I’m mostly talking about camera drones rather than FPV ones.
Every time I take mine out of the bag, people gather around with the same questions: how high does it go, how far does it go, was it expensive, have you ever crashed, etc. - as if they’ve never seen a drone before.
It seems like every single YouTuber and amateur photographer has one these days. They’re easy to fly and relatively cheap too. You’d think they’d be everywhere, but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve actually seen someone flying one. Granted, I don’t leave the house much and when I do I usually head into the woods, so that probably plays a role. Still, I’m curious if this is just me or if other people have had the same experience.
When I got into drone flying back in 2014 you grabbed a drone, charged it up, and went for a fly.
Then in 2016 I got hired to fly a drone for a movie I was working on. I had to get permits to fly, I had to get a license, I had to tag my drone my operator number.
In 2018 I rented out my drone to another production because I could not make the dates they needed me to fly. They destroyed my drone and my backup drone, I took the insurance money and bought a better drone. I have yet to fly it because there is much more paperwork involved to fly it.
As of a few years ago your done must broadcast your registration number. Mine is too old for that so I need a separate transponder module.
I’m sick of your freaking rules man!
I’m not. I can appeciate cool drone footy as much as the next guy, but they are fucking annoyin when flying around
Which is why I toss a GoPro on my RC trucks again instead of flying a drone, which is sad because I sold my RC planes to buy my first drone.
Maybe confirmation bias plays at least some part here? If you’re exposed online to YouPotatoes who extensively use drones, you’re likely to think they’re more common than they actually are?
You need a license to do it now. Probably just more trouble than it’s worth. I’m also sure the random hype died down as well.
That depends on the kind of drone you’re flying. For ones under 250 grams you only need to register as an operator. At least that’s the case where I live.
Where I live, europe, while not strictly illegal is so restricted and you have to ask for so many permissions to fly a small drone that’s not worth it.
People wanting to fly one would just go to some remote place on the countryside where no one would see you.
Speaking for myself, but I think it might apply to others too.
I just have no use for a drone, it is cool tech (which I like) but I have no interest in photography or anything else you can do with drones
Well yeah, it’s a camera that can fly so if one is not into photography then there’s not much use for drone either. However, I do see plenty of people carrying around cameras that often cost many times more than what a good entry-level drone costs so price shouldn’t be an issue there.
I’m a professional photographer. I regularly carry 2 or 3 camera bodies when working that probably cost 5 of your drone.
I still have zero need for my own drone. That’s a very specific style of photography with a small community of enthusiasts.
I’ve been to weddings where they use it instead of the fisheye and ladder approach to capture large groups. They’re also used for videography at the weddings. But to your point, they’re extra.
They are huge in real estate photography.
That’s what my neighbor does. Real estate, surveying, and sometimes stuff like fishing tournaments.
Yeah, don’t get me wrong, they’re a great bit of kit for certain purposes. There are some shots that are easily 50% simpler to get having a drone.
But those specific instances are still so far between that unless your photo business is built around selling those shots to people, its just an unnecessary extravagance.
I don’t even know what a drone with a good camera would cost, or do they just mount a mirrorless. Either way, ans you say anirs ann extravagance out of my price range! My D7000 works fine thank you.
All drone cameras are good in daylight. It’s mostly when you need a telephoto lens or better low-light performance that you need to be investings upwards of $1500 on it. Otherwise a $300 mini drone will do just fine.
Because they are expensive, stupid, and annoying and most people think they are obnoxious. I’d be embarassed to every fly a drone in public with how noisy and invasive they are, I’d feel like a total asshole.
Definitely nuisance when flying over national parks, which is illegal. It disturbs the nature and wildlife. I always call that shit out when I see it.
I hear you. I’m the same way when someone brings up a hobby they enjoy, but I think the hobby is dumb. I would feel like a right asshole for going off on a rant about how stupid that hobby is.
