Blade 350 QX Quad-Copter with a GoPro Camera Mounted |
Los Angeles, CA—As a PI, TV news producer and filmmaker I’m
always looking for new, quick and effective ways of quality image and video
making.
Arial shots were always expensive because rotor or fixed
wing aircraft was necessarily involved.
You got a one-time look for a lot of cash.
Satellite imagery was available but not on the
Internet. You had to buy expensive and
often incomplete stock images from NASA.
The first game changer was Google earth that provided great
images from most areas of dry land in the world. The photo resolution was kind of so-so and
the images are not regularly updated.
Now there is the latest Gee Wiz video-making device ever! It’s the Blade 350 QX offered by B&H PHOTO 1-800-221-5743 when combined with the popular
GoPro cameras is amazing . They are those new and
rather small, easy to operate Quad-Copters that are battery powered and
operated by remote control.
The little drone can be driven to any location and deployed
in the air within a minute. It will fly
1000 feet high or higher than our tallest buildings and as much as a mile in
any direction. The very quiet little
GoPro camera can shoot a series of high-resolution still photos or 1080p high
definition video.
The GoPro can transmit video on a several second delay to an
iPad or iPhone so the operator can see just what he’s captured. Currently the devices are limited by battery
to 10 minutes flying time. However
keeping several extra charged batteries on hand could extend that time.
The video can be imported and edited on all current software
programs with ease.
For tiny budget filmmakers this is a dream come true. You can get those breathtaking aerial shots
without breaking the bank.
For TV news organizations this is an incredible tool. The
operator can simply drive near any crime, fire or accident scene and from
blocks away from the dreaded yellow tape safely capture the action unobtrusively
from 25 or 75 meters above.
For the smaller TV markets with limited budgets helicopters
are out of the question. With the
Quad-Copter cameras they can now do what was formerly impossible.
For private eyes the possibilities are endless. For search and rescue work difficult to
inspect areas are a snap for this equipment.
Then there are roofers, real estate sales people and others
that would benefit from the use of a Quad-Copter Camera. The need for repetitive and dangerous ladder
climbs has all but ended.
The legality of this device and its uses are under review by
the FAA. Currently there are no
discernible restrictions for use by hobbyists.
These wonderful machines will be flying off store shelves later
this month. They are being marketed by B&H PHOTO www.bhphotovideo.com The price to obtain this machine is $469.99.
The GoPro Hero3 Black edition camera runs an additional
$400.00 and they are available at www.gopro.com
or thousands of retailers like Target.
I sent out a nationwide dragnet to get one of these machines for evaluation and review and can't wait to show my visitors this thing in action. Let's hope I can beat the target delivery date with some videos.
Below are some videos that show this marvelous machine in
action:
Incredible platform for about $1K.
ReplyDeleteEven with the various modes, though, it'd be time (and money) well spent to get some flying lessons from an expert and then spend some hours working technique.