Best Drone
 

I am starting to look at Drones for filming and with all of the new technology I want to know your experience. Best for the buck drone with reliability, features and ease of use.

You just going to be filming in general, or filming boarding or surfing?

All of the above. We do allot of activities so I will be filming action stuff.

I did a lot of research before buying mine to shoot wakeboarding. You're basically looking at either the Yuneec Typhoon H or the DJI Phantom 4 unless you want to go professional level and spend a lot. Both of those will have autonomous flight modes fast enough to keep up at wakeboarding speeds. They also have a lot of other really great features that will help a lot with your filming.

Of the two, I went Typhoon H and LOVE it. The intro shots to this teaser vid I did for GRTW was all shot with it. I'll be editing some stuff I shot of Dean Smith, Amber Wing and Shaun Murray soon too. All of that was side/front/rear chase while they were riding and the drone was super solid. PM me if you have questions or I can help more.


https://youtu.be/MlIcbqZ6Gho

wow...

sooo many G's. How do you decide which one to take out... ha

Thanks for the info

Did you consider the 3DR Solo?

I did look at the 3DR Solo but allot of negative reviews. I will look further or if anyone has experience with this drone I would love to have your input.

I highly recommend the Autel X-star Premium Drone.

I've got one. That's why I asked. Took it to Hawaii...

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My friend has one. Very cool drone with a lot of features. It has been very buggy though pretty much every time we have used it. Maybe he just has bad luck with it but I've yet to see a problem free outing.

I did months of research before I got mine, I went with Autel robotics theX-start premium. I couldn't be happier with it. I choose Autel over DJI due to the reviews with customer service,( hear DJI is horrible) I had a couple questions on my X-star called Autel and on hold maybe 10 minutes, and walked me right thru all my little questions. I have flown mine about 20 hours on it so far zero issues or complaints.

Phantom 4 is my recommendation. Super simple to use, long battery life, obstacle avoidance, and active track. I shot this a few weeks ago off my brother's boat...

https://youtu.be/7sMMByCyd5k

https://vimeo.com/170235283 cable vid

https://vimeo.com/174517497 boat vid

I film a lot of wakeboarding with my phantom 4, good luck!

Nice work guys.. Keep them coming, I have a bunch of footage just no time to edit. Blah soon..

Posted this in a different thread... But here is a link to a sweet wakeboard edit I did a couple weeks ago. Phantom 3 Professional.

https://youtu.be/yvxDPfv2M48

I just picked up a Phantom 4. First drone, but I have decent collective pitch RC helicopter experience. I am blown away by the quality of the drone itself. Super easy to fly, software is simple and easy to use. I have only flown it a few times, but this was my first boat footage. I can't wait to get it out again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HveGPrTafA

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<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/179371990">Untitled</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user52552858">Stephen</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>


It's really fun when you fly close!

Its best when you fly close :D

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<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/179372075">Untitled</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user52552858">Stephen</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Almost done sharing. Have made many instagram shorts this year. Insta is great that it reaches so many people. But the video quality gets hacked and you can only view on a really small window.

wow that is so cool!!

Has anyone tried the Phantom 3 for wakeboarding? Specs say it can fly at 35mph horizontally and has follow-me mode. Starting to research this and the 3 in the $500 range is much more palatable for a toy than $1,200 for the 4.

a lot of people use phantom 1, 2 and 3 drones. definitely don't need a 4

Follow me mode will basically look like google earth images

Yes on both, but not at same time is my understanding hahaha

Seriously, from all that I read the top speed in follow me mode is limited and won't hit wakeboarding speeds. The older phantom wakeboarding footage you are seeing is manual flight.

To chase wakeboarders riding boat i fly in sport mode as well. Literally the only way to get good shots is to risk it. I would get DJI care with it if you get one. You gotta risk it for the biscuit when it comes to drone shots and having some insurance on it is kinda like having a safety net and makes some situations a little less stressful

I have an old Phantom 2 vision plus that I use to chase our boat and its fine for wakeboarding. I do wish I could get my GoPro on it though. All it needs is a decent Slow motion/high frame rate camera and it would be perfect.

Do any of the drones available today have anything close to a 60 or 120FPS camera?


There's a few vids of wakeboarding/amateur freestyle MX on my channel if you want to see what the P2 can do.

https://youtu.be/y3XQTOC571E

are any of these drones water resistant ? or float?

seems like taking a huge risk with an expensive "toy"

I know that my heart has raced a few times with my T-rex 450 over the water

In answer to the Phantom 3 question, yes, it will work just fine. I have a P3S (2.7k camera) and the footage looks great. I'm not saying that the camera on the Phantom 4's is not a higher quality camera, but here's a sample (not wakeboarding, but my vacation) shot with the P3S:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwTpJBIoseY

It has plenty of speed to keep up with the wakeboarding boat; it can go 35 mph, but I find that it's best to keep it in the 20-25 range to keep the props out of the shot. I don't have any video on youtube, but I've used it for two outings and was pleased.

