DRONES

I just discovered that Insta 360 is apparently going to release two drones sometime this year! I've been ranting to anyone that will listen about how much potential there is for 360 video on a drone, and my surprise that it's not really an option, and apparently someone heard my rants :P

Anyway, I'm a bit excited and can't wait to get my hands on them!

17 stops of dynamic range! Apparently, D-Log.M surpasses the dynamic range of D-Log, and employs some sort of DJI secret sauce when you enable auto ISO mode rather than setting it manually!

If you use Darktable for your image editing, and you have tried using a recent DJI drone, you'll have found that Darktable can't open DNG files from these drones.

However, there is a way around it! You can use the Adobe DNG Converter (which runs fine in WINE), and re-save your DNG file to be compatible with Camera RAW 13.2. After this, it will work fine in Darktable.

The notable exception to this is the Mini 4 Pro, which isn't compatible for an entirely different reason that this approach doesn't fix

TLDR: I frequently need to look at stuff on rooftops at work and I'm looking for a fairly budget camera drone to let me do that more easily than I can with my extension ladder.

I'm a commercial refrigeration/HVAC tech which means I do a lot of rooftop work often on large commercial sites where sometimes the only roof access is the extension ladder on my van. The most anoying thing about that type of work is the constant trips up and down from the roof often just to check basic like like if flipping that breaker inside actually turned the rooftop unit off.

I've been considering getting a cheapish camera drone for a while just to do things like reading rooftop unit dataplates, checking the readings on my instruments connected to the rooftop equipment while I work on the indoor parts of said equipment, or checking the rough state of equipment before I climb up to the roof so I can have some idea of what tools to bring with me. I could also see a camera drone being very useful for taking aerial surveys of large industrial sites to map out all of the rooftop equipment.

So I'm looking for a camera drone which can withstand moderate wind fairly well and is fairly rugged. On the other hand, range is not really a concern for me because I'll usually be operating it from 100-200ft away at most. Having longer range would be nice but I can only think of two customer sites where that would be necissary so it definitely isn't a priority. For the same reason, battery life also isn't really a concern. Odds are this drone would only ever be doing short jogs up to a roof to check something and then coming right back down. My work van has an inverter which could run my house so charging between jobs would be trivial. I'm also not terribly concerned about picture quality. I need good enough camera quality and fine enough control to read equipment data plates but outside of that I'm not going to be doing professional photography with it or anything. So as long as the drone would be capable of flying up to and reading a newspaper then the camera is good enough.

Right now I'm just looking for the cheapest drone that fits my requirements. At the same time though, I have had to spend thousands of dollars on tools far less frequently useful than it seems like this drone would be so if I need to spend up to about $800 on it then I can do that. I am also aware that diy is an option and I would love to get into that at some point but I already know that that way lies maddness for me. Right now I just need a functional drone and not a hobby I will definitely wind up spending more money on than my vehicle.

So what do you all recommend for a budget no frills workhorse camera drone?

Well, DIY is still on the table, but in order to get a better view of the things I (don't) want I took the fathers day deal from potensic. It arrived yesterday and despite the wind being much stronger than advised I took it out on a test flight. I must say, I'm not disapointed at all! The one axis gimbal has the disadvantages they said, but I'm more into photo's than video, and in photo's it's easy to level the horizon. But even un-edited I got some decent picture out of it

So, years ago (2018 or 19 I guess) I bought a Symax X15W to try a drone. Funny thing, but not suitable outdoors. Even when it looks there is no wind, when you go up a bit .... away it goes on the wind. But okay, that was to be expected. So after a year I passed it on to a coworker for his kids to play.

Still it was real fun to take pictures above the tree tops, so buying another drone is still a thought that keeps lingering. My requirements aren't high, i want to be able to fly outdoors without having to worry (too much) about winds. I wanna take pictures/films and a range of 1 Km is surely enough. With that range you quickly think flight time like 30 min?

Is there anything you could recommend without braking the bank? Given the amount I expect to use it I'm thinking of spending up to 200 ( maybe 300 if it's seems worth it to me) Euro.

Took this video during a field demo. We don't sell drones. In Canada, we provide this payload, a sensitive magnetometer made by Geodevice. I visited an archeological field site to teach them how to use it. 6m long tether -- reminds me of accepting slung loads from a helicopter :D

I have to admit, I'm pretty excited. The 100MP main camera is nice and all, but that 50MP telephoto lens is what I'm really excited about!

My elementary-school-aged daughter keeps asking for a drone, and although I'm dubious about whether she's old enough I'm thinking of giving her one for her birthday. Neither she nor I have ever flown one before, so one of those cheap (~$50?) mostly-indoor slow ones with a prop guard would be appropriate.

However, there is one thing I'm picky about that makes it hard to just look at some reviews or pick one randomly from Amazon: I have a pretty strict policy of avoiding proprietary software, so having it use some sketchy smartphone app for the video feed (or anything else) is a deal-breaker. Having the firmware on the drone itself be open source is almost as important. (I'm not sure, but I get the impression that most of the non-DJI no-name and FPV racing type ones are? The drone youtube videos I've been watching mention Betaflight a lot, and seem to assume that pretty much any drone supports it.)

I would also very much prefer it to use "standard"/popular communications protocols (ELRS and analog video if I get something with an FPV camera...?).

