I want to gave a huge thanks for Pete for how he continues to update OKC Talk with pic he takes. I, for one, look forward to seeing pics he posts. As its been said, 'a picture/photo paints a thousand words'. Thanks Pete for giving us updates with your pics!

You're welcome.

I enjoy doing it and am glad to know other people appreciate the effort.

I look forward to Sunday or Monday's posting because you seem to update photo's then. There have been many times, after seeing your pic/post, where I say, "oh wow!" as I look at the various projects around the city.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I second this notion. Without the "like" feature I don't always show my appreciation for contributions, but I really do appreciate the pictures, updates, and contributions from Pete and other posters.

What everybody else said!

Haha... As it happens I didn't get a chance to take any this weekend!

Will have updates soon though.

^ Slacker! ;)

Yes! Thank you and everyone else for their contributions!

Dear Pete,

Please get a quadcopter. Phantom 3's are ~$500.

Business expense!

Dear Pete,

Please get a quadcopter. Phantom 3's are ~$500.

Business expense!

Haha... I will at some point.

The main issue is that I photograph dozens of projects every week which takes enough time as it is. (Not complaining but I don't just do car drive-bys as should be obvious from all the pictures.)

Charging, setting up, deploying, flying, filming, then dealing with the photos to finally post adds an absolute ton of time to the process.

You notice that even the people in OKC that use drones don't take photos that often.

Okay, I finally broke down and bought a quadcopter for photos.

Now, I need to buy about 10 extra batteries and a multi-battery charger because I can only get one or two sites done per charge.

Have a HUGE list of things to photograph and have a lot to learn, but you will start seeing tons of oblique photos and videos from here on in.

I took these last night:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/sunshine1.jpg


http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/sunshine2new.jpg

^VERY Nice! Game changer!

^VERY Nice! Game changer!

Thanks.

Should have done this a long time ago but swore I would stop spending money on this stuff... But now that I'm back and trying to do frequent updates, the uses are limitless.

I already have about 50 things I want to photograph / video.

Oh wow! Those look amazing! I'm glad you made the investment :-)
Game changer indeed.....

I can only presume these were taken with a drone. Is there an ideal height/angle/speed to get photos like these? I know nothing about photography.

Do you have a YouTube channel Pete?

Do you have a YouTube channel Pete?

Not yet.

I'll get around to video in the near future and will post the link.

So, so much to learn with this new toy.

Sweet! I'm excited to see your future photos, Pete.

I've already taken dozens and dozens.

Should have done this a long time ago.

What's the financial and time commitment to learning this stuff? I'm interested...

^^^^^^^
I have a DJI Phantom 2, which cost about $600 a couple of years ago. Like all tech the quality is now better, and prices lower. Mine is great for still shots but regret not getting a gimbal that isolates movement because video while moving is not optimal.

It seriously took about 10 minutes on the ground to learn to fly it. These things essentially fly themselves.

Pete, be sure to get registered with the FAA if you haven't already.

Haha, I was wondering if you had finally bought a drone given the angle of all the photos posted over the weekend.

Nice Pete! What model did you end up getting?

What's the financial and time commitment to learning this stuff? I'm interested...

As much as you want to spend, and not that hard to fly. My son had a phantom 2, and we are upgrading to a DJI Mavic next week. $1,000 for the Mavic, and you can get a Phantom 3 for around $500. There is one made by Autel called an XStar for around $700, and it is a really good buy for the $.

My son had me flying his in just a few minutes. Unbelievable user friendly. A guy in Moore called American Drones will teach you and his rates are really good.

Just so people know, it's easy to get it up in the air and take some photos.

But navigating it around obstacles and getting it back to you can be pretty darn tricky.

All the DJI products have a 'return to home' software option where once enabled, the drone should come straight back above your head, then straight down to the spot where it took off.

But I've had real problems with that that almost led to disasters twice in my short drone piloting history.

It really takes some practice to understand how to move it around, know exactly where it is (if you get to any decent height and/or distance you'll never see it with your eyes) and how to have good control.

Also, you have to make sure you have plenty of battery to get it back home, and the batteries go fast.

It's also very difficult to gauge if it's actually above obstacles or not. You can see elevation of the drone on your controller but estimating obstacle heights is very challenging.

With the price drops you'll see lots more people flying them and issues are going to be on the upswing. You can get yourself in lots of trouble and there is really zero regulation unless you want to fly above 400 feet.

But 400 feet is plenty high and for example, my drone has a 4 mile (!) range. You can get it very, very far away where all types of crazy things can happen.

You put your name on it right, so people will know where to return it? I mean send the bill for damages.

I used to fly RC planes. Crashed a bunch, came close to flying them out of range, far enough the controls would start to be non responsive, but never did lose one that way. My son bought me a cheap drone awhile back but I haven't had it in the air other than lifting it off the floor in my house.

very nice, we bought my nephew a lower end drone for xmas - all i could manage to do was get it stuck in trees at the lakehouse and have to come up with creative ways to recover it so far