Nope, I'm not kidding. If the plain white styling of your Phantom 4 just isn't fashionable enough, or if like me, you find it difficult to see it amongst the snow, you can now purchase a custom-made knit sweater to wrap your drone in.
The Inspire 2 came out a few months back and is a drone any aerial photographer would love to have because of it's portability, set up time, and overall quality compared to other high end drones on the market. I remember when this drone first came out and I was right by my computer to watch it be announced along with its little brother, the Phantom 4 Pro. I was blown away by the specs on the Inspire 2, however when both of these products came out, there was no video content to see aside from what DJI had produced because no one had access to these drones quite yet.
While nothing has been announced officially, multiple outlets including Fox Business and Luminous Landscape have reported that DJI has bought a majority share of Hasselblad. Although Hasselblad hasn't really been Hasselblad since 1996, the latest acquisition leaves many photographers scratching their heads. Why would the top drone company want to buy a camera company known now for its medium format, digital still image cameras? Aren't drones used for shooting video? Is DJI getting into the surveillance game? So many questions, so few answers.
This past weekend, I spent numerous hours with my partner looking through garden seed catalogs selecting and ordering what we wanted to grow this season. I wanted anything with "dragon" in the name. She wanted some unique looking poppies. We both wanted some cool looking "Black Tomatoes." But when I later Googled "black tomatoes," I found something else. I found that you can now pay someone to go on vacation with you and follow you around with a drone to document the trip. What?
With most of the gift giving now over with, some of us were lucky enough to receive a new drone over the holidays… or if you were like me, you gifted yourself one. With this being my first drone, I have not had to register a drone with the FAA before. It's actually a simple process that can be completed online.
Drones are a lot of fun, but they're made for fair weather. Winter weather is generally not the friendliest, but with a little thought and preparation, you can capture the beauty of winter landscapes from above.
After successfully shooting a GoPro HERO Session on an arrow, Niko (from Sam and Niko) wanted to launch the GoPro at a farther distance to portray an arrow flying over some distance in a battle. With the added weight from the GoPro, the arrow didn’t fly as far as it should of to give an accurate flight.
For about a year now I have been shooting with my DJI Phantom 3 and it has really been an eye opener for me. I have shot people, cars, landscapes, real estate, and so much more. Learning how to fly and shoot from an aerial perspective was probably the harder part of things, which is why I needed a place I could go to fly freely.
The Nerdwriter is a Youtube channel run by a guy called Evan Puschak. He uploads great analysis video essays about movies, writers, and most recently, about one of the great vloggers of our time, Casey Neistat. Now although Casey finished his daily vlog, it’s still important to analyze and see how Casey as an editor of his vlog went about shooting, and most importantly, how he edited his vlogs to make it entertaining and fun to watch.
After initially refusing to allow Photojournalist Robert Levine permission to use a drone to document the events surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock, the FAA has reversed their position, allowing him a three-day waiver.
As work slows down for me in the off season, I wonder where I can go to create something new. For me, traveling is an awesome thing, and being able to explore our world is really amazing. After watching some of these aerial videos on Vimeo, I am really interested in flying across the country with all my gear and creating the most memorable trip I have ever had. Even though this may not happen soon, there are plenty of places that are within driving distance that I myself can go explore. I am going to make these trips a more common thing not only for the sake of creating new content, but for the sake of seeing more of the beauty in nature.
There’s no denying the uprising of drone use in both photography and videography over recent years. Now, one company has created a pocket-sized device that coincides perfectly with usage on your smartphone: AirSelfie. Backed by a $3 million investment, the miniature drone will launch in March 2017.
New photos have emerged showcasing the lives of an uncontacted tribal community living in the Brazilian Amazon. The Yanomami Indians, who have taken residence near the Venezuelan border since 1992, are said to be a community of approximately 100 people. They were reportedly at risk of being wiped out in recent years by violent attacks carried out by illegal miners, who had been invading the land in search of gold. The release of these images reveal the tribe are now alive and well, even having increased their population, after concerns grew for the group following their decision to live in total isolation.
We have all heard about drones being used to spy on people. Which is extremely difficult, as most drones don't even have a zoom lens;,unless we invest the money into a drone that can use different lenses or one with a larger resolution to crop the image. After hearing about the GoPro Karma failing to fly, and the awesome new announcements by DJI, this has nothing to do with any type of drone news aside from a little humor.
It's been a few years now since DJI has come out with a new drone for high end filming. Today is the day they released the Inspire 2, a newer, much better version of the Inspire 1, has taken people by shock. The Inspire 2 has a sleek build with tons of added features, and also a new camera with some amazing quality and lens choices.
If you haven't heard yet, the new GoPro Karma drones have officially been recalled due to sudden lost of power while in flight. This isn’t very good news for GoPro.
A photo series to me was always just another project in school; whether it was for my digital photography class or film photography class, there was always something that had to be done in a series. Being done with school and not having any projects assigned eliminated the need to think about creating a series of work, but now I realize that a series of photos can be a pretty cool personal project. So one year out of college, I challenged myself to start working on a personal aerial series. This time there was no project that needed to be done, no deadline, no rules, I was free to do whatever I wanted to do. The only hard part was actually doing it, but I do believe that this is something that can help any photographer out.
