I’ve been talking about unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for several weeks now, but now I finally have my very own DJI Phantom 2.  I’m writing this post on a Saturday, and I’ve had the UAV and related gear in my possession since this past Tuesday.  I’ve never been great with RC stuff, and flying is the worst.  But I’m already flying pretty well with my Phantom because of all the tech built into the UAV.  With a compass and GPS on board this thing is super stable.  If I get in trouble I just take my hands off the controls and it sits still wherever it may be.  If I have trouble getting it back, have a low battery, or lose connection it will come right back and land from wherever it launched because the GPS locks in the starting position.  I can also just flip a fail safe switch or turn of the radio and the ship will come home.  And with live video feed being transmitted from my GoPro Hero3+ Black Edition I can see whatever the camera is seeing which allows me to fly far beyond line of sight.  

Trust me, line of sight is not very far!  This feature also allows me to pick up flying easily because it’s like a video game for me, and I’ve spent quite a few hours with a controller in my hands. There are many uses for UAVs in agriculture.  On our farm I’m going to be scouting our crops while they are growing.  It’s really hard to beat a view from the sky because I literally have a different perspective of my fields.  When walking fields looking for weeds, pests, or disease I can only take in so much from ground level.  Being above the corn and soybeans will give me the ability to see the extent of various problems and help me make better decisions on how to deal with them.  Please check out my article on CNN’s Eatocracy for several more ideas for UAV use in agriculture. I’d be lying if I said this stuff wasn’t a ton of fun, and I’m probably going to be mostly having fun and learning for a while.  It’s winter so we only have some dormant cover crops and wheat right now.  

Once planting season is over I’d like to come up with some kind of schedule for flying over each of our fields on a regular basis.  I actually think we should be walking our fields more often than we have been.  Summer is hot and humid, and even farmers don’t always get a kick out of walking their fields.  This Phantom 2 and associated payload will probably actually get boots on the ground more often because if I find a problem we’ll need to go check it out on foot anyway.  But in the short week I’ve had this stuff I’ve learned a lot about what I should and should not be doing. For example, I can land on our deck though I definitely won’t be taking off from there again soon.  I just about took off right into the second story overhang.  I’ve taken some really cool pictures from near our house and over a field.  I’ve made a couple of YouTube videos already, and I know there will be more really awesome footage once tractors start rolling again.  It’s gonna be great!

Here are a few examples of what I’ve done already.  Please enjoy them, and be sure to stick around for much, much more on this subject!  I should also give a shout out to Chad Colby for helping me get started and Aerial Media Pros for putting together the great kit I bought.radio controlled drone helicopter After two days of flying with no payload so I could get my feet wet I hung the gimbal and camera and explored my immediate area.  mq-27 dragonfire drone with remote control specsI’m flying forward full speed here which is why the two front arms and propellers can be seen.  how much do attack drones costThe red LED lights indicate the front of the ship.macdev drone dx vs proto reflex rail

Today I ventured out to the field we installed all that new drainage in this fall.  The wider dark path all the left side laterals run to is the main line we installed last year.  I retraced it this year the chisel plow so it could easily be found.  A shorter main connecting the 9 laterals on the right was a decision we made because the big main follows the path of a large county tile.  macdev drone dx settingsRather than mess with trying to miss (aka cut and repair) the county tile we just opted to put in a short main of our own on the other side for those 9 lines.  parrot ar drone kapazaThey can’t be seen now, but there are more laterals entering the longer main that were installed last year. This video begins where our two mains and the county line dump into an open ditch.  From there I fly out over the whole installation.  

The tilled patch at the far end has new laterals as well.  We made a lot of tracks there digging up and removing rocks so we worked that area with the chisel plow between the new lines.3 Awesome Videos Shot with Drones (and How They were Made)Starting at a reasonable price, these Phantoms are a great way to have fun and experiment with your photography and video. For other camera/software recommendations, see Trey’s Gear and Tools here on the site. Here’s a video review of this amazing quadcopter. Note this is a video review of the Phantom 4, which has roughly 90% of the features of the Phantom 4 Pro. I’ll note what is different in the Phantom 4 Pro below. DJI makes three quadcopter types. I use the Mavic 30% of the time for “quick shots and videos” and the Phantom 4 Pro the other 70% of the time for more serious photography and videos. Here’s a simple way to think about it, compare it to regular cameras. I recommend the Phantom 4 Pro. There are a lot of flavors of the Phantom and it can be a little confusing.

Just get the best, and don’t worry if you are not a “pro” and just think of yourself as an amateur. All the Pro features are things that any amateur can benefit from. What do you get with the Phantom 4 Pro that is different than the Phantom 4? Here’s my favorite compilation of video shots I’ve collected over the past three years. Here’s a good example of what you can do in about a week in a location! Flying the Quadcopter in Sydney. It’s so easy and fun to fly! Love to Mick Love for taking this cool photo during our Google/HBO Game of Thrones photowalk event! It’s REALLY easy and fun! Here’s the key thing that new people are surprised by… if you just let go of the controls, it stays steady in the air. It’s also connected to at least a dozen GPS satellites that helps keep it steady if there is a cross wind. Now there’s a really nice tutorial built into the app that takes you through the basics. Anyone can do it… literally, anyone. Let me back up a second.

So, there are two pieces to the puzzle. There’s the quad and then there’s the DJI Go app that you run on your phone or tablet. I like running it on my iPad because the screen is so big and I like to see the live video. The app lets you do all kinds of stuff. Not only can you configure everything, but you can also use the app to take photos, record video, and more. I do love taking video, but maybe I get the biggest kick out of taking photos from unique angles! And there are as many options for this camera that people are used to with modern digital cameras. You can even do auto-bracketing if you wanna make an HDR photo. You can shoot in RAW mode too, which gives you a lot more flexibility for post-processing. One complaint is it does take the photos a little slow. For a set of 5 brackets, it may take up to 3-4 seconds. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s definitely not as fast as my handheld cameras. A second complaint is that Autobracketing only steps by 0.66, so my 5 stops go from -1.33 to +1.33.

I don’t know why this is not configurable. A third complaint (getting pedantic here) is that every time I fly, I need to go turn on Auto Exposure Bracketing again. This Phantom series of quads has So Many Features I could go on and on. The camera itself is 3-axis auto-stabilized, which makes for buttery smooth video. The controller is very fun too — it’s like an XBox controller and you can do almost anything right from the controller rather than clicking around the screen on the app. For example, it’s really easy to use the controller to aim the camera straight down or any angle you wish. There’s even a built-in flight simulator so you can practice! This is all footage from the Phantom 4 Pro that I shot here in New Zealand — all locations are less than an hour from my studio here in Queenstown (a little Queenstown plug there!). Music is “AMB – Set in Stone” Here’s a video I made in Beijing. I actually got detained by the Chinese Police for this. If you click on that link, I have the whole story!