Whats the point of buying a drone?

[pareshrr]

Hi,

I was recently thinking of purchasing the DJI Mavic Drone. By seeing all the laws and prohibitions, I am wondering if it's a good idea to get a drone. We are not allowed to fly them in any of the national parks in the US, we are not allowed to fly in any of the oceans, not inside the cities where there are good looking skyscrapers, we are not allowed to fly over a group of people. So where else can you fly a drone? I am very confused as to what the current drones owners are doing with their drones?

 

[Egika]

What's the point of buying a car? You need a license and cannot drive it through people's homes. You cannot drive through national parks and have to stay on the roads...

 

[pareshrr]

Hi Egika, I understand your point of view about cars but I feel the situation is different with drones. I am just a little disappointed about all the regulations. It's not about driving cars through people's homes. With a car, you are still allowed to drive them inside national parks. But with drones, you are not allowed to fly them anywhere inside the national parks. I am just trying to understand areas where I can shot some nice landscape videos. When I try to open the airmap, all I see is red color areas. 90% of the areas are drone prohibited. Being a person who is very passionate about drones and trying to think about buying one for my landscape photography, and I see all these regulations makes me wonder how other people in the community are using their drones. This will help me get a sense of how drones are being used by other hobbyists.

 

[ltena]

Hi, well it's like sugar... everything that has sugar will taste better but it will make you fat eating healthy it's hard.

It's the same with drones, it is always more attractive and fun flying above 400', or doing awesome shots of your city downtown, flying between buildings, filming buffalos natgeo style, drones can hurt people, are not toys and those rules are to keep drones from hurting other people and disturbing wild life, I suppose you don't have experience flying a drone, imagine you flying your drone trying to get a beautiful shot of a skyscraper and by error you crash the drone, drain the battery to mention a few things that can go wrong, that thing becomes a rock falling directly into someone's head and can cause serious injuries, rules seem ridiculous but they are there for a good reason, I live in Mexico, we don't have any rules about flying drones, but still, I take the FAA rules as a guideline for my hobby, and if you want to fly beyond those restrictions you can get a license to do professional flying and even earn some legal $$$ flying your drone

Still with all those restrictions I can tell you that it is a very fun and satisfying hobby that I think you would enjoy.

Cheers

 

[beanbubba]

The US has 3,800,000 square miles of surface area. There are approximately 150,000 square miles of national parks and other no fly zones.

That leaves you with a paltry 3,650,000 square miles (or 96% of the US lans mass) to fly your drone worry free. I agree with you, you should not become a drone owner with these awful restrictions.

 

[Lelantos]

...we are not allowed to fly in any of the oceans,

Who says you can't fly in (over) any of the oceans?

 

[Domagoj]

At least you in USA have logical laws. In my country if you want to shoot video you have to announce your flight with maps of your flight plan to state geodetic administration. After your flight you have to send video to them for review. Or you can end up with 700-3000 usd fine. That is beyond ridiculous.

 

[Bergumbira]

In Malaysia is two interesting rules for drones :

Below 20 kg of weight no need license or flight authorization ) ... But...
Any drone of any weight who can capture video/photo/data/sound need :

1) Registration
2) pilot License
3) Air administration Authorization for each single flight
4) hand written authorization from each owner or organization or business from lands that you will flyover

(

That means you can't fly a drone unless is just a flying device with not mounted with camera... But it can be up to 20 kg flying heavily dangerous toy... Lol

You can hurt ppl but not shoot video from them... Weird

 

[Egika]

My analogy to cars doesn't fully match, I know.
I just wanted to point out there there are rules that mostly make sense.
Anyway. There is still so much fun to be had with drones and if you leave the US and travel the world you will love it!!!

 

[Lino]

People buy hunting gear and they can't hunt everywhere, that does not stop them from enjoying what they like.

 

[SlackBladder]

wear Baggy pants with big pockets and be stealthy..
Get in, get your footage and get out before they know what happened..LOL

 

[SlackBladder]

The problem is, if I hover the drone at lets say 10 ft off the ground to take a photo in Tripod mode am i still Flying and breaking a whole host of rules because I am taking a photo with the motors running, if i stick a pole up its bottom i probably would have no issues.

