Flying quadcopters ?

[flyinverted]

Who is flying a quad to capture video of their show this year?

I'm currently putting together 2 DIY quads. First one uses the Q680 frame and the other is the F450.

I'm considering strapping a Pi (Falconpi-slave-mode) to the larger quad and running lights to be part of the show.

[Greg.Ca]

This new hobby of quadcoptor, hexcoptor, and octocoptor has had my interest peaked over the past year. I love doing magic tricks and I could use one of these coptors to remotely turn on a set of lights in the sky or over the display or even spell out a phrase.  To bad these things make a lot of noise. It would be too cool if they were silent.

I always think of worse case scenario and would worry if the coptor would ever crash down and possibly injure someone watching the display. I do expect to have something in the air viewing my display by next Christmas. It's on the to-do list. --Greg--

[msiebri]

I got a DJI Phantom 2 with a GoPro4 for Christmas this year.  I only captured a little video of my display, and I had to get too far away because I had the GoPro on the narrow setting.  I'm also not a very good pilot yet, hopefully I will be better by next year.  The battery life on the Phantom isn't great, I can only get about 10 minutes of flight time out of a battery when it's cold out.  The cool thing about the Phantom is when the battery gets low, it will land itself, that has worked perfectly every time so far.

Martin

[Radiomarsh]

I've had the DJI for a couple of years and it can capture amazing shots. The key to  good video is smooth flight and limit vibrations.  I have replaced the original props with custom ones which are much better balanced.  This has dramatically improved the video, especially when hovering or fighting the wind.

[msiebri]

Here is the one video I managed to capture and get the music synced pretty well.  I'm just starting to learn PowerDirector too.  I had the GoPro set on the narrow camera angle, so I had to get the Phantom a long ways away to capture everything.  It's up so high you can't see the megatree or the arches very well, but the roofline and the snowflakes show up nicely...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZveWxUDh8v0

- Martin

[flyinverted]

Nice job Martin

Did you use a FPV system or get lucky on the framing?

-Steve

[msiebri]

Steve,

I installed an FPV system, I'm not that lucky.  Here are the parts I used:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BW7HS00/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KR69WHY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


There is a good Youtube video that walks you through how to install the transmitter.  It was easy, I just had to solder 4 wires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vba9GkSDaxc


The video feed starts to break up if it gets too far away.  I bought a different set of antennas to try to help with that.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KAOT4LM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I haven't had a chance to try them yet, I'll post back here once I do with the results.

- Martin

[bpducman]

Are you all thinking  about recording this year.
I need to start getting ready. Only had the P2 up a few times. I am more planes.
Never had a chance to try last year.

Just seeing.

Brad

[flyinverted]

I'm hoping I can find a quad pilot to record my show for me. I'm in So Cal.. anyone.... Bueller ?

[logandc99]

I have a Lily on order but sadly it's not shipping until Feb so will  use it for filming Xmas 2016.
At least with the Lily I won't have to worry about planes and privacy issues as it doesn't go high enough to bug aircraft and always points towards where the receiver is sitting.

http://www.lily.camera/?ct-referral-code=fFtDeFY9

[bpducman]

The Lily look so cool in the video.