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Drone video I shot of an abandoned castle known as Bannerman Castle. Bannerman Castle is located in Fishkill, NY on a 6.5 acre island called Pollepel Island. The island sits right in the Hudson river about 500 feet off the shore.

Bannerman Castle was used as a military surplus warehouse in the early 1900's. In August 1920, 200 tons of shells and powder exploded in an ancillary structure, destroying a portion of the castle.

We had to take all our gear on a 1.5 mile trip down the Hudson to get to the island and yes the water was that brown. I unfortunately didn't have my Polar Pro ND filters with me so the footage might be a little choppy due to high shutter speeds.

Tools:
Phantom 4
Panasonic g85
12-60mm F/3.5-5.6 Lumix G Vario Lens
Lumetri Color Panel

Music:
Vancouver Sleep Clinic - Stakes

Let me know if you like it and subscribe
 
James, this is great, very well done. I like the scene where you're getting ready to leave and driving to it as it anchors the video nicely. I grew up about 30 miles away and have been to Break Neck hiking many times though I never set foot on Pollepel Island. My dog would go absolutely nuts when I stop along here as she knew she was in for a long day or more of hiking and for her this place was heaven. Interestingly, I also have the P4P and an G85. I no longer live in NY but I've thought about doing exactly this trip with my drone to Bannerman's.

I have an idea for you given you live in NY ... above Albany, near the town of Waterford, the Eire Canal still operates and near Waterford they have what they call the "Flight of Locks" where a series of 4 or 5 locks in just a few miles operate, mostly for pleasure craft, from about this time of year until late Octoberish. You could get some great footage of boats going between the locks and also watch the boats lifting and lowering in the locks. If you do this pay attention to the downstream side when they are draining the lock as it creates quite a bit of turbulence -- stay clear, but the torrent of water would add to the video. Stop and talk to the lock operators and they may give you a tour.


Brian
 
James, this is great, very well done. I like the scene where you're getting ready to leave and driving to it as it anchors the video nicely. I grew up about 30 miles away and have been to Break Neck hiking many times though I never set foot on Pollepel Island. My dog would go absolutely nuts when I stop along here as she knew she was in for a long day or more of hiking and for her this place was heaven. Interestingly, I also have the P4P and an G85. I no longer live in NY but I've thought about doing exactly this trip with my drone to Bannerman's.

I have an idea for you given you live in NY ... above Albany, near the town of Waterford, the Eire Canal still operates and near Waterford they have what they call the "Flight of Locks" where a series of 4 or 5 locks in just a few miles operate, mostly for pleasure craft, from about this time of year until late Octoberish. You could get some great footage of boats going between the locks and also watch the boats lifting and lowering in the locks. If you do this pay attention to the downstream side when they are draining the lock as it creates quite a bit of turbulence -- stay clear, but the torrent of water would add to the video. Stop and talk to the lock operators and they may give you a tour.


Brian

Hey Brian,

Thanks for watching. It was an awesome trip. I loved that place. I only have the phantom 4 not the pro :( I wish I had the pro. You have the g85? Do you like it? I personally love it. I upgraded from a Canon. I actually got a gh5 recently. I'll check that place out.
 
Hey Brian,

Thanks for watching. It was an awesome trip. I loved that place. I only have the phantom 4 not the pro :( I wish I had the pro. You have the g85? Do you like it? I personally love it. I upgraded from a Canon. I actually got a gh5 recently. I'll check that place out.


I had been waiting for the GH5 for about a year but it kept being delayed so in November, when the G85 came out, I went with that instead of waiting another 6+ months for the GH5. Also, the GH5, although available now, does not yet have all the features it promised and it might be many months before they update to firmware to provide thos promised features. I have shot a good bit of video from the top of my car using the older GH2 and was hoping the G85 would improve the quality by going to 4K, but the image stabilization does not like the car mount so the video from the G85 is shakier than the GH2.

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Brian
 
Yeah I feel the stabilization is great if your already steady with the camera. If you get really shaky it ends up working against you. I do love the ibis on the gh5. It's an improvement. I'm working on a full video of the gh5 now. If you want to see anything let me know and I can test it. Is that your YouTube video? If so I actually watched it before I got the g85.
 
