Drones and Photography
Included are a couple of interesting photos, video, and a GIF, I captured with a DJI mini 4 pro.
I first started getting into quads in 2022. My first quad was a freestyle beast, and naturally, I had a ton of fun doing flips, dives, and of course crashing. I destroyed both my ancient GoPro Hero 2 and my more modern GoPro Hero 8. As enjoyable as freestyle is, it becomes extremely expensive having to constantly replace props, motors, ECSs, control boards, antennas, cameras, etc; and is unideal for Canada's overly strict regulations (FPV requires a spotter as per the VLOS rule). I found myself wanting to try something easier to fly and overall much cheaper.
Recently, I got to borrow a DJI Mini 4 Pro with the RC 2 controller. The RC 2 is a great remote equipped with a built-in touchscreen device that runs Android. The drone is a compact, yet powerful device with 360-degree proximity sensors allowing it to fly autonomously. However, to be fair, its follow-me mode is not perfect, and no one should fully rely on it.
The Mini 4 Pro is surprisingly boring to fly because it's too easy. What a difference coming from a high-powered quad on rate mode. However, the Mini 4 Pro is still worth owning. It excels in photography because you can capture almost any perspective with its high-quality and gimbaled sensor. It's so stable, easy, and smooth, that I found myself no longer interested in flying like a maniac, but instead trying to capture unique scenes and details in my surroundings. After just a few flights, the Mini 4 Pro reignited my interest in photography which had last been seen in my Nikon D5100 days. Anyway, I eventually had to give the thing back, here's what I got in the few months I owned it.
Here are the Drones themeselves:
