My long time friend introduced me to drone flying around Sept. of 2016.  He had a Phantom 4 Pro and showed me how easy it was to fly.  I was hooked and after I had some time I started researching for which one to buy.  I started with Phantom 3 Standard in Dec. 2016.  Got one used for a solid deal.  It was like new, only flown for once or twice.  Came with a hard case and extra props for $375.  Not too bad.  But soon I find the range and the poor signals too limiting and started to read more.  I bought another used drone this time a Phantom 3 Advanced.  I love it I have been flying it quite often.  Here is couple on a early morning around San Francisco Bay Bridge.

Thats a cool Video!

That's an awesome post.

Lets see if I can just post a youtube video playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbs1bk4IsCyjYtyNukM09qXTUuZOIqCWE

Great videos! It's a nice footage to make some cinematic short movies. I have little advise for You - try panorama photos! This Bay Bridge East looks very nice with all these lights of cars etc. IT would be great panorama view!

Both videos are nicely done, thank you for sharing!

Great videos . Its amazing how much non stop traffic there is going into the big cities.



BadBob

To start off you will see the sunrise! Then we'll fly around the Grace Cathedral area. Get up close and personal with The Scarlet Huntington Hotel. While landing you will see the beautiful Grace Cathedral...



Grace Cathedral is a famous landmark in San Francisco.  I've drove by many times in the past 30 years but this day I decided to walk it as well as checking out the inside.  It is absolutely beautiful inside and out.  I highly recommend taking a walk and spending time at this very special place.  The atmosphere inside is serene and noble.  It just feels amazing...  you have to see it regardless of your faith.  It is just a work of art all should appreciate.
ps, how do you guys get your milage (flight distance) added to your profile?!  thanks.

Badbobstikibar Posted at 2017-4-13 17:35
Great videos . Its amazing how much non stop traffic there is going into the big cities.

BadBob: that was early morning about 6-7 am so it was the morning commute!!  That was filmed during a weekday...

adrian8891 Posted at 2017-4-13 11:28
Great videos! It's a nice footage to make some cinematic short movies. I have little advise for You - try panorama photos! This Bay Bridge East looks very nice with all these lights of cars etc. IT would be great panorama view!

I have not tried panoramic photos yet!!  On my regular phone and cameras I have... but not on the drone.  Is it a feature on DJI Go?  I'm not sure I've seen the option...

ghettoracer Posted at 2017-4-13 17:41
I have not tried panoramic photos yet!!  On my regular phone and cameras I have... but not on the drone.  Is it a feature on DJI Go?  I'm not sure I've seen the option...

Im not sure about DJI functions, but Litchi surley have it. I would be great to see some of panoramas out there!

O'Neill Forebay is right next to San Luis Reservoir which is in Northern California close to Gilroy about an hour South of San Jose.  I got in a short footage of nice sunrise and I was landing the Phantom 3 Advanced due to low battery condition...  came out pretty sweet  I think.

Hi there.

Tell me please, why cars at bottom right of video are chopping? It is nice to look at this @ 0:36

adrian8891 Posted at 2017-4-18 12:35
Hi there.

Tell me please, why cars at bottom right of video are chopping? It is nice to look at this @ 0:36

I'm not sure what you mean...  which video are you talking about?

This was a fun event.  Mr. David Hobbs a former world champion in Formula One as well as a great racing commentator came a did a wonderful talk.  I didn't know much about Mr. Hobbs until that day.

ghettoracer Posted at 2017-4-19 06:23
I'm not sure what you mean...  which video are you talking about?

Oneil 2 minute video.

adrian8891 Posted at 2017-4-19 12:28
Oneil 2 minute video.