When GoPro first announced the new Karma drone, many of us were excited and had high hopes for this new drone. Right after that, DJI announced their compact Mavic Pro drone, creating even more hype and confusion for those who were interested in buying a drone, myself included. Which one should I get?
It's always fun to track how various Fstoppers writers grow in their career and undertake new challenges. Mike Kelley has been one of my favorites to watch with the success of his first and second architectural photography tutorials, as well as his expanding aerial photography work. He successfully created and promoted a book featuring his aerial work of Los Angeles. Now, Mike is helping to judge a new aerial photography contest being put on by SkyPixel. If you'd like to participate, check out the details below.
I recently earned my Remote Pilot Certification, which allows me to fly a small UAS (drone) for paid photo and video work in the USA, under the FAA’s Part 107 rule. With no background in aviation, passing the test was no easy feat for me. If you’re considering taking the test yourself, read about my experiences to make sure you’re well prepared.
While there are many insurance companies that are out there for photographers and drone pilots, Verifly is the first drone liability insurance company that protects pilots and allows them to pay on demand. I recently interviewed Verifly CEO Jay Bregman to find out more about his new company and what they are doing to help drone pilots all around the country. One of the first things you will see about Verifly is that they cover up to $1,000,000 in liability within a flight radius of a quarter of a mile with any drone under 15 pounds. All operators have to do is select their area, after which they are instantly approved and provided with on-the-spot insurance to fly and proof of coverage to show to anyone who needs to see it.
Bad news for drone owners in Sweden! The country has now effectively ban camera drones in its airspace. And if you thought you could bring your drone on your next trip to Sweden, well you better think twice unless you’ve got a permit.
Along with drone technology and the advancement of user-modified drones, another thing that has also been evolving is LED technology and the way people use it. In this four-minute video, you will see a good example of the combination of these two technologies, as Stratus Productions mounted a 1000-watt LED light to a Freefly Systems Alta 8 drone.
Affectionately known as the Land of Fire and Ice, Iceland has become a widely popular photography hotspot. It seems like everywhere you turn, there are photographers and videographers talking, fantasizing, planning, and shooting all things Iceland. But what's with all the fuss? For those who have yet to pack their photo gear and travel to the island, the recently released short film, "Ice and Fire," shows what you are missing and continues to kindle Iceland's "photo rush."
I've been shooting real estate for about two years now. Today, I am shooting for my company, Simply Visual Productions, and another company, Jump Visual, which has been around for many years, and because of them, I have learned so much about working in this field. I have shot hundreds of homes and met many new people and worked with them to create photos that sell a home or space. I think it is funny that I do this because when someone thinks photography, I feel like real estate photography is the last thing they would think of. Aside from the photography aspect, I see aerial and video becoming more and more popular, which is one reason I have such an interest in it.
With the new reviews of the DJI Mavic Pro, there’s been one popular concern from many of us: the quality wasn’t quite 100 percent and looked a bit blurry, especially when compared with other drones. Then we shared the 4K comparison with the Phantom 4, and even though the camera specs are very close between the two, it was apparent that the Mavic quality was not quite there. The Phantom 4 was the clear winner here, but the size still made the Mavic a viable contender for many of us who would compromise portability over quality and sharpness.
DJI recently announced the new Mavic drone which appeared to be the greatest aerial product ever created. It's extremely portable with all of the incredible features of the Phantom 4. Today though my dreams have been shattered because the footage out of the Mavic looks pretty bad, especially when you compare it to the P4. Update: Wait! There is still hope!
In the past week or so we have seen a lot of big things happening in the drone industry. It seems that there is almost a battle for portability, where drones should be able to be used anywhere by anyone. That being said, GoPro came out with an awesome new system that packs into one slim bag and can be brought and flown just about anywhere. The GoPro Karma folds up and packs into one small bag fitting the drone with the props on, the batteries, the remote, and the camera attached to the gimbal. On top of their drone idea, they decided a consumer may not always want to fly, but might still want to film some stable footage. In this case, they made the gimbal on the Karma removable so it can also be hand held and steady.
GoPro has brilliantly teased us with its careful, controlled releases of Karma drone videos. Today, they've launched the new Karma alongside a pair of Hero5 cameras that are as wonderful to see as the Karma itself. Advanced stabilization looks impressive in the videos (see the mountain biking scene at 1:53), but something to note is how cinematic the image quality now looks. It won't be as easy to tell GoPro footage from other high-quality cameras. And about that Karma: does $799, remote, backpack case, and gimbal handgrip included get you excited?
If you’ve ever felt the need to take on a crazy project despite consequences, photographer Blair Bunting knows exactly how you feel. In an effort to recreate a scene from the classic movie “Top Gun,” Bunting put his guts where his mouth is and attempted to photograph a jet flying 500 feet off the ground while his own jet flew upside down above it only a short distance away. This video captures that remarkable feat, along with the preparation that came beforehand, and you have to check it out.
