I got into flying Drones many years ago and love it! It’s much more difficult and a lot more complicated than the marketing will have you believe. And recently a lot more legal issues. But what great footage!
GEAR:
4K DRONE – Typhoon Hexacopter
Beyond the Steadicam/Ronin, I can do follow and tracking shots with a drone. It’s an exciting leap forward and opens up incredible possibilities of shots – from near-field to wide vistas. Below you’ll see a little looping video of the Typhoon Hexacoptor (yes, it has 6 blades rather than just 4, giving it a lot more stability):
4k DRONE – the DJI Mavick 2 Pro Zoom!
More recently I added the Mavick Pro Zoom to my fleet. The advantages are many, but the biggest being the ability to zoom in on shots! This has now become my ‘go to’ drone. Additionally I have the more expensive ‘smart’ controller. One part I love about this is the really fast startup time. I can basically flip this on and go, often within 1 minute!
4K DRONE – the DJI Mini 4 Pro
Don’t let the name fool you. This powerhouse drone has some functions that rival my bigger drones. Especially when it comes to stealth and low-light/night shooting. The others above are more stable in winds and fly faster. In general, the reason I have many drones is I’m able to pull out the one that’s most appropriate for the job!
2K DRONE
I also maintain a smaller, low profile DJI 2k drone. Why? Well, there are times when you need something more discrete. Maybe it’s in a location where it’s more of a grey area as to if we are allowed to shoot, and don’t want to call undo attention to the drone (unfortunately, drone laws are often hard to parse, and even in legal places you get stopped from shooting by a local officer who doesn’t understand the rules). It can also go into locations that the larger one might be too unwieldy, for example, interior shots. It still takes amazingly beautiful shots, just at HD resolution instead of UHD.
More about my gear on the equipment page.