Lots of people enjoy ‘hobbies’ that are noisy, obnoxious and dangerous. And straight up illegal
Like illegal street racing. I’m sure all the illegal street racers think people are assholes for calling the cops on them, and that when they crash into someone’s house or block traffic that the other people are the assholes…
A few towns around me have dedicated drone zones, as in here is a specific place you can go fly your dangerous and loud drone. Thankfully once they happened, most people started doing that. And they are no long flying them around in general public areas with people and cars and freaking people out. Similar to how people with RC planes… don’t fly them in busy areas or in cities… but drone operators tend to be more reckless, or were, until my state/city started banning drone flights in most public areas.
You can fly a drone with a special permit for a special event, but you have to get all of that approved beforehand. Just like if you want to go race your car… you go to a race track.
Or another issue I regular encounter… stupid people taking motos and ATVs on non-motorized trails, acting like they are ‘victims’ when the park rangers or cops are called to kick them out. Or acting like someone walking their dog on that same trail is an asshole for ‘getting in their way’ even though they are the one being a twat.
Can only speak for myself, but they are a huge invasion of privacy. I know it’s a drop of water in a bucket with everything else hyper connected, but when I see them it’s always somewhere I’m just trying to enjoy something peacefully and even though it’s very unlikely I’m particularly being watched, it just feels like a huge privacy invasion.
Depends on the drone of course, but for the most part the camera lens is so wide that you’re nothing more than a tiny speck on the screen. To actually recognize a person I’d need to fly so close that it’s obvious you’re being watched. The drones with cameras capable of that are loud enough that it won’t go unnoticed, and the people who invest that much in one generally have better things to do with it than being a creep.
I get your point and I don’t disagree. Just wanted to offer some perspective.
Because those drones are still rather expensive and… useless? I personally can’t imagine what fun (let alone useful) I could do with a drone. I suppose a few first flies would be fun just for the sake of flying, but what next?
They are great for exploration and photography/videography which I’d count as rather useful. More “useless” things are flying it for fun and getting better at controlling it. There is stunt flying and tricks you can do, there is a whole community of enthusiasts who modify (and build) drones and contests you can compete in. “Useless” like any other hobby I guess.
Yeah, EDC aerial reconnaissance is the other usecase besides photography. Nice to have something you can send to scout ahead before commiting to bushwhacking.
Doing stunts and tricks requires a different kind of drone though.
They’re not that expensive, but they’re not cheap. The DJI mini goes on sale for like $200 fairly often and that’s an insane value for what it is. But yeah, unless you live in an area with a lot of great views you’ll probably use it a handful of times then leave it in its box.
Unfortunately the US government is trying to outlaw them so we might not get newer models.
I only fly mine when I’m somewhere interesting. Typically, that would be somewhere with few people around.
Unless you’re using it for a specific purpose (surveying, content creation, videography) they’re still a niche product that most average consumers have never come into contact with, except in stuff they watch, so naturally they’ll be curious.
Don’t let what the internet tells you about people influence your expectations without first testing them in the real world. Life depicted online is not an accurate representation.
Here in Europe, you see signs everywhere saying drone usage is banned. Both in towns but also in nature areas. I have always been interested in one but it feels like there is no where to fly them. I don’t think that’s a bad decision since they are annoying and, if you don’t know what your doing, you could hurt someone but I’d it does put me off actually buying one.
Not much to do with them unless you want to photograph something specific, and for photographers/videographers the quality can be a let down unless you spend like 2k+ at least, because you basically are using a flying GoPro (DJIs version, but still not exactly mind blowing photography capabilities there).
Even when something is fairly inexpensive and readily available, the nature of the thing may preclude it from being well-noticed in public, even if it’s not being intentionally obscured at all. Things that move are an especially good example, because most people don’t really pay significant attention to passing traffic or stuff moving approximately 3-5x faster than their own walking pace, with the exceptions of when they themselves are in motion too (eg seeing another train while riding a train), or if the object is coming straight at them.
An example suited for fellow Americans: seeing the same color and model of your car, parked in public, is very easy to spot, because that’s how you’re accustomed to seeing your own car: stationary. Whereas seeing your own car in motion (while you’re stationary) is slightly harder because: 1) it’s whizzing by for only a few seconds, and 2) you’re not used to seeing your own car drive away from you. Confirmation bias then means that you rarely see that same model of car in motion.
