California prospectors drone

[nugget7]

4k video of using drone for gold prospecting in California:
California prospectors drone

 

[Reed Lukens]

Yuk... I always did hate the fisheye. Tell him to leave out the music If the guy is filming in 4k a polarized lens would have been a lot better. You definitely don't ever need 4k with a fisheye... Being he was maybe 180 feet up, when he said that it couldn't be heard, he was wrong. Also when he said he was zooming in, he lowered the drone, it was obvious, which is why his buddy looked up, they're actually pretty loud, especially when right over his partners head at say 20 feet up when he stopped dropping in altitude. I guess to me it would have been a lot better if the narrator had been telling the truth.
#1 - No Zoom on a go-pro...
#2 - Drones made for the public are loud and they are made loud so that people will not be surprised by them.
I can't believe that this guy was lying about drones on camera and he's an owner... You would think with all of the anti-drone bs going around, just like the anti-mining bs, that people would learn from these mistakes. I mean here's a guy trying to sell a lie about him spying on someone. Heck if that drone was flying above me and it was somebody spying on me at my claim, I wouldn't have been walking away from the car, I would have been pulling the trigger on this dirtbag who was breaking the law and risking my life by flying a drone over my head. This guy needs to delete his video and go take some classes taught by responsible drone owners....

 

[nugget7]

4k video of using drone for gold prospecting in California:
California prospectors drone

Reed,
Wow, a lot of hostility ... guess your having a bad day. I'm not about to correct each point you made except you really need a sense of humor!!

What I said is above 300' or so, MOST people would not know it was there. This statement is correct for this larger size drone. I also said let's zoom in ... I never said the Gopro had zoom, as I was zooming in my lowering the drone! Yes, that is my buddy and we had the shot all set-up ahead of time. So, you should NOT assume this is just a stranger in the middle of no-place, or that I would fly it like that with the general public.

 

[SpecJet]

Do you have an FVP setup on it so you survey an area beyond visual range?

I can think of many a time, when sending a drone up a long canyon to have a look would have saved a lot of time and effort.

If I could figure out how to get one that could pull samples, I could do all my prospecting from camp.

 

[G-bone]

Drones scare me to be honest.
Or should i say the potential threat Drones can have on us all scares me.
I've seen videos of guns mounted on Drones. There's the first step.
If the government decides to police the public with Drones, were screwed.

That said I totally see it's positives too...
It's redefined the movie industry along with the GoPro Camara,

Just saying.

 

[nugget7]

Yes, it comes w/built-in screen. But, part of Govt. rules are that you are only to use it in line of sight.

Do you have an FVP setup on it so you survey an area beyond visual range?

I can think of many a time, when sending a drone up a long canyon to have a look would have saved a lot of time and effort.

If I could figure out how to get one that could pull samples, I could do all my prospecting from camp.

 

[nugget7]

I understand! Many high-tec items can be used both for & against the people.
For a real good drone use, you may want to look at this news report on Youtube:

Drones scare me to be honest.
Or should i say the potential threat Drones can have on us all scares me.
I've seen videos of guns mounted on Drones. There's the first step.
If the government decides to police the public with Drones, were screwed.

That said I totally see it's positives too...
It's redefined the movie industry along with the GoPro Camara,

Just saying.

 

[Duckshot]

That's a cool tool. I wonder if a GPS could be hooked up to a drone to pinpoint where it takes the picture? Throw a laser range finder in too so the user can plot topographical maps and mark points of interest. That would be a really cool tool for a prospector with an even greater potential for abuse by hooligans.

On the other hand, you can stab a man to death with a just a screwdriver anyways. Can't uninvent screwdrivers.

 

[SpecJet]

Software is available that can take GPS data from the drone and use it to stitch together still photo's, to create a large scale composite image over a wide area.

A company is coming out with a micro LIDAR pod for drones that produces hi resolution terrain data that looks amazing. Haven't seen a price on that , probably not cheap enough for the average prospector yet.

New sensor technology is coming out so fast, it's hard to keep track of it all.

 

[Reed Lukens]

Reed,
Wow, a lot of hostility ... guess your having a bad day. I'm not about to correct each point you made except you really need a sense of humor!!

What I said is above 300' or so, MOST people would not know it was there. This statement is correct for this larger size drone. I also said let's zoom in ... I never said the Gopro had zoom, as I was zooming in my lowering the drone! Yes, that is my buddy and we had the shot all set-up ahead of time. So, you should NOT assume this is just a stranger in the middle of no-place, or that I would fly it like that with the general public.

