For years I had been envious of the exploits of drone pilots - I watched daring videos, kept up with all the latest tech news surrounding them, and several times came within a hairs breadth of ordering one. However, every time I was overcome with the fear of purchasing such an expensive piece of kit only to crash it headlong into a tree on its maiden flight. It wasn't untill the DJI Spark came along offering decent image quality at an affordable price point that I was finally able to fulfill my dream of taking to the skies.
My first aerial video was published practically in the first moments of 2018, and it quite honestly marked a new chapter in my life. It required a great deal of courage to fly my precious new Spark to such heights for this video, and I operated the controls with shaking hands - terrified that it would all come tumbling down to earth at any moment without warning, and my dreams would thus be crushed forever. In those first few months of the new year I felt as though if I crashed it would be the end of my adventures in the world of drones, that such an accident would render the concept of buying a replacement impractical and foolish. Surely if this one failed so would the next, and I could ill afford to replace drone after drone in such a fashion.
Slowly though my confidence grew, and so did the quality of my videos.
I flew with the spark for the better half of the year, but then along came the Mavic 2 Zoom, and despite how capable my trusty little spark was, I couldn't resist the upgrade! The Spark had opened up the skies for me and introduced me to a whole new realm of photography, but the Mavic 2 ramped the experience of flying up to eleven! The connection is strong and flawless, the controls solid and responsive, and the extended battery life incredibly liberating. It also had such power compared to the spark - suddenly I could race over the landscape at terrific speed! The Mavic 2 Zoom Allowed me to film things in ways that I had never dreamed possible:
Now at the start of 2019 I have many hours of flying under my belt, and finally feel fully confident in my ability as a pilot. My video editing abilities have also improved, which only makes sense as my flights have resulted in tons of great footage, and inspired me to create and publish more Youtube videos than ever before. In the coming year I plan to get my commercial liscense so I can start profiting from this amazing hobby - I could see a career as a drone pilot ahead of me!
I'll wrap things up with a few things I've learned over my first year as a drone pilot:
1. Start small, be cautious, but always push the boundaries of your comfort zone. You and your drone are capable of far more than you might think.
2. When flying to capture video, think in terms of creating different scenes - tell a story as you fly. The more varied your video clips the better!
3. Keep it smooth - avoid sharp turns and other inconsistancies when filming. Such imperfections take the viewer out of the experience.
4. Record more than you think you need - this gives you wiggle room for editing that you will be very glad of in post production.
5. Keep in mind that the same rules of composition apply when you're in the air as when you're shooting on the ground - both in video and still photography.
Captain
Administrator
lvl.4
First Officer