I’ve been looking at the DJI remote controlled cameras for some time now to add to our arsenal of gear for some really cool camera angles. But this morning while I was visiting with our friends at T.P. Outdoors, Bill Petrus had just finished showing me his new DJI Phantom and we were discussing upcoming T.P. Outdoors Episodes when I got a txt about shooting some video promos for the new Havoc Boats by Titan Marine.
Tim Scott with Havoc Boats and I had been discussing shooting a promo for some time, but it just hadn’t happened yet. My initial thought was wow, how cool would that be to be able to shoot some arial video for the promo with this type of setup. What a coincidence that it would work out now. Or was it? Coincidences don’t just happen you know. (Romans 8:28)
So, I was a little elated when Bill offered to let me borrow his new toy, I mean tool, to shoot the video. But then fear set in. We will be shooting over WATER.
I don’t know if your aware of this or not, but water and electronics don’t really mix very well. Couple that with the fact that these things aren’t exactly cheap. Then factor in that even with a GPS guided, gyro stabilization, and built in flux capacitor, more than one of these things have taken a dive into the drink.
So, I spent a little time this afternoon practicing with the new DJI Phantom Vision+ camera drone before setting out to film with it for real. I flew it earlier today but it was a very short flight. The Phantom has an approximate 15-20 minute battery life, and an hour re-charge time. to some, that may seem like a short time, but it really wasn’t that bad. I was able to get quite a lot practice this afternoon. Practice makes perfect and I’ll need all I can get to make sure I don’t crash and drown in the river.
After playing around with it a little, I was able to get some pretty interesting shots and I was amazed by how stable the camera was. When holding a camera manually, it can be quite a challenge to get good stable footage from a moving vehicle. I recently got to try my hand at it from a real helicopter and it was nearly impossible to hold steady. But, the gimbal on this thing works very well as you can see from some of my test footage. So, wish me luck tomorrow and pray that I stay out of the water hazards.
