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Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

Drones vs. Hornets Nests is Apparently a Thing

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I stumbled across one video tonight of a drone attacking a hornets nest and then another . . . and then another. If you haven’t seen this side of alternative drone uses, allow me to introduce you to the rabbit hole.

The most effective attack drone of choice appears to be the DJI Mavic Pro, which maintains its position quite well as its blades cut into the nests. As you can see in several of these videos, the hornets attempt a counterattack on the drone to no avail as they simply bounce off the drones’ propellers.

Check out several more videos below. [Read more…]

 

Drone Pilot Flies UNDER a Train and the Drone Survives

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This guy is a better drone pilot than you.

In this seamless flight, drone pilot Paul Nurkkala toys with a passing train by performing a variety of stunts around, and even under, the train.

I’ll be honest; I get sucked into the drone racing shows on TV. Personally, I have to worry about hitting a tree in an open field, but this is just next level stuff.

Yes, he probably broke a dozen or so laws in the process, and scared one train conductor for sure, but it was an incredible moment when he passed under the train between the tracks and the bottom of the train car. While it looked like he knicked the edge of the train car, his drone lived to tell about it.

Kudos for the incredible flight, and don’t try this at home folks!

[via PetaPixel]

What Happens When We Have Our First National Drone Tragedy?

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FAA-Drone-Regulation-2

Drones are literally everywhere. As I drove through my neighborhood a few days ago, I saw a teenager flying what looked to be a DJI Phantom in his front yard and just a couple dozen feet from my car as I passed by. Drones have gone from a very niche and expensive hobby interest toward a mainstream consumer and commercial success. And it’s only just begun.

The storylines continue to focus on the FAA’s regulations and the public’s restrictions as the technology is far out-pacing the legal and regulatory guidelines. While there is a loose framework for registration in place for the general public and their personal use of drones, legitimate technological restrictions are hardly competent to keep a drone from either accidentally or intentionally causing a major catastrophe.

As it stands now, we are still living in the wild west of the drone tech boom. Just about anyone can fly a drone just about anywhere – regardless of whether there are regulatory restrictions in place or not. The FAA is woefully undermanned to address all of the reported violations and local law enforcement remains untrained on the regulations and/or completely lack jurisdiction to enforce those regulations.

This is all a recipe for disaster. [Read more…]

Drone Blender is the Perfect Precursor to CES 2016

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Kym0e5J7M&w=700]

Mitch over at Planet 5D sent me this video of a drone turned blender and shot in super slow motion at 1500fps on the Phantom Miro camera. With CES 2016 kicking off this week, it is the perfect intro to the onslaught of drone tech we are going to see the rest of the week.

Aside of the humor and wonder of watching the DJI Phantom chop up fruits and veggies in slow motion, it is striking to me just how powerful those little plastic blades are when moving at high RPMs.

If you’re worried about the demise of the drone, it was already on its last legs and was used in this video for a last hoorah as it was put out of its misery.

DJI’s Phantom X Concept Video Imagines the Future of Drones

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DJI recently released this Phantom X Concept video, which casts a bright vision on the not-so-distant future of drones. From hands-free operation to an almost voyeuristic concept of social followers. It is equal parts inspiring and scary.

As we know, drones are going to be huge in the coming months and years. It’s a massive growth segment in tech right now and is just barely off the ground. So many changes in the past couple of years serve as a signal to just how wide open this market is.

DJI has a massive lead in the market but expect other manufacturers to be on its heels and pushing innovation industry-wide over the next few years.