So what you meant was that you weren't zooming in, you were lowering your drone and he could hear it and that's my point. There's so much anti drone bs out there right now that videos need to be made positive for them. One of the biggest problems is that the public thinks that drones are zooming in their lenses from 400' above them and that they can see everything that people are doing... This is such a huge misconception and the public needs to be aware that most of the drones used by the public can't zoom in at all. Yes there are large drones with cameras that zoom and most of them are used for tv and cost $15,000.00+ but 99% don't. Hostility, yes, when I see a movie that is putting drones into a false light, I say it like I see it. As you can see from other posts here in your thread, there are people who are scared of drones. We need to educate the public on how safe they really are from people taking close ups of them from above and such. So for the viewers here that saw his video, he wasn't ever 300 feet above the miner... At times his drone was maybe 20 feet above him and it could most definitely be heard. The close up of the cons in the pan was done by holding the gopro itself and the drone was not flying or probably even attached to the camera. Unfortunately a lot of people have many misconceptions of UAV's and how most responsible operators use them safely. Now a days drones also have programmed in "No Fly Zones" and they can't be flown around airports, government buildings and so on, they won't even start their motors if they are inside these zones. Yes I have seen a drone crash and get destroyed but these days, drones are much safer and the old horror stories need to be put to rest. It's not legal to add anything to your drone like pistols or anything and it doesn't happen anywhere except on fantasy land television, where the media has done their best to promote their anti-drone agenda. Where are all of the news stories about drones being used to save lives? There's thousands of these stories and I can tell you right now that they are being edited out by the media giants so that the public only hears the bad.

If you want to do good as a drone pilot then join SWARM - SAR Drones | UAV Search And Rescue Drones

or see the good -

 

[SpecJet]

Yes, it comes w/built-in screen. But, part of Govt. rules are that you are only to use it in line of sight.

That may be changing, hopefully. There's supposed to be new drone regulations coming down the pipe early next year.
With companies like Amazon and Google pushing the FAA so hard to allow for drone delivery, the line of sight restriction would make that impractical.

 

[nugget7]

That may be changing, hopefully. There's supposed to be new drone regulations coming down the pipe early next year.
With companies like Amazon and Google pushing the FAA so hard to allow for drone delivery, the line of sight restriction would make that impractical.

Maybe! I'm really not fond of the government trying to regulate every aspect of people's lives.Originally, I purchased my first drone to use in my real estate business. It's the perfect addition for larger homes sitting on a couple of acres of land. The aerial footage would be incorporated into the close-up exterior and interior video and give a prospective purchaser a total appreciation for the property.But, the FAA has come out and said that even if a real estate agent does not charge their clients for this service they consider any use of a drone for real estate to be commercial and therefore real estate agents may be sued by the government.

Now, the reasoning supposedly behind this is public safety and privacy. Sure, this sounds good at first blush, but, how does using a drone to promote a home that a real estate agent has just listed somehow put the public in danger or invade their privacy?

Keep in mind that if you didn't want the close-up and panning effects one could use Google Earth to zoom in on almost any place, including people's backyards in the world!

Also, you would think that a real estate agent who has permission to film a home that he just listed both inside and by drone is not going to be violating anybody's privacy or safety!

The latest from the FAA on drones is that they have loosened up the licensing requirements. Again without further investigation this would sound promising. But, the reality is that even if you go through all the paperwork with the FAA and get a license to use the drone commercially, the actual operator of the drone still has to have at least a private pilots license! This is just another example of a government Catch-22!

 

[SpecJet]

I thought you could get a part333 exemption with a "sport" pilots licensed operator, may be wrong on that though.
If so, it's far easier to attain as there is no night flight requirements and reduced minimum flight hours.

Either way it's a little extreme, in my view. I have a pilots license and fly drones and feel the only real benefit is in the understanding of controlled airspace around airports.
The parts that concern drone pilots could be learned in a one day class.

From what I've read, the new regulations for commercial use of drones under 50 lbs won't require the operator to have a pilots license.

 

[nugget7]

You very well could be correct, All I'm trying to say is that you would think after going through and getting the exemption that would be all you need. If you're really not interested in paying for and putting in the time required for any type of pilots license, I do agree that it is extreme government requirement.

Plus, I believe all the major photography drone manufacturers have incorporated into their software codes that did not allow you to fly above 400 feet or even take off when you're within a certain distance of any major airports in the world.

A year or so ago in San Diego I was in the old section of town and wanted to use my DJI drone to photograph an historic home. When turning on the drone and transmitter, a message popped up that basically said the drone would not even spin the motors, let alone take off because it was in a certain zone around the San Diego airport.

I also have read similar statements that once the government requirements are out there will be an exemption for small drones. But, what I have read is that exemption would be for ones that are under 5 pounds. Personally, I have no problem with that, because obviously the drone that I have is not over 5 pounds.

I flew hang gliders for 20 years and never had to deal with or get a license or permit from the government. But, now that I'm flying a little model helicopter that has a camera on it, the government is trying to restrict my use.

What they should do is just put some common sense rules that all drone manufacturers in the country have to add to their packaging if they intend to sell drones here.

But, no rule or government regulation is still going to prevent jerks from operating a drone in an unsafe manner. I mean just look at how many years we've been fighting to get drunk auto drivers off the road.

I thought you could get a part333 exemption with a "sport" pilots licensed operator, may be wrong on that though.
If so, it's far easier to attain as there is no night flight requirements and reduced minimum flight hours.

Either way it's a little extreme, in my view. I have a pilots license and fly drones and feel the only real benefit is in the understanding of controlled airspace around airports.
The parts that concern drone pilots could be learned in a one day class.

From what I've read, the new regulations for commercial use of drones under 50 lbs won't require the operator to have a pilots license.

 

[Duckshot]

Im pretty sure there is no kind of crime that one could commit with drone that is not already illegal or could be handled in civil court.

But, the control freaks will be sure to change that. " ... for the children ".