Pocket Drone for 500 bucks, Kickstarter already at half a Million dollars.

thats... darn interesting!

such a small package i could throw into my camera bag. i usually have a gopro on hand anyways.

the pitch video is a bit uninformative, those finer details might keep me from hitting the pledge button but if there's other info about this out there, please do post it. nice stuff
 
I'd like to see more video of this thing in actual use. The issues with small drones is that even a light breeze can knock them around pretty good.
 
atarijedi said:
I'd like to see more video of this thing in actual use. The issues with small drones is that even a light breeze can knock them around pretty good.
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Well until they are released and the general public can write some reviews you have to take their word for what they've tested, but they say that you can still get a good shot in 10mph winds although it will eat up your battery. I wouldn't want to fly any drone, small or big in much more powerful winds than that.

Wow, approaching the 600k mark. These guys are going to have to crank out a LOT of drones!

More footage of it being used at 1:00 minute:

http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/1...-popularity-as-faa-navigates-potential-risks/
 
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i caved and backed it. you have till march 9 to back out if something starts to smell awry.

Yes there's other pretty small options out there, but i think what these fellas went for is right up my needs alley, small and can be with you at all times.

figure if i go backpacking, it can fit in the backpack and if i see a cool shot, just get it out and in a few minutes knock off a shot. not possible if you have anything larger and doesn't pack down small enough to fit in a backpack.

Or if im doing a small production, or gig, i could have this thing in my bag and if i see a reason to take it out, it's there to use.

...

OK, time to step away. already bummed that they didn't get this off the ground sooner so i could use it on my west coast USA national parks trip next month
 
Darren Levine said:
i caved and backed it. you have till march 9 to back out if something starts to smell awry.

Yes there's other pretty small options out there, but i think what these fellas went for is right up my needs alley, small and can be with you at all times.

figure if i go backpacking, it can fit in the backpack and if i see a cool shot, just get it out and in a few minutes knock off a shot. not possible if you have anything larger and doesn't pack down small enough to fit in a backpack.

Or if im doing a small production, or gig, i could have this thing in my bag and if i see a reason to take it out, it's there to use.

...

OK, time to step away. already bummed that they didn't get this off the ground sooner so i could use it on my west coast USA national parks trip next month
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Cool. Looking forward to seeing some footage if you get one. I was thinking this would be perfect for hiking trips.
 
David W. Jones said:
Without a good gimbal most of the footage is of unusable quality for commercial level work with almost any drone.
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back that train up a tad. all depends on the situation, the use, the client expectations, and the execution.

example..... basic jib up type shot, most drones do that pretty fine, fine enough for a little smoothing in post

replacing hollywood heli shots, no of course not
 
You got em covered! Have fun, though you may be there a bit early in the season?! (see: blizzard)
One way fees in tourism-oriented areas make no sense...
 
David W. Jones said:
Without a good gimbal most of the footage is of unusable quality for commercial level work with almost any drone.
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I was thinking that myself. I've been watching a lot of drone footage lately and started learning about them in hopes to build me own in a few months. I've seen a lot of jello footage from GoPros 50+ feet off the ground and the codec seems break up pretty badly with a lot of grass in the shot at high motion.

But for some limited lower height footage this might be a cool option to have. Especially as a newbie drone user like myself. Those bigger kits for DSLRs with 2 axis gimbals are in the $4-6K range and you still have to assemble them yourself.
 
Darren Levine said:
back that train up a tad. all depends on the situation, the use, the client expectations, and the execution.

example..... basic jib up type shot, most drones do that pretty fine, fine enough for a little smoothing in post

replacing hollywood heli shots, no of course not
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Yes, but most useable drones use brushless gimbals. One affordable "prosumer" option, if you don't already know it, i's DJI Phantom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGUc_kLBIg8
 
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A decent brushless 2-axis gimbal is essential to producing usable video.

And a decent dampening system to minimize jello due to vibration is also essential.

You can get decent footage without a BL gimbal so long as the dampening system cuts in, the props and motors are balanced, and you some decent stabilization in post to reduce issues on the roll axis.

You also need to know how to fly.

This multi doesn't appear to have a BL gimbal, so you are left with good flying skills, balanced props and motors, post production stabilization, and a camera that will shoot 60p and hopefully equipped with on board OIS.

Finally, if there is anything proprietary in the construction, including receiver, flight controller, ESCs, props, power distribution, and the frame components, then repairs could be costly. And you will crash.

There is a lot to aerial videography, in skill level, quality components, etc., that does not appear at first look.
 
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roxics said:
I was thinking that myself. I've been watching a lot of drone footage lately.

I've seen a lot of jello footage from GoPros 50+ feet off the ground and the codec seems break up pretty badly with a lot of grass in the shot at high motion.
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Actually, 1080/60p footage at 17 mbps from the Go Pro Hero 3 or 3+ won't exhibit the breakup straight out of the camera.

Encoding it to YT or Vimeo brings in a host of new issues.

Vimeo, at least with a Plus account, is noticeably better. If we're talking 1080p, you have to enable it manually on Vimeo, but still, no matter how high a bitrate you send, it gets crunched, to about 2.5mbps on YouTube and about 3.5mbps on Vimeo.

Vimeo also uses two pass compression, and YouTube does not.

I encode separately for YouTube and Vimeo and Vimeo clearly provides better looking video due to better compression, retains the original uploaded file, and provides the ability to download the footage.

Vimeo Plus is $60.00 per year, and is worth it in my view.
 
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