Yeah I feel the stabilization is great if your already steady with the camera. If you get really shaky it ends up working against you. I do love the ibis on the gh5. It's an improvement. I'm working on a full video of the gh5 now. If you want to see anything let me know and I can test it. Is that your YouTube video? If so I actually watched it before I got the g85.


Yep, that's my channel...


Brian
 
Oh awesome! I like your videos. I subbed you. I'm gonna check that place out too. I'm always looking for new adventures and things to shoot. I have a video of the g85 in Oslo Norway. That was the first thing I filmed with the g85 and that was before I updated the firmware.
 
If you do plan to do the Eire Canal near Waterford you should probably check it out using Googel Earth first. Type in "Waterford, NY" into the search bar and when it comes up look a bit north west and zoom in. You will see a series of locks and a good place to drive to see them is "Flightlock Road". I wouldn't fly over any boaters but I can't see any reason you should have difficulty doing it. I spent a couple years working at the Global Foundries FAB near Malta NY and visited the locks quite often. Here's an old video I have from before I had the drone.

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Brian
 
Yeah, just watched this again on my home/desktop PC and I have a couple more things to add...

First, the first scenes at Pollepel where you're boating to the place and you use the drone for establishing shots ... that's some great editing man, really impressed.

Second, I'd kind of like to see this with the mid tones brought down just a tad, perhaps pulling the mid tones down using curves -- just my personal impression.

Lastly, do you know what those metal poles with the blue globes on top are?


Brian
 
Thanks again! Yea I had shots planned in my head and then I walked around to see what else I can come up with. Then just create a shortlist and then fly the shots. I best for conserving battery. I flow that whole video on 1 and half battery and still had one left over.

Yeah I agree with you there. The files are only 60mbps so I tend to do a grade and then export and look for artifacts or weird compression grain that's why I didn't go too wild. I also didn't shoot with my polarpro filters :( I didn't have them with me. Take a look below.

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Those metal poles are apparently leds lights. Someone put those up as like an art project. That's what I read but, I'm not 100%.
 
Thanks again! Yea I had shots planned in my head and then I walked around to see what else I can come up with. Then just create a shortlist and then fly the shots. I best for conserving battery. I flow that whole video on 1 and half battery and still had one left over.

Yeah I agree with you there. The files are only 60mbps so I tend to do a grade and then export and look for artifacts or weird compression grain that's why I didn't go too wild. I also didn't shoot with my polarpro filters :( I didn't have them with me. Take a look below.

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Those metal poles are apparently leds lights. Someone put those up as like an art project. That's what I read but, I'm not 100%.


I can't compare the P4 to the P4P but I have the Inspire 1 Pro which is also limited to 60Mbps and I can say for sure the P4P is noticeably superior in image quality. I think the increase to 100Mbps is the big thing though there maybe other things that were improved between the I1 Pro and the P4P. As far as filters are concerned I have done all my videos with the P4P without filters and the shutter speed is usually in the 1/1000 seconds range with ISO100 and f/5 to f/5.6 -- as far I'm not seeing rolling shutter issues or jello even when the shutter speed reaches above 1/2000. And, if anything, the video is a bit sharper with the faster shutter speeds.


Brian
 
Yeah that was one reason I wanted the p4p but I got the p4 for 999 brand new. Yea I was in the range between 1000 and 640. I usually use ND filters though. I actually shot that video using UHD 29.97fps and then slowed the footage down on a 23.97 timeline to smooth things out and give it a more cinematic feel. The only thing I don't like is the compression on the p4. It hates lots of leaves and sometimes the footage is really mushy and unusable. How do you like the inspire?
 
I saw this location on a TV show a few days ago. It's only a couple of hours from me so I'm planning to head there soon. Is there a location that I can fly from that isn't on the island. Looking at Google Earth, it looks like there is a rest area close by. I can park there then either take off from the side if there is a spot or head down to the railroad tracks.
 

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