Hello all,
Well, it's been 12 months since I first got introduced to the extraordinary world of aerial photography. Below is a recap video of my first year with a DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ and what a year it has been. I am so satisfied with this product that I purchased the Inspire 1 and awaiting its arrival with a lot of enthusiasm. Feel free to share this video if you like.  


Let me know what you think.

Cheers

http://www.skypixel.com/videos/show/2014-viewed-from-the-air

Your work is wonderful. Awesome job, Patrice! It speaks a lot of about this "extraordinary world of aerial photography" indeed.
I hope many people will see your videos.

Amazing shots!  Did you utilize ground station for any of that?  Aren't you disappointed that won't be an option on the Inspire?

rare1a1@gmail.c Posted at 2014-12-12 12:24
Amazing shots!  Did you utilize ground station for any of that?  Aren't you disappointed that won't  ...

Thanks for the feedback.
Actually all is with a stock Vision+ using the iPhone for FPV. No ground station, no lightbridge either.

rare1a1@gmail.c Posted at 2014-12-12 12:24
Amazing shots!  Did you utilize ground station for any of that?  Aren't you disappointed that won't  ...

Thanks for the feedback.
Actually all is with a stock Vision+ using the iPhone for FPV. No ground station, no lightbridge either.

Pgaucher@me.com Posted at 2014-12-12 12:34
Thanks for the feedback.
Actually all is with a stock Vision+ using the iPhone for FPV. No ground ...

I guess DJI should use your video as a commercial or showcase for what can be done with their product, drive their sales up and pay you some money

Question: can you share some tips or tricks on what you think it's important for video phtography? Aside from traveling a lot on different locations, getting the light and scene right, etc and other stuff that can be learned from regulat photography and videography classes / books...
What flight modes do you use? GPS, ATTI, course lock, etc?
How high do you usually go?
Did you find anything challenging and advise beginners to avoid?
How often do you use your drone? Did you get in trouble with people upset with drones?

People like you make me sick - with envy

Great work keep them coming.  Everybody in the videos seemed to enjoy it and this what I've been finding.

ciprianboboc@gm Posted at 2014-12-12 12:42
I guess DJI should use your video as a commercial or showcase for what can be done with their prod ...

Thanks for your comments, very appreciated.  I've been at this for a year now and all I can say is that the experience has been great. You mention what I believe to be the most critical elements to getting some good footage: location and lighting.

The Vision+ camera is, let's face it, not the best camera in town so if the weather conditions are not perfect, your footage won't look nice and you will need to work a lot in post production to make it look decent. As an example, look at the side by side video I did where you can see the huge difference between the original footage and the colour corrected footage. Stunning difference in some shots.



Other than that, a few tips I could provide (keeping in mind I am no expert at this):

- Start filming before takeoff and keep on filming until you land. You never know what you can capture.
- Avoid flying around statues or other large objects as the signal can drop suddenly which would trigger an automatic return to home which could end up crashing in the object you are circling (this happened to me).
- Always look into local regulations with regards to flying UAV's.
- Before taking off, make sure you plan your shot or at least have a good idea of what you want to capture.

I've used my drone probably 100+ times this year and NEVER faced any issues with people complaining. The only time I had a person come to me to ask me to change my flight path was during a trip to Bali and the newly elected president of Indonesia was staying at the same hotel as I was (which I didn't know) and snipers on the roof of their villa were going crazy because of the drone. The hotel people gently asked me to steer clear of that area which was understandable. Other than that, no issues whatsoever.

- Last piece of advise is to plan your budget for at least 2-3 times as much as the price of the drone. People make mistakes and those usually translate in losing a drone or breaking pretty sensitive parts such as the camera. Replacing these parts is almost as expensive as buying a new drone.

Hope this helps. Cheers. Patrice

Thanks for your answers, Patrice.
I've noticed too that the Vision+ camera has its own limitations which are understandable for the size of that camera. But the gimbal is doing a great job and the videos turn out very smooth. For the size of those camera lens - there's a limit of how much light can be gathered in every single frame.

