Hey doods!
Like most of you, when I first decided that I wanted to try to make a business out of my UAV, "real estate" was one of the first markets I explored. I started with the Phantom 1, which netted no telemetry data (this was at the forefront of telemetry technology), and FPV was only available through aftermarket hardware (goggles). Needless to say, flying was dicey business. With no battery or telemetry data, one had to know where one was in space. One had to keep track of one's flight time so you wouldn't run out of battery up there. The only way to know how much battery one had used during a given flight was to keep records of how many milliamps the battery took during the charging process, and compare that to how many minutes one had flown on that battery. It was a PITA, but out of hundreds of flights, I managed to run out of battery only twice.
For those of us coming out of 80's RC technology, "FPV" was a godsend. Despite the "archaic" flight characteristics of the P1 (relative to today's modern marvels), mine flew well and were rock-solid platforms. With a Hero 2 strapped to a pain-in-the-arse 2-axis gimbal, I sought out my fortune.
Like most of you, I quickly learned that the real estate market - specifically residential - was a bust. Potential clients were super interested until I told them it would cost them $50. FIFTY DOLLARS?!?!?
I quickly decided I wasn't going to work for < $100, so that blew the real estate market out of the water. Of the dozens of real estate agents who called, only THREE were willing to pay $100 for aerial photos.
The good news is that I quickly found the television commercial market (mostly car dealerships), web video market and commercial real estate markets. THOSE markets weren't exactly "lucrative," but the pay was good. I was able to ROI all my gear very quickly - about 2 months.
Fast Forward to July of last year. I re-invested my UAV profits into an Inspire 1, Gen 2. They went on sale for 33% off (marked down to $2K), so I decided to pull the trigger on one. I went from a Phantom 1/GoPro set up to arguably the most sophisticated drone of the day. The Inspire now allowed me pitch - and eventually work in - the film industry. This market always nets really nice invoices. I was able to ROI the Inspire in just 2 jobs. Needless to say, the residential real estate market was long gone. I still get those calls, but I just politely decline.
Next big jump for me was automated flight. This opened up the mapping market. This wasn't quite as lucrative as the film industry, but it was a good market. Imagine programming missions at home, and hitting a button on site to fly said mission?? It's a miracle!! It's easy and phun.
Fast Forward to earlier this month. After doing a ton of research (thanks largely to this forum), I finally decided that the Mavic Pro MIGHT make a good addition to my UAV arsennal. As much as I love the Inspire 1, and as uber reliable as she's been (literally zero issues in over 70 hours of flight), she's a bit much for mapping gigs. The relatively short flight times (13 min @ my elevation of 5500' via TB48), meant that I would have to change batteries in the middle of the mission - sometimes several times. And the relatively wide FOV of the X3 camera (94° I believe), meant that in order to achieve the coveted 1"/pixel resolution, I would have to fly relatively low @ 165' AGL. This meant the bird was clearly seen and heard by anyone within 1500' of the beast. Read: Obnoxious to those already caught up in all the drone propaganda that all we want to do is spy on sun bathers. But I digress.
So...in a stroke of genius, I thought I would run a few mapping tests using the Mavic. I mapped a field near my house and handed off the photos to my business partner who does all the Pix4D stuff. He got back to me, "These look good. But until I can actually process the photos against GCP's (Ground Control Points - usually set by a survey team), I can't really say for sure if these photos will work."
So I found an apartment complex that we had recently mapped, and remapped it with the Mavic. I was almost able to do the whole job on one battery. This, compared to the THREE batteries I used with my Inspire 1. I'm still waiting on the results, but my partner says that the tolerances look good. So I'm hopeful.
4 things I really like about the Mavic for mapping:
1) Longer flight times means we can take on larger areas.
2) Because of the narrower FOV (72° I believe), she flies @ 240 AGL (instead of 165 AGL). This naturally makes the drone harder to see and hear.
3) Because the thing is so small (and higher altitude), nobody is bothered or even notice the Mavic
4) MUCH easier to deploy.
The thing I really hate about the Mavic for mapping...
The caveat is the focusable lens. I've already been bitten TWICE by out-of-focus photos. I can't just "launch and go." Because you can't access "focus buttons" from the GS Pro app, I have to launch with Go4 app, FOCUS, then switch to the GS Pro app and fly the mission. The C1 button I programmed for focus doesn't work in the GS Pro app. Even worse, you can't have both apps open at the same time, as they seem to "fight for attention." The result is a VERY buggy experience. Focus-wise, if you just launch and go, the lens seems to be focused on objects 2 meters away. So, unless one is diligent, photos are as blurry as they could possibly be. Hopefully, DJI will address this shortcoming and create a work-around or a fix of some sort.
"Hey Donnie...I thought this thread was about residential real estate???" I know...sorry...
