In doctors’ offices of the 1970s among the magazines would sometimes be an article in Readers Digest in which a human organ was the protagonist; for example, I am Joe’s Kidney. Now in 2022 and new to composing photos and video clips from the birdseye point of view of a drone, this article takes a similar approach, placing the drone itself in the role of speaker.
I am Joe’s camera drone. My ancestors were much less nimble than I, and pilots could not fly as smoothly as they do today, thanks to innovations by dreamers, designers, makers, and sellers. In the early days of popular drone play and professional uses around 2010 there were far fewer fans of the expensive investment, although laws were not yet well developed or enforced. So enthusiasts, hobbyists, and all sorts of professional users were relatively unlimited in the locations and ways they recorded images and moving pictures. Drone racing and movie studios began to attract interest, too, in the early days, pushing the technology forward until today the split between for-profit and personal is clearly defined, including an exemption to the FAA rule about registering the small aircraft. That is where I fit in. At just over 210 grams, I am below the 250-gram cut-off (0.55 pounds or 8.8 ounces), below which no registration and license is required of the amateur pilot.
With that background, let me talk about my own life. First of all, when not in the air my four motors with propellers fold neatly against my body, where my modular battery and my swivel head camera reside. With lightweight composition and lots of control and communication handled by software and the external controller or smartphone of the pilot, there is really very little mechanical guts to make me go. Obviously, it can take a lot of energy to spin the brushless motors at the normal (default) speed or at the pace for advanced piloting. But thanks to continuous monitoring of GPS location in reference to the pilot and also in knowing the height (Above Ground Level, AGL), I can get from point to point even when buffeted by mild winds. When constant adjustment against the wind is at play, my airtime is shorter, since the battery is consumed more rapidly. That is why my favorite condition for flying is zero or almost zero wind and lots of sunlight. The sunny conditions give better camera results very often (and easier Line-Of-Sight for me and the pilot) and the minimal wind allows maximum time in the air of just beyond 20 minutes per battery pack.
They say, “time flies when you are having fun,” so the 20-minute time frame soon runs out. But outbound for a minute is about as far as the pilot and I split up, so as to maintain visual contact. So 1-minute out and the same to return still leaves 18 minutes to take photos or video. What I have heard from other drones, though, is that experienced pilots set a timer to make sure to recall their drone with 5 or 6 minutes to spare. That safety cushion is smart, since the result of dead battery mid-flight is auto-emergency return to departure point in a bee line, even when there are physical obstacles on the route. Crashing into obstacles or falling out of the air when still above a body of water is not good. I could be damaged, but also what is hurt is my feelings; not being taken care of by use of a safety cushion (recalling the flight well before the emergency point).
My birth certificate goes back to early 2021, only a year and half ago. Nowadays the public rules and common-sense expectations about privacy make clear the boundaries for limited, forbidden, and for unrestricted flight. That was not always true five or ten years ago. Generally, where there are people, flying above them is limited or not permitted for amateurs. Professionals with waivers, or for newsworthy events, and for emergency personnel the use of drones is most every situation is allowed. Since my pilot is a hobbyist, that limits me to recording scenes at parks and countryside (farmland), as well as lakeshores and the edges (but not overhead) of towns and industrial settings.
For some people the sound of high-pitched propellers distracts from whatever they might be doing outdoors. For others the reason for complaint is the possibility of being recorded in general, or in unflattering light and events more particularly. Still others do not like to be visible (even if no recording of photos and video occurs) in their own homes or workplaces. It is true that my less sturdy, less expensive cousins can be especially noisy. But my own brushless motors create a fewer sound waves.
Some readers may wonder what a day in my life looks like. In fact most days I just remain at home, not even taken out to see the light of day. Speaking of daylight, the rule about keeping visual contact between pilot and drone means no roaming after sundown. Sometimes the reason I sit at home is that flying conditions are poor: precipitation, low temperature, winds that is anything more than a breath all leave me warm and dry. But even when it is a great day for soaring into the wild blue yonder, my pilot is busy with other things like reading and writing. Skilled piloting makes my day. Sure, there is a learning curve and so less than perfect flying and photography is understandable. But like all skills with hand-eye coordination, it does take practice with some regularity, not just when the excitement of opening a new camera stirs the human’s heart. Thankfully, my person is pretty conscientious and read the owner’s manual before beginning. And rather than blast off in the driveway among the neighborhood, we actually went to an empty sports field free from overhead hazards and other obstacles on the ground. That way, whether manually landed or with the preprogrammed “auto landing” we came to no harm in those early days of getting to know each other.
