Spyke

Made my first drone video with some actual effort in it!

Hello folks, I have very recently gotten my first serious drone, an used DJI Mini 4K purchased from a friend.

I've taken it out for a couple of flights and made some pics and videos, but this one is the first one where I actually tried to do something with some actual effort and I'm pretty proud of it so I wanted to share.

It ain't much but it's honest work.

P.S.: it's also available on PeerTube! It will load slowly tho, be warned.

View original on sh.itjust.works

Talon as my first tiny whoop?

I had previously looked at getting a BetaFPV Air75. It’s out of stock at my store right now so I am looking a bit further into what I want.

What I want to do: move on from sim, first indoors, then outdoors. I am not really into acrobatics or racing. My (first) goal is really to comfortably cruising around and taking pics/video on the farm.

Now I came across these cinewhoops and I am thinking that might be a good one to start with. Right now best deal and available is the Talon:

https://www.hglrc.com/products/hglrc-talon-2-inch-cinewhoop-analog-hd-fpv-drone

I watched/read several reviews and it seems to be a good beginner option that sits between sturdy tiny whoop (incl indoors flying) and filming outdoors eventually. Price is right in my range too! It can also carry a GoPro which I have.

Now there are two options available: VTX 800mW analog or Power kit (no vtx)

I don’t think I’ll like analog and eventually opt for something like the DJI O3?!

Can I mount that later if I go with the power kit? Really in the beginning I won’t even film. I want to practice flying. But I would love it if I could add a camera (go pro or dji) later. Is that what the power kit if for?

Does anybody know?

View original on lemmy.ca

BetaFPV Air75

I am flying sim (liftoff) right now and I just want a small/cheap drone to practice indoors (and eventually outdoors). Goal is to be skilled enough to fly and take pics and videos on a farm. No racing, tricks etc.

I see the original Air75 is now discontinued/out of stock. The new one comes in three types: champion, racing and freestyle.

Which version do I get?

View original on lemmy.ca
drones·DRONESbysobchak

FCC Bans Foreign-Made Drones and Key Parts Over U.S. National Security Risks

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/42842134

"UAS and UAS critical components must be produced in the United States," the FCC said. "This will reduce the risk of direct UAS attacks and disruptions, unauthorized surveillance, sensitive data exfiltration, and other UAS threats to the homeland."

"UAS and UAS critical components, including data transmission devices, communications systems, flight controllers, ground control stations, controllers, navigation systems, batteries, smart batteries, and motors produced in a foreign country, could enable persistent surveillance, data exfiltration, and destructive operations over U.S. territory."

FCC Bans Foreign-Made Drones and Key Parts Over U.S. National Security Riskshttps://thehackernews.com/2025/12/fcc-bans-foreign-made-drones-and-key.htmlOpen linkView original on programming.dev

Passed my US FAA part 107 test today!

I'm new to drone ownership, unless you count the cheap Holy Stone drone I bought years ago for under $100. (I was very disappointed in the photo quality, plus it was hard to fly, so I never did much with it.) I recently bought a DJI Air 3s, to use with my new job as a real estate photographer.

Today I took the part 107 exam and I passed with a 95% score! There were questions about flying at night, which I had missed while studying - I knew it twilight drone use, but not night time. I think I missed the question about what foreign drones can be registered in the US, but.... How does that help me fly safely? Some of those questions are there "just because", not because they actually help ensure the pilot is flying safely.

I've only flown the drone twice, just haven't had much time to do much, but I need to practice so I can get certified with the real estate company and add that service to my offerings. But it's easy to fly, I've found. Just have to get over my fear of wrecking it.

Anyone else doing pro work? I'm interested to hear what people are doing with them.

View original on lemmy.world

Controller question

Totally clueless I must say but I am reading a bit and here is what I want to do:

I want to learn how to fly before even looking into buying a drone. As far as I understand there are several good simulators on Steam and I figured I start there. Very reasonably priced too.

I need a controller. Sounds like a Radiomaster pocket ELRS is the way to go? I am a little fuzzy on if/how this connects to a computer (Mac mini) and if that also later can be used with a (some?) drone?!

Can somebody confirm this for me please?

View original on lemmy.ca
drones·DRONESbyAda

Insta 360 is planning a drone release!

