For those interested here is a vid of our first day trying the quad copter in the surf.

Unfortunately there was not much surf so I took out a raceboard. Hopefully more to come with better surf!

Awesome footage, such a different perspective. Thanks for sharing.

From what I read the battery life is around 10-12 mins for quad copters, do you just bring it back and change batteries regularly?
What is the learning curve like for flying the copter?

Cheers

Very cool

Thanks guys.

Jafa this is a DJI Phantom, the battery life is around 20 mins although sometimes down around 15 mins depending on the flying. Yep just bring it back and swap over battery when it is running low.

Learning curve is quite easy with this model as it has great stabilisation features. I have only flew it a couple of times and would be comfortable taking it out in the surf. You can change the settings to make it harder to control but add manoeuvrability however I think the default settings are pretty good for filming. Dave who is flying it in this video has it on the default settings using a FPV setup.

Soo good! Whats the setup worth? And.....if u crash it.....game over??

Awesome..

Nice vid. They had a big one of these at Bells which unfortunately did not have a black box recorder. By now it is on the bottom somewhere near Torquay.

What is the camera set up?, GoPro

This model is around $1100 without camera & FPV.

Yeah camera is just a gopro.

Unfortunately Dave has tested the waterproofing on one when filming a friend in the lake and is still trying to get that one to work so best keeping it out of the water haha.

Yeah nice really enjoyed that. Cool music too.

Thanks for posting it up. Can't wait for the next one.

I just got one a while ago to with the go pro gimble. Such steady footage.
I also had my first scare where the bastard went straight up and headed off in the distance to where I launched it. Somehow it lost signal and the GPS home return kicked in. Pretty scary watching the bugger heading off and having no idea where it is gonna go. Good to know it works though.

I heard the FAA has regulations on these things in terms of proximity to people which makes it questionable whether they can be used for filming someone paddling. Anyone know what the story is there?

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PTWoody said..

I heard the FAA has regulations on these things in terms of proximity to people which makes it questionable whether they can be used for filming someone paddling. Anyone know what the story is there?

yes the regs state that if you see one off these things over the surf , rocks and other missiles should be launched !!!!!!

30 m from people, 50m from buildings 4.8km from airports and not over 102m is the rules I got. I wanted to do a video of the HMAS Sydney memorial up here, thought it would be a good project. approached the council and they have no idea. they reckoned I had to file a flight plan and contact the police and CASA.
Guess it will have to be a clandestine operation now.
W