Ask Drone U

Our question today comes from an Instagram follower called IlyaFloridan, who has a friend that has been recently warned by the FAA. We're not sure exactly what the warning is, and why this friend would have been warned. But he is asking if he can really fly his drone and get paid without getting in trouble by the FAA. We get this question a lot, and although we've answered it many times before we thought it would be helpful to address it again. We also talk about insurance companies and coverages so you know exactly who to contact regarding insurance needs. If you are a Drone U member then be sure and check out the webinar replays and courses where we go into great detail regarding this topic. Thanks for your question, IlyaFloridan! Keep following us on Instagram also (@THEDroneU). Speaking of that, did you know it's really easy to get your questions answered on our show? Just go to http://AskDroneU.com and you can quickly submit your question(s) for us to go through. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. No, seriously, you should go right now... And while you're at it, can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Our question today comes from a member of the Drone U community in the Denver area, Cameron. He asks a great question that many of you may be in the same sort of dilemma with. Because the question is fairly detailed, we're going to record it so you can listen to it and fully grasp what's being asked. Cam has shot about five homes with a Phantom 2 and has been WAAAAY undercharging to build his business up. But now that I'm getting more work I need to significantly increase my prices. How would you recommend I go about doing this without scaring off my other clients? Not a fun problem to have, Cam, but we do have all kinds of things for you to consider. Undercharging as a strategy to build your business is a common practice. However, this is certainly a negative to it, and there are other things to consider. So we'll go into all we can think of to help you and other listeners out with this issue. Thanks for the question, Cam! Speaking of that, did you know it's really easy to get your questions answered on our show? Just go to http://AskDroneU.com and you can quickly submit your question(s) for us to go through. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. No, seriously, you should go right now... And while you're at it, can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Last week Senator Cory Booker proposed a bill for drone regulation as we continue to wait for the FAA to, uuummmm, do something. Our social media pages have been blowing up with questions about what we think of it. So, today, we're going to go into what it actually proposes, and if we think this is a good, bad or indifferent thing for the UAV market. Let us know what you think. Do you like what's being proposed? Why or why not? Did you know it is really easy to get your questions answered on our show? Just go to http://AskDroneU.com and you can quickly submit your question(s) for us to go through. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. No, seriously, you should go right now... And while you're at it, can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

