Quad Thinking about Aerial Photography

callsign4223

callsign4223

Staff member
Hey guys, I have been seriously considering self funding the r/c hobby through aerial photography. I am just wondering how to start going about doing this. I figured that the best platform to do it from would be a quad(and then I can tell my wife I am getting a quad to make money hehehe). My next thought was on the camera. I don't know if it would be best to try to run an FPV setup so I can actually see what I am videoing or if I should just run a camera and see what I have when I land. My first thought was to just run a gopro on the airframe and take still shots from the video. Would that give me sufficient quality or would I actually need a dedicated still camera? My ideas for subject matter were mostly real estate and maybe some interesting angles of local businesses for use in their advertising.


Anyway, all of this is in the very early planning stages, and it may turn out to be too expensive to actually do. I would love ideas on the best way to go about it, best airframe, best camera equipment. Also ideas on good enough airframe and good enough camera equipment in case best is out of budget.
 
Lee

Lee

Well-Known Member
I had the same idea Matt. But unless you spend a lot of money, it's going to be hard to make it a business. I told my wife the same thing, and i have made enough to pay for a dinner so far LOL :D
Plus in the states i know they are clamping down big time on that side of the hobby being used for commercial purposes. You need licences almost to the same standard as a private pilots licence. The best set up you can have that wont break the bank, and will give you some great quality shots, is the one that Sam, Kiof and I have. The QAV500 with go pro and FPV gear. You can still tell the wife it will make some money ;) just not sure when LOL
 
callsign4223

callsign4223

Staff member
I am not looking to turn this into a job, just some spare cash for the hobby. I haven't heard about needing licenses, wouldn't see why you would need them unless you are flying in restricted airspace. I was planning on keeping it low altitude also, sub 500 feet. That shouldn't interfere with anything I don't think.
 
breeze400

breeze400

Spagetti Pilot
Just watch the AMA sight. They are coming out with new legislation everyday on uav's!

Like lee said though the qav500 is a great video platform!
 
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Tony

Tony

Staff member
I don't think the AMA allows anything over 400' and they do not support FPV, or they didn't the last time I read through it. I have thought about doing this same thing but there are way too many restrictions.
 
callsign4223

callsign4223

Staff member
So, as far as I can tell, having an r/c aerial photography business is just plain illegal as far as the FAA is concerned. However, it is the speeding/adding on to the house without a permit kind of illegal. Frowned upon but as long as you don't do anything stupid or do anything to get yourself noticed it's really not a big deal. So with this information I have decided to plow forward with this project. Like I said before, this is more for fun money, and so I don't really plan on advertising or anything else, so I doubt I will make myself enough of a nuisance to get the FAA to notice me.

My current thoughts are to keep the airframe cheap(at least for now) and get a spider quad from blueskyrc. I plan on running a multiwii setup on it. I also plan on saving up for a gopro camera. Can you use a gopro as the camera for a FPV setup? At this point I don't know if I plan on doing FPV or just LOS and seeing what I have when I land. Another option that I saw, but doubt I will do is to use a 2 tx/rx setup and have the camera on a PTZ mount operated by a second person. Sounds nice, but I really would like for this to be a one man show.
 
breeze400

breeze400

Spagetti Pilot
You can use the go pro has a flight cam. You have to download the update from go pro to do it though.

- - - Updated - - -

Tony said:
I don't think the AMA allows anything over 400' and they do not support FPV, or they didn't the last time I read through it. I have thought about doing this same thing but there are way too many restrictions.
Click to expand...

I did not mean anything has far has the AMA is concerned. They have been updating us about what the gov-Obama is passing has far has regulations on uav's! There was just last week some new regulations that came out.
 
zenmetsu

zenmetsu

Member
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they make FPV completely illegal within the next few years.

All someone needs to do is make a full sized predator drone, equipped with FPV, and fly it over some busy metropolitan area and get all sorts of attention. I am sure that whoever does this first will probably end up in GitMo and will never be heard from again, compliments of the NDAA.
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
In all reality, the FAA and the US Government is trying to do away with RC all together. Dangerous since you don't need a license to fly something that can go over 200mph and the power that the Tx put out is the main excuses I hear. They can keep trying, Rc has a very, VERY large following and they will have a fight on their hands. This is where the AMA will help protect us.
 
Lee

Lee

Well-Known Member
This year we had a terrorist scare right here in the town next to me. Someone was learning to fly RC planes with the plan to fly it into the local shopping mall with explosives attached!!! Luckily he was caught.
 
callsign4223

callsign4223

Staff member
The problem is that anything can be used by terrorists. I live in OKC and in 1995 we had a psycho use a rented moving truck similar to a large uhaul and regular farm fertilizer to blow up the federal building. He killed almost 200 people. The shockwave was felt over 20 miles away. I was at school 3 miles from the blast and we thought that the boiler at the school had exploded. My house was about 10 miles away, 2 miles from a local Air Force base and when my mom heard it she thought that a jet from the base had just gone supersonic, which is against regulations over populated areas. The whole point of that is that they didn't outlaw moving trucks after that, so it would be dumb to outlaw r/c because if what some psycho might do with it.
 
breeze400

breeze400

Spagetti Pilot
You guys are getting way to deep on this. Lol . They will however regulate the heck out of this. Make lots of money off us and require licenses.
 
callsign4223

callsign4223

Staff member
quad.jpg
Here is my current shopping list. Let me know if there is anything missing or if there might be a better option than something I have listed on here. At this point I think I am leaning toward option 1 over the others since I actually plan on selling images from this setup. Also, I chose the hero 2 over the hero 3 because as far as I can tell the only difference is that the hero 3 is a little lighter.

quad.jpg
 
Lee

Lee

Well-Known Member
Looks good Matt. I would go for the Hero 3 Silver. The lens quality is better, there is the possibility of having someone control taking the pictures through the iPhone/Android app at close range. And the price is really not that different yet.
 
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