the valley to enjoy.

[chadbag]

One of those things I have on my list to do more of.  I have bought a lot of DIY drone stuff and tried to get a few flying but always ended up running out of time with new jobs, new time pressures, or new hobbies or interests etc. and had to let them be.   On my bucket list to pursue more once we have built our house and I have room.  My current space is too crowded to be able to do much with it and my former man-cave area is taken over with woodworking for guitar building (electric and bass, not open body classical or acoustic)., which I indulge in occasionally.

 

Great footage and a good inspiration to get back on this when the time and space allows.

[cteno4]

Ive avoided, ive avoided, ive avoided... may not be able to forever though...

 

nice video.

 

jeff

[Welshbloke]

Do plenty of research and ignore the professional cornflake piddlers in YouTube comments  (the ones who always know a better product but are strangely reticent about actually naming it). The Karma works for me, it might not work for others. It does look expensive but at the time it was competitive with the likes of DJI if you compared like for like. I don't think the DJI came with a case and they seem to rely on a phone for the screen rather than having an integrated one. Plus I can use the camera handheld with stabilisation or stuck to pretty much anything with the mounts they offer.