Dude phantom 4 is where its at but you could just get the phantom 3 pro. save a little money and still have good quality footage. biggest difference in phantom 3 and 4 to me is that the 4 will do 50mph so good for dirtbikes and stuff lik, but the phantom 3 pro will do around 35 to 40 mph which is plenty fast enough for watersports. Here's and edit I made with phantom 3 pro: https://vimeo.com/182455508

Good Luck

sinking drone
 

I was out on the water with someone who lost their drone. It didn't take off correctly and hit the water. It totally sank like a stone. I was in the water maybe 10 ft from it and it was long gone before I got even close. The other thing to remember is that even if we were able to get the drone before it sank out of view it would have been toast from getting wet.

does anyone have experience with the "follow me" modes on the phantom 4/4 pro? from what i've read, you can tell the drone to circle its target or fly along side. seems like that would be pretty cool to not have to worry so much about the flying and let the drone do its thing.

We had a Phantom 4 our on the boat, and it was pretty weak actually. It could keep up with the boat up to about 10 to 15mph, but after that it wouldn't. It's cool for doing flight around a stationary or slow moving object, but no chance using it for wakeboarding.

We ended up putting the P4 on Sport mode and flying it manually. If you have a good pilot, it turns out pretty legit.

This was my buddy's first time flying from the boat and flying over water. He did pretty damn good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6g0xdk1KKo

https://youtu.be/czb5EUWlJlY

Here's my video with the Phantom 3 Pro a year and a half ago. I was a new pilot and only did some minor editing thru You Tube. As you can see I had no issue keeping up with the boat and had to slow down so I didn't over shoot the boat. The P3P is 4K and plenty fast if your looking for a budget option.

I'd strongly suggest one of the Phantom 3 models (here's a description) as your first one. Many of the other brands like 3D Robotics and Lily can come with bugs. DJI is pretty reliable. And once you're comfortable flying and filming with it you can sell the 3 and upgrade to a 4, mavic, or whatever comes out in the future.

does the phantom 3 have a hover mode or any kind of follow me mode?

Right now if i was going to get a drone (besides what I already have) it would be the mavic. The flight time and portability is awesome and the price point is great. The camera sensor is amazing but for what most people will be doing its fine.

It has all the latest tech including active track / tap to fly etc... Also flying at wakeboard speeds you wont get screws with props in shots like you will on any phantom frame (4/ 4pro etc...).

The p4p has an nice 1" sensor but the amount of props i see in video from makes me stay away.

Of course im a bit biased as i fly an inspire 2 x5s

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Blades in the P4 shots is the worst thing about that rig. I saw a video JB made with one of the earlier phantoms and he managed to keep the blades out. He fly's just a tad higher and keeps the camera angled down so it always looks like the riders come up to the camera. That being said I need to learn how to do that this season because that JB's video is by far the best drone video of wakeboarding

Film in 4k, and scale to 1080 then scale up a bit to get rid of he props.

thanks

I will also vouch for the P3S doing just fine for following a boat @ 24.5 MPH. I never use the follow me modes, honestly feel more comfortable just flying it myself.

Its fun, but kinda trippy flying from a moving boat... my one bit of advice, NEVER look at the drone, only watch your FPV

Check out the DJI Mavic pro, I love how compact and portable it is and all the Different modes it has.

Best drone, best board, best boat, best wakeboarder..... the world may never know.

Is there any drone that can follow slalom at 32mph?

DJI Mavic. Hands down. You can get DJI Care, which is accident protection plan, that covers incidents with water. Also, sport mode allows you to fly up to 40 MPH with no wind. I've had no problem keeping up with slalom boats. I use it all the time. The intelligent modes are great as well, especially the tracking features. It can identify a boat, car, or person and act accordingly.

Lastly, I upgraded to the package with a case, extra props, batteries, etc. My favorite part about that was a USB and car adapter that came. I know can use the DJI battery as a portable phone charger and charge the drone batteries in the car on the fly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fby3qDEXb8

+1 on Phantom 4...it's the only legit drone I've flown, but I love it. I get prop noise from time to time, but only when I'm not paying attention and turn too sharp. If you're smooth, you won't have that issue, plus you can play with the gimbal movement settings and reduce noise a bit. Super stable, easy to fly, amazing shots (pic and vid), and not too expensive. I bought a refurbished drone for $800 and have zero issues. Any DJI would work great though, so do some research and find what suits your needs the best. Speed-wise, plenty fast. I've had mine up to 50 mph with a tailwind and around 42 with no wind.

I always shoot pictures in 3-burst AEB mode, manual ISO/shutter, and do both jpeg and raw formats, then upload to my computer which then uploads to Google Photos. GP will automatically combine the 3 images to make HDR pics that are amazing, been super happy with it. Definitely look into doing this.

This is the best so far, DJI Phantom 4.
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Towing Arlington VA