UKC

Considering purchasing something like the dji phantom, or similar for filming purposes (within line of sight) with a Gopro.

A basic set up with the gopro looks circa £700-800, but was wondering if anyone had any experience of this kind of set up, or similar, for more like £500. I'm also keen to understand the pro's and con's of controlling via iphone / ipad.

Also, reviews seem to suggest copters like the dji phantom have a battery life of about 10-15 minutes, which doesn't seem long.

I have to confess I know nothing about these things, but am keen to get a set up for my work purposes. As such, thoughts and suggestions welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

In reply to plyometrics:

my first suggestion would be
http://goprouser.freeforums.org/gopro-in-motion-f57.html

there's also loads fo tips and tricks on youtube

regarding battery life

with all these multirotor fliers, you have to remember all the weight is carried by the rotors, the longer the battery life the more power you need to lift the extra weight. it seems most people who run these cheaper (and yes, the phantom is a "cheaper" one lol) tend to have multiple batteries

you could buy an enormous 8 rotor machine that'll carry a gimble mounted DSLR with goggles that allow you to see the output of the camera "live" but they are several grand.

a quick scan of the advice on the above forum seems to suggests you'll need
a phantom
a few spare batteries
a lot of patience to learn to fly it well
some ND filters, a vibration isolating gopro mount, an aftermarket prop set and a balancer to make the footage as stable and jello free as possible

so including the cost of a gopro black edition you're probably looking at nearer a grand

i'd love to get one but can't justify it at the moment

In reply to rallymania:

Thanks for your advice and link, that's really helpful. Although the bit about it costing nearly a grand wasn't welcomed

Appreciate your views though, it's good to hear it from someone who clearly knows more about this than a numpty like me.

Much appreciated.

In reply to plyometrics:

A friend is about to use one in the Arctic, off a yacht. He's just posted on FB:

"A GoPro equipped drone (a DJI Phantom) with GPS control (so it can hold poz & height in wind etc) and 300m range, which i'll link up to a live wireless video feed (FatShark Predator V2) back to virtual-reality goggles to fly real-time and judge how close I am to the subject etc."

http://www.yachtteleport.com

In reply to Damo:

Cool sounding trip. How do folk afford these kinda missions !

In reply to plyometrics:

another link for you

http://jarviestudios.com/blog/2013/03/200-beginner-tips-for-quadcopters-and...

have a look at the starter drone he recommends (mqx quadcopter)

using that (and selling it on later) might help you decide if the phantom is worth buying

and remember the £1k i estimated included the gopro... but the point is you need more than just the headline items to get the best footage.
(another example... people shooting video on DSLR's unless you are very talented, you probably also need to buy a tripod for stationary shots and a steadicam / glidecam for moving shots...)

i read the other day about wooden props for the phantom which, because the don't flex, create less vibration... and better footage. anyway would love to hear how you get on which ever route you decide to go down

In reply to plyometrics:

I write a little blog about these sort of things, although I haven't updated it in a while. http://drone-pilot.blogspot.fr/

At the moment, I don't think that you can legally use these for commercial use in the UK unless you have BNUC-S certification. Getting certification to use a multicopter for commercial gain is very likely to cost in excess of £1000 and you will be very limited as to where you can use it. Definitely worth having a look at the regulations before you get in trouble with the CAA.

Have a read of CAA CAP 722 for information about doing this in the UK.

Also see here: http://www.unmannedtech.co.uk/regulations.html

In reply to Phil Payne:

thanks phil, have just bookmarked your site