The DJI Phantom 1 Drone
I've bought a new toy! It's not a toy, it's a very serious photography and movie aid, but it is a lot of fun. The box does say that it is for over 18's!
I've been getting a little flight time in here and there and like most men I'm not a fan of the instruction book. I did however watch a few Youtube videos before I took to the air and thought I would learn the rest 'on the job'. Luckily the drone is very intuitive and luckier still, relatively robust!
On my first flight I chopped the leaves off some trees and got the controls mixed up which ended up in me crashing the drone a few times, but it's designed to withstand a certain amount of mishaps caused by over enthusiastic idiotic 'pilots' like myself.
This weekend I wanted to get some aerial footage of the steam train for the 1940's weekend mini video I would be shooting. I did a few test shots at Irwell Vale but found there were too many obstacles that could be a hazard. I feel that the sentence, 'GO TO A FUCKING WIDE OPEN SPACE, LIKE THE DESERT OR SUMMAT, TO FLY YOUR DRONE' should be written boldly on the box.
So the following day I moved to a wide open space near to Rawtenstall and close to the railway track. My idea was to film the train coming closer and then dive bomb it gracefully whilst flying through the steam, and I nearly got the shot I wanted on the 4th attempt. When I returned to where the car was parked I realised it would only be 10 minutes before the train passed me on its final trip of the day. It would be a shame not to take this opportunity to film it one last time. And this time, because I was in a slightly built up area, I would simply hover the drone above the train whilst it passed beneath, what could go wrong?
As the train came into view I flew the drone into position. The train passed elegantly below and as it was doing so I got a little adventurous. I thought I would slowly fly along the train and gradually rise into the air and manoeuvre the craft 180 degrees to watch it disappear into the distance. What I actually did was fly the drone into a railway signal, watch it flip out a bit, and then flew it into a high tree. "You twat!" I said to myself.
I haven't climbed a tree in years. I used to climb trees a lot as a young lad and considered myself to be quite a skilled climber, that was until I fell 50ft out of one. Would I still be able to climb one? It required a considerable effort but I managed the first stage and thought to myself, 'Jesus, this is pretty dangerous', and even though I was only 10 feet in the air a small amount of fear kicked in. So I returned to the ground and thought it might be best to try a throw a few sticks up at the well and truly lodged drone. The drone however, was too high! So I convinced myself to get over my fear of the tree and climb as high as I dare, there I would shake the branch it was on and hopefully this would dislodge it. I did that and it didn't work!
I returned to the ground once again for a much needed rest and called Kerry.
Me - "Have you put Darwin to bed yet?"
Kerry - "Yeah, why?"
M - "I've got the drone stuck up a tree"
Kerry laughed lots.
K - "I knew this would happen. What would you want me to do anyway?"
M - "Well if you hadn't have put him to bed I was thinking you might come to help and bring something long with you"
She laughed again.
M - "Anyway it doesn't matter, I'll look around here for a long thing and take it from there"
K - "Just chuck some bricks up at it"
M - "It's too high"
K - "Just shake the branch a bit"
M - "Yeah, I've tried that"
K - "Why did you fly it into the tree in the first place?"
M - "You're not being very helpful!"
K - "You shouldn't have flown it into the tree"
M - "Yes I know that"
K - "If you leave it someone will pinch it"
M - "OK"
K - "I bet you feel like a right dick don't you?"
M - "Right bye bye"
She then sent a text saying, 'You could call the fire brigade' with a laughing emoticon. Thank goodness she doesn't work for the Samaritans.
I eventually found a large branch which I used to unhook and retrieve the drone whilst hanging precariously from the highest part of the tree. Today my body feels like I've been fighting with Mike Tyson.
Here's the bit of footage that nearly worked. I may post the other footage once I've transferred it.
I've been getting a little flight time in here and there and like most men I'm not a fan of the instruction book. I did however watch a few Youtube videos before I took to the air and thought I would learn the rest 'on the job'. Luckily the drone is very intuitive and luckier still, relatively robust!
On my first flight I chopped the leaves off some trees and got the controls mixed up which ended up in me crashing the drone a few times, but it's designed to withstand a certain amount of mishaps caused by over enthusiastic idiotic 'pilots' like myself.
This weekend I wanted to get some aerial footage of the steam train for the 1940's weekend mini video I would be shooting. I did a few test shots at Irwell Vale but found there were too many obstacles that could be a hazard. I feel that the sentence, 'GO TO A FUCKING WIDE OPEN SPACE, LIKE THE DESERT OR SUMMAT, TO FLY YOUR DRONE' should be written boldly on the box.
So the following day I moved to a wide open space near to Rawtenstall and close to the railway track. My idea was to film the train coming closer and then dive bomb it gracefully whilst flying through the steam, and I nearly got the shot I wanted on the 4th attempt. When I returned to where the car was parked I realised it would only be 10 minutes before the train passed me on its final trip of the day. It would be a shame not to take this opportunity to film it one last time. And this time, because I was in a slightly built up area, I would simply hover the drone above the train whilst it passed beneath, what could go wrong?
As the train came into view I flew the drone into position. The train passed elegantly below and as it was doing so I got a little adventurous. I thought I would slowly fly along the train and gradually rise into the air and manoeuvre the craft 180 degrees to watch it disappear into the distance. What I actually did was fly the drone into a railway signal, watch it flip out a bit, and then flew it into a high tree. "You twat!" I said to myself.
I haven't climbed a tree in years. I used to climb trees a lot as a young lad and considered myself to be quite a skilled climber, that was until I fell 50ft out of one. Would I still be able to climb one? It required a considerable effort but I managed the first stage and thought to myself, 'Jesus, this is pretty dangerous', and even though I was only 10 feet in the air a small amount of fear kicked in. So I returned to the ground and thought it might be best to try a throw a few sticks up at the well and truly lodged drone. The drone however, was too high! So I convinced myself to get over my fear of the tree and climb as high as I dare, there I would shake the branch it was on and hopefully this would dislodge it. I did that and it didn't work!
I returned to the ground once again for a much needed rest and called Kerry.
Me - "Have you put Darwin to bed yet?"
Kerry - "Yeah, why?"
M - "I've got the drone stuck up a tree"
Kerry laughed lots.
K - "I knew this would happen. What would you want me to do anyway?"
M - "Well if you hadn't have put him to bed I was thinking you might come to help and bring something long with you"
She laughed again.
M - "Anyway it doesn't matter, I'll look around here for a long thing and take it from there"
K - "Just chuck some bricks up at it"
M - "It's too high"
K - "Just shake the branch a bit"
M - "Yeah, I've tried that"
K - "Why did you fly it into the tree in the first place?"
M - "You're not being very helpful!"
K - "You shouldn't have flown it into the tree"
M - "Yes I know that"
K - "If you leave it someone will pinch it"
M - "OK"
K - "I bet you feel like a right dick don't you?"
M - "Right bye bye"
She then sent a text saying, 'You could call the fire brigade' with a laughing emoticon. Thank goodness she doesn't work for the Samaritans.
I eventually found a large branch which I used to unhook and retrieve the drone whilst hanging precariously from the highest part of the tree. Today my body feels like I've been fighting with Mike Tyson.
Here's the bit of footage that nearly worked. I may post the other footage once I've transferred it.
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| "The Drone and GoPro" |
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