I hire a drone pilot that is very good and knows the rules. We will be using him for the Lahaina narrow gauge as soon as the steam engines are repaired and the new track is in. In other words about two years from now. The engines repair will start next week. Don
CAPPILOT,
If you are going to quote me, please quote the whole sentence.
I set the route, speed, height, and boundaries. I fly over the route that I designed to start with and then saved it. That way I know where it is flying. It flies by GPS coordinates and is accurate. Or at least mine is. I have never had any issues with it or being off. A pilot is not looking at a camera.
Mine also has the flight height set at 400', so your 500' level is not an issue. Anyhow, the pilot is responsible for flying within line of sight and giving way to any manned craft that man be present. A Medivac is one that we have to be on consistent lookout for as they can so up any time, any place and at any height. Also another concern, is crop dusters for those flying around fields.
You have irresponsible people in all fields. Inexperienced drone and RC aircraft pilots are among the the newest one. Just as bad as kids with new cars and a new license as well.
PennsyPride94 posted:jim pastorius posted:I must say that if I was out along the rail lines taking photos and especially videos, i would find a drone buzzing around very annoying. So far it hasn't happened. A 10 gauge goose gun would be one solution but the best would be jamming equipment.
Its actually a lot quieter than you think. As long as its about 150 feet off the ground, the train noise typically will drown out the noise of the blades spinning. The noise of drones only becomes a problem when a hobbyist has the drone close to the ground getting shots which kind of defeats the purpose in my opinion.
That is not true. When I was shooting 765 in Indiana in 2013, the drone was roughly at the 150 foot altitude. You could hear it clearly on my video footage. Ruined it for me.
I have only encountered a drone once while taking train photos. It was at Rochester, Pa. on the NS main. He had one with a camera and wanted me to take his picture ! Which I did and e-mailed it to him.He was obnoxious or annoying with the thing but, human nature being what it is and the lack of manners and rudeness today I don't know what the norm will be. Watching the guy with the drone didn't look like a whole lot of fun to me. After awhile it was like "I have flown it around, now what do I do ?"
GREENRAIL posted:PennsyPride94 posted:jim pastorius posted:I must say that if I was out along the rail lines taking photos and especially videos, i would find a drone buzzing around very annoying. So far it hasn't happened. A 10 gauge goose gun would be one solution but the best would be jamming equipment.
Its actually a lot quieter than you think. As long as its about 150 feet off the ground, the train noise typically will drown out the noise of the blades spinning. The noise of drones only becomes a problem when a hobbyist has the drone close to the ground getting shots which kind of defeats the purpose in my opinion.
That is not true. When I was shooting 765 in Indiana in 2013, the drone was roughly at the 150 foot altitude. You could hear it clearly on my video footage. Ruined it for me.
Well it also largely depends on if the locomotive is working or not. But trust me its still a lot better than a helicopter or ultra light pacing the train.
There is plenty of space for railfans to get their shots. If I see someone with a drone that could potentially hurt the sound on my video I quickly look for a spot away from him or ask what his shot is going to be so I know where the drone will be flying. Often if you ask nicely with people operating drones they will fly it higher to avoid making too much noise and still get the shot they want.
In fact, my post on this same forum with my video of the Strasburg Rail Road's Christmas Trains was filmed while my friend was using his drone overhead. You don't hear the drone the enter time in any of my shots and often the drone was flown right over me.
When editing your video, you could have muted the noise out and over laid your voice. Once the train was closer it would have drowned the noise out. It sounds closer than 150 ' compared to mine.
I agree with Gene that's no wear close to 150 feet. I bet that thing was no more than 50 feet above the ground.
The only thing about drone videos is the sound of steam is missing.
LLKJR posted:The only thing about drone videos is the sound of steam is missing.
Very true, but with a friendly crew you can usually place an audio recorder on the locomotive and then sync the audio up.
One of the absolute best video photographers of steam, that I have seen is Roger Hogan out of Chama, NM (Wacky-roger1941). He specializes in videos of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, and within the last year he has also been doing "drone videos" of locations that would be possible to access by any other method. Although his "drone videos" are truly spectacular, the main drawback is the lack of sound when those narrow gauge mikes are hard at work on the 4% grade. His ground based videos, with full sound, are also excellent, and my favorites.
Hot Water posted:One of the absolute best video photographers of steam, that I have seen is Roger Hogan out of Chama, NM (Wacky-roger1941). He specializes in videos of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, and within the last year he has also been doing "drone videos" of locations that would be possible to access by any other method. Although his "drone videos" are truly spectacular, the main drawback is the lack of sound when those narrow gauge mikes are hard at work on the 4% grade. His ground based videos, with full sound, are also excellent, and my favorites.
Jack you are absolutely right. I've been following him on Youtube this past 3 months and his footage is quite spectacular. He does a fantastic job at capturing the wonderful scenery. I hope he convinces the crew kindly about placing a recording microphone on the locomotive to sync up the audio.
What I like about good drone train videos (thanks to those who have shared some) are how the movements and angles can look like virtual reality or good helicopter photography. (The film "Unstoppable" comes to mind for an example of the latter.)
I have no rail fan drone experiences to share. However, two summers ago I was at a conference at Stanford. While a few of us were on break, a drone hovered closely over our heads and followed us as though it was evesdropping. It was really rude. We then walked to a remote part of the campus where a drone had crashed resulting in a very bad brush fire in the height of a drought. It was the epitomy of "scorched earth".
But back to how drone photography reminds me of virtual reality train modeling that I've seen bits of here and there. Because of the nimbleness of the drone-based camera, you get a real sense of three-dimentionality and of freedom of movement within space via the x, y, or z-axis. To me, that adds to the beauty of the train photography. The train travels on its tracks while the camera "paints" a three-dimensional picture using the space around it.
Tomlinson Run Railroad
