Here’s Everything I Have Learned About Flying, Crashing and Retrieving Drones
You will crash your drone. Appreciate your drone, love on your drone, kiss your drone each time you bring it back safely with that precious footage, because at some point, you will crash it, and it will be devastating
Buy a DJI Brand. I tried to be all cute and get the GoPro Karma drone. It sucked. DJI has won the consumer drone market and are lightyears ahead of all competition. Spend the little extra money, you won’t regret it.
You will crash your drone. So you should probably get the insurance that DJI allows the consumer to purchase for the first 3 days after activating. Especially if it’s your first drone. Oh, also buy some extra propellers
Only take off when your drone has GPS signal. Quick story: I once took off from the edge of a lake with no GPS signal (basically it couldn’t connect to satellites because the trees we’e blocking the signal). The drone acquired GPS signal while over the lake. The drone sets the “home location” wherever the drone is the moment it acquires GPS. So when my controller died, the drone’s safety feature is to return home so it kindly landed itself in the lake. So make sure you have GPS before taking off :) You want the home location to be where you are flying it from
Use the “Quick Shots” features to film yourself. I like “asteroid” and “boomerang.” The drone will fly itself while you run down the beach, do your yoga flow, kiss your significant other, etc. and it won’t look weird with a big controller in your hand
Try to always land the drone in your hand. Even though it’s scary at first, it’s much safer and you run less of a risk of landing unevenly or breaking a propeller on a rock.
If your drone is getting pushed out by the wind, fly it as low to the ground as possible, then fly back to you
Move the joy sticks in opposite directions of each other for sweeping shots of the landscape. Basically you are spinning the drone and flying sideways at the same time. And to take it to the next level, pivot the camera at the same time :)
Treat the charge of your drone batteries like gold. You only have about 20 min of filming per battery. Setting up each shot and filming it is going to take more time than you think. Try to plan the shots you want to get before you even take off. And buy a spare battery or 2.
Experiment to build your style. The drone is an amazing tool that can do so much. Try hyperlapses, active tracking, quick shots, flying really close to the ground, long sweeping shots etc.
You will crash your drone. So make up your mind and fly the shit out of it with no fear. That’s how you will get the best shots
Drones I recommend
DJI Mavic Air - A little cheaper, and smaller. Uses wi-fi signal so not great if you are planning to use it in a city
DJI Mavic Pro - Great all around drone and perfect for a beginner