I just discovered that Insta 360 is apparently going to release two drones sometime this year! I've been ranting to anyone that will listen about how much potential there is for 360 video on a drone, and my surprise that it's not really an option, and apparently someone heard my rants :P

Anyway, I'm a bit excited and can't wait to get my hands on them!

View original on friend.blahaj.zone
drones·DRONESbyAda

FYI for using DJI RAW files in Darktable

If you use Darktable for your image editing, and you have tried using a recent DJI drone, you'll have found that Darktable can't open DNG files from these drones.

However, there is a way around it! You can use the Adobe DNG Converter (which runs fine in WINE), and re-save your DNG file to be compatible with Camera RAW 13.2. After this, it will work fine in Darktable.

The notable exception to this is the Mini 4 Pro, which isn't compatible for an entirely different reason that this approach doesn't fix

View original on piefed.blahaj.zone

Camera drone recs for rooftop scouting?

TLDR: I frequently need to look at stuff on rooftops at work and I'm looking for a fairly budget camera drone to let me do that more easily than I can with my extension ladder.

I'm a commercial refrigeration/HVAC tech which means I do a lot of rooftop work often on large commercial sites where sometimes the only roof access is the extension ladder on my van. The most anoying thing about that type of work is the constant trips up and down from the roof often just to check basic like like if flipping that breaker inside actually turned the rooftop unit off.

I've been considering getting a cheapish camera drone for a while just to do things like reading rooftop unit dataplates, checking the readings on my instruments connected to the rooftop equipment while I work on the indoor parts of said equipment, or checking the rough state of equipment before I climb up to the roof so I can have some idea of what tools to bring with me. I could also see a camera drone being very useful for taking aerial surveys of large industrial sites to map out all of the rooftop equipment.

So I'm looking for a camera drone which can withstand moderate wind fairly well and is fairly rugged. On the other hand, range is not really a concern for me because I'll usually be operating it from 100-200ft away at most. Having longer range would be nice but I can only think of two customer sites where that would be necissary so it definitely isn't a priority. For the same reason, battery life also isn't really a concern. Odds are this drone would only ever be doing short jogs up to a roof to check something and then coming right back down. My work van has an inverter which could run my house so charging between jobs would be trivial. I'm also not terribly concerned about picture quality. I need good enough camera quality and fine enough control to read equipment data plates but outside of that I'm not going to be doing professional photography with it or anything. So as long as the drone would be capable of flying up to and reading a newspaper then the camera is good enough.

Right now I'm just looking for the cheapest drone that fits my requirements. At the same time though, I have had to spend thousands of dollars on tools far less frequently useful than it seems like this drone would be so if I need to spend up to about $800 on it then I can do that. I am also aware that diy is an option and I would love to get into that at some point but I already know that that way lies maddness for me. Right now I just need a functional drone and not a hobby I will definitely wind up spending more money on than my vehicle.

So what do you all recommend for a budget no frills workhorse camera drone?

View original on lemmy.dbzer0.com
drones·DRONESbyredlemace

Potensic SE

Well, DIY is still on the table, but in order to get a better view of the things I (don't) want I took the fathers day deal from potensic. It arrived yesterday and despite the wind being much stronger than advised I took it out on a test flight. I must say, I'm not disapointed at all! The one axis gimbal has the disadvantages they said, but I'm more into photo's than video, and in photo's it's easy to level the horizon. But even un-edited I got some decent picture out of it

View original on lemmy.world
drones·DRONESbyredlemace

Drone buyer suggestions

So, years ago (2018 or 19 I guess) I bought a Symax X15W to try a drone. Funny thing, but not suitable outdoors. Even when it looks there is no wind, when you go up a bit .... away it goes on the wind. But okay, that was to be expected. So after a year I passed it on to a coworker for his kids to play.

Still it was real fun to take pictures above the tree tops, so buying another drone is still a thought that keeps lingering. My requirements aren't high, i want to be able to fly outdoors without having to worry (too much) about winds. I wanna take pictures/films and a range of 1 Km is surely enough. With that range you quickly think flight time like 30 min?

Is there anything you could recommend without braking the bank? Given the amount I expect to use it I'm thinking of spending up to 200 ( maybe 300 if it's seems worth it to me) Euro.

View original on lemmy.world