Hello from the southern Oregon coast

[wrongwayfeldman]

Hello, I'm here to to find out what equipment and methods experienced pilots recommend. I've never flown a drone and rarely used a camera but am thinking of supplementing my income by learning drone photography. Looking at getting questions answered like, Am I being too ambitious? Should I buy something cheap to practice with? How many hours of practice should I be looking at? Etc.
Thx

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Hello,
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the Phantom Pilots forum.
I hope that you will be able to use the forum to further your safety knowledge and for the exchange of innovative ideas and as a resource for current developments in DJI quadcopter’s.

It is certainly something you want to do a lot of research on. You would need to get your part 107 to work commercially. You will also need to be skilled at flying. While current models are simple to fly, experience is going to help immensely. Look around, start checking out youtube videos and do lots of research. It's not for everyone but you never know, it could work out for you. Good luck!

 

[WV. Rootman]

Welcome. Some of what you said has marit. If you could have someone show you, (Mentor) it would save a lot of grief. It is always best to evaluate the know factors. If you don’t know you can’t make a good evaluation.

 

[dirkclod]

Welcome to the forum .
I hope you will find our site helpful and look forward to any input , photo's/video's you might post .
Don't be shy and ask anything if you can't find it by searching .

 

[JohnWebb332]

Hello Southern Oregon coast member and welcome.
As someone who came from the same region I welcome all of the photos and video from their I can get.
I started flying cheap POS drones that had almost no real functionality. I waited for a drone that had specific characteristics such as a true beginner mode with gps and 360 obstacle avoidance.
Some will say this is not needed but it provides me with a warm fuzzy knowing it is there. Many people say it doesn't work.. in my limited experience the only time it doesn't work is when I changed a setting that disabled the safeties.
I chose a Phantom 4 Pro+ out of the gate and love it. I also suggest the DJI CARE as it can be helpful but take a bit of time. Read up on what and how the DJI CARE works.
If I were to buy another which I did last week, I would purchase a Phantom 4 Pro (not the plus) because the android device on the plus controller is limited to DJI Go 4 applications and it does not have agricultural capabilities or offer the use of Dronebase on the device. A second controller is an option but cumbersome at best. For my money, the P4P is the best starter drone available.

On a safety note: it is critical to stay out of the airspace of the fire crews fighting the forest fires.

Please fly safe

John webb

 

[PDX1953]

A 64 year-old drone newbie here from McMinnville, OR. I swapped a brand new Para Ordnance .45 ACP 1911 for a very nice Phantom 3 Standard with two batteries, an ARGtek range extender, Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 with a special holder along with a fitted aluminium case. I bought the 1911 for $530 so I figured we both got a pretty good deal because I wasn't going to use the 1911 (I have 15 others) and the other guy had barely used the drone.

I saw a posting about a 'bad battery' & one of mine displays that however the two 'bad' cells are only a hair lower than the other two. I know there's a way to balance L-ion batteries but if it'll fly I'll just put up with it. I was also happy to see a Beginner Mode!