Welcome to the Drone Minds Forums

My name is Jeff and I live just north of Dallas in Texas. I'm a marketing communications person, so I do writing, photography, videography, web design, SEO, etc. etc.

I have my own website about travel photography for families called, quite creatively, familytravelphotos.com LOL.It's a personal site, not a place that sells things, but it's quite a passion of mine. It lets me indulge all the things I enjoy doing.

I got into flying quads last year to expand my photographic reach and have become consumed with this hobby. I got a Yuneec Q500+, upgraded the camera to a CGO3, and just added a Typhoon G to my fleet. I enjoy flying but my priority is always photography. I'm a photographer who flies, not a flyer who shoots pictures.

I also have a Youtube channel that features trip reports and photographic product reviews, and I just added several videos providing Christmas gift ideas and tutorials for new Q500 pilots.

I'd love to find other quad flyers in north Texas to fly with, particularly those with other quads.

Nice to meet y'all!

 

Thanks, Jonathan - I appreciate the welcome!

 

Hello Jeff. I am a very long way from Texas unfortunately, but would love to go there sometime. I will look forward to seeing your videos of Texas for now.

 

You're in a much more scenic part of the world than I am, that's for sure, but Texas is a great place to visit. This year I've focused on learning to fly; next year I'm going to do more trip reports and integrate the aerial videography with my other photos and videos for Youtube and my website. It's going to be a lot of fun.

I'd love to see the Netherlands and spend a couple weeks just doing landscape photography. We're toying around with going to Ireland or Germany next year for a vacation, but your country is definitely one on my bucket list.

 

Sorry to interrupt but just to say thank you for the welcoming responses Been extremely tied up over the last week but however managed to get an estimated total of about 4 hours flying time in now and my first spectacular crash .

 

Hello Jonathan and thank you for a warm welcome , my name is Sam I live in the Lake District not far from Keswick . I haven't bought a drone yet but intend to once I've done a little more homework , I came across this site and thought it might be a good place to learn what's good and what's not good about drones..with living in the lakes I'm a very keen in photography. I love nothing more than getting out with my dog on the fells , plus I love motorbikes to , and take my Harley Davidson out as much as the weather allows me to. I have no experience flying drones what so ever..but love the thought of getting some fantastic pictures from a whole new prospective that drones give you. I've been watching lots of YouTube videos I do like the look of the Phantom drones , but not sure if I could be let loose with something like that at this stage, They make it look and sound idiot proof...it looks real easy to fly!!... Well I look forward to chatting to you all at some point in the future ..you videos of your members flying there drones are amazing , witch I love watching and hopefully picking up some useful tips in the process ty.

 

Hi Simon I'm very new to this drone thing but very keen to learn , just like to say I've watched and subscribed to your channel , your videos are just what someone like me needs to understand what this drone thing is all about keep up the good work mate.

 

Hello Sam.

 

Helloooo Ragnarok ☺

 

Hi Jonathan and everyone. My name is Terry, I am new here and wanted to hello and share an image or two. I am a professional photographer that has added Drones to my work and as Websiteauthor stated in his post " I'm a photographer who flies, not a flyer who shoots pictures " I love flying my Quad and capturing beautiful images and video. I camp and travel a lot and I am always looking for like minded people to fly with. That's about it. You can check out my website to more of my work.

 

Sorry I forgot ....I fly a DJI Phantom 3 Professional and I love it! It is an amazing Quad and so easy to fly and control. If you have any questions on the Phantom or are considering to buy one I would be glad to answer any questions you have regarding the Phantom 3.

 

Hello Terry, your aerial photographs are excellent.

 

Hi All,

My name is Karl, I'm from Newfoundland, Canada and new to the world of drones. I'm a structural engineer by trade, looking to learn about UAVs and their commercial applications so I can hopefully start my own company. I look forward to chatting with you all!

 

Hi Karl, welcome to drone minds.

 

Hi Jonathan, thanks for the warm welcome.

I live in Northern California in Lake County. I live on the side of a volcano and my dream is to make a nice video of it using my drone collection. The volcano is called Mount Konocti and is considered sacred to the local native people. I live about 3 1/2 miles from the fire lookout tower on the top of the mountain. I am thinking of hiking to the top with my phantom 3 when the weather permits but it would be nice to explore the mountain using FPV from my deck if I could get the range. I am toying with the idea of learning to fly a model airplane to get the range I need but there are a lot of fascinating rock formations that I would have to use a drone to get to. Any suggestions are welcome!

 

Hello all !

My name is Carl AKA 'Flying Harrogate'.

I have a DJI Phantom 2 Vision + which I have had and flown for nearly 18 months now.
I like to make my quadcopter / drone videos a little interesting by adding music and making them creative rather then a linear record of flight.

- Check our my YouTube Channel to see: YouTube Channel - Flying Harrogate

Generally my experiences with Quad flying have been very good, both in terms of good, safe and enjoyable flights to the reception of people who come over to chat. I usually find the public are very interested rather than wary of them.

I have had one set of bad experiences however with the initial model I had. It was a 'v2' of the Vision+ rather than the v3 model I have now (difference being, updated compass and inclusion of jog wheel for the camera (perhaps other internal adjustments too).

Anyhow, the initial model took to flying off on its own on three flights. All from different locations, all carefully set up and calibrated, but it chose to first head over a reservoir and land in trees (a safe landing resulting only in the battery falling out), the second flight flew over a wood then residential area, before landing in a street. It took a rather 'odd' descending flight path to earth, narrowly missing trees and chimney tops! It was thankfully returned by the local Police after they studied the footage and figured out who I was (great detective work!).
The third flight was however the grand finale. The quad initial performed well, before it took off to two points in the sky some 100 feet away from me and about 50 feet in altitude. It flew at probably full speed to the two points, before flying in a sweeping path to the ground and breaking into many, many pieces in front of me Quite alarming in the proximity, speed and the fact the location had perviously been great for flying. Fortunately and after some wrangling, the retailer and DJI decided there was a fault and replaced it.

I have since noticed that where the v3 model finds many more satellites than the v2 version ever did, leading me to think this has a bearing on things. v2 always had enough to fly, but not many more.

Thankfully that is my only bad set of flights, and all since the v3 have been without issue in the slightest.

I hope to enjoy my visits here and meet like minded quad flyers