Return to home seems to be triggered a bit too fast. It would be nice to have a configurable interval in the software, I mean how much time takes from disconnect to the moment when return to home is activated. I have experienced (probably) an undesirable "return to home" on Sunday. After that, I've changed the "return to home" altitude to over 200 feet - so assuming I circle a tall object (tree, statue, etc) - hopefully the drone will go first up and then move in any other direction (therefore dodging the tall object). I've read that in case of a disconnect, the "return to home" is supposed to be triggered in 10 or 15 seconds. Is that true? I haven't tried it.

and here lies another issue.  As much as I liked your video - I  don't like the 'd' word - sorry.

talk2t_c Posted at 2014-12-13 05:52
and here lies another issue.  As much as I liked your video - I  don't like the 'd' word - sorry.

Hi there, not sure I get this one. What 'd' word are you referring to? Cheers.

Very nice. Thanks for sharing. I wish I could visit any of those places! haha. Awesome.

D is for "drone".

Yeah, agree, now that we're  still in the window where what we call our Phantom will be the the term used in the future, I reckon it's probably best we refer to them as copters or quads. Alternatives, such as UAV or UAS are ok too I guess, although they, too, sound a little ominous/militaryesque.

P.S. Awesome clip!

Pgaucher@me.com Posted at 2014-12-13 00:13
Thanks for your comments, very appreciated.  I've been at this for a year now and all I can say is ...

Hi

Great video. Did you have any issues at the airports in Asia traveling with the equipment Batteries !! ?

Hi

Great video. Did you have any issues at the airports in Asia traveling with the equipment Batteries !! ?

insitb@singnet. Posted at 2014-12-13 17:45
D is for "drone".

Yeah, agree, now that we're  still in the window where what we call our Phantom w ...

Ok, get your point. Time will tell I guess. Until then, enjoy flying your UAV ;-)

Thanks for your feedback as well, very appreciated.

maipenrai2@gmai Posted at 2014-12-13 20:25
Hi

Great video. Did you have any issues at the airports in Asia traveling with the equipment Batter ...

Good morning and thanks for your note.

I had NO issues at airports in ANY destination. I carried  5 batteries and all fit in a carry-on size hard case. Hope this helps. Cheers.

Pgaucher@me.com Posted at 2014-12-13 23:48
Good morning and thanks for your note.

I had NO issues at airports in ANY destination. I carried ...

Thanks for your reply . Keep the great videos coming

Pgaucher@me.com Posted at 2014-12-13 00:13
Thanks for your comments, very appreciated.  I've been at this for a year now and all I can say is ...

This is amazing!
What type of adjustments did you make?Colour saturation or also levels/sharpness etc?

Many thanks

Pgaucher@me.com Posted at 2014-12-13 00:13
Thanks for your comments, very appreciated.  I've been at this for a year now and all I can say is ...

Thanks for the videos.
Very informative, especially the comparism between original and edited videos. I wish I could earning a living too with travel around the world ;)

Paras Posted at 2014-12-14 11:33
This is amazing!
What type of adjustments did you make?Colour saturation or also levels/sharpness e ...

Hello and thanks for your feedback.  I used the colour adjustments in Final Cut Pro X and mainly played with exposure and a bit of saturation. Essentially lowering the exposure eliminates the 'fog' in the footage but you then need to enhance the rest a bit to make the colours come out more. I'm not expert at this and really just started playing with this a few months ago and produced only 3 videos with some colour correction.  Cheers.

kamikaze Posted at 2014-12-14 18:57
Thanks for the videos.
Very informative, especially the comparism between original and edited video ...

Thanks for your note. I have to admit I feel very grateful to work in a position that allows me to travel to many fantastic places. I hope my son (5 years old) will one day be grateful for this as well. I hope to bring more interesting videos in 2015. Cheers.

question to the pilot of this thread, did you make all ur videos in gps mode or all manual flying ? Especially the ones on the water?

jarek33@hotmail Posted at 2014-12-17 12:15
question to the pilot of this thread, did you make all ur videos in gps mode or all manual flying ?  ...

Hello, everything was shot in GPS mode. Had no issues with satellite reception anywhere. Cheers.