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I've already covered this subject over on the e-group forum but I thought I'd canvass opinions here as well 
I have acquired a Zerotech Dobby drone. This is what it looks like (picture heavy!):
It's a very compact drone with folding arms for the props. It has a GPS receiver plus sonar (height sensing when landing) and two cameras - a 13 megapixel fixed focus photo/video (1080p) camera that is at one end of the unit that can be manually tilted up to 90 degrees from forward to downward and a secondary downward facing camera for optic flow registration of details below so it can maintain its position when GPS is unavailable (indoors, for example). The camera has electronic image stabilisation (EIS) that can be switched on or off. The drone and its camera are controlled by an app via a smartphone and has a specified range of 30 metres horizontally and 15 metres vertically, though those figures are very conservative, especially if you use a WiFi repeater. Some people have sent theirs 30 metres plus high and over 750 metres horizontally before having to return the drone to home after the battery reached half capacity. Flying time is around 6-9 minutes depending on how hard the drone has to work (fighting wind, camera on, etc.).
Here's an indoor Dobby drone selfie:
I've tweaked this in Lightroom from the 13 megapixel JPEG, but not by much. It's a tough challenge for a camera as the walls in the room are yellow and there is a skylight so the lighting consists of yellow reflections and (overcast) daylight. But really not bad at all.
The drone was hovering in front of me about 4 feet away. No (E)IS was used for this one.
I've also been outside and here are some shots:
I didn't spend too much time on taking pictures but I did feel it was over-exposing and adjusted the compensation down. There was a slight breeze and some motion blur is evident in most of the stills, but not that bad unless you pixel-peep at 100% on some shots.
I launched the drone about 5 times and each time from my hand, landing back on my hand again - it was very muddy, so I successfully avoided that
Highest I got was about 17 metres. I didn't dare go higher!
A limiting factor was the app reporting that the compass wasn't working properly (it reckoned there was an unusual electromagnetic interference). This limits its flight range for safety reasons. I recalibrated the compass a couple of times but this only seemed to sort it out temporarily, so I'll have to look into that.
Outside, the noise from the props is not an issue at all.
It'a great fun though I haven't had much chance to practice outside because of the weather but as I will be back in the Far East at Easter and visiting some coral islands I'm hopeful of some good results!
Ian
I have acquired a Zerotech Dobby drone. This is what it looks like (picture heavy!):
It's a very compact drone with folding arms for the props. It has a GPS receiver plus sonar (height sensing when landing) and two cameras - a 13 megapixel fixed focus photo/video (1080p) camera that is at one end of the unit that can be manually tilted up to 90 degrees from forward to downward and a secondary downward facing camera for optic flow registration of details below so it can maintain its position when GPS is unavailable (indoors, for example). The camera has electronic image stabilisation (EIS) that can be switched on or off. The drone and its camera are controlled by an app via a smartphone and has a specified range of 30 metres horizontally and 15 metres vertically, though those figures are very conservative, especially if you use a WiFi repeater. Some people have sent theirs 30 metres plus high and over 750 metres horizontally before having to return the drone to home after the battery reached half capacity. Flying time is around 6-9 minutes depending on how hard the drone has to work (fighting wind, camera on, etc.).
Here's an indoor Dobby drone selfie:
I've tweaked this in Lightroom from the 13 megapixel JPEG, but not by much. It's a tough challenge for a camera as the walls in the room are yellow and there is a skylight so the lighting consists of yellow reflections and (overcast) daylight. But really not bad at all.
The drone was hovering in front of me about 4 feet away. No (E)IS was used for this one.
I've also been outside and here are some shots:
I didn't spend too much time on taking pictures but I did feel it was over-exposing and adjusted the compensation down. There was a slight breeze and some motion blur is evident in most of the stills, but not that bad unless you pixel-peep at 100% on some shots.
I launched the drone about 5 times and each time from my hand, landing back on my hand again - it was very muddy, so I successfully avoided that
Highest I got was about 17 metres. I didn't dare go higher!
A limiting factor was the app reporting that the compass wasn't working properly (it reckoned there was an unusual electromagnetic interference). This limits its flight range for safety reasons. I recalibrated the compass a couple of times but this only seemed to sort it out temporarily, so I'll have to look into that.
Outside, the noise from the props is not an issue at all.
It'a great fun though I haven't had much chance to practice outside because of the weather but as I will be back in the Far East at Easter and visiting some coral islands I'm hopeful of some good results!
Ian
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