 

[Johnmcl7]

I take my Mavic out to the countryside as the small size means it's easy to take out while dog walking or cycling.

John

 

[EasyV]

There is no point. Don't buy one. You will get sucked into a never ending upgrade cycle, and you will start lying to friends when asked if you have ever crashed. You will start peeping pixels and have nightmares about crooked horizons in your videos. Save yourself while you can,and never, ever buy a drone!

 

[bucefalo]

I'd not buy a dji drone.. that yes! I believe other companies will start to make great products.. beside that i'm considering to buy a fpv race drone for real fun

 

[pareshrr]

Hi, well it's like sugar... everything that has sugar will taste better but it will make you fat eating healthy it's hard.

It's the same with drones, it is always more attractive and fun flying above 400', or doing awesome shots of your city downtown, flying between buildings, filming buffalos natgeo style, drones can hurt people, are not toys and those rules are to keep drones from hurting other people and disturbing wild life, I suppose you don't have experience flying a drone, imagine you flying your drone trying to get a beautiful shot of a skyscraper and by error you crash the drone, drain the battery to mention a few things that can go wrong, that thing becomes a rock falling directly into someone's head and can cause serious injuries, rules seem ridiculous but they are there for a good reason, I live in Mexico, we don't have any rules about flying drones, but still, I take the FAA rules as a guideline for my hobby, and if you want to fly beyond those restrictions you can get a license to do professional flying and even earn some legal $$$ flying your drone

Still with all those restrictions I can tell you that it is a very fun and satisfying hobby that I think you would enjoy.

Cheers[/QUOTE

Hi, well it's like sugar... everything that has sugar will taste better but it will make you fat eating healthy it's hard.

It's the same with drones, it is always more attractive and fun flying above 400', or doing awesome shots of your city downtown, flying between buildings, filming buffalos natgeo style, drones can hurt people, are not toys and those rules are to keep drones from hurting other people and disturbing wild life, I suppose you don't have experience flying a drone, imagine you flying your drone trying to get a beautiful shot of a skyscraper and by error you crash the drone, drain the battery to mention a few things that can go wrong, that thing becomes a rock falling directly into someone's head and can cause serious injuries, rules seem ridiculous but they are there for a good reason, I live in Mexico, we don't have any rules about flying drones, but still, I take the FAA rules as a guideline for my hobby, and if you want to fly beyond those restrictions you can get a license to do professional flying and even earn some legal $$$ flying your drone

Still with all those restrictions I can tell you that it is a very fun and satisfying hobby that I think you would enjoy.

Cheers

Thanks for the reply bucefalo. I will 100% follow the FAA rules and be safe. I am also considering getting some legal license to fly the drone. Will surely try and play with the drone and shot footages like you mentioned. The whole point of my starting this thread is to understand how other people owning the drone are shoting.

Thanks

 

[pareshrr]

Who says you can't fly in (over) any of the oceans?

I recently had one my friends drone fly over ocean beach in San Francisco and we were approached by the security officials and were asked to not fly the drone, same thing happened on half moon bay, Santa cruz.

 

[pareshrr]

wear Baggy pants with big pockets and be stealthy..
Get in, get your footage and get out before they know what happened..LOL

hahah, like your style.

 

[pareshrr]

My analogy to cars doesn't fully match, I know.
I just wanted to point out there there are rules that mostly make sense.
Anyway. There is still so much fun to be had with drones and if you leave the US and travel the world you will love it!!!

Thanks Egika. I will try to make the most use of the drone by following all the restrictions from the FAA.

 

[pareshrr]

The US has 3,800,000 square miles of surface area. There are approximately 150,000 square miles of national parks and other no fly zones.

That leaves you with a paltry 3,650,000 square miles (or 96% of the US lans mass) to fly your drone worry free. I agree with you, you should not become a drone owner with these awful restrictions.

Great numbers. Totally agree that there is so much land where we can fly drones legally. But being a landscape photographer National parks are one of my favorites and not able to fly around them hurts me a little. Thanks for the reply, I will still find my way out to enjoy playing with the drone under all those restrictions.