Drones have the same perceptional bias, but compounded by the fact that humans aren’t in the habit of scanning the skies overhead for drones. And even if they do, identifying a hovering drone means to spot a small dot that’s hanging dozens of meters in the air, or being within earshot (inverse-square law limits this distance). And if the drone is moving, then spotting it is even more difficult, although it does have a moving audible footprint now.
Finally, there’s the operator, which in almost all circumstances is stationary. Yet, for similar reasons, why should anyone notice if someone is standing in a forest, looking at a screen with a set of controls? If nobody is around, is a drone operator even there? As a fairly solitary activity, it’s no surprise that few have ever seen a drone actually being operated, much the same that loads of people know of Pokemon cards and yet few have actually seen the TCG played out on a tabletop (this fediverse audience excepted).
TL;DR: the general public only perceives things that are easily perceivable. When did you last see your car moving?
I immediately notice a drone flying around in the vicinity. They are not quiet. I mean I can barely see it but its an odd noise that draws attention.
I flew it for like a few months then I keep crashing it, or like have it gone too far and never been able to retrieve it… etc…
(Not a fpv, but I still fly around for fun, not really doing much photography lol)
And I kinda ran out of funds for this hobby…
I still have a DJI Mini… something (3 or 4 idk) that’s still fuctional I think… but nah, don’t feel like it…
the novelty died…
I also never seen a drone irl before I got one… lol…
I sometimes didnt feel like going to the park and so I flew it in my front yard, then the kids across the street got so annoyed with me and accused me of “spying on them”… and I’m no sure if they meant it as in the “you’re a creep” type of way, or like the… um…
“You’re a Chinese working for the CCP spying on our country” type of way… 🤦♂️
This is deep blue Philly…
Now we have orange fuckface in office
DJI banned(? only applies to new ones I think? still…)
Trade war and politics stufff…
Lile I always imagined people are just very Sinophobic for some reason after the “new sheriff in town” term 2
Like I imagine white guys are just in a “red scare” mode in their brain…
Or maybe am I just paranoid and imagining things?
Paired with my depression…
Meh…
I’ll just do other stuff lile writing… which I’ve still been procrastinating for like months… (I like to imagine myself being a writer but the not actually concenstrate enough to do it lmao)
you’re not that far off. there’s this white man paranoia thing that oozes from fox and all the rest. it’s part of their white christian nationalism trap.
theyve been brainwashed but let’s face it, they’re adults and it’s partially voluntary for them. I mean… you have to want to be a racist shit head asshole. and this country bumpkin bullshit ass country with all these dumb ass hillbilly Christians just crave to be victims that they can then shoot and feel good about.
they don’t have red scare, it’s anything that’s not white, scare.
/I’m white so maybe I’m lying too I can’t tell anymore.
anything that’s not white, scare
Tbf I also had black kids in school used the term “ching chong” against me…
Idk why is there just so much casual racism that’s acceptable against Asians, I mean like… its almost universally ragarded as unacceptable to be racist against black people, but the same standard isn’t applied to racism against Asians… cuz society is like “Model Minority” and "White Adjacent"¹ so Asians get to be made a joke of
Idk why… I could get bullied IN FRONT OF OTHER ASIAN KIDS and they will not stand up for me… 😭
Where solidarity?
(¹Very “white adjacent” iNdEeD… so much so that ahem Covid Anti-Asian hatecrimes… ahem)
My inlaws do a big 4th of July fireworks show, for many years a drone would come hover 100ft above us, recording it. We never found out who it was. Fairly creepy actually.
I have a drone and played with it a fair amount, drove it around my neighborhood, well beyond the “line of sight” requirement. I managed to hit trees several times because it doesn’t have fancy avoidance features. Hard to tell from the single camera when you’re rising up or backing into a tree branch.
Eventually I got bored tho. I did learn how to file flight plans, do all the things right. I live near an air force base, so there are entire sections of the city including parks where I cannot fly it.
Eventually it gets a little boring. I can’t wait for my toddler to get a bit older and then he will think it’s fun. For a week, and then he’ll get bored.
the creepy part is sorta funny. I can’t think of a more come here and look at me activity than firing off fireworks.