The more accessible, powerful, and lightweight drones become, the more we are going to see crafty individuals multipurpose them for their own whims. We've seen drones used to cut down trees, deliver products, and now here we have one pulling a surfer along a coast.
Now admittedly, this particular device probably won't see much use in a commercial sense due to a few limiting factors. However, that being said, for those in need of fast moving aerial footage in the 1080p range, this may be worth checking out. The Parrot Disco is a fixed wing, single operator, first-person perspective flight drone that can record up to 32 GB of 1080p video on an internal storage system. It's able to reach speeds up to 80 km/h, a 2 kilometer range, and 45 minutes of flight time. This could be an interesting step forward in the direction of other high-speed aerial recording that won't require the use of full-size planes or helicopters.
A little while back, I wrote an article called, “The Power of Overshooting,” where I explained how it can never hurt to take more photos than you need to. Now this article got plenty of hate from all the people who love film out there, but the article wasn’t written to bash the people who put time and effort into shooting their photos.
Never underestimate the smartphone as a tool for video. That’s the lesson we learn from “Flying Into Dusk,” an impressive aerial short film completely shot using the iPhone 6s. With the use of a stabilizer and the Filmic Pro app, filmmakers Toby Harriman and Jaron Schneider have created a 4K high-quality video that rivals those filmed with far more expensive gear.
Lofoten, Norway has been getting a lot of attention in the last few years, and rightfully so. Known for its incredible mountains, open waters, and unspoiled lands, it has quickly become a favorite for photographers looking to capture dramatic landscape images. Australian filmmaker Michael Fletcher took two trips here recently and came away with a fantastic aerial film, captured during the season of the midnight sun.
It’s videos like this that inspire me to fly more and capture the beauty in this world. I myself haven’t done much traveling, but there are a lot of awesome places out there to see. Karim Iliya captured a lot of amazing content out in Pachamama and put together this video in a very fun and entertaining way.
As I continue to dwell about upgrading my drone and having more creative freedom and quality with the Zenmuse X5 and choice of lenses, I am stuck thinking about all the content that I could be out creating with these amazing tools.
If you are a member of the United States and you own a drone, you know that some rules were made. Thankfully these rules didn’t kill us, they didn’t stop us from flying for commercial use, but they did give us a reasonable way to deal with drones in all kinds of different situations.
Drones and airplanes generally don't mix, but if you're one of the airlines, you get a special pass. Airbus is replacing a time-consuming and difficult process with drones, and the results are quite neat.
There have been many times I've wished for a zoom lens on my drone, simply because it wasn't reasonable to fly closer to something to get the shot, whether that was because of airspace, people, or some other reason. DJI has now made that possible with the release of the Zenmuse Z3.
I really thought I was the cool kid on the block with my DJI Phantom 4; then DJI got together with Hasselblad to make this 50-megapixel, medium format monster. I'm no longer the cool kid on the block.
As I’m sure you’ve heard or seen if you’re at all active on Social Media, there’s a new craze sweeping across America and several other countries. For many it reaches as far back as elementary school, and for some it’s new territory. You guessed it, Pokemon Go has arrived and it’s apparently changing some people’s lives as well as the way people are interacting with each other.
It's a federal offense to shoot any aircraft, including a drone, which the FAA has made abundantly clear. Nonetheless, Toby Harriman experienced just that this past July 4th, when his drone was shot out of the sky in Aspen, Colorado.
This is by far one of the most gorgeous drone videos I've ever seen. Shot in California by Adam Rubin of Kaveret, its elegance and narrative beauty make it stand far above the crowded playing field.
From the majestic remote landscape of the Lofoten Islands comes this impressive aerial video created by Theo Gove-Humphries. Having just purchased a brand new DJI Phantom 4, he didn’t waste any time putting it to good use in a week-long outdoor excursion across the Islands in June 2016. There were several challenges that were faced in the filming of this project, and after you enjoy the video, Gove-Humphries shares with Fstoppers what he learned through it all.
I have way too much fun with my drone. And while it's great for landscape shots, I wanted to try something a bit different, so I put a call out for musicians, told them to lay on the ground, and put a camera in the air. However, using a drone to take portraits is far different from having your camera at eye level.
In case you missed it, recently, The Mill introduced The Blackbird, a remarkable piece of technology that can morph into almost any vehicle you desire in post. Not to be outdone, Blackburrow Creative has made the Millbird, an aerial version of the device, which promises "phenomenally average" results. The demonstration video is phenomenally funny.
The DJI Geospatial Environment Online (GEO) is the company's built-in system for helping drone operators abide by airspace rules and regulations. Today, DJI has released a major update for the system that should go a long way in augmenting responsible flying and preventing incidents.
I have to admit that this isn't something I had envisioned doing with a drone, but boy, is it neat. DroneDeploy allows you to autonomously create 3D models of buildings and terrain as well as 2D analyses, and the best part is that it's free.