STARTING A VIDEO BUSINESS FOR REAL ESTATE USING A P3S

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I haven't seen much in the previous posts about using the P3S for taking videos for real estate and other projects. The camera isn't of 4K quality, but turns out good video just the same. I am not looking to go to the extreme of measuring land or thermal photography or thing like that. I just want to keep it simple and possibly make a buck or two while enjoying it. I am aware of the requirements as far as Part 107, insurance, video editing software, and would like to hear from folks that have actually done it rather than several negative posts claiming it won't work or it's too cheap of a piece of equipment or what ever. I have heard and read enough of that already. If you haven't done it or don't know of others that have done this, your comments may or may not be very helpful. Being skillful in maneuvering the AC is of utmost importance and can not be overlooked.
 
Mick:
I have begun this professionally and in my opinion... :)

Utilizing:
-Phantom 3 Pro (Works well but camera doesn't have adjustable aperture or seperate Yaw)
-Autopilot app by Hangar (Couldn't use P3P without this app as it "mimicks" the yaw control of Inspire. Zip-line, Focus, Orbit are your best friends)
-Final Cut Pro (a little expensive, but worth it if you have a Mac platform. Corel & Adobe are good for PC. Good free for PC is VSDC)

Recommendations:
-Use 24fps* (try to have shutter speed as close as possible to double fps)
-Absolutely use Autopilot or Litchi
-Practice on your own home in different conditions
-Dive into Youtube and watch examples
-Make a list of shots you want before you go
-Keep camera rolling the whole time
-Don't charge too little!

* Check your exposure because you will have to use "automatic" settings and 60 fps in direct sunlight unless you have a ND filter.

Good luck, you can do it!
 
Mick:
I have begun this professionally and in my opinion... :)

Utilizing:
-Phantom 3 Pro (Works well but camera doesn't have adjustable aperture or seperate Yaw)
-Autopilot app by Hangar (Couldn't use P3P without this app as it "mimicks" the yaw control of Inspire. Zip-line, Focus, Orbit are your best friends)
-Final Cut Pro (a little expensive, but worth it if you have a Mac platform. Corel & Adobe are good for PC. Good free for PC is VSDC)

Recommendations:
-Use 24fps* (try to have shutter speed as close as possible to double fps)
-Absolutely use Autopilot or Litchi
-Practice on your own home in different conditions
-Dive into Youtube and watch examples
-Make a list of shots you want before you go
-Keep camera rolling the whole time
-Don't charge too little!

* Check your exposure because you will have to use "automatic" settings and 60 fps in direct sunlight unless you have a ND filter.

Good luck, you can do it!

Thank you for all the good information, I was wondering, you mentioned the P3P that you were using. I have the P3S do they operate the same? Also I wasn't able to find the "Autopilot app by Hangar" Did they change their name from Hangar to something else? Is Autopilot an app that replaces the DJI go app? I am familar with Litchi having read about it on this forum. I have Adobe Premier Elements 15 for editing on my PC and it seems to work OK.
Thanks again for your help, it is very much appreciated.
 
Thank you for all the good information, I was wondering, you mentioned the P3P that you were using. I have the P3S do they operate the same? Also I wasn't able to find the "Autopilot app by Hangar" Did they change their name from Hangar to something else? Is Autopilot an app that replaces the DJI go app? I am familar with Litchi having read about it on this forum. I have Adobe Premier Elements 15 for editing on my PC and it seems to work OK.
Thanks again for your help, it is very much appreciated.

Phantoms function pretty much the same, but here is a comparison:
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App can be found here: Autopilot for DJI Phantom, Mavic, Inspire, Matrice on the App Store
It works with P3S according to them.

Good luck.
 
Phantoms function pretty much the same, but here is a comparison:
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

App can be found here: Autopilot for DJI Phantom, Mavic, Inspire, Matrice on the App Store
It works with P3S according to them.

Good luck.
Thanks again, my thoughts were wondering because of the different RC's. I will go and check it out. Did you have to get rid of your DJI go app before using the Autopilot app, or didn't it cause any problems. I have heard here on the forum that Litchi won't do the RTH feature. Your thoughts on that.
 
Haven't used Litchi, but a friend has and likes it. Autopilot actually recommends using DJI Go App to calibrate compass, then closing the Go app down before opening up Autopilot. I'm sure either one will work.

RTH isn't all too important on real estate because the drone should ALWAYS be in Line of Sight and manually returnable to home.
 
Haven't used Litchi, but a friend has and likes it. Autopilot actually recommends using DJI Go App to calibrate compass, then closing the Go app down before opening up Autopilot. I'm sure either one will work.

RTH isn't all too important on real estate because the drone should ALWAYS be in Line of Sight and manually returnable to home.

Great, thank you so much.
 
I haven't seen much in the previous posts about using the P3S for taking videos for real estate and other projects. The camera isn't of 4K quality, but turns out good video just the same. I am not looking to go to the extreme of measuring land or thermal photography or thing like that. I just want to keep it simple and possibly make a buck or two while enjoying it. I am aware of the requirements as far as Part 107, insurance, video editing software, and would like to hear from folks that have actually done it rather than several negative posts claiming it won't work or it's too cheap of a piece of equipment or what ever. I have heard and read enough of that already. If you haven't done it or don't know of others that have done this, your comments may or may not be very helpful. Being skillful in maneuvering the AC is of utmost importance and can not be overlooked.

I have been using a P3S for real estate. Works well IMHO. This example was done with a Polarizer only, and as you can tell by the shadows the sun was pointing at the drone.
cbre2.jpg
 
Nice shot. Did you have the camera in auto?
Honestly don't remember at the moment. I generally shoot RAW with Color = None and adjust in Lightroom. But i'll look later to see what the original was, and post the answer.
 
Thank you.
Certainly. Time of day: 1:57pm The exposure was ISO 100 1/400 Sec and as I mentioned I always use a Polarizer in my neck of the woods.
 
They have drones in Sitka?
A few, I have only seen a couple of different ones in the air. Don't hear anyone talking about them. I talked to a guy that is in the Coast Guard, looks like he had several including one that looked like the Inspire 1, and another fella that just got a new Mavic and was out flying it for the first time. Not much activity as far as I can see.
 
I haven't seen much in the previous posts about using the P3S for taking videos for real estate and other projects. The camera isn't of 4K quality, but turns out good video just the same. I am not looking to go to the extreme of measuring land or thermal photography or thing like that. I just want to keep it simple and possibly make a buck or two while enjoying it. I am aware of the requirements as far as Part 107, insurance, video editing software, and would like to hear from folks that have actually done it rather than several negative posts claiming it won't work or it's too cheap of a piece of equipment or what ever. I have heard and read enough of that already. If you haven't done it or don't know of others that have done this, your comments may or may not be very helpful. Being skillful in maneuvering the AC is of utmost importance and can not be overlooked.

Well I am a professional videographer and photographer and I will admit, I disagree with most of the information that has been provided so far in this thread but to each their own. You absolutely can use the P3 and make great videos; it is not the equipment it is the