Stories tagged with drones

The FAA's plan to regulate drone usage has been a long running cause of concern among enthusiasts and those hoping to use UAVs for commercial purposes. Thus far speculation has pegged the budding regulations as unnecessarily restrictive, but the new officially revealed FAA proposal shows those concerns to largely be unfounded. Read more

Three companies joined the Micro Four Thirds system standard group this morning, including DJI, maker of both consumer and professional-level drones. JDC (GuangZhou) Optical Co., a small Chinese optics manufacturer, and Flovel Co., a Japanese optical company, both also announced support. Read more

Adorama has announced the Aries Blackbird X10 quadcopter. The Blackbird X10 features an integrated 16MP camera with 1/2.3-inch type sensor able to record up to 1080p video at 30fps. Feature-wise the drone is decidedly mid-tier, falling between the lower-end Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 and the higher-end DJI Inspire 1 drones, for example, while retaining a moderate $799 price. Read more

DJI has launched its latest drone, the Inspire 1, equipped with a new camera unit capable of 12MP stills and 4K video recording. The latest addition to DJI’s arsenal also includes a newly developed gimbal that can be removed and potentially upgraded in the future. Read more

The DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ is the company's newest flagship consumer drone, outfitted with a 3-axis gimbal, Adobe DNG RAW capture in addition to HD video recording, and operated by the DJI Vision smartphone application. It's capable of producing 14MP JPEGs and Raw images, and could be an ideal tool for a real estate photographer or independent filmmaker looking for b-roll. Does it rise to the occasion? Read our review

Dronestagram, a website that allows drone photographers to share their images and videos, has announced the winners of their 2014 photo contest. Sponsored by National Geographic and GoPro, the competition was open to photographers around the world. The photos taking top prizes are impressive - take a look at a gallery of the winning images. See gallery

A flying flash rig that tracks the position of both photographer and subject to maintain consistent lighting angles has been developed by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University. In a project designed to test co-ordination between aerial robots and ground-based targets, researchers programmed a flash-carrying drone to light people in the studio as the subjects and the photographer changed positions. Read more

With the popularity of drone photography ever increasing, curious hobbyists may be looking for a way to try it out without spending a lot. It's not the most expensive hobby you could pick, but $1000 for a DJI Phantom II and a GoPro Hero3+ is about the same cost as a mid-range camera and lens. Low-cost drones with built-in cameras seem like a great option for the curious. But do the price benefits outweigh the inevitable image quality and usability tradeoffs that come with a cheaper quad? Read more

More bad news for photographers looking to use unmanned aircraft for photography - at least those hoping to use drones in Yosemite National Park. The National Park Service has issued a statement that makes it clear these devices are banned in the park under any circumstances. Learn more

In a court case bound to have far-reaching implications for U.S.-based photographers looking to use drones or other model aircraft for commercial shoots, National Transportation Safety Board Judge Patrick G. Geraghty has struck down an FAA suit against a photographer for his 'reckless' use of a drone. Model aircraft aficionados and photographers alike have reason to celebrate this ruling, though naturally the FAA has announced a decision to appeal. Learn more