Anyone ever use a drone as a target camera?

[docohm]

I've never flown a drone, I understand the batteries only last a few minutes. Could you rig up a drone to fly down to the target on the 300 yd (or farther?) target, land on the ground and look UP at the target? Then shutdown or idle the motors so they don't use up so much battery and watch the target as I shoot? If you can get a $100 or so drone to do that it would be much cheaper than the $300 or more target cameras I've seen. Plus you'd have a drone to play around with at other times...

 

[tyromeo55]

Never used one as a target camera but I guess you could.

Thoughts

Id think you'd want one that was GPS stabilized so you could zip it out there and it would hover in place no matter what little wind moments might push it off its mark. I don't think you can get that for $100

All the cameras I've seen mount on the bottom of the copter so looking up from a landed position might be difficult of impossible

The Phantom series drones get 20+ min of flight time

 

[ripnbst]

Sounds like it could be done but a modification of your plan. You could fly it down and look and then land it somewhere near by. Then shoot some more and then fly it over and check again. I don't think you could do what you initially stated with a one man operation.

 

[D. Hargrove]

I "think" our very own @thaHooligan may have used a drone in one of his youtube vids...

 

[dennishoddy]

Some of the DJI Mavic's and grades above have a feature to fly it to a location and hover or park.
I'm guessing one could fly it down, take a video, park, shoot, fly, and return. On the more expensive grades, when the battery gets low, it returns to home. Fresh battery, and back in the game.
Drones are getting cheaper all the time. The DJI pro in the $2K price range two years ago can now be had for around a thousand dollars.
Future models will become cheaper.
Just don't paint it orange and fly it around the shotgun range. PULL!!

 

[tyromeo55]

A used Phantom 3 would do it for $350 - $450

AND

The new Mavic Air is $799

That's a lot of tech for the money

 

[dennishoddy]

A used Phantom 3 would do it for $350 - $450

AND

The new Mavic Air is $799

That's a lot of tech for the money

DJI just came out with the specs for a fixed wing quadcopter today. There is a possibility that it could be a gasoline engine vs a battery. Wings being the fuel cell? Nobody knows at this point.

 

[ParatusForty-Six]

You can buy the camera, bracket, and remote monitor and just make your own system. I saw this done somewhere else and I believe that the user sourced everything for a little over $100 dollars, batteries included.

 

[Pokinfun]

I just purchased FPV transmitter, receiver, Bluetooth transmitter and a security camera, plus some directional antennas.

 

[docohm]

I just purchased FPV transmitter, receiver, Bluetooth transmitter and a security camera, plus some directional antennas.

Let us know how it works! That sounds like a great idea. What range are you looking at? I need something that will go to at least 300 yds but would like up to 1000 if possible.