Negative attitudes to drone photography?

Have you been publicly told off for taking drone photos?


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Have other people experienced public telling off by residents or passers by when shooting or just flying? I've learnt not to tell people I'm shooting photos or videos if they ask, until I find out their attitude or reasons for asking. Too many people seem to have a bad attitude to our hobby. Last week, I was flying outside my apartment which is part of the local cruise ship terminal. I was observing the required 30m from buildings. A guy approached me and asked if I was taking pics. I said I was shooting the sunset on the river (which I was). Then he gave me a public telling off! I told him I was sensitive to privacy issues and observed the regulations. What I didn't think to say to him was, "You live in a cruise terminal. There are 75 ships a year that berth right outside your apartment. Each ship has around 3,000 people on board. All of them have cameras. Do you give all of them a public telling off?" He's an idiot, but it's still annoying and disappointing!

Also, I was on a cruise earlier this year (Antarctica etc) but didn't fly for various regulatory and weather reasons but one fellow traveler threatened to "shoot the bloody thing down if I see it". You would think that the people on expedition cruises to that part of the world would be a bit more understanding of and sympathetic to innovative means of capturing the magnificence of the place, but no, he was a total jerk! :-(
 
Most people I see think the same thing, it's just a few who are really negative.
 
Same here, never had anything negative when flying the phantoms. People regularly come up and ask "how far does it go?" " how long can it fly for?" and the usual inquisitive questions. I am always open and answer any questions and invite them to look at the screen if they wish, i've had several people stay throughout the whole flight and some have gone off to do some research on the phantoms as they would like to buy one, they always thank me for taking the time out to talk and go away happy and think its amazing.
It is sometimes annoying when they ask lots of questions but it's human nature and most have never seen anything like this before, i'm sure i'd be asking the same questions if i never owned one.
 
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Its pure ignorance.The average persons knowledge (understanding) of "drones" is naturally negative because the media mainly report the *negative*.
I ran into an friend recently when I told her of my hobby, first thing she implied was that drones equal spying on your neighbours and perversion!!!!!
Get yourself a hivis vest and look like its a boring job - tell them your checking the roof.
 
The last time I flew I was asked "how much does it cost?" by three separate people, lol.

But the trigger question I've discovered is "Do you have a camera on that thing?". When I hear that my ears perk up. About half the time this is followed-up with "well you better not be photographing me!" so some such statement.
 
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You guys are way nicer than I'll be when that happens to me the first time. I'll most likely give them a crash course on the freedoms we enjoy here in America, followed by an explanation of why they have no expectation of privacy in a public venue, followed by they're so ugly why would I ever want to photograph them, and most likely followed by a quick shave and haircut via props. (Well, maybe not the last part.) I paid good money and put a lot of time into learning the ins and outs of my new hobby................ I won't put up with any bozos who are full of their own crap.
 
You guys are way nicer than I'll be when that happens to me the first time. I'll most likely give them a crash course on the freedoms we enjoy here in America, followed by an explanation of why they have no expectation of privacy in a public venue, followed by they're so ugly why would I ever want to photograph them, and most likely followed by a quick shave and haircut via props. (Well, maybe not the last part.) I paid good money and put a lot of time into learning the ins and outs of my new hobby................ I won't put up with any bozos who are full of their own crap.

I'm with you on this, if people are polite then I'll be polite back and more than happy to talk to them, I've not come across any negative comments yet but if I did I would try and explain what I am filming/photographing and ask them why they feel that I would be interested in what they are doing, then I would resort to ignoring them, however if they actually threatened me or my bird I would not stand for that and probably warn them of the potential consequences..... Hopefully that would be enough..... I am 6'1 and 250lbs...... And you wouldn't like me when I'm angry :mad:
 
