Amazing. Just superb. This from a guy who shot helicopter aerials for the movies for nearly two decades.
I can't imagine the anxiety provoked by that tiny little aircraft of yours, venturing waaaaaaaay out over the ocean. I freak out when mine is a few hundred feet away over dry land.
How much time do you allow for you to shoot such complex and far-ranging coverage?
Thank you, praise indeed, and from a professional to boot!
TBH the
AIR3 is large enough to see at a good distance, and the max I was flying away from the TOAL point on the headland was about 500m, so not too difficult to keep in sight, especially as I kept it silhouetted for most of the time against the sky... I have come to trust the DJI kit, but if the worst were to happen then I have Care Refresh, sometimes you have to push it to get the results...
My biggest worry here was the 25mph wind and the gulls, they were surprisingly nonchalant about the drone - but 3 miles up the coast in Stonehaven they were evil...
As to how long did the shoot take, it was an hour and 15 away from our holiday cottage, and the castle opens at 9 am, so flying had to be done by then, we set off hoping to arrive at 8 am, but it was 815 am when we arrived, and then a 10-minute walk and set up, leaving only about 35 minutes for footage capture.
I had studied the maps and other videos, so had a good idea of what I wanted as in and out and basic footage, so I set out to capture that, then some straight overflights, orbits, and some captures of the waves, an then some of the things that I noticed while flying, such as the tower house...
All in all about 25 minutes flying time, and I landed with 54% batteries left - just as the Castle staff were walking up to the entrance and about 10 minutes before opening time - when I would have been asked to land and stop flying, so I made good use of the time...
