What to buy, for aerial photos?

[Apollisdk]

Hi, I'm all new to this forum and to drones.

I want to give my dad aerial photos of his house, from every season (winter, spring, summer and autumn).
I search the internet and finally found a good deal, for 4 photos for 1100$. He is using a Phantom with a GoPro camera and I was like: "Yeah I will buy that" Until I search for the drone and found out it's almost the same price for the drone as the 4 pictures.

So now I've been looking around the internet for drones to buy. Even if I won't use it for more than the 4 photos, I may be able to sell it very cheap and in the end it will be much cheaper total, than buying 4 photos alone.
It seem that Phantom drones are one of the easiest to learn to fly and control, for a complete newbie that haven't touch RC heli or drones before.

So that ends up with the Phantom with a mounted GoPro Hero3 camera or a Phantom 2 Vision.

The vision really appeal more to me, for the live feed on your phone. Since I have no practice with blind flying and taking pictures. Also the opinions online about who take best still photos and best video are kinda 50/50 between the Phantom vs Phantom 2. Some say Vision take better stills and worse video, some say Vision are better in everything, some say GoPro is better in everything etc etc.
But then I can read all these problems with the battery. And DJI will come out with a software update soon, to maybe resolve the issue. And that made me stall for buying anything right now.

I know the opinions are divided. But only for taking still pictures, what is best between these 2 machines? I'm thinking on printing them in A3 scale, so if anyone have any experience printing that large would be great. Or else A4 size would do.
Is the flying blind not that hard to master?
Is there even a 3rd option or even more?

Hope to get some more info, from you people that have much more experience. Thank you

 

[Peter Patricelli]

$1100 for four pictures?? Of course that would mean four separate trips to the house and flights to get a "4 season" set....so I guess that explains it.

You can do it yourself for less than that...and have a Phantom to boot.......IF......you separate your goal of 4 season photos fro your growing fasination with playing with a quadcopter.

A Stock Phantom comes with a GoPro gimbal for @ $500. A GoPro3 Black costs $300. That is really all you need to get 4 excellent seasonal still photos. The stock gimbal is pretty inadequate for good video....but you aren't shooting video. You will be shooting stills constantly from liftoff to landing....with the same camera/lens combo. You can pretty easily figure out the best shooting position from your first flight...you will have a complete constant record to look at. Just roughly reproduce those flight positions over the next three seasons. Voila.

BUT.....you are getting excited about more than just getting the 4 pictures. Those drive other questions. But a basic, stock Phantom1 and a GoPro 3 Black are all you need, and are still an excellent starting point for all else for the future.

 

[martcerv]

If all you really want is 4 photos maybe a kite and a camera will be more then enough. If you were to go the route of a quadcopter im sure you would find much more use out of it then just 4 quick flights and then selling it.

 

[miskatonic]

Selling aerial photos from a UAV will bring the FAA down upon you with heavy fines. Just saying.

 

[Apollisdk]

A Stock Phantom comes with a GoPro gimbal for @ $500. A GoPro3 Black costs $300. That is really all you need to get 4 excellent seasonal still photos. The stock gimbal is pretty inadequate for good video....but you aren't shooting video. You will be shooting stills constantly from liftoff to landing....with the same camera/lens combo. You can pretty easily figure out the best shooting position from your first flight...you will have a complete constant record to look at. Just roughly reproduce those flight positions over the next three seasons. Voila.

I live in Denmark. So a Phantom with a GoPro is 1100$, a Phantom with GoPro+ is 1200$ and Phantom Vision is 1450$
And sounds good, that it ain't that hard to figure out to get good pictures with a GoPro. I'm just a big noob with drones, so that is why I think vision seem more easy. Since I have no idea how it is to fly blind .. yet

If all you really want is 4 photos maybe a kite and a camera will be more then enough. If you were to go the route of a quadcopter im sure you would find much more use out of it then just 4 quick flights and then selling it.

What kind of kite are you talking about, the normal paper, sticks and string (as a joke)? The photograph close to me, who had a motor kite and did aerial photos cheap, sold his 2 years ago
I will be needing to have the drone for a year, to get all 4 season shots. So maybe I will use it more than I think now, and then I won't sell it. But if my interest is low, then I won't see it as a loss selling it cheap.

Selling aerial photos from a UAV will bring the FAA down upon you with heavy fines. Just saying.

Pretty sure FAA have no jurisdiction in Denmark and I'm not talking about selling photos. Talking about taking photos for my dad as a present.
If I should end up taking money from others to take photos. I will check if everything is okay before I do. If I can't do it legal, well no loss for me. But since I can buy photos from someone using a drone here in Denmark, it may be legal to do so


Thanks for the replies so far.
Would still really like to know what kind of quality the stills are with GoPro and Vision in large prints. There are pictures online taken with GoPro and Vision, but that ain't the same as large print. Cause if it won't work in large print then I will just need to buy aerial photos taken from a plane with a mirror reflex camera and pay the 2200$ for the 4 pictures.

 

[martcerv]

What kind of kite are you talking about, the normal paper, sticks and string (as a joke)? The photograph close to me, who had a motor kite and did aerial photos cheap, sold his 2 years ago
I will be needing to have the drone for a year, to get all 4 season shots. So maybe I will use it more than I think now, and then I won't sell it. But if my interest is low, then I won't see it as a loss selling it cheap.

In regards to a kite this may give you some ideas.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCTorY2xu8U[/youtube]

If your looking at a phantom and your main intention is still shots then a vision may be the better option. For me I'm not much into photos just video and so much prefer a regular phantom with gopro, fpv and gimbal setup and have little interest in a vision for my use.