Ahh I'm not sure what you mean by "chopping"...  That is Highway 152.  Here is it on google maps:

https://www.google.com.tw/maps/place/Merced+County,+CA,+USA/@37.1855525,-121.2108395,9z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x8091857b0a690675:0x518be5ad79c49f81!2sSan+Luis+Reservoir+State+Recreation+Area!8m2!3d37.065826!4d-121.0719685!3m4!1s0x80914050f7997157:0x7674e2402cd9e96b!8m2!3d37.2009788!4d-120.7120023

ghettoracer Posted at 2017-4-19 14:03
Ahh I'm not sure what you mean by "chopping"...  That is Highway 152.  Here is it on google maps:

https://www.google.com.tw/maps/place/Merced+County,+CA,+USA/@37.1855525,-121.2108395,9z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x8091857b0a690675:0x518be5ad79c49f81!2sSan+Luis+Reservoir+State+Recreation+Area!8m2!3d37.065826!4d-121.0719685!3m4!1s0x80914050f7997157:0x7674e2402cd9e96b!8m2!3d37.2009788!4d-120.7120023

Sorry, there must be something with my iMac. on iMac Your cars @ bridge was chopping. On cheap Chineese tablet all works fine!

I think it was one year in the mid 1990's when San Francisco started to light the Bay Bridge...  it wasn't always lit.  DJI Go reports lot of interference I'm guessing Bay Bridge itself is a heavy steel structure so that's probably why.  This was shot with DJI Phantom 3 Standard which has a fairly weak transmitter.  I would lose lot of bars even with the drone with in 100-200 feet...

This was the first morning after I arrived at Newport Beach.  I got up early as usual and decided to carefully launch Zim (my Phantom 3 Advanced) from the little balcony.

The water was so calm and mirror-like.  Everywhere I flew looks so beautiful even on my little screen.  I just flew everywhere as the signal allowed me to do so.  This was a very enjoyable flight.

I haven't been UC Berkeley in few years... decided to go above the Cal Berkeley campus to catch the sunset. Flew the Phantom 3 Standard drone around a bit while using an old circa 2010 Samsung Galaxy S3 phone as monitor. Not a bright idea as it often can't keep up...

The near crash (which was just a forced landing due to sub 10% battery level) could have been avoided. What happened was at the initial 20% first battery warning I manually cancel the return-to-home as I was in middle of a good footage. Bad newbie error!! I almost lost the drone. It took me about 15 minutes on foot to search for it. Luckily the last image on the phone before signal loss gave me a good clue on where the drone might be...



This is basically west coast of Sunset District in San Francisco, California.  I've been here many many times since the late 1980's.  It is one of my favorite spots.  The Sutro Bath is very appealing and romantic to me.  I wish it was still around...  in my opinion they should rebuild it!!

I tried to make it before the sun had set but missed it by about 10  minutes...  sun always seem to go down so fast!  Need to go way earlier.  Still got some decent footages though...

ghettoracer Posted at 2017-4-30 04:50


I haven't been UC Berkeley in few years... decided to go above the Cal Berkeley campus to catch the sunset. Flew the Phantom 3 Standard drone around a bit while using an old circa 2010 Samsung Galaxy S3 phone as monitor. Not a bright idea as it often can't keep up...

You're lucky your aircraft didn't get clobbered by a professor with a bike lock...

endotherm Posted at 2017-4-30 06:25
You're lucky your aircraft didn't get clobbered by a professor with a bike lock...

F that professor.  anyone use violence against innocent people is a big no no in my book.  i'd F him up it he try to touch my drone.    

Really nice video,the quality of the footage actually really impressed me ! however you got to watch out especially the bay area between Daly city,these are the important areas for commerical aircraft while taking off or even landing. You are still allow to fly there just be more careful
Free to check out the FAA website [img]https://forum11.djicdn.com/data/attachment/forum/[/img]

Jerryjin Posted at 2017-5-1 21:23
Really nice video,the quality of the footage actually really impressed me ! however you got to watch out especially the bay area between Daly city,these are the important areas for commerical aircraft while taking off or even landing. You are still allow to fly there just be more careful
Free to check out the FAA website [view_image][/img]

Yep yep, safety always first.

