Hi,

I am new to drone photography. I am a photographer and I am going to use the DJI S900 to fly my Nikon D810 for fashion shots. I've already know that I need a plantform to fly the system and a gimbal to mount my camera, however, I am still confused about Flight Controller, Ground Station and HD video downlink. What does each of them do and do I need them for my setup?

Also, I do not see any gimbal specifically for Nikon DSLR, which gimbal do I need to buy in order to mount my D810? In addition, do DJI provide a solution for the photographer on the ground to see Live View screen of the DSLR on the air?

Thank you in advance.

Flying is just as difficult as photography. Anyone can take a photo but it takes a professional to take good photos on a consistent basis. I know because I am a full time wedding photographer. The same is true of flying. Any one and fly and crash their aircraft. It takes many hours of practice and learning to fly well. You will crash your aircraft while you are learning to fly, everyone does. That is way you start with something that is inexpensive. Expect to build up at least 50 hours of actual air flight time before you step up to something of the size of the S900.

The DJI Lightbridge system is able to both control the aircraft and provide an HD video downlink.

You need to start with a small platform like the Phantom Vision. use this to learn how to fly and work with this platform. You really need to put a lot of time into your flying to get good at it.

There are gimbals that will carry that camera but you won't get stable, professional looking results from it. If you want a package that will all work together you will need a different camera like the Panasonic GH4. If you think it is too expensive to buy a new camera for this that is a big sign right there that you are not ready to take the necessary steps to build an aircraft that will get good results.

You can also have a builder like Aerial Media Pros build a complete aircraft to your specifications but you can expect to pay over $8,000 for a fully equipped and ready to fly solution. Are you ready to crash an $8,000 aircraft with a $2,000 camera and lens?

One step at a time. Start with something small, spend hours reading about how it works and how to fly on bulletin boards. Learn to fly and master the aircraft. When you can fly in fast circles, banked figure eights and are comfortable flying with the nose pointing toward you then you can think about something larger.

You should also know that this platform is not really suited to fashion. All the zenmuse gimbals are meant to be used with a specific camera and lens - usually somewhere in the 24mm prime range - I've never met a fashion model that wants to be shot with a wide angle lens!

I haven't met a fashion model that wants a UAV 5 feet from her head either to shoot with a wide angle lens  

I have been using a 45mm on my Panasonic without any issues too

justin.rose@aer Posted at 2014-11-4 23:36
I haven't met a fashion model that wants a UAV 5 feet from her head either to shoot with a wide angl ...

I too am new and my need is this.  I need payload to hover on place for 15-20 min for testing.  

I was going to try a partially assembled djs1000 frame with only 4 motors instead of 8 to limit my flight time as well as my altitude with no payload.  I was hoping that this would give me time to learn while I gradually put another 2-3 thousand bucks into this project.  I am not really interested in video/photography but might try that later to see of I can find other ways to use octocopter.  I am ready to buy now and hope to build and practice so by  August I can actually be ready to run my tests.