So a couple weeks ago I get a call from one of my first customers ever...I think he was actually my second customer. He was one of the only real estate customers that wanted video instead of photos. He asks, "Donnie...are you still doing real-estate???" My knee-jerk reaction was to say, "No," and just leave it at that. But Joe was one of my first customers, and was always loyal to High Flight Media (my company). What I liked about Joe was he always paid in cash, and never tried to talk me down from my original $100 fee. Before answering, I looked at my calendar, and it was wide open that week. So instead of rejecting Joe, I said, "I don't really do residential any more, but for you, Joe, I'll do it. Whataya got?" Joe replied, "Is your price still $100??" Again, for Joe, I said, "Sure....but just for you, Joe. Don't go telling your friends."
Joe had SIX houses he wanted shot @ $100/each. Okay....$600 is a good day. I can do that. I grabbed my drones and met Joe @ property #1. When finished, I moved the video to his thumb drive and he handed me $100. He says, "I have to apologize. The other properties aren't ready yet. They should be ready tomorrow."
Long story short, a week goes by and Joe calls, "Can you shoot 2 properties tomorrow??", which was yesterday. Joe couldn't be there. As I already purported, I usually shoot these things with my Inspire 1. But for grins, I decided to bring along the Mavic to see if it would be "cinematic" enough for my taste. I turned off all the Obstacle Avoidance stuff, and here's what I noticed:
1) The thing took off and landed much more predictably. Instead of doing that weird stop to "examine the landing area" thing, she just plopped down. Much better, IMHO.
2) I could now hand catch and hand launch, which is very useful if there's nothing but dirt around.
3) I was able to just barely miss trees and bushes for some nice depth-of-field and forced perspective effects.
4) I loved how quickly the thing set up (compared to the Inspire).
5) I loved how quiet the Mavic is (compared to the Inspire).
6) I love how diminutive it is (nobody notices, nobody's bothered).
Needless to say, the footage looks pretty good. I wouldn't use it for feature films, but it looks "good enough" for real estate.
As I stated earlier, I purposely got out of the residential real estate market because I thought it was too much work for $100 and pain in the *** dealing with people. The Mavic may have changed all that. I can be in and out of there and get all my shots on 1 battery. Deployment is super easy (compared to the Inspire). And if I'm in a remote location, I can hand launch and catch.
In a nutshell, because of the Mavic, I may get back into residential real estate. I was really impressed how easy it was to get the shots I needed.
During the last shoot, I reminisced with my GF (who is also my spotter) about the huge contrast between the Phantom 1 days vs. this Mavic. She agreed that it was a night and day experience.
I honestly purchased the Mavic for indoor shooting, but it looks like this little bugger may not only make my mapping gigs easier (especially if DJI can work past this focus issue), but it may re-open a market I had abandoned years ago.
D
Like most of you, when I first decided that I wanted to try to make a business out of my UAV, "real estate" was one of the first markets I explored. I started with the Phantom 1, which netted no telemetry data (this was at the forefront of telemetry technology), and FPV was only available through aftermarket hardware (goggles). Needless to say, flying was dicey business. With no battery or telemetry data, one had to know where one was in space. One had to keep track of one's flight time so you wouldn't run out of battery up there. The only way to know how much battery one had used during a given flight was to keep records of how many milliamps the battery took during the charging process, and compare that to how many minutes one had flown on that battery. It was a PITA, but out of hundreds of flights, I managed to run out of battery only twice.
For those of us coming out of 80's RC technology, "FPV" was a godsend. Despite the "archaic" flight characteristics of the P1 (relative to today's modern marvels), mine flew well and were rock-solid platforms. With a Hero 2 strapped to a pain-in-the-arse 2-axis gimbal, I sought out my fortune.
Like most of you, I quickly learned that the real estate market - specifically residential - was a bust. Potential clients were super interested until I told them it would cost them $50. FIFTY DOLLARS?!?!?
I quickly decided I wasn't going to work for < $100, so that blew the real estate market out of the water. Of the dozens of real estate agents who called, only THREE were willing to pay $100 for aerial photos.
The good news is that I quickly found the television commercial market (mostly car dealerships), web video market and commercial real estate markets. THOSE markets weren't exactly "lucrative," but the pay was good. I was able to ROI all my gear very quickly - about 2 months.
Fast Forward to July of last year. I re-invested my UAV profits into an Inspire 1, Gen 2. They went on sale for 33% off (marked down to $2K), so I decided to pull the trigger on one. I went from a Phantom 1/GoPro set up to arguably the most sophisticated drone of the day. The Inspire now allowed me pitch - and eventually work in - the film industry. This market always nets really nice invoices. I was able to ROI the Inspire in just 2 jobs. Needless to say, the residential real estate market was long gone. I still get those calls, but I just politely decline.
Next big jump for me was automated flight. This opened up the mapping market. This wasn't quite as lucrative as the film industry, but it was a good market. Imagine programming missions at home, and hitting a button on site to fly said mission?? It's a miracle!! It's easy and phun.
