Does anyone have a GPS Drone with Gimbal that they can recommend, either from an experience point of view, or perhaps for hire. I need to shoot some footage in Mid Feb in Austria and could do with some high and following shots. I would have to be able to operate it myself with no RC training!

I would love to hear about what is out there that works well or maybe someone has one they would like to make a bit of cash from?

Get in touch, or post here, email in profile,

Cheers,

Mike

I’ll get sparkyspice to contact you, he uses one.

I’ve got one as well, £450 plus the camera to buy – I don’t know of anyone who hires them though I’m afraid (I certainly wouldn’t hire mine out).

Thanks Bear sure do appreciate that, Rockhopper what type have you got and how easy to control are they?

MC

There was one in the air at the Strathpuffer last weekend filming

Its a DJI Phantom 1 – piece of cake to control but it’d take some practice to do what you want. Plus you only get about eight minutes from a battery so you’d need several or somewhere you can charge then up.

I’ve got a Phantom and funnily enough, today I’ve done the written part of my test to fly it commercially. I’ve got a Phantom V1 with a ZenMuse H3-2D gimbal and a GoPro Hero3 Black – this is fairly basic but you can still get awesome shots that are easily good enough for internet purposes. For full broadcast you’ll be looking at £6k for the ‘copter and another £8k – 15k for a camera, but I don’t think this is your plan!

You’re chances of renting one with your lack of experience is slim to none.

You don’t need training to film for private use, but if you are receiving any form of valuable renumeration then you will need a licence or “Permission for Aerial Work” from the CAA.

I’d recommend some practice before rocking up on holiday with it, only to find that you have a fly-away (where your ‘copter does exactly that and doesn’t return), or you bury it in the face of the person you’re filming…

The laws in Austria are a bit tight too – see below. You could ‘wing it’ but might end up in a cell.

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions!

Austria
(last edit Jan 9, 2014)

Since 1.1.2014 the Austrians got strict laws about flying multicopters. The law distinguishes areas in 4 different zones. Open nature space, Space with few buildings like farm buildings, areas with a few buildings like houses and last but not least areas with a lot of buildings like cities.
Each area has different legal requirements. This includes takeoff weight, legal aproval and for the last two zones a license to fly plus a official license for the multicopter by it self. To get this license you will need some Austrian flight law training plus a certification of your model and every part that is being used.
Writting all facts down would be to much. Cost to get certified (including legal training) is about €1000. There is a official website containing all the needed information for the whole legalization process. The content is only available in German language. http://www.austrocontrol.at/luftfahrtbehoerde/lizenzen__bewilligungen/flugbewilligungen/unbemannte_lfz

Oh, and I’m not sure about the customs situation in Austrian airports concerning importing lipo batteries… I’d look into that if I were you before they confiscate all your kit upon arrival!

Sparkyspice, top man and great info! That pretty much decides it then. Local hire inc operator. Do you have any contacts there?

I would also like to know what you would recommend for a slimmed down Epic? Body, Canon lens and Battery in side handle is about 8-12 lbs I think.

And BTW where are you based?

I would have to be able to operate it myself with no RC training!

😯

Buy one of the small quads – Hubsan or similar – from Amazon and practice with that. Once you get the hang of them they’re fine but there’s no way I’d let a complete novice loose with anything more expensive than that, especially if it had a £300 Go-Pro attached to it as well!

I’ve got 3 quads, still looking into the DJI Phantom but the market is moving so quickly with the technology available that I can’t decide what to get!

Thanks Crazy-Legs,

All a matter of perspective £300 camera is a crash camera to me but good advice to practice on a smaller cheaper model.

I’m going to hire someone local but will try the Hubsan you recommend

I’m still looking for anyone in the NW looking to team up for shoots, we have two Epics and a handful of Go Pro’s.

Want.

First flight hints and tips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxtOMsIsezo

Phantom Quadcoper set up and review

Thanks Midnighthour,

Much appreciated.

Hey Sparkyspice,

Is the quali you are sitting this one Basic National UAS Certificate (Small Unmanned Aircraft)?

For the cost it looks worth getting trained up. If it is how hard is it?

Mike

[All a matter of perspective £300 camera is a crash camera to me but good advice to practice on a smaller cheaper model.]

Ha Ha!!! It’s surprising how many people who think that!!! GH3’s, 1D – 5D’s are great, but if you’ve got Epics then you’re obviously serious.
You can hire companies, pilot+observer, Octocopter/Hexacopter with gimbal to carry your camera and do the shoot for you or you can go down the training route. With Cameras such as yours you normally have a pilot and camera operator AND an observer. If you’re wanting to carry out a shoot (presumably for skiing) in February then you’ll be wanting to hire a company as the “Permission for Aerial Work” takes about three months to complete. I come from an aviation background I’m a commercial balloon pilot and instructor, so a lot of the air law/Met/Ops Manual etc was second nature to me – I find out on Tuesday if I’ve passed, so fingers crossed. If you go through the process that EuroUAS lay out, you shouldn’t have a problem.

If you’re going to be needing these sorts of angles on a permanent basis, then I’d do the BNUC-S, it recognised in parts of Europe and the CAA seem to listen to EuroUAS as the market leaders and they have more experience in this field than the powers that be in the CAA. The industry is changing fast and the Governments around the world aren’t sure of how to set out procedures and law at the moment. They are permanently catching up with the new tech and the applications/places it’s being used. The Dutch and UK seems to be the ones to listen to. The US haven’t got a clue and have banned UAV’s for commercial gain.

There are only around 200 operators in the country at the moment, but that’s going to increase lots this year. Whoever you choose do your research, because even if they spout and client list on their website as BBC, Channel 4 etc etc take a look at their showreels and ask to see work they’ve done. HexCam are the only ones I could recommend and that’s not because I’ve ever worked with them but the course instructor mentioned that HexCam is the sort of company to aspire to… The CAA are paranoid about safety – the company you choose should reflect this.

I am going to try to get some skiing shots this season for my showreel. Our company is called Aspect Aerial Filming and we are aiming to launch on March 1st. My brother-in-law is the FD for FACTION SKIS so I’m trying to wangle trips to Verbier next year to get some footage for them!

TBS Discovery with the gimbal mount should do you. It is pricey if you want the ready to fly FPV kit, but it’s bloody good.

http://www.freeflysystems.com/products/cinestar-8.php
http://quadcopters.co.uk/droidworx-skyjib-x4-heavy-598-p.asp

Might be more suitable if you’re looking to get broadcast quality footage with an Epic camera…

I got 100%!!!!! Operations Manual and Flight test next – hopefully followed quickly by CAA approval…
Aspect Aerial Filming is on the way!

Nice one feller!