Does anyone fly drones? I recently got one to do recon on some suspicious activity near us (drug dealing in the forest next to us). And it was useful to make video content for our the business so it was something that made sense.
But wow is it really fun. I got this Dji mini 3 pro and it shoots in 4K. I also got the remote with a screen on it so I can see everything from the drones POV.
Unfortunately I just learned that Dji is partially state owned by the Chinese and accused of using Ughuir slave labor. Not feeling good about this but the drone itself is really good.
How’s the long-term appeal? I definitely think it’d be great to fly one off our apartment building, get video and photos, and same at a couple of other places I regularly visit … but it seems like the kind of device that, after a month, I wouldn’t get much use out of. (Unless I had a practical reason for doing so, like you do.)
EDIT: OK, it’d be awesome to set up a drone to track me as I do a bike ride, especially a more dramatic downhill stretch or a “tree tunnel” section, but I’m not sure if that’s possible - I assume for now they mostly need constant hands-on control and can’t just be set to “stay 50m (?) above and behind my current location”.
There are other drone makers, but if you’re in Taiwan DJI is a pretty big player and finding anything non DJI is probably going to be hard.
I never got into drones though, mostly because they are ready to fly (in the rocketry world we call those “ready to fail”), and for me building the thing is 90% of the fun, which is why I really got into rocketry.
I even put a GPS tracker into one rocket I did certification on that also controlled parachute deployment. But now with Airtag, that’s becoming obsolete.
I guess I can build drones too.
I would recommend against looking at illegal/suspicious activities with drones because if it doesn’t concern you, you should be “see no evil, hear no evil”.
I’m definitely interested in flying in more locations. I think it’s great if you want to shoot videos as it’s something you have to practice and get good at.
What I’m also interested is the FPV goggles that I can get with it so it’s like flying the drone in first person. Looks absolutely amazing wild.
I’ll see if I can upload some videos when I make some content.
They seem to dominate in he market. I wonder if the CCP subsidizes them or gives them tax breaks for them to make such competitive drones for the price.
Hmm, I’ve only had limited interest in either drones or VR/AR goggles, whether from Apple or Meta or otherwise, but the two together could be a lot of fun.
I suspect one of the issues for me is I’ve never got that into video. I enjoy photography, and I like the Apple “Live Photos” (i.e. 2-3 second videos) a lot, but long-form videos are something I’ve not worked with. I’m not sure if my reaction to making video is “not to my taste” or “don’t yet know enough to be interested”.
CCP has got to be extremely rich if they can subsidize everything like this. I know the KMT basically took everything of value away when they fled China.
I have little interest in flight in Taiwan mainly because it’s so damn hot and humid here (as well as everything covered in mosquitos), but also that there’s not really large clearing anywhere in the North to allow any sort of flight activity. I don’t encourage flying in crowded cityscape because too much potential for liability (privacy or safety concerns) and it’s illegal to fly near airports.
Taipei 101 area may be suited for flying drones as buildings are spaced much further apart here, but I do not know what, if any rules on drone activities are there.
You can get a decent drone at around the $400 price range now that isn’t just some crappy toy. So not a crazy investment to get started. I would probably have gotten that budge going in by myself but since I could use it for content creation I went with the more expensive one.
I’ve been practicing moves and watching YouTube on how to get good cinematic shots. So it’s as much learning how to approach capturing video and learning how to control the drone smoothly.
The other part that interests me is the FPV as I mentioned. I can see how fun it could be at certain locations to explore by flying.
I’ve used my drone all over the country. Taiwan is an amazing place to fly in all of its natural splendor. From the oceans, to mountains, hot springs, rice patties and even cities, it is truly a great place to capture. I’ve got several terabytes of footage from Taiwan over the past 5 years.
People in Taiwan are also more accepting of drones as they watch on with curiosity. In many other countries, people call the cops on you, even if you are legally flying.
There are also many places that are legal to fly. Just make sure you check the Taiwan CAA online drone map to make sure before you fly. Not all no-fly zones are listed in the dji drone map itself.
Also, some areas may be legal to fly according to CAA, but private businesses or property ban it (Kaohsiung pier area). And national parks like Kenting need special permission in advance.
Lastly, make sure to check if you need to register it to fly, otherwise you could face heavy fines. If needing to register it based on size and weight, make sure to print and attach qr code.
We’ve been flying dji phantoms and octocopters since 2014. We use the phantoms to film drones that we’re developing, and the octos to carry and / or test customized payloads.
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