Drone videos of Nature

Brian Stirling

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
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jimbob200521

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2005
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Makes me want to get a drone but our flat landscape here wouldn't be quite as impressive. Thanks for sharing.
 

OverVolt

Lifer
Aug 31, 2002
14,278
89
91
Haha, very nice. Although I think somewhat too artistic. The terrain actually speaks for itself you're probably just used to it being from the area. There is no need to really spice it up.

Also I'm pretty sure I've died of dysentery at some of those places.
 

Brian Stirling

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
4,000
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Haha, very nice. Although I think somewhat too artistic. The terrain actually speaks for itself you're probably just used to it being from the area. There is no need to really spice it up.

Also I'm pretty sure I've died of dysentery at some of those places.

Well there are no services at all in Valley of the Gods or at the Mexican Hat formation or the Moki Dugway so I'm not sure how you would have gotten dysentery other than from what you brought.

As to the artsy thing -- to each his own. The drone has no microphone and if it did all you'd hear was the prop noise so a video from a drone is either silent or you add narration or music. In some videos I use narration but in others music.


Brian
 
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RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,794
266
116
Makes me want to get a drone but our flat landscape here wouldn't be quite as impressive. Thanks for sharing.

I also want one but it's tough justifying the expense for a toy. The only useful purpose I can think of is inspecting our roof and possibly gutters.

That being said, when the DJI Phantom 3 Pro/Adv with hardshell case and extra battery hits < $499 - I'll give it some serious consideration.
 

Brian Stirling

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
4,000
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It's kind of hard to justify pretty much any toy if used as a toy. I've been a serious photographer for a long time and you can spend some insane money for pro grade photo gear with a single lens for a sports or wildlife shooter being over $15K. I'd rather not count up how much I've spent in the last 15 years -- we're talking Tesla money, a really nice Tesla.

The Inspire 1 Pro drone I have is kind of between the consumer grade drones like the Phantoms and the higher end drones more typically used by pros for movie, TV show and advertising work. The bottom end in cost for a true pro drone is about $8K, but that's before you add the accessories that you really have to have and when you add them in you're really talking more like $15K to start. But, that's the price of a single lens for a sports or wildlife shooter.

DJI, the biggest drone maker, makes more money from selling there cheaper models as there business model is not unlike the razor blade companies -- give away the razor (drone) and make a killing selling blades (batteries etc). But, the downside of the lower end of the market is that it invites knuckle heads that don't care what risks they're taking and give the industry a bad name. Sooner or later one of these idiots will take down a helicopter or plane and then the rest of us may have to put away our toys. There's a similar dynamic with firearms with most gun owners being considerate of others and acting responsibly while others could care less and just do what they want. However, while the firearms owners have a constitutional protection drone owners have no 2nd amendment.


Brian
 

Leros

Lifer
Jul 11, 2004
21,867
7
81
Awesome videos. Videos like this are why I bought my Phantom.

How did you find places where you could fly? I have a lot of trouble because it seems like everything is either private land or a state/nation park where you can't fly.
 

Brian Stirling

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
4,000
2
0
Awesome videos. Videos like this are why I bought my Phantom.

How did you find places where you could fly? I have a lot of trouble because it seems like everything is either private land or a state/nation park where you can't fly.


A lot of Utah and many other places are off limits either because it's a national park or because it's within 5 miles of an airport or heliport. The FAA has an app called B4UFLY that you should use to make sure you're not in violation of those no-fly zones or other no-fly zones that may be temporary in nature.

When I first started flying my Inspire 1 Pro drone I did so along the south side of the Great Salt Lake and about 8 miles or more from the Salt Lake Airport so all was well, but then I found a heliport had appeared on the side of a mountain that wasn't there before and using the coordinates I checked on Google Earth -- there's no structure within 1000 feet and it is on the side of a mountain so definitely not a real heliport. The info on it says it's connected to the "Bear River Valley Hospital", but that's in Tremonton about 70 miles away.

I note a crap ton of these suspicious heliports all over the place and it's my guess these are knowingly bogus ports placed there on paper to deny airspace to drones. Even though a helicopter takes off and lands vertically they get the same 5 mile radius exclusion zone that airports get so they're a convenient bullshit mechanism to deny airspace.

What you can do using the B4UFLY app is drag the little red pin with circle to where you want to fly and if there's something that a problem the app will tell you and highlight the airport or heliport that too close or inform you of other restrictions like a national park or sporting event that has a temporary airspace restriction.

But, given the use of these real and bogus heliports in built up areas do not expect to find anyplace close to a city that's legal to fly as you can bet there will be a shit ton of those real and bogus heliports. I pretty much now have to go about 30+ miles to be in an area that doesn't have one of those things. It's pretty clear that they're trying to kill off the industry but my guess is they will not be able to.