My all-time best day out so far has been on a bright morning with departure from that wide field and practice pictures from various altitudes, trying out all the flight patterns preset: looking straight down, turning 360 degrees to record all or part of a place from the air, the “follow me” function in which we sort of play tag (so long as now hazards come between us), and “waypoint fights” in which the pilot lines up a course on the screen for me to complete. Being able to show off these superpowers of mine is a source of pride. Maybe later generations of camera drones will do these things and more with less energy, expense, and risk of malfunction. But for the moment, I think I am more or less the state of the art in my peer group of super-light, non-registered advanced drones intended for hobbyists who like taking their lens into the air.
Readers who are serious about picture-taking or who like high quality images may wonder how good my camera is. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so one person may be more impressed than others by my pilot’s idea of how to frame a shot and when to press the record button. Now that he is pretty familiar with how to maneuver into position and avoid getting the sun in the way, the pictures turn out pretty well, if I do say so myself. Technical specs are at modern cellphone level, that is, if only a cellphone could have wings (or brushless motors). But human error still produces pictures with less than award-winning character. Practice does make perfect, though, not just piloting but also composing. So I am confident that my guy will continue to get more adept at visualizing conditions and subjects best suited to viewing and recording from on high. But even with good specs and experienced photographer, still there is the “eye of the beholder” to consider. Some will be glad and others will be less appreciative about the birdseye perspective of a subject and its surroundings.
Sometimes I daydream about dramatic locations to visit or about photo opportunities closer to home to capture from a fresh aerial perspective. But those are dreams, after all. I am old enough to understand that money and time limit my pilot’s movements. And being a living, breathing creature of flesh and blood, instead of powered by modular batteries, I understand intellectually at least that he gets more excited about some photo projects than others, often in places or times that do not seem that interesting to me. But mine is to fly, not to question. Plus, there are all those national and local rules intended to get the skyways safe for powered planes and to protect ordinary people’s cherished privacy and right not to be seen. I would not want to be a jerk about those. Stil, I can daydream all I want, waiting from my next great day out.
By now the reader will have an idea of my life as a camera drone. Before now my pilot had to climb a high spot to get an overall picture of a place. I sometimes sense that he would like to be like me and fly unfettered; well, up to 400 feet AGL, at least. Overall, I am pretty happy what I can do, and what I can do for my person. Maybe my parting words should speak to prospective photographers of the air: advice for care and feeding of your camera drone. It should go without saying, but it is still worth repeating: read the manual before flying. Do the FAA-approved free online self-test to get your UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) certificate as safe pilot (teaching the basics of when and where not to fly, for instance). Preflight begins with a plan to rehearse in your mind from beginning to end, rather than wandering aimlessly and without looking around for hazards. Then do a visual check of any damage before AND after the flight (propellers, mainly; also any junk on the lens); are batteries full and controller recharged? Of course, weather conditions have the final say in flying or in being grounded: no freezing weather (depletes electrical charge of batteries), no appreciable windspeed or gusting, no precipitation showing on the local forecast. Seeing all these factors together may seem like a lot of hurdles if you just want to have fun and not be too serious about snapping pictures or recording a video clip. But old adage I have heard humans say, does apply: “If you fail to plan, then plan to fail.” Unless you are a bird that flies by instinct, you will have to do things the human one, by following guidelines and skills learned from practicing.
When you are a good steward of your drone then your drone will give you good results. All the considerations mentioned above just set the stage for aerial picture-taking. Up in the air is where the fun begins. So go out there and fly, fly, fly. I know it will make me happy, if not getting me myself outdoors, then at least getting one of my fellow camera drones into the sky.
