Just wanted to take a moment to say Hello. I'm newly licensed & looking forward to getting some real missions under my belt soon. I actually started flying several years ago (pre part 107) but the quad I had at the time ended up being very unstable in flight and I got absolutely no support from the manufacturer so it ended up in the moth balls. After the FAA started the licensing requirement, I studied off & on, trying on my own to get familiar enough with the regs to take the test with confidence. What a waste of my time! I finally decided to spend a few extra dollars and enroll in a proper ground school course online. A few weeks with that & I was ready to go. I passed the 1st time around...with plenty of room to spare LOL. I would highly recommend taking a course if you don't have a license yet. I think it's worth the money.
Initially, I'll be flying for the company I work for, getting pictures & video of solar photo-voltaic module installations, for use in our marketing materials. I'm also hoping to start a new side-business of my own, offering aerial photography & video services to real estate agents. I know a few personally already so I think I can get a decent foot in the door to some of the local agencies.
At work, I'll be flying a Mavic Pro. Sadly, my first interaction was sending it in for repairs. It would appear that a previous user crashed it because I was getting the dreaded Gimbal Motor Overload error message. After multiple hours of research & trying various work-arounds with no success, I concluded that the ribbon cable was most likely damaged. It's in the shop & I'm just waiting for the final verdict now.
I'm still researching models for my own company but I like the Phantom 4 because of the camera's larger image capture area. I'm also a professional photographer so I'm looking for the best quality images I can get. I also like the multitude of collision avoidance devices on the P4 since I don't have a ton of hours under my belt. I'd hate to wreck a $1500 drone the first or second time out! I'm planning to purchase the Litchi app for mission planning as it looks pretty easy to use and comes with a lot of positive recommendations. But I'd be open to suggestions of other software to look into as well if anyone cares to offer an opinion.
Anywho, I'm looking forward to putting up some samples soon for critique since I'm new to aerial photography.
Cheers & safe flying everybody!
Tom
Initially, I'll be flying for the company I work for, getting pictures & video of solar photo-voltaic module installations, for use in our marketing materials. I'm also hoping to start a new side-business of my own, offering aerial photography & video services to real estate agents. I know a few personally already so I think I can get a decent foot in the door to some of the local agencies.
At work, I'll be flying a Mavic Pro. Sadly, my first interaction was sending it in for repairs. It would appear that a previous user crashed it because I was getting the dreaded Gimbal Motor Overload error message. After multiple hours of research & trying various work-arounds with no success, I concluded that the ribbon cable was most likely damaged. It's in the shop & I'm just waiting for the final verdict now.
I'm still researching models for my own company but I like the Phantom 4 because of the camera's larger image capture area. I'm also a professional photographer so I'm looking for the best quality images I can get. I also like the multitude of collision avoidance devices on the P4 since I don't have a ton of hours under my belt. I'd hate to wreck a $1500 drone the first or second time out! I'm planning to purchase the Litchi app for mission planning as it looks pretty easy to use and comes with a lot of positive recommendations. But I'd be open to suggestions of other software to look into as well if anyone cares to offer an opinion.
Anywho, I'm looking forward to putting up some samples soon for critique since I'm new to aerial photography.
Cheers & safe flying everybody!
Tom
