Garrett Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 You know how you get someone to video your run at a big match, and when you get a chance to review it, that darned RO keeps blocking the view? I've shot at one club that has a viewing platform above the shoot house. It makes for a great, unobstructed view. So has anyone ever played with one of the video-mounted RC drones that are on the market now? These things have gotten down to a few hundred dollars in price, rather than the few thousand dollars they used to go for. For example, here's one fairly in-depth review: This particular model can be bought new on Amazon for $300, or they have some used ones listed starting at $200. I imagine there are some other similar offerings out there as well. I don't have any first-hand experience with this unit other than watching a few reviews. But it seems to have some potential. RC coptors of the past were fairly operator-skill intensive. This one seems to have enough onboard brain power to fly by its self without crashing every time you take your hands off the joystick (or I-pad in this instance). Seems if you wanted, you could just fly up above the range, get a decent view and set it in place to record. Or you could get a little more involved and follow the shooter around, but overhead for a better view. Or with one of these, you could safely get some video from downrange, looking back toward the shooter. Might be a neat perspective. Which brings up some important considerations. At what point does it become too much of a distraction to the shooter? If all they can hear is a whirring background noise from a drone hovering behind them, is that okay? What about if that noise changes as the drone follows the shooter around from 20 feet up, and to the rear? How distracting would it be, 40 yards downrange and above the shooting zone, but clearly visible to the shooter? Good idea? Bad? Something worth pursuing? Of course, this would not be some surprise you would just spring on any competitor at a match. The shooter would know in advance they would be getting videoed by an RC drone. You would probably want to run it by the match officials in advance as well. Thoughts? Issues? Anyone try this before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 A drone in the peripheral vision of a shooter could be distracting and would make for a dandy interference call in case they need a re-shoot!. IMHO, not cool... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 I agree. Besides it's already kind of humorous seeing guys running around with sticks and cameras on the end of them. I can't imagine the pita factor of having a bunch of shooters wanting a drone overhead. How many times have you watched a guy get the make ready command and forget his camera? "hold on RO I have to get my camera" Now it will be, "hold on RO I need to reposition the drone real quick". We already have enough shooters who don't help paste. The last thing we need is a crew tied up with a drone that can't help. And I agree 100% on the convenient interference possibilities. Too noisy, Casting shadows, visible down range, crashing during the run, etc Leave the toys at home please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jester121 Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 There was drone footage from the Tulsa nationals match last year, if I recall correctly, but I think it was kept far enough away that it wasn't noticeable to competitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark R Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 Get one with GPS and altitude/hover hold...set the altitude to 30-50 feet and no one will know its there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 I saw a drone doing video on 3gun nation show one time. I have some experience with RC airplanes and those quad-copters are tough to get proficient with. At least you can hand a video camera to most anyone and they can film you. You certainly couldn't turn over the controller to anyone. IMO it's way more trouble than it's worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bajaholic Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 We are in the process of filming training footage for use on the internet and a pilot TV show on shooting. So far, we have not had anyone complain about the drone in their sight angles when shooting. Generally speaking the drone is at a much higher elevation than the shooter is seeing. We are also using cameras that are used close to the shooter and go pro footage. Primarily we use the drone footage for the over views and distance angles. I am hoping the filming and editing will be available for preview and comments in the next couple of months. Personally, I feel when shooting, the close up camera is much more distracting than the drone, but maybe it is because the close up catches all my faults...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motosapiens Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 I'm gonna start calling for interference when a plane flies over, or when I can see a spectator at the back of the bay when shooting targets to the side. Seriously, I predict in a year or so this will be very commonplace... and cool as heck to everyone except the most extreme luddites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TVpresspass Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 I've been toying with this. Has anyone actually done it yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted July 2, 2014 Author Share Posted July 2, 2014 (edited) I have seen some video from a subgun match last month in Las Vegas. They said it wasn't a distraction. Just that it was kind of noisy - like a swarm of bees. Edited July 2, 2014 by Garrett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 I thought about this when these first started appearing but like someone already mentioned they are difficult to learn to fly and the biggest issue I see is safety. Getting a match director to allow this I suspect is going to be an uphill battle, particularily at at a level II or III match. Mind you, I'm all for it but I think there are some ops hurdles to over come before it becomes more common place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justaute Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 For those of you who are thinking about using drones......now this may be for you. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28178230 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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