Drone News

The responsible use of recreational drones is becoming a heightened concern as these devices are gaining in popularity among photographers and other hobbyists. Last Friday afternoon things nearly got ugly as the pilot of a Lufthansa passenger jumbo jet reported nearly colliding with a drone while on landing approach to Los Angeles International Airport.

During the coming year, the means we’ll use to capture photographs may change but not the motivation to share our view of the world with others. To accomplish this goal we need tools to change the way we see that world and interact with it. Imagine handing an iPhone to Alexander Graham Bell. What would he think of it? The future of imaging includes many paradigm-shifting technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence but in the short run, we’ll deal with trends.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officially refers to quadcopters as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) but they obviously have more in common with the kind of hobbyist’s radio-controlled aircraft that have been around since I was a member of the Poly Aeroneers in high school. Yet tech blogs and social media endlessly refer to quadcopters as “drones” when the only thing a General Atomics MQ-1 Predator and a DJI Phantom 1 have in common is that they’re capable of flight. But they’re not without some controversy.

NANUK 945 DJI Drone Case: Ideal for drone users, this durable case is crafted from lightweight NK-7 resin with a top foam insert and a polyurethane lower foam insert. The case measures 25.1x19.9x8.8 inches and weighs 12.7 pounds. It is watertight (with a maximum buoyance of 120 pounds), temperature range is a minimum of 20˚F to a maximum of 140˚F. The NANUK 945 DJI drone case has a conditional lifetime warranty and is available in your choice of olive, orange, silver, yellow, graphite or black. 

Drones are wonderful tools for photographers (versatile and fun to operate) but for one reason or another not every flight goes as planned. This brief viral video—captured in Victoria, Australia by photographer Adam Lancaster—documents a dramatic encounter between a DJI camera drone (just flying along, minding its own business) and what appears to be an irate wedge-tailed eagle.

HEXO+: The HEXO+ is another new imaging drone that is capable of auto-following and auto-filming your subject. The HEXO+ is similar to the Lily Flying Camera drone, which we featured last month and took the UAV world by storm.

For commercial photographers and videographers hoping for clear signals from the FAA regarding the use of imaging drones in their businesses, the agency’s announcement yesterday of its new Pathfinder program may not sit well.