The Netherlands is talking about imposing a 25 foot high and 100 foot distance maximum on drones which effectively ends there use. Lots of folks in the USA would love to do the same here but I doubt they'll be successful -- drones are just to important and getting more important every day. They're being used to inspect bridges and wind turbines and perform SAR (search and rescue) operation just to name a few things they can do far cheaper and safer than other methods.


Brian
 

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,829
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A lot of Utah and many other places are off limits either because it's a national park or because it's within 5 miles of an airport or heliport. The FAA has an app called B4UFLY that you should use to make sure you're not in violation of those no-fly zones or other no-fly zones that may be temporary in nature.

Some guy dropped/crashed a drone into a protected spring in a national park a while back.
 

Brian Stirling

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
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Some guy dropped/crashed a drone into a protected spring in a national park a while back.


Yep, I remember hearing about that -- Yellowstone I think it was and it was a hot spring at that.

I have mixed feelings about the ban in NP's -- on the one hand I'd love to be able to shoot video from a perspective not possible from the ground, but having a dozen drones buzzing around you would be a nuisance. So, I guess I can except the prohibition though I wish it wasn't every square inch of every park.


Brian
 

KB

Diamond Member
Nov 8, 1999
5,401
386
126
Those are some very cool videos. I need to get out that way sometime.
 

luv2liv

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2001
3,497
94
91
thanks for sharing. still waiting on slickdeals.net for something under $500
 

trmiv

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
14,668
1
81
Really cool stuff! The first and third video make we want to play Red Dead Redemption again.
 

Leros

Lifer
Jul 11, 2004
21,867
7
81
I just downloaded the B4UFly app. It says there in an airport in the next neighborhood. Apparently there are 4 different airports with 5 miles of me. That can't be right.
 
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Brian Stirling

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
4,000
2
0
I just downloaded the B4UFly app. It says there in an airport in the next neighborhood. Apparently there are 4 different airports with 5 miles of me. That can't be right.

Don't get me started! There is a suspicious number and placement of airports AND heliports in the entire area I live in and there number and placement makes it impossible to fly anywhere near where I live or within the populated areas of the SLC valley. Most of them are listed as heliports and although helicopters take off and land vertically instead of horizontally like planes they get the full 5 mile exclusion radius as full on airports.

When I first started flying my Inspire 1 drone I went to the south shore of the Great Salt Lake and far enough west to be well away from the SLC International Airport and I flew my first 3 times there with no problem. Now I see they have a heliport (helicopter port) listed on the side of the mountain and where it's located it now prevents me from flying where I used to. The thing is -- there's no heliport there at all as I checked with Google Earth and there's no structure of any kind within 1000 feet of the location and no signs of construction to indicate they were building one. And again, it's on the side of a mountain with steeply sloped terrain. Additionally, when I click on the icon for this heliport it indicates it's for the "Bear River Valley Hospital" which is located in Trementon about 70 miles away.

So, I have a very strong suspicion that some/many of these airports and heliports are non-existent and listed solely for the purpose of denying airspace to drone operators. I know with absolute certainty that the heliport on the side of a mountain doesn't exist and the number and placement of many others seem purposely done to provide the widest exclusion zone possible for drone operators.

But, the news is filled with stories of near misses or actual impacts of drones with planes and helicopters and even though I've yet to see even one been proven to be true the public follows the concerned reports they hear in the media and, well, the public is less likely to be concerned about the apparent efforts to deny airspace by deception.


Brian
 
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KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
29,701
43,970
136
I've been busy editing video from my trip to southern Utah and have a few videos from the Mexican Hat area.


Mexican Hat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjW0RTuHd8g

Moki Dugway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIr7MmOa9rM

Valley of the Gods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKVwFNgsZxU


Although my interest was mostly from an aesthetic/artistic perspective the view you get from a drone opens up some interesting views of the geology you wouldn't see from the ground.


Brian
Oh wow those videos are incredible
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,936
12,384
126
www.anyf.ca
Nice videos! Been wanting to get a better drone to take more scenic videos too.

As for national parks, I don't know about the US but in Canada the rule is you can't take off or land at one but you can still fly over one. So technically you could just take off from the road then FPV to the park. Of course you also want a very good battery so you don't end up losing it.

Though with all the drone regulations they keep adding it might be easier to just get a helicopter license and one of those helicopters you assemble yourself lol.
 

BUTCH1

Lifer
Jul 15, 2000
20,433
1,769
126
Nice job OP, IGNORE any comments about the music, the "Mexican hat" was perfectly scored!, felt like I was watching a TV show on Discovery channel. Just out of curiosity what is the control-range of you're drone, it seemed to fly quite far from where you started the vid.
 
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