Fast Forward to earlier this month. After doing a ton of research (thanks largely to this forum), I finally decided that the Mavic Pro MIGHT make a good addition to my UAV arsennal. As much as I love the Inspire 1, and as uber reliable as she's been (literally zero issues in over 70 hours of flight), she's a bit much for mapping gigs. The relatively short flight times (13 min @ my elevation of 5500' via TB48), meant that I would have to change batteries in the middle of the mission - sometimes several times. And the relatively wide FOV of the X3 camera (94° I believe), meant that in order to achieve the coveted 1"/pixel resolution, I would have to fly relatively low @ 165' AGL. This meant the bird was clearly seen and heard by anyone within 1500' of the beast. Read: Obnoxious to those already caught up in all the drone propaganda that all we want to do is spy on sun bathers. But I digress.
So...in a stroke of genius, I thought I would run a few mapping tests using the Mavic. I mapped a field near my house and handed off the photos to my business partner who does all the Pix4D stuff. He got back to me, "These look good. But until I can actually process the photos against GCP's (Ground Control Points - usually set by a survey team), I can't really say for sure if these photos will work."
So I found an apartment complex that we had recently mapped, and remapped it with the Mavic. I was almost able to do the whole job on one battery. This, compared to the THREE batteries I used with my Inspire 1. I'm still waiting on the results, but my partner says that the tolerances look good. So I'm hopeful.
4 things I really like about the Mavic for mapping:
1) Longer flight times means we can take on larger areas.
2) Because of the narrower FOV (72° I believe), she flies @ 240 AGL (instead of 165 AGL). This naturally makes the drone harder to see and hear.
3) Because the thing is so small (and higher altitude), nobody is bothered or even notice the Mavic
4) MUCH easier to deploy.
The thing I really hate about the Mavic for mapping...
The caveat is the focusable lens. I've already been bitten TWICE by out-of-focus photos. I can't just "launch and go." Because you can't access "focus buttons" from the GS Pro app, I have to launch with Go4 app, FOCUS, then switch to the GS Pro app and fly the mission. The C1 button I programmed for focus doesn't work in the GS Pro app. Even worse, you can't have both apps open at the same time, as they seem to "fight for attention." The result is a VERY buggy experience. Focus-wise, if you just launch and go, the lens seems to be focused on objects 2 meters away. So, unless one is diligent, photos are as blurry as they could possibly be. Hopefully, DJI will address this shortcoming and create a work-around or a fix of some sort.
"Hey Donnie...I thought this thread was about residential real estate???" I know...sorry...
So a couple weeks ago I get a call from one of my first customers ever...I think he was actually my second customer. He was one of the only real estate customers that wanted video instead of photos. He asks, "Donnie...are you still doing real-estate???" My knee-jerk reaction was to say, "No," and just leave it at that. But Joe was one of my first customers, and was always loyal to High Flight Media (my company). What I liked about Joe was he always paid in cash, and never tried to talk me down from my original $100 fee. Before answering, I looked at my calendar, and it was wide open that week. So instead of rejecting Joe, I said, "I don't really do residential any more, but for you, Joe, I'll do it. Whataya got?" Joe replied, "Is your price still $100??" Again, for Joe, I said, "Sure....but just for you, Joe. Don't go telling your friends."
Joe had SIX houses he wanted shot @ $100/each. Okay....$600 is a good day. I can do that. I grabbed my drones and met Joe @ property #1. When finished, I moved the video to his thumb drive and he handed me $100. He says, "I have to apologize. The other properties aren't ready yet. They should be ready tomorrow."
Long story short, a week goes by and Joe calls, "Can you shoot 2 properties tomorrow??", which was yesterday. Joe couldn't be there. As I already purported, I usually shoot these things with my Inspire 1. But for grins, I decided to bring along the Mavic to see if it would be "cinematic" enough for my taste. I turned off all the Obstacle Avoidance stuff, and here's what I noticed:
1) The thing took off and landed much more predictably. Instead of doing that weird stop to "examine the landing area" thing, she just plopped down. Much better, IMHO.
2) I could now hand catch and hand launch, which is very useful if there's nothing but dirt around.
3) I was able to just barely miss trees and bushes for some nice depth-of-field and forced perspective effects.
4) I loved how quickly the thing set up (compared to the Inspire).
5) I loved how quiet the Mavic is (compared to the Inspire).
6) I love how diminutive it is (nobody notices, nobody's bothered).
Needless to say, the footage looks pretty good. I wouldn't use it for feature films, but it looks "good enough" for real estate.
As I stated earlier, I purposely got out of the residential real estate market because I thought it was too much work for $100 and pain in the *** dealing with people. The Mavic may have changed all that. I can be in and out of there and get all my shots on 1 battery. Deployment is super easy (compared to the Inspire). And if I'm in a remote location, I can hand launch and catch.
In a nutshell, because of the Mavic, I may get back into residential real estate. I was really impressed how easy it was to get the shots I needed.
During the last shoot, I reminisced with my GF (who is also my spotter) about the huge contrast between the Phantom 1 days vs. this Mavic. She agreed that it was a night and day experience.
I honestly purchased the Mavic for indoor shooting, but it looks like this little bugger may not only make my mapping gigs easier (especially if DJI can work past this focus issue), but it may re-open a market I had abandoned years ago.
D
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