WARNING: CONTENTS OF THIS VIDEO MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME, ESPECIALLY PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO HAVE FELT THE PAIN OF GEAR LOSS.
In the days before my trip to Iceland, I had the chance to play with the DJI Phantom, an affordable, out-of-the-box quadcopter for budding aerial videographers. As I establish in that test flight post, the footage you yield from the DJI Phantom + GoPro combo may not be pro quality, but it’s perfectly serviceable for BTS material, AND it gives a person the opportunity to cut their teeth on a rig that comes in under a grand (or just slightly over, if you include the camera).
Ever the hacks, we tried to circumvent the GoPro limitation and mount a Sony RX 100 II, for three reasons:
1. The RX 100 II has image stabilizations (many commented on the shakiness of the GoPro footage on our first test flight).
2. It has a nice sensor and shoots RAW images.
3. Built-in Wifi. Our plan was to use the iPad Mini with the Sony app and control the camera shutter from the ground.
Seem pretty reasonable, right?
When you watch the video, know this: It brings us no joy to lose expensive gear, ever. I don’t encourage people to go out and perform needless hacks and unsanctioned upgrades, especially if you’re not insured, like we were. In our case we had a legit interest in yielding some higher end footage with a DJI Phantom we had invested in.
Couple UPDATE points… any assumption that i was just goofing around at tourist site just plyaing with my camera couldn’t be further from the truth. we had chartered the entire site for the shoot, been out on boats there at the site earlier – were working with the management there, paying high fees to be there with permits for very specific objectives. We also sought to potentially recover the unit out of concern for the environment but were discouraged from pursuing that option because of danger to divers due to swift current, big tides and huge floating chunks of dangerous ice.
Thanks again for going on this journey – and others – with me. And I hope you don’t mind my sharing all the stuff – even things like this that suck.
Chase- I’ve always been a huge fan. Love your work, and love that you share everything with everyone to learn from.
Yeah, it sucks you sunk it, but as you stated in the video and again here, there was a high level of reward if you pulled it off. Plus you knew the risk, accepted it, and were insured if it didn’t work out. All that aside, the thing I absolutely loved about this video is something that may have fallen to the wayside in everyone’s angst about the Phantom going in the drink (who really cares about that anyway, there is a larger story here), was the comment you made at the end of the video. You said something along the lines of, “things don’t always work out, it’s not always high-fives and chest bumps’. THAT statement is the lesson in this video. As I said earlier, I’ve always been a fan, and to see mistakes made makes learning more enjoyable and easier.
Forget the haters- I thank you and wish you continued success.
A little bemused at the attitude of so many experts out there.
If you take the time to really watch the video, you can see how cut up & disappointed Chase is at having lost that equipment. It’s obvious he doesn’t take losing that sort of gear lightly.
As for putting the gear at risk, anybody who knows anything about the world of professional photography, knows that the gear is a tool that often has to be put in harms way in order to get the shot. That’s why Chase has insurance – because he knows those risks will always be there.
Thanks for sharing one of the low points Chase.
For those considering a Phantom, just a heads up. Plan on the possibility of a lot of DIY getting the firmware to work, at least we did. New unit, straight out of the box, and despite several non-productive hours of screwing around with it and talking to support staff, and after multiple reloads of the firmware (which should have worked as advertised out of the box), the solution was “send it back to us and we’ll have it back to you in a couple of days.” Two weeks later, no Phantom. A refund was requested and notification was sent that a refund had been made to Visa–even a “confirmation” number of the transaction. Then a couple of days later, a box arrives (still remains unopened) which appears to contain a Phantom. And best of all, after checking with Visa about the “transaction confirmation” we received, Visa concluded that although the Visa name was used on the transaction confirmation, it was not a number or document that Visa sends. Visa refunded our money.
Folks on the phone for hours were very nice. But end of the day, even at a “bargain” price, a bargain may not always be a bargain. At least working photogs whose time is really worth money should know the possibility that they may invest some hours in making one of these things fly….at least that was our experience.
Thanks for responding, Chase. You’ve certainly earned the right to accidentally dump a camera or two in the ocean. If I had your budget I’d most likely get into the same kinds of experimental shenanigans. 🙂
tiny sony action cam (hdr 10, 15 or 30) has image stabilisation. the cheapest one for like 100 bucks. quality nothing worse than gopro.if the weight of the camera was the issue