Finally, I'm not afraid of 3D-printing the frame and soldering together the components myself, especially if it could result in a significantly better drone for the money. However, I am intimidated by the notion of sourcing components that work together properly, so if somebody could just spoon-feed me a BOM that'd be great.

Suggestions?

Hi there, I want a digital video system with a range of about 2 miles, that is also foss friendly. I notice many common systems are proprietary(ex. dji, walksnail, hd0), and would like a free one. Ideally it should integrate with QGC or MP and work on low power.

Thanks for any suggestions!

I'm looking for a well documented 3D printed drone build for beginners to drone flying.

I'm not new to 3D printing and have a degree in electronics so I have quite a bit of experience soldering and working with electronics. I even used to work for a drone company and even contributed to Ardupilot development, but I've literally never flown a drone (successfully) before.

My main interest is just getting into the hobby a bit, learning how to fly it, and getting some cool drone footage. Eventually I may want to get into FPV.

I want to start with a 3D printed design because it is likely I will break this drone quite a bit while I am learning to fly and I figure it will be cheaper and faster to be able to print a new body when I need it.

Does anyone have a design they can recommend? I'd like one that can at least support a GoPro on it.

I'm currently working on a DIY Laptop, that can also controll a drone. I found recievers for the video signal, but i have no idea how to controll the drone from my PC, like in a Video Game. Does anyone know what i would need for that? Software and Hardware wise.

Greetings! I am going to build my first drone with custom-selected parts. I have a good bit of experience with building drones but have mainly built RTF kits instead of selecting all my parts. I plan on this being an Ardupilot build. I hoping to get other's opinions on any parts I should upgrade to a higher quality, parts I should keep the same, or any incompatibilities that I missed. I'd also like to note that I went for the cheaper end of products with the intention of upgrading later, but I don't have a set budget.

• Frame: DJI F450(nylon, built in pdb, 280g)
• Motors: Racerstar BR2212(1000kv, 208g)
• Props: 1045(plastic, 20g)
• ESCs: Hobbywing Skywalker(30a, proprietary programming tool, 132g)
• Autopilot: Matek H743 Slim(7g)
• PDB: Matek PDB-XPW(BEC, might not be needed, 7g)
• Receiver: RadioMaster RP1 ELRS(2.2g)
• Battery: Pre-owned LiPo(11.1v, 3s, ~300g)

Does anyone know where to start when trying to add GIS data to an oblique drone photo? I'd love to automate it, but I'm also willing to just photoshop it in if no other option.

I've recently purchased a DJI Avata, and I've been reading about the different "hacks" to enable higher power modes and additional channels for the O3 system.

I understand that CE mode is specifically for European countries with more restrictive power limitations. I'm in the USA, so I apparently my drone is in "FCC mode" by default. I'm specifically curious about "Ham mode," though. I am a licensed ham radio operator, which means that legally, I can use frequencies and power levels that are outside the range of normal Part 15 devices. In general, the regulations state that my transmissions must be unencrypted, I must transmit my callsign every 10 minutes, and I'm limited to 1.5kW (which is obviously far less than any drone would use). Is there a firmware hack that allows this?

I'm not trying to break the line-of-sight rules, but if I can enable a mode that would allow me to get better signal fidelity within the FCC and FAA regulations, I'd like to try it. Even a little bit of extra power can make a significant difference in certain cases.

I got a Tello Drone and live in Switzerland. Here, almost the same drone rules apply as in the EU, including the CE Number Rule. I want to fly it legally, mainly so my insurance will cover any damages in the (unlikely) case of an accident.

The problem is, I can't seem to find the CE Number on any part of the drone or packaging. I even pried off the white top cover, underneath which all the regulatory info is written, but I can't seem to find the logo anywhere.

Can anybody give me a hint where to find it? I am worried, I got a drone without the number, in which case I can't fly it. (Purchased on Amazon DE, in case it helps)

Cross post from https://sopuli.xyz/post/4910207

One types of content I'd really like to see here is guidance from experienced pilots on how to get started. There is a lot of conflicting information and deferral to non-cited authorities online, and even those authorities sometimes have ambiguous and conflicting information. I'd love to see posts like "I am a part 107 certified pilot in X jurisdiction and here are my top 10 do's and don'ts, and my preflight checklist."

One particularly confusing aspect I've encountered is all the differences on drones 250g and above. It seems to me like so much FAA guidance is written with complete disregard for drones below 250g, so much so that I'm not sure if I have to be licensed, if I have to register my drone, if I need to label it, if I'm allowed to fly in various circumstance and times, all because they appear to write a lot of their documentation as if all drones weigh more than 250g. As a result of this ambiguity and confusion I'm considering getting part 107 certified just to cover my bases, but even then, I wouldn't feel confident that I understood the laws and regulations.

I've been trying to get better at editing and making videos, this is my latest attempt

I'm getting ready to start using my drones commercially- I'd like to get into roof inspections, mapping and 3dmodeling. Anyone have advice on things I need to do? Sites to join? Etc...

I have my 107. I have decades of flight experience with drones I'm considering making an llc. I have capital to buy multiple additional drones and sensors just need customers to justify it.

Any thoughts/advice is appreciated

Zoom in to see the birds having a chat on top of the bale.