We actually have a really cool(er) show today as we welcome to the mic Justin Woodcock from IR Distro (http://www.irdistro.com/). You may recall that recently on episode ADU 0071 we talked about the Nepal earthquake and the use of drones for search and rescue. We also mentioned that Justin was part of a team going out there to take part in these efforts. So we're very excited to have Justin back and we wanted to interview him to hear all about the efforts and how drones we're actually utilized. Let us assure you of this, you will find this to be a very interesting and maybe even fascinating show as you hear all about the efforts and role of drones in Nepal in mapping/search/rescue/recovery. We also, by the way, talk a lot of technical details about the Phantom and drones in general for these type purposes. So stay tuned and let us know what you think. If you're interested in giving your time to help with these type efforts, and you are a good pilot, then go to http://www.halodrop.com/ and fill out the requested info there. Did you know it is really easy to get your questions answered on our show? Just go to http://AskDroneU.com and you can quickly submit your question(s) for us to go through. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. No, seriously, you should go right now... And while you're at it, can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Today we are actually going to address something that came up in our awesome Drone U community regarding SD cards. People rarely seem to think much about these little storage containers...until of course you shoot something amazing and, well, it's gone! We've experienced this several times before and really don't want to ever again. The thing is that the SD card is so important when you shoot, and you must make sure you've got the right card so you don't end up learning the hard way (like we did this past weekend). If you're shooting videos and photos with your drone then you need to make sure and listen to this important episode. By the way, we really do have an awesome community of pilots who come under one another, helping each other out. If you're looking to consistently sharpen your piloting skills and learn new things all the time, then you need to check out Drone U. It really is the best of both worlds, and we actually give you a reachable solution cost wise. Learn more here: http://thedroneu.com/become-a-member/. Did you know it is really easy to get your questions answered on our show? Just go to http://AskDroneU.com and you can quickly submit your question(s) for us to go through. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. No, seriously, you should go right now... And while you're at it, can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Our question today comes from a past "asker", Mark. His question today is regarding radios and frequencies. He's thinking of using a FrSky Taranis radio with a PixHawk flight controller for use in inspection work. Mark would like to know What radio and frequencies do we use, and what do we recommend for radio control and video, especially in areas where there is likely going to be radio noise? Love such direct and specific questions. We go into great detail on this for you, Mark. So you all should stand by and let us know if you have any questions about what we say here. Thanks for sending us another question, Mark. On this episode we also give a shout out to Carl Olson and his podcast "The Digital Convergence Podcast." Be sure and check it out here, especially if you're wanting help on video and photography : http://carlolson.tv/. He's a great guy and friend of Drone U. Did you know it is really easy to get your questions answered on our show? Just go to http://AskDroneU.com and you can quickly submit your question(s) for us to go through. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. No, seriously, you should go right now... And while you're at it, can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Our question today comes from Brett. He owns several DJI drones, but is actually asking about the new Yamaha Fazer drone/helicopter. He would like to know if he were to get one of these rigs would there be an opportunity for him to use it for agricultural purposes? What do you know about it? We not only answer Brett's question in this episode, but we go into more detail about agricultural applications, as well as specifics related to the Yamaha Fazer. Thanks for the question, Brett. Did you know it is really easy to get your questions answered on our show? Just go to http://AskDroneU.com and you can quickly submit your question(s) for us to go through. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. No, seriously, you should go right now... And while you're at it, can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Our question today comes from half way around the world. Nigel in Prague is getting into drones. In fact, he's getting so into them that he bought one just for fun, but now he's interested in trying to turn it into more of a business. So Nigel is asking us what we recommend for a drone that crosses over from fun to commercial? We go into all the options for you, Nigel, and all our listeners if you're looking at "crossing over." Stay tuned and you'll leave this episode knowing exactly what your options are and what you want to do next. Did you know it is really easy to get your questions answered on our show? Just go to http://AskDroneU.com and you can quickly submit your question(s) for us to go through. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. No, seriously, you should go right now... And while you're at it, can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Our question today comes from Tom in Arizona. He's getting to the point where he'd like to start earning some money with his drone and, as a result, he's curious as to what things could he be pursuing to this end with a Phantom and GoPro? Tom is like many of you out there in that he doesn't have a large commercial rig, per se. But you'd be amazed at how much you can do with a smaller set up. A good portion of all our projects are flown with a Phantom and GoPro. As we say often, the equipment isn't what makes for amazing videos. It's the skill set of the pilot flying. So, Tom and all of you out there, we'll go through all kinds of options for you on this episode. As we also mentioned on ADU 0077 this past Friday, tonight we have a webinar where we will go into even more detail about this. You can register here if you get this in time: http://app.webinarjam.net/register/729/e36982b1ce. If you are not or were not able to join us, you should consider joining Drone U for only $27 per month where you'll have access to ALL the webinar replays. Did you know it is really easy to get your questions answered on our show? Just go to http://AskDroneU.com and you can quickly submit your question(s) for us to go through. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. No, seriously, you should go right now... And while you're at it, can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Our question today comes from Crux in Tuscon, AZ. He has an opportunity to get paid for flying his drone and GoPro because he knows some folks with a construction company. They are wanting him to fly the construction site, but Cruz has no idea what he should be charging them. So he is asking us what he should be charging for video and/or photos? This is a common question, Cruz, and we'll actually be doing a webinar on this very thing this coming Monday if you and any of our listeners can join us. You can easily register here: http://app.webinarjam.net/register/729/e36982b1ce. We'll go through all kinds of options and considerations for you on this so you know exactly where you should start. Cruz got his question answered because he went to http://AskDroneU.com and easily submitted his questions there. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. Can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Today we are going to focus on the FAA's news conference from this morning. We listened carefully to the entire talk and really are going to focus on three pieces of information they mentioned in the news conference. Although we remain disappointed in the FAA's inability to actually make any significant progress in micro-UAS rulings, we will give you the thorough run down of what we learned (and didn't) from the FAA today. Let us know what you think after you listen. Did you know it is really easy to get your questions answered on our show? Just go to http://AskDroneU.com and you can quickly submit your question(s) for us to go through. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. No, seriously, you should go right now... And while you're at it, can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Our question today comes from Jim in Dallas, TX. He is asking how we handle it when we've been hired for a project, have a limited time to get the shots we need, but weather is negatively impacting our ability to get it done? Wow, Jim, very insightful question, and one where there's not necessarily a straight forward answer. As is always the case with weather, there are many factors that come into play here. But we'll go through various angles on this and give you as much help as possible with your question. Paul even goes through a very recent example he went through where this was an issue, and how he handled it. Jim got his question answered because he went to http://AskDroneU.com and easily submitted his questions there. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. Can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Our question today comes from Austin in Tampa, FL. He is asking about the different camera settings and necessary flight adjustments to make when capturing photos vs. videos with his GoPro and drone? This is actually a very important question because there are absolutely differences and adjustments you must make in order to get pro quality images and footage. Otherwise, the output is going to be below par (at best) and may contain a lot of "jello" (and we don't think you're ready for this...nevermind). Paul even goes into some examples of adjustments he's had to make in recent jobs in order to get the best footage possible. So stay tuned and you'll know exactly what to do. Austin got his question answered because he went to http://AskDroneU.com and easily submitted his questions there. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. Can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Our question today comes from Carl in Austin, TX. He is asking about camera filters, specifically the Polar Pro Filters. Carl would like to know which ones he should be using, and exactly when he should use them? This is a great question, Carl, because the use of a filter alone can take your videos and photos to the next level (and beyond). So knowing which filter to us and when is a very important step in taking your footage and images from just OK to pro level. Stay tuned as we go through all the details you need to know regarding Polar Pro Filters for your camera. Brian got his question answered because he went to http://AskDroneU.com and easily submitted his questions there. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. Can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!

Our question today comes from Brian in Illinois. He is asking about the very recent news that Mexico has come out with fairly light regulations for UAVs under 2 kilograms. His question though is what about the Inspire 1? Could he even fly the Inspire for any projects he gets in Mexico? Brian is asking this because the Inspire 1 is 2.9 kilograms, which is obviously over the 2 kilogram limit. Therefore, it will be under a much higher scrutiny. So we go through all the details of what this may mean for all you Inspire 1 pilots who may want or need to fly in Mexico. Brian got his question answered because he went to http://AskDroneU.com and easily submitted his questions there. It couldn't be easier to do, so go check it out now. Can we ask you a huge favor? Give us a 5 star rating on whatever platform you listen to our show. It'll only take you 30 seconds, and will greatly help us. Thank you!