Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

I want my Dragon to fly :-)

M

M. Weaver

Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I'm getting ready to buy a Dragon setup, and am interested in doing aerial work with it. Can I get some advice about which drone I should be looking at? The Freefly Alta looks interesting!
 
M. Weaver said:
I'm getting ready to buy a Dragon setup, and am interested in doing aerial work with it. Can I get some advice about which drone I should be looking at? The Freefly Alta looks interesting!
Click to expand...

The Atla is the latest and greatest in terms of flight platforms, but a lot of heavy lifters are completely custom built by RC pilots. You could also buy secondhand too, if you don't have a bigger budget to work with. I hope you have flight time under your belt. :-)
 
i'd love an Aerigon

Intuitive-Aerial-Aerigon-785x442.jpg
 
I've been hearing a lot of good things about the Alta! Are you able to use a gimbal other than a MoVi on it? I'm assuming not, as it's Free Fly, but just wondering if I might be able to save any money by going with a less expensive gimbal, such as a Ronin. That Aerigon is crazy! I'm definitely going to be looking into that one as well...
 
The Alta looks very impressive but with six props it's unlikely to stay in the air if a motor/prop fails - I'd look at 8 or 10 rotor options and you will be looking at a costly custom rig.

Most drones here in the uk are using DSLR's - quality is obviously not on a par with RED but it's improving all the time. For lower cost options, look at DJI.

Scott
 
Alta is not out yet as far as I know. It looks like an amazing setup, specially with top mounting solution, which looks cool but only used probably 1% of your shootings as usually clients want shots from the air down... everything else is a crane or dolly,... facing up...
as always here i would suggest Hammer x-8 from Kopterworx - kopterworx.com with Movi M10 or M15. I just came from the set for a big french client with a US director and DOP and they both couldnt believe hot good if flew and how easy it was... If you have some more questions shoot me a PM.
 
The problem with that kick starter, gas powered ship is: 1: it has noisy, gas powered nitromethane engines that puke fuel out of the exhaust. (and on your lens). 2, Im not sure if you have spent much time on a move serious movie set? but if you did then you would know that the director and crew would not be very happy. There is no place for noisy gas engines on a movie set...even an MOS set. That being said, It is a great way to get more flight time. (I apologize if I sounded condescending about the "movie set" comment I didn't mean to.)
 
thanks for the comments Jordy, I have no experience with drones at all just something I came across. The whole video is a bit... well, it doesn't inspire a lot of trust. I just liked the concept, but from what I hear from you, it's not a good idea. Who knows, maybe they solve some problems you mentioned, it will probably take more then a year from now, charging batteries is actually 'cooler' then waiting for something that might not work.

jordy klein said:
The problem with that kick starter, gas powered ship is: 1: it has noisy, gas powered nitromethane engines that puke fuel out of the exhaust. (and on your lens). 2, Im not sure if you have spent much time on a move serious movie set? but if you did then you would know that the director and crew would not be very happy. There is no place for noisy gas engines on a movie set...even an MOS set. That being said, It is a great way to get more flight time. (I apologize if I sounded condescending about the "movie set" comment I didn't mean to.)
Click to expand...
 
Hi Scott,

Very interesting point! I definitely would like to have a craft that can land safely if a motor or prop fails. I'll definitely be exploring options with 8 or more rotors...

Scott Brown said:
The Alta looks very impressive but with six props it's unlikely to stay in the air if a motor/prop fails - I'd look at 8 or 10 rotor options and you will be looking at a costly custom rig.

Most drones here in the uk are using DSLR's - quality is obviously not on a par with RED but it's improving all the time. For lower cost options, look at DJI.

Scott
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for this recommendation, Peter! The copter looks very cool, and the footage is awesome! But I'm a little put off by the price, which STARTS at $30,000. I think it's a little out of my price range. Also, it says it can carry a 10kg payload (22lbs) including batteries for 10 minutes in the air. I'm wondering if there is another option that can offer better flight times with similar payloads?

Peter Degerfeldt said:
In my opinion this is the best Drone on the market, built around the Dragon, by Daniel Casselby. He can also fly that thing like he never heard about gravity. http://aircam.se
Done numerous big jobs together, always rock steady.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-Sky-Magic-Air/170847649605170
Click to expand...
 
Uros, the Hammer X-8 looks very interesting! I think the X-8 configuration is the way to go, to address some of the safety issues with a single motor or prop issue with a hexacopter. The fact that it folds down for compact travel is awesome. The price, around $23,000+ is certainly better than the $30,000+ of the Aircam Raw. I'm still a little concerned about the flight times, though. It looks like it's rated at 9 minutes at it's recommended payload. I'd love to get longer flight times if possible. But so far, this is a lead in the contenders I've seen!

Uros Zuraj said:
Alta is not out yet as far as I know. It looks like an amazing setup, specially with top mounting solution, which looks cool but only used probably 1% of your shootings as usually clients want shots from the air down... everything else is a crane or dolly,... facing up...
as always here i would suggest Hammer x-8 from Kopterworx - kopterworx.comwith Movi M10 or M15. I just came from the set for a big french client with a US director and DOP and they both couldnt believe hot good if flew and how easy it was... If you have some more questions shoot me a PM.
Click to expand...
 
Do you have any prior flying experience? If not, it's generally recommended starting small with a quad to learn the basics. Even though a good flight controller handles most of the real flying, there are still several thousand mistakes that can be made. Many opt for hiring an experienced pilot to reduce the odds of losing your investment. Even then, it goes badly more often than most care to admit. Flying is an activity very unforgiving of mistakes. We preordered two Altas to add to the fleet. It is a big step forward in design.

The trend now is clearly going away from flying big, complex rigs with expensive cameras and will continue that direction for many reasons like cost, ease of deployment and reduced stress.
 
Wendell - Alta is hexa,... big problem if one of the props stops working... i think most experienced flyers will keep it as a backup machine more the the main one due to that. and for the shots shooting up - 1% if not even less.
 
I can tell you from seeing my own Dragon being flown on a x8 and a prop broke (faulty prop) it started spinning but it was still controllable to the point the guy landed it
 
yeah how it comes down,... its perfect for traveling and fast setups,... but then again balancing and setting up the movi takes the most of the time...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top