Drone On!

Very cool! Great stock photo.

I like the safe feature around the propellers. I guess our skies just got a bit more crowded.

as long as it doesn't hover near my house or windows, or i will take a bat or a hose to it. they are getting rather invasive.
the blades are at least safer than other models i've seen.

---Mike Savad

I see it's been named "...Phantom". I wonder how quiet it actually is? If anything, it appears to be fairly decent-sized to be able to see it. Let us know how well your friend does on his adventure.

Looks very cool, and reasonably priced.
The Gimbal feature makes it very desirable.

-YoPedro

So, if one of these gadgets ends up in my yard, I will declare and encroachment in my airspace and take it out with my air rifle.

Greg,

Not that quiet! Cat ran around the house when he turned it on! You can hear it from 20 yards or so, maybe more.

They, DJI, makes a Vision model which comes with the new gimbal and their camera,don't know how the cameras compare, but you save $100-$200 or so with their version,

Rich

I just hope no one mistakes it for an ufo.. there, I had to say it.:)

Looks more like swamp gas to me, Jim. ;)

I've seen these drones at night and had to take a second look! thought I was going to have join the fringe until I saw kids holding a remote controller and it was about as big as a pizza box.

I was waiting for the UFO jokes to begin............LOL!

Looked inside and no "little green people"!!!

Rich

Our neighbour has one and was touring the neighbourhood every evening. It was getting very annoying with the high pitched whine and he was dropping down low enough so we could see the camera swivelling. I watched from the property line to see how far he was coming over our backyard and saw red as I watched as the camera took in everything in the yard... immediately got my husband and we hot-footed it over there to have a talk with him.. he said it was wide-angle and he couldn`t see anything and he was just having fun!!.. not fun for us, I informed him... since then he`s not been flying in the neighbourhood since.. I suspect other neighbours have complained as well... if we had something to shoot it down with, my husband would surely have knocked it out of our air space... I did take pictures, but haven`t really looked at them...

Seriously, I can see the day when everyone in the neighborhood has one and they will become a real nuisance. Privacy and noise issues. They are a cool toy and have their uses, but...

@ Rich, no joke. these things look very cool at night with the proper lighting.

Right....cuz everyone in the neighborhood will spend $1200 on a helicopter......

I am just waiting for the FAA to rule before i get one, but I am looking at ones that will fly my 5dIII....much more expensive. Currently its illegal to use them for commercial gain, only as a hobby, until the FAA rules by I think next year as they have been mandated how they are going to regulate them. There is a good chance you are going to have to have a license to use them, which I don't see as altogether bad.

There are alot of people flying them, and then charging alot for photo "editing" though, especially in real estate. I've flown the phantom......its a slick machine.

NBC had a story last night about the drones used by photographers to shoot weddings.

The bride's dad, who hired the photographer, works for the FAA!

I think there is a safety concern with them, especially the larger ones are large pieces of equipment that can and will harm people and property.

I don't understand why people get so uptight about privacy.....even if its your backyard. I've got nothing to hide, heck the neighbors are on higher ground then me, they can see right into my yard anyways. Now if they flew it into my home...id be upset...

i've been looking up these things, and it seems that people that own these, all have cameras and it's no big deal to them if they look into your yard, your window, etc. the angle the camera shouldn't make a difference. some are putting street photography rules into effect. and even though some are pointing them at windows their are feigning innocence. mostly these are noisy, kind of rude and dangerous. i wonder how many people call the cops because of the noise and the threat? it must waste a lot of their time. and as of late quite a few commercial airliners had to avoid these drones, i think a helicopter almost had an accident because of these things.

if i were to get one it would have to be small, cheap, and i would need to know the rules first, before finding out that i can't fly my machine i spent a bunch for.


---Mike Savad

Did somebody say UFO? Yikes.

...needs tinfoil...and he reaches in the kitchen cabinet for the Reynolds Wrap...begins making a hat...

~ Bill
~ USPictures.com

I think the story isn't over on these things, there will be a lot of legislation in the future. It's like when cars first appeared on the roads, people probably thought - someday these things will be all over the place, everyone will own one, they'll clog the streets, we will need a lot of legislation for them...

I declare open season on the things. they might be cheap but for a good .177 & .22 mm air guns are only $100 to $200 and they are silent and no license needed. we have the right to privacy and I will put that right to good use. surely we are not cattle who just excepts every thing technology throws at us.

Cars are much noisier, and more dangerous....just sayin.

And there is a difference to me of someone flying this 1/2 mile into the center of your property to spy on you (which nobody is doing) and having one up in a residential neighborhood to take real estate shots. If you are going to be that anal about privacy, better ban telephoto lenses too while you are at it.....

Mike please cite where any commercial airliners have been threatened by a drone? In all my research, I have heard zero stories, not saying it hasn't happened i've just never heard of it.

All that said, there NEEDS to be some basic regulation on their use, and the FAA has already been mandated to do that. Aka...keep them 400 feet or below, operating them over sports venues ETC, where if there was a mechanical problem it would fall on a person, should be illegal. There should be rules about privacy to keep people from using them to spy on people.

Most people are so up in arms in the stories about government drones being used to spy that they go all crazy whenever someone mentions the word "drone". There are HUGE benefits in the ag industry, the photography industries, potential in the art industries....drones are coming and there will be no stopping them.

Drew,

I've got a .22 pellet gun and they are not silent! Mine can go through almost anything a .22 bullet can do.

The invasion of privacy is a biggie. Ironically, my friend had issues with a buddy down the hill from him, in Colorado and was flying around the neighborhood and then stopped and began to take video of my friend's 4 year old daughter! He assumed nothing bad, but still went and had a conversation with him about doing that.

Thomas, I think and my friend just left, but I think the laws have been relaxed abit and people are using the drones for commercial purposes, you see them on all the HGTV shows now,where the new homeowners are looking at the 3 house choices and the "aerial" shot are all done by these drones. Look up "Drone dudes", they are leading the pack!

Drew, my friend still has an older "octocopter", with 8 blades that can carry his older 5D! Or the new "Red" cameras.............It has ALL the lights and at night, pretty weird looking,

Rich

@ Rich "I've got a .22 pellet gun and they are not silent! Mine can go through almost anything a .22 bullet can do."
Maybe I should say quiet compared to most guns. Mine is very quiet but it is a .177mm.
Great for picking the ratz out of our citrus trees.

"Mike please cite where any commercial airliners have been threatened by a drone? In all my research, I have heard zero stories, not saying it hasn't happened i've just never heard of it."

Thomas, I'm not Mike, but please check the link below -- last night's national news. They HAVE interfered with commercial aircraft. And ... some yahoo last week "dropped" one into Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone (where drones are banned, incidentally). It will get out of hand before it gets highly regulated, and I don't care if someone is "having fun" -- they fly it over my house and they've got a problem ...



http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/08/more-reports-of-drones-nearing-passenger-jets-in-ny-area/

Hi, awesome :)

Please continue this in the existing thread. Our crowded skies