Last night was very challenging.  It didn't seem like it at the surface level but the wind was very strong and blew constantly in the air.  Any height above about 70 feet the drone had problem holding steady it was drifting away!! Pretty much all the still photographs came out fuzzy... At above 150-350 feet even at full power the drone can't even go forward it gets blown East wards at 3-5 mph.  Felt very sketchy.  Luckily I was smart about it and when the battery was at 50% I started thinking about bring it back already from 3500-4000 feet away.  I had to drop elevation few feet above tree lines and fly it back manually.  My original intent was to fly all the way to Golden Gate from Legion of Honor and back.  It simply wasn't possible with the strong winds today.  Will attempt again later on a calm day.

The Legion of Honor (formerly known as The California Palace of the Legion of Honor) is a part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The name is used both for the museum collection and for the building in which it is housed.

The Legion of Honor was the gift of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, wife of the sugar magnate and thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder Adolph B. Spreckels.  The building is a full-scale replica, by George Applegarth and H. Guillaume, of the French Pavilion at the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition, which in turn was a three-quarter-scale version of the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur also known as the Hôtel de Salm in Paris, by Pierre Rousseau (1782). At the close of the exposition, which was located just a few miles away, the French government granted Spreckels permission to construct a permanent replica of the French Pavilion, but World War I delayed the groundbreaking until 1921.  The museum building occupies an elevated site in Lincoln Park in the northwest of the city, with views over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Drone/flight notes: it was a very windy evening and the drone was not stable and always drifting away...

A beautiful spring day in San Francisco.  Clear blue sky, excellent visibility, no fog, and very little wind.  I got there just as the sun was rising and the lighting was just getting better.  For some reason the my remote control kept on losing signal to the drone despite not the distance not being too far...

Saints Peter and Paul Church (Italian: Ss. Pietro e Paolo) is a Roman Catholic Church in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. Located at 666 Filbert Street, it is directly across from Washington Square and is administered by the Salesians of Don Bosco. It is known as "la cattedrale italiana dell'Ovest", or "the Italian Cathedral of the West", and has served as the home church and cultural center for San Francisco's Italian-American community since its consecration.

Those are pretty neat, thanks for sharing.

ghettoracer Posted at 2017-4-19 06:25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShRKH51kVwE

This was a fun event.  Mr. David Hobbs a former world champion in Formula One as well as a great racing commentator came a did a wonderful talk.  I didn't know much about Mr. Hobbs until that day.

This is a really dumb idea. Flying this close to people and over those classic cars.  REALLY REALLY DUMB. This is why people get so mad when they see us flying anywhere. Who wants this buzzing right over their head when they are trying to enjoy the evening and cars.  I am surprised someone did not try to report you.
Take some advise, DO NOT do DUMB stuff like this.

ghettoracer Posted at 2017-4-19 06:25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShRKH51kVwE

This was a fun event.  Mr. David Hobbs a former world champion in Formula One as well as a great racing commentator came a did a wonderful talk.  I didn't know much about Mr. Hobbs until that day.

You came pretty close to hitting a tree limb when you were flying over that Ferrari and those people standing next to it. You could have hit that limb and crashed into those people.
Use some common sense man. Seriously.
This is probably one of the worst  disregard for safety I have ever seen.
I can not say enough how idiotic this is.

HWCM Posted at 2017-5-10 21:56
This is a really dumb idea. Flying this close to people and over those classic cars.  REALLY REALLY DUMB. This is why people get so mad when they see us flying anywhere. Who wants this buzzing right over their head when they are trying to enjoy the evening and cars.  I am surprised someone did not try to report you.
Take some advise, DO NOT do DUMB stuff like this.

LOL, you don't know much facts.   I flew with great care.  I'm member of the Alfa Romeo club and everyone was happy that I was able to get aerial footage of the event.  There was no wind and I was at least 8 feet from the trees.  I was also pretty much directly under the drone when I was in low elevation and near the trees so I kept a careful eye and control at all times.  I flew pretty slow and the movements were delibrate.  Thanks for your concern.

HWCM Posted at 2017-5-10 21:59
You came pretty close to hitting a tree limb when you were flying over that Ferrari and those people standing next to it. You could have hit that limb and crashed into those people.
Use some common sense man. Seriously.
This is probably one of the worst  disregard for safety I have ever seen.

Out of the hundreds of people you saw there not a single person came up to me to object.  Not even the slightest.  From the footages you can see many people look up at the drone with curiosity.  A dozen of people came up to me to ask me about drone flying.  Everyone was enthusiastic or curious.  I would go on to argue I was a good ambassador of drone flying at this particular event and share it with many.

If anything I demonstrated how safe and easy it is to fly a good drone with minimal experience and limited skills if one does it with care.  After about 6 months I've racked up 101 flights 21 hours and 663k feet in distance.  The one time I ran into a tree was actually because I was flying by visual sight and not by the display.  Luckily it was only about 7 foot in the air.  I don't think I uploaded that footage yet...

ghettoracer Posted at 2017-5-11 08:41
LOL, you don't know much facts.   I flew with great care.  I'm member of the Alfa Romeo club and everyone was happy that I was able to get aerial footage of the event.  There was no wind and I was at least 8 feet from the trees.  I was also pretty much directly under the drone when I was in low elevation and near the trees so I kept a careful eye and control at all times.  I flew pretty slow and the movements were delibrate.  Thanks for your concern.

You might not always be so lucky. It is always a possibility for something to go wrong. If it does and your Phantom goes flying off in an uncontrolled manor, it could fly right into someones face. I have seen videos where the pilot was being safe flying well above a crowd of people, then he had a malfunction and it flew straight into a little girls head. It had to have hurt or even cut that girl.
If you had any consideration for people and their cars, you will not do this type of flying.
It is highly frowned upon to fly so close to people.
It is, to put it as plain as I can, Just freaking stupid.

ghettoracer Posted at 2017-5-11 10:45
Out of the hundreds of people you saw there not a single person came up to me to object.  Not even the slightest.  From the footages you can see many people look up at the drone with curiosity.  A dozen of people came up to me to ask me about drone flying.  Everyone was enthusiastic or curious.  I would go on to argue I was a good ambassador of drone flying at this particular event and share it with many.

If anything I demonstrated how safe and easy it is to fly a good drone with minimal experience and limited skills if one does it with care.  After about 6 months I've racked up 101 flights 21 hours and 663k feet in distance.  The one time I ran into a tree was actually because I was flying by visual sight and not by the display.  Luckily it was only about 7 foot in the air.  I don't think I uploaded that footage yet...

I am sure one of those people had an issue. I know if I had my car there I would not be to happy about someone flying a toy over and that close to my classic car. Just like I would not want someone playing catch with a baseball near it.
I bet if you continue to do this, someone will complain and flying at these meetings will be forbidden, just like it is at every other event where their are people. They are forbidden for a reason. It makes people uncomfortable and it is dangerous. Honestly it is  highly irresponsible.
If you have registered your Phantom, you should have read the rules for flying:
*Do not intentionally fly over unprotected persons or moving vehicles, and remain at least 25 feet away from individuals and vulnerable property.
You can read it here in case you missed it. http://knowbeforeyoufly.org/for-recreational-users/

ghettoracer

I agree with the comments made by HWCM.

You fly in areas that are expressly not allowed, putting innocent people at risk, which in turn puts my ability to fly at risk.

Please reconsider your actions, as they may lead to all of us losing the privilege to fly.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-34936739

http://www.marketwatch.com/story ... ightmare-2017-05-09

Flying in the city is very challenge to retain a good signal.  I played it safe just going up vertically only.  Horizontal distance travelled was minimal.  Now that I have a high capacity 128 GB microSD card I might try to shoot 4K next time.

I forgot to turn the front red LEDs off the red glow is rather annoying...

A fun flight pretending I'm a bird exploring whatever random objects I see on the screen.