logical

Ive been toying around with the idea of grabbing a drone to follow me while riding on my bike in some scenic areas. Has anyone picked up a drone for this same specific purpose? Did it work out well or become a complete disaster? Which drone did you use? I think it would be pretty cool to just have some footage. Something similar to the video below, nice footage taken fully autonomous.

tagaproject6

This is a great idea. I don't know that I can control the drone while riding though? Is there some sort of automation?

corrado33

The drones that are programed to follow you work pretty well according to my friends.

You wear a little GPS tracker and tell the drone what kind of "footage" you want. It can circle you, follow you closely, follow you far, etc.

Obviously you have to make sure it won't hit anything and be sure you're allowed to fly drones where you want to ride.

logical

Yes, the more expensive ones come with an active track feature where you tell it what to follow and it does its thing. As the poster mentioned above you just have to make sure to do it in an area where it wont be hitting things while trying to follow you.

IK_biker

Not to sidetrack this, but if anyone catches up to me during a ride, and I notice they are flying a drone, it is very likely they'll get an elbow to end up into the bushes or the ditch.
Then they can have their drone hover around and take all sorts of their intended footage of them.

I've thought about this quite a bit, and since my own safety and privacy matters a lot to me, I am fully prepared to execute what I am planning to in such occasions.
Any ensuing hostilities will be quashed on the spot.

logical

The drone flies itself you wouldnt even know the person was in control of it unless they specifically told you. You might be elbowing random people if you hear a drone.

memebag

You can't have privacy in public.

2manybikes

I think if you watch some of the fast downhill MTB videos, you will notice there may not be any other way to get that footage. Not sure, but it looks like it.

jefnvk

These guys got some real cool footage doing exactly that. Pro photographers, though, no clue how much coin you'd have to drop to get a setup like them.


Cool. I will then immediately contact the police, and you can worry about your privacy sitting in a jail cell waiting to be arraigned on battery charges.

blakcloud

I try not comment on other posters while instead address the OP but this has to be one of the most inane comments ever written. Tell me when you walk into a bank, who you elbowing because you are being video taped? Do you travel, every think what happens in airport? Gone to Washington D.C. or better yet London England? You are being video taped all the time. Even your neighbours have video cameras protecting their houses as you ride by.

Though I live in Canada, we similar laws about privacy. I took photos of an aggressive driver. He got out and threw me into traffic, assaulted me, smashed my bike and broke my phone. He was arrested, charged and convicted of assault with a weapon x 2, assault and mischief x 2. He hired an expensive lawyer, went to to court five times before resolution and now has a criminal record for life but was spared jail time because it was his first offence. He paid me for the damages he caused. His excuse for this behaviour "I don't like to be photographed". The kicker, his mother was in his BMW watching the whole thing and yelled out the window after the assault, you shouldn't be taking pictures. I think I got the last laugh.

Bottom line when you are in public you have no expectation of privacy.

trailangel

really boring videos IMO.

Scarbo

Not to the narcissist.

corrado33

This is a hilarious post and reminds me of this.


which resulted in this

Driver Apologizes After Road Rage Caught On Camera « CBS Los Angeles

I'd love to see the news stories after you assault someone for no good reason, especially since the whole incident would be captured on camera, from a wide angle.

corrado33

They just need to be edited correctly.

The other issue is that it's highly unlikely that the drone will have enough battery to last your whole ride, so you'll need to carry it most of the way.

gsa103

Good footage typically uses two drone operators. The first person flies the drone, the second operates the camera. The alternative is the drone following a pre-defined path with someone operating the camera.

It may look like someone is by themselves but there's a whole film crew with a lot of takes.

gsa103

And if I'm running a GoPro on the handlebars does that automatically get me kicked into the bushes?

gilpi

My wife bought me a GoPro so I can mount on my helmet or bike to take video of some of my rides. Thought about it and even in my most picturesque, scenic rides, I thought it'd be a very boring video. I think the novelty would wear off very quickly, I made her return it. The drone thing might be a bit more interesting but don't know if it would be worth the trouble unless someone was making a once in a lifetime video like Iceland in Ten Days or similar.
Then, the cost vs what you get out of either didn't make sense to me.

gilpi

Yes

indyfabz

The best part is that the police will have all the video evidence they need.


Btw...****

logical

I only intend to use it for certain scenic parts of a ride so a max of maybe 10 minutes of actual footage. A spare battery will help if I need a bit of extra juice.

TimothyH

We used to take photos of other people, things and places we have been. Now we have selfie sticks and drones to take pictures of ourselves.

I've nothing against drones and it might be nice to have a video of myself in specific places but I find much of the focus on self to be very narcissistic.

Spending hundreds of dollars to take video of myself which no one else really cares about certainly isn't something I want to do.


-Tim-

logical

Well the focus is not really myself but the areas I have been. Most of the video would be showing me in the shot but more of the landscape. Some of the hills in LA can be quite scenic and so is PCH and the strand(beach path).

The drone would also double as a vacation drone for getting some nice footage. I have a trip to kauai coming up in a month and it would be nice to have some cool shots of places Ive been. Of course none of it is ever needed but its cool to look back upon.

daviddavieboy

yep
, then again maybe we are too ugly

hagak

Maybe your wife would think they are interesting? FYI - Mine does not

PepeM

Just make sure it doesn't fall on someone's property and causes some damage. Does anyone remember that video not so long ago of a drone making someone wreck in a race?