Fly longer

Running out of battery is just plain annoying! So what can you do to keep your bird in the air for a longer period of time? There are actually some things you can do to keep your quadcopter flying longer.

Basically you need to remove as much weight as possible, as the weight makes it go less far. The easiest way to do this is to remove stickers etc that is on the drone already.

Another way is to fly without the camera, you can not take pics obviously but you can play for longer.

A favorite trick of mine is to bring spare batteries, fully charged. That way when you are all out, you just pop another pair of batteries in, and off you go again.

You can also upgrade the batteries that you already have in the quadcopter. Sometimes there are newer and more powerful options available. And buy getting the latest and most effective batteries you can keep your drone high up in the air, and get the long footage you wanted.

Tips for Aerial Photography with a Drone

Getting great photos with your quadcopter is not as easy as it seems. It takes a lot of practice, and you also need a stable drone and a great camera. Many like to attach their GoPro Hero cameras to their drones, to get the high resolution and the functions of the action camera when flying. But what is the best GoPro drone?

You need a strong quadcopter to be able to do that, the cheaper versions might not handle the weight. The Blade 350 and the DJI Phantom are two drones that handle the GoPro well.

So how do you take great pictures with your drone?

Here are some pointers:

First Person View
Use a quadcopter with FPV. When you have FPV you can clearly see what your drone is seeing and it is a lot easier to get great photos.

Use the drones GPS
Take a drone to the location and let it hover there by itself. That way you can get stable photos and videos.

Fly in good weather
Avoid windy days to get more stable photos. Fly in days with good light and little wind.

Fly higher
Sometimes what you need is a bit of perspective. By getting in to close to the object, you might be missing out on the big picture. Sometimes flying higher up and taking a photo from there will reveal so much more.

 Use a good camera
The Hero cameras are great, but you need to pay extra to get the FPV system if you are using the DJI Phantom. Some quadcopters come with integrated cameras, and on the more expensive ones these cameras are really good. One example of this is the DJI Phantom Vision Plus, which is delivered with a great HD camera attached to the drone. Example:

There are many things you need to think about when trying to select the best drone for GoPro. DroneGuru has some tips that can help you with your with that.

Remember to do your research before selecting a GoPro drone.

This is all we have for this week. Next week we will give you tips on how to be able to fly longer with your quadcopter and thus get more chances to take those great videos and photos you have been fantasizing about.

The Right Quadcopter for Photography

Credit: Don McCullough / flickr.com/photos/69214385@N04/8725078749

Introduction

 

Hi and welcome to my quadcopter photo and video blog. The world of drones has changed the way we look at photography and video forever, and it is now easier than ever for even amateurs such as myself to get great aerial photos and videos with the help of a good HD camera and a good quadcopter.

Quadcopters you might be interested in

 

There has been a small revolution in the drone industry and lately there are many cool quadcopters that can deliver great photography and video. It almost seems that every month there are new drones released. Just the other day GoPro announced that they will be starting to create drones of their own. I for one am looking forward to that. But if you buy a quadcopter for video and aerial photography in 2015, what is your best choice?

High performance 

 

If you have a pretty big budget you might be interested in the DJI Phantom 2, which has awesome capabilities in terms of flight performance and video capabilities. You will have the choice between the DJI Phantom 2 with integrated camera och the DJI Phantom 2 with a mounted GoPro.

Mid performance

 

If you want to spend less than 800 USD you might be interested in the Blade 350 QX3, on which you can mount your GoPro Hero camera. In this price bracket you also have the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 which includes a low performance camera, but it can be lot of fun, and it is pretty cheap at around 300 USD.

GoPro

 

Many seem to prefer to mount their GoPro cameras on their quadcopters, often the GoPro Hero offers a better quality image and video than the cameras that are delivered with the drones. 

How much do you need to spend?

 

If you are a beginner you might want to start small, because of the heartache you will experience if you lose your quad. It is not impossible. If you really cannot afford to lose that money, you might want to start smaller until you get a better handle at controlling and understanding the workings of the drone.

Before you buy

 

Research your options, read reviews, most of all read the user reviews on sites like amazon, as they are completely unpartial, and that is just the kind of reviews you need to read.