 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi There,
I'm back in St Anton next week & was wondering if it is possible to rent a Drone with a camera, that would follow & video a skier from the sky?
Ideally something that would follow a skier, or a skier's phone assumedly, (say 10 metres above & behind) down the mountain.
Anyone know of such technology working OK?
And might such kit be available to rent in St Anton or Lech say??
(or anywhere else for that matter???)
Thanks in advance for any advice
Horgand
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 15-01-19 17:37; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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horgand,
I'm not sure about Europe - but we were in Colorado last year and drones were banned from the slopes there.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Bergm,
Thank you for that, were they allowed off piste do you know?
As it's off piste I'm interested in
Thanks
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Tue 15-01-19 18:00; edited 1 time in total
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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You'll have to check locally, the problem usually is that you can't use them near anywhere that the helicopter might land or crowds of people, which basically discounts anywhere near a piste.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Heliguy in the UK (probably not much use to you) rents drones but you need a CAA cert to get one.
As to following you, the latest DJI's seem to have it more or less nailed now and there are third party apps like https://flylitchi.com/ that arguably do a better job at following than DJI's software for aircraft like the spark. Other drones are out that work better than DJI for following but obviously you are relying on a bit of software you are probably not going to get as good shots as with a pilot.
Most of the follow-me footage I see shows "drone anxiety" as the skier looks over their shoulder all the time to make sure their expensive drone is still somewhere around.
If you use a DJI make sure the return to home is set to the controller coordinates, not where you took off from, unless you want a long walk to recover your aircraft.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Alastair Pink, great footage of the chair 
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| davidof wrote: |
| If you use a DJI make sure the return to home is set to the controller coordinates, not where you took off from, unless you want a long walk to recover your aircraft. |
And of course that only works while it knows where the controller is, lose wi-fi (or whatever it is) and you're jiggered.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Good demo of why they shouldn’t be flown within 20 miles of a ski slope. Imagine if the chair hadn’t been empty.
I hope the OP isn’t successful.
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Can I just say I really hope not. There is enough to worry about without possibly getting swiped by some git with a drone.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I would say that's a fantasy at present. Getting something to automatically follow someone is still not, as far as I've seen, practical in general at this point. Getting a camera on that thing to frame sensible shots is a second challenge I've yet to see solved. A drone with a 360 degree camera strapped to it solves problem two, but problem one is tricky. At best you'd really want to spent a lot of time faffing to set up a track for the machine to follow, then repeat that multiple times until you have skier and drone in the right place at the right time... it's just not really happening in 2019 I think.
And then you have the problem of thousands of people and their drones at a resort... they may not have put up signs to stop you flying there yet, but in North America they have, and most of us don't want spinny things with blades crashing onto the piste...
And then.. most of this stuff takes a fair amount of time to learn how to get the best from it. Whilst you may be able to rent drones (!) it seems a crazy concept to me, in that for any action sports use you're going to need multiple days of practice to get the best from it.
I guess that's a bit of a "no" on all points 
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Modern DJI drones would not crash into a chair lift like that unless you disabled the sensors, although they would probably crash into the cables.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I think you can be in control of a drone (provided you've had suitable training,) or you can ski with due care and attention. But no one can be both in control of a drone and skiing at the same time.
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They used a drone on the World Cup until one crashed very close to Marcel Hirscher. Haven't seen one since. It did give cool vid, though. Meanwhile we need to figure out how to keep them from shutting down airports....
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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That's great info folks thanks. I might be using an extended selfie stick for now,as I'd hate to shut a slope or lift (or airport) if I lost control of a Drone.
Having said all that there's something very cool about the concept of a follow me camera drone tracking you down the slope, the coverage would be mighty.
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Poster: A snowHead
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You might be better with that thing in the other thread, the Ritaline 360 or whatever it is called.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That McTrailrider guy has a couple of vids with the tracking drone. Recent one in Spain, there's clearly a lot of "drone anxiety", but tbf he's still trying to work out the best way to use it and fine tune things. Lots of comments from other riders in that vid too with hints and tips (iirc including one from another Scottish MTBer who also has a vid up showing him in a rowing boat going back to fish out a drone).
The technology might be coming along, but if those who use them for Youtube channels are still trying to optimise the best way to configure them and use them, then I would imagine that getting a loan drone for a week is going to either spoil the week with frustration of getting it to do what you want, or is not going to give "mighty" coverage.
When you can get it to fly along a ridge in the mountains, while you ride/ski/hike along, it certainly can be amazing footage (mainly cos mountains are amazing  )
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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