Same here, never had anything negative when flying the phantoms. People regularly come up and ask "how far does it go?" " how long can it fly for?" and the usual inquisitive questions. I am always open and answer any questions and invite them to look at the screen if they wish, i've had several people stay throughout the whole flight and some have gone off to do some research on the phantoms as they would like to buy one, they always thank me for taking the time out to talk and go away happy and think its amazing.
It is sometimes annoying when they ask lots of questions but it's human nature and most have never seen anything like this before, i'm sure i'd be asking the same questions if i never owned one.
+1
I show the camera view to interested people, answer their questions, show them how you would have to be so close to anything to get a good picture that it would be almost impossible to do without them knowing what was happening. I sometimes add that almost every person in the country has a cell phone and could be standing 2 feet from them taking hundreds of pictures of them while pretending to talk on the phone and they would not know. Most people are just curious and have never seen a quad before. I've also had several people leave saying they were going to buy one, but more people when they hear the price lose interest and walk away.
 
Ask them if they have a phone that can take photos or videos? Tell them that is the primary tool of perverts taking secret photos of people, women or children in public places. Or the perverts use binoculars or a camcorder with a 70 times zoom. Or a Digital Camera with 200 mm zoom lens.

Tell them a quadcopter has a camera with a wide angle lens for taking landscapes and from normal flight altitudes a person looks like a pimple or if they are fat, a boil on the surface.

If a quadcopter gets close to them, it sounds like 4 weed cutting machines in harmony, and therefore it cannot sneak up on anyone unless they are deaf. There is no zoom lens on a hobby quadcopter. The police or news helicopter is a much better tool to zoom in and spy on people.

A drone the military uses has all types of super secret cameras, night-vision, zoom lenses and deadly missiles but that is not what a hobby quadcopter is for. The person with a two story home can spy into all the backyards of their neighbors with a zoom lens or binoculars. How many high-rise apartments in the big city have a telescope on display, do you think they are watching the stars?

This hobby is going to have a lot of critics until all the good things start to happen with search and rescue, fire rescue, flood rescue, hostage situations, finding lost children and news reports live over hard to get to news scenes.

Be polite, most are impressed. Don't brag about how high or far it will go. Tell them 400 feet and LOS, because they might work for the FAA!
 
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Have other people experienced public telling off by residents or passers by when shooting or just flying? I've learnt not to tell people I'm shooting photos or videos if they ask, until I find out their attitude or reasons for asking. Too many people seem to have a bad attitude to our hobby. Last week, I was flying outside my apartment which is part of the local cruise ship terminal. I was observing the required 30m from buildings. A guy approached me and asked if I was taking pics. I said I was shooting the sunset on the river (which I was). Then he gave me a public telling off! I told him I was sensitive to privacy issues and observed the regulations. What I didn't think to say to him was, "You live in a cruise terminal. There are 75 ships a year that berth right outside your apartment. Each ship has around 3,000 people on board. All of them have cameras. Do you give all of them a public telling off?" He's an idiot, but it's still annoying and disappointing!

Also, I was on a cruise earlier this year (Antarctica etc) but didn't fly for various regulatory and weather reasons but one fellow traveler threatened to "shoot the bloody thing down if I see it". You would think that the people on expedition cruises to that part of the world would be a bit more understanding of and sympathetic to innovative means of capturing the magnificence of the place, but no, he was a total jerk! :-(

I've been lucky and and have had only positive experiences with people. There are a few in my family who have had the discussion with me that people are up in arms about privacy and I often say something very similar to what you mention... every single person who is walking around with an smart phone has the ability to record what you are doing.... every... single... one... and at a much closer distance than a Phantom. I think people should start worrying about privacy when people start loading dslr's with optical zoom lenses (digital zoom is so very limited)..
 
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They just all wave to me.
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this is P2v+3.0 video, the the P3A went down in the lake Friday for unknown reasons, last radar shot showed it headed down at 20 MPH.
 
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I got yelled at for disturbing paragrin falcons in an old abandoned train station. Said he was going to call the DEC.
 
Most of these complainers can probably be handled with a little grace and courtesy. Not a very common practice now days when verbal conflict erupts-- but that will usually put out the fires pretty quickly-- It takes two to rumble-- and we as a group of hobbyists and photographers don't want to be a part of that action.

They push:mad:, we shove back:mad: and then everything can get out of hand very quickly and we make the news again.:eek: There are no winners here.
 

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