Anyone here do professional aerial filming & photography?

[dani_r]

I'm keen to hear from anyone who has or knows about photography and aerial filming on a professional level. I've been having some very positive chats with various groups here and I'm very keen to get the ball rolling on this as soon as possible! Obviously I want as much information as possible to ensure I can make this a viable business here so any help in areas such as:

Recommended camera equipment for photography and/or filming
Camera Ship options - (Quads/Octos/700s etc)
Insurance & Liability
Flight Regulations
Health & Safety Regulations relating to this profession
FPV usage - I know there are plenty of folks who have done FPV here so please don't be shy

I am aware of the BMFA guidelines regarding the operation of these models, however I'm looking to take that further on to a more professional level whilst maintaing the highest possible standards of safety.

I will of course be doing my own research in to this field as we speak, but would really appreciate the input of everyone. All information or thoughts/ideas, no matter how small is all valuable information so please speak up

Cheers

Dani

[rapidgaz]

Anyone here do professional aerial filming & photography?

Give grant cooper a pm. Grantbeltcp

[bikerflier]

Have a look at CAP722 CAA regulations.

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~jps7/D...guidelines.pdf

[asomaro]

Dani,

Yes - I and a business partner have set up a commercial organisation that will provide aerial filming solutions for all sorts of clients.

The very first thing to know is that if you plan to make any money or any form of commercial gain (ie you get you get free membership of your local gym in return for providing some aerial shots of the sports complex), then you are required to be licensed by the CAA for your individual aircraft. You need to take a look at these guys EuroUSC where you will find more information. Basically you will need to attend a two day ground school during which you will learn about the Air Navigation Order which covers all the rules and regulations as well as understanding how to work with air traffic control centres and building your Operations Manual (the bible for your flight ops) followed by and exam - you must get at least 85% pass mark. This followed by a flight and Operations Manual test which is set up once your operations manual has been passed by the BNUC guys. Only then will the CAA give approvals for commercial UAV flights. This process costs about £1400.00. Dont' be tempted to skirt round this and try to do stuff on your own, 'cos two things will bite you, one, the CAA are getting much hotter about the illegal UAV commercial operations so they will prosecute if you are found, and two, you will absolutely categorically NOT be insured. So if you do commercial work and hurt someone in the process then you are on your own as the standard BMFA, RCHA insurance will not cover you as you are operating outside of the CAA Air Navigation Order that applies to ordinary model RC flight.

Beware, this is not a cheap thing to do, so far we have shelled out a whole chunk of money on specialist Hex's, camera, gimbals not to mention the BNUC CAA tests and of course the specialist insurance required to do commercial flights. Your clients are likely to want very good quality stills and video, so expect to shell out for good kit, but the bigger issue is getting a very good image from the aircraft, and that means and excellent build with specialist gimbal and stabilisation gear. Fortunately we already have a ton of gear that we can use (things like hex controllers, ground station equipment etc etc etc), without which the cost would be stupid! You must think about the return on your investment, we are fortunate in that we did a lot of ground work first and we have developed a pretty good potential client list from film work to survey work which will all kick off in the new year.

As for kit, it depends on what you want to do, but if you plan to lift a reasonable camera and gimbal set up then go for the Vulcan Hexacopter with the photohigher av200 pro gimbal and the skyline gyro stabilisation system. We use the Sony cx730 which is producing some excellent quality images. We will also use an Octocopter for heavy lift applications as well as Quads for light work and perhaps pre-flight testing to check shots using something like the Go Pro Blacks 2 of which are on order.

Many folks (including us) have at least two fully qualified pilots (we will have 3) so that one can fly the aircraft and one can operate the camera. Again some folks are using a video down link so that a live camera image can be seen on a passive ground station. FPV can work well for the camera operator but unless you have specialist CAA permission FPV for the pilot is a grey area.

Dani, do your research on this mate, it is a really awesome thing to get into but make sure you know what you are letting yourself in for so that you can plan a good route for success.

All the best,

[ChrisB]

Couple of Guys in Bournemouth doing the same thing.Fully Licensed.

Aerial photography and video - hedgeair.co.uk

[dani_r]

Guys, thank you very much for all the information

Simon, if you wouldn't mind I would like to PM you with some further questions at a later date!

Cheers

Dani

[Paulo uk]

I think Simons advice is excellent. I have just completed the BNUCS exams. We have a skyjib 8 heavy lift with av200 gimbal, fc is a dji naza m. We have shoots lined up for next year using slr's and redcams. Take it slowly and choose your kit according to the type of work you will be doing.

Good luck.

Paul

[dani_r]

I think Simons advice is excellent. I have just completed the BNUCS exams. We have a skyjib 8 heavy lift with av200 gimbal, fc is a dji naza m. We have shoots lined up for next year using slr's and redcams. Take it slowly and choose your kit according to the type of work you will be doing.

Good luck.

Paul

Awesome Are you operating alone or with a crew? The bit I wasn't 100% sure on regarding registration was do I initially register as Operator or Pilot/Crew?

I think I'll go for the AV200 gimbal, DJI WooKong + iOSD and the Skyline system for the AV200. Unsure on the choice of airframe as of yet but the Vulcan is looking favourite at the moment.

[Paulo uk]

Part of a crew - to get any decent reslults you will need a payload operator and a good pilot..... The wookong is fantastic IMO - although our antenna has just been recalled!!!!


P

[dani_r]

Part of a crew - to get any decent reslults you will need a payload operator and a good pilot..... The wookong is fantastic IMO - although our antenna has just been recalled!!!!


P

I think the difficult part there is finding someone else who is willing to part with £1400 for their licence! lol

How did you find the DJi setup? Fairly straight forward? I'd be keen to see your setup

[hedge]

I think the difficult part there is finding someone else who is willing to part with £1400 for their licence! lol

How did you find the DJi setup? Fairly straight forward? I'd be keen to see your setup

Hey Dani,

I am Paul I run www.hedgeair.co.uk (thx Chris). The camera operator does not need to be BNUC-S qualified just the Pilot. Aerial film and photography is one hell of a way to spend money - good luck

We fly single rotor and a MicroKopter. The great thing about Mikrokopter vs DJI is that coupled with a Graupner radio the telemetry is second to none and in the AP world telemetry is very important.