Family Picture

[mjbok]

I know many of the people here (and on the related boards for other manufacturers) have multiple drones. I was wondering if anyone has ever taken a "family" picture of multiple drones in the air. I was thinking of doing this, but wondered (other than running into each other) if there is any danger of losing control because of multiple in the air at the same time. This would be done with them barely off the ground with the picture taken by my spare Typhoon. Think like this:


Typhoon H
Karma O Evo
\|/
Spark | Air
/ \
Original Phantom (on ground)

Is this just a bad idea (for multiple reasons)?

Sorry for cross posting, but figured I would get input for the experts across platforms.

 

[MicahBrownMedia]

If you are planning on being the sole pilot then it's very much a bad idea. Even with all the sensors drones have, there is still a high likelihood they could drift into each other. If you had multiple operators and someone other than you taking the picture then go for it!

 

[mjbok]

I'm going to get a few other people to help. It should take 5 minutes tops once all birds are in the air, but though I can get enough people together to do it, none of them are drone operators. Might wait for Spring to do this and figure out the specifics. I want to get all of the parts right, including the right background, etc.

 

[BD0G]

I would launch 2 at a time and then work up to 3 and then 4.

That way you could determine case by case if one drone had signal interference with the other one. I am interested in your results.

 

[dhanna61]

WHY ?

 

[mjbok]

WHY ?

I’m assuming you’re asking why would I take a picture like this. I think it would be a cool picture, plus the level of difficulty behind it makes it a challenge. Why do people take pictures of their car, house, dogs, kids, etc?

 

[Bigbird48]

Its a cool idea only thing is I only have ONE

 

[Meta4]

I'm going to get a few other people to help. It should take 5 minutes tops once all birds are in the air, but though I can get enough people together to do it, none of them are drone operators. Might wait for Spring to do this and figure out the specifics. I want to get all of the parts right, including the right background, etc.

Because your drones have very wideangle lenses, you have to get scary close for the drones to be prominent in the picture.
As they say in the classics: Objects are closer than they appear.
It's more scary than you imagine because each drone is wandering randomly +/- a foot of more.
With just two drones, it's complicated and tricky.
Getting this shot was pretty stressful.

 

[mjbok]

Because your drones have very wideangle lenses, you have to get scary close for the drones to be prominent in the picture.
As they say in the classics: Objects are closer than they appear.
It's more scary than you imagine because each drone is wandering randomly +/- a foot of more.
With just two drones, it's complicated and tricky.
Getting this shot was pretty stressful.

I’ve had two in the air once. I was (what I felt) closing in on my comfort zone and it was barely in the picture. I can’t imagine being that close at what had to be at least 100 feet up. Awesome pic, though.

 

[HYRYSC]

Very cool picture!

 

[abtocmeptb]

That is why you buy Mavic Zoom. No need to be too close.

Great idea!!
I'll try to take picture from the ground with all 3 of my drones in the air with Honolulu as a background

 

[WayneDorsa]

Film flying each of your drones in front of a green screen, one at a time. Then superimpose each of them over a background video of the sky, taken while flying one of your drones. Done right, no one would know they were separate videos.

 

[Fly4Now]

Because your drones have very wideangle lenses, you have to get scary close for the drones to be prominent in the picture.
As they say in the classics: Objects are closer than they appear.
It's more scary than you imagine because each drone is wandering randomly +/- a foot of more.
With just two drones, it's complicated and tricky.
Getting this shot was pretty stressful.

Did you take the shot with Mavic Air? What were settings and ND filter? Great photo!

 

[Meta4]

Did you take the shot with Mavic Air? What were settings and ND filter? Great photo!

That shot was with a Phantom but would look pretty similar with a Mavic.
ND filters won't do anything to help in still photography (unless you have a particular reason to want to use a very slow shutter speed.
Don't bother with ND filters if you are shooting stills.

 

[Fly4Now]

That shot was with a Phantom but would look pretty similar with a Mavic.
ND filters won't do anything to help in still photography (unless you have a particular reason to want to use a very slow shutter speed.
Don't bother with ND filters if you are shooting stills.

Interesting, I didn‘t know, thanks. For the time being I will leave the filter on because I‘m doing videos plus still images. I bought the Air recently, still have to learn a lot. What shutter speed did you use and what about the other settings?

 

[Meta4]

What shutter speed did you use and what about the other settings?

The specific settings don't really matter because there are so many different possible subjects and lighting situations.
What's important is to use the settings that are right for whatever you are shooting.
I shot that using Aperture Priority Auto, so I set the aperture and the camera chooses an appropriate shutter speed.
That shot was at f8 and 1/160th on ISO 100.