Anyone own a DJI?

Trojan Horse · 5 May 2019 at 17:20

Was thinking of getting one just to take some photos, maybe look into getting commercial photography for web design or something, like real estate photography. That's only a possible use in the future.

Mostly just to play around with. I live near the lakes and always get nice pics out there.

I'm getting offered £450 for a Mavic Pro (Original) and I know that I could probably get the Spark for a fair bit less at £250.

Has anyone upgraded to either? What would you suggest I buy?

Do you think the Mavic Pro will lose a lot of value in the upcoming years? It will be my first drone and looking at the camera comparison across the Pro 2 I don't see a huge difference (I know the 2 is obviously better) but getting a Pro for a 1/3rd of the price is a deal.

esmozz · 5 May 2019 at 17:26

I own the original Mavic pro - stunning bit of kit, as a first drone you can't go wrong with it. Definately get the Mavic over the Spark, if only for the range and extra flight time. The camera on the Mavic is fine but you might need to tweak the photos in photoshop or something.

Edit: Also, if that's 450 quid new, bite their hand off.

Trojan Horse · 5 May 2019 at 17:39

esmozz said:
I own the original Mavic pro - stunning bit of kit, as a first drone you can't go wrong with it. Definately get the Mavic over the Spark, if only for the range and extra flight time. The camera on the Mavic is fine but you might need to tweak the photos in photoshop or something.

Edit: Also, if that's 450 quid new, bite their hand off.

Aha its not 450 new, I wish!

I whittled it down to £425 with 4 batteries, charging hub, stealth props, flight case, extended feet and travel bag, and controller of course! So yeah I think it was a solid deal.
Best part about it was, as the seller ran a business, I could pay on credit card and get a proper invoice!

Have you got any use of it commercially?

Have you tried the FPV DJI Goggles?

Pho · 5 May 2019 at 19:05

Pro tip from a colleague who has a DJI, you want to look at hacking it to enable FCC (US) radio frequency mode rather than using CE (European) mode. FCC allows for higher output power = being able to fly longer distances. His drone went from a max distance of about 2 miles to 4.5 miles with FCC.

This technically breaches what you're allowed to use for radio frequencies, but who cares

.

Raymond Lin · 5 May 2019 at 19:07

If you shoot it for ANY kind of commercial work with it you will need a drone licence which is about £1500.

It’s why I haven’t got one for weddings.

Trojan Horse · 5 May 2019 at 20:04

Raymond Lin said:
If you shoot it for ANY kind of commercial work with it you will need a drone licence which is about £1500.

It’s why I haven’t got one for weddings.

I was thinking of getting one actually.

Have to get insured first though. Got any ideas where is best?

G-MAN2004 · 5 May 2019 at 20:11

Raymond Lin said:
If you shoot it for ANY kind of commercial work with it you will need a drone licence which is about £1500.

It’s why I haven’t got one for weddings.

Would that not be a worthy investment though? I imagine a lot of people would love shots like that.

Raymond Lin · 5 May 2019 at 20:21

G-MAN2004 said:
Would that not be a worthy investment though? I imagine a lot of people would love shots like that.

It also restricts take off and landing spaces and a lot of venues do not have the required spaces to make it legal.

It’s not a service that I can offer and fulfill.

Django x2 · 5 May 2019 at 21:02

I have an Inspire, and a commercial license.

Bad_Boi · 5 May 2019 at 21:05

I've got a Mavic Pro (2 1/2 years old now), its amazing for the money. We have used it to get so many videos/photos of our family, landmarks, scenic vistas & even used it in loads of other countries. All of these shots would be impossible with a normal camera.

For the price you've been offered, its a no brainer

Trojan Horse · 5 May 2019 at 21:10

Django x2 said:
I have an Inspire, and a commercial license.

Where did you get your commercial license from, is it PfCO?

Where did you get your insurance from? I was thinking of getting Photoguard incl 1m public liability, but its only £50 which is suspiciously cheap (I would guess its not for commercial but why else would you have public liability)

Trojan Horse · 5 May 2019 at 21:10

Pho said:
Pro tip from a colleague who has a DJI, you want to look at hacking it to enable FCC (US) radio frequency mode rather than using CE (European) mode. FCC allows for higher output power = being able to fly longer distances. His drone went from a max distance of about 2 miles to 4.5 miles with FCC.

This technically breaches what you're allowed to use for radio frequencies, but who cares .

Did his battery drain just as much though? I heard this is only for Sparks as the Mavic Pro is already like 4.4 miles

Django x2 · 5 May 2019 at 21:17

I did mine under eurousc and use coverdrone for insurance. It's a lot more than £50 but does cover nearly £4k of equipment

wez130 · 6 May 2019 at 03:40

I sold my Mavic pro as i just wasn't using it! I don't miss it.

Rroff · 6 May 2019 at 05:42

Pho said:
This technically breaches what you're allowed to use for radio frequencies, but who cares .

Yeah who cares about little things like level 5 fines and potentially a year in prison.

Russinating · 6 May 2019 at 12:43

There's a big multirotor thread here FYI: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...uadcopter-discussion-thread.18363033/page-541

I've been a commercially licensed pilot for the last 5 years, originally owned a DJI S1000 (only sold the frame the other month) and we've owned pretty much every DJI product to date. Currently using the Inspire 2 mostly with an X5S. My two colleagues are also licensed so they tend to do most of the flying nowadays but I've flown all over the world before now. We use a broker for all our varying insurances but I believe we're with Droneguard for the multirotor element.

Feek · 6 May 2019 at 13:46

Pho said:
This technically breaches what you're allowed to use for radio frequencies, but who cares .

You’d be surprised just how many people care about spectrum abuse.

Trojan Horse · 6 May 2019 at 14:10

Feek said:
You’d be surprised just how many people care about spectrum abuse.

Yeah I don't intend on abusing the spectrum, besides you can't use DJI Goggles doing that.

Have you tried the Goggles Racing Edition? I can get the RE for 315 and the standard goggles for 215... is it worth the 100. it looks absolutely gorgeous. I might just buy based on looks alone.

MadMossy · 6 May 2019 at 16:28

Pho said:
Pro tip from a colleague who has a DJI, you want to look at hacking it to enable FCC (US) radio frequency mode rather than using CE (European) mode. FCC allows for higher output power = being able to fly longer distances. His drone went from a max distance of about 2 miles to 4.5 miles with FCC.

This technically breaches what you're allowed to use for radio frequencies, but who cares .

He's the reason regulations are becoming so tight.

Your actually not meant to fly beyond 500m or visual line of sight which he clearly is doing. DJI goggles are a rip off for what you get, better off getting some normal 3d ones (with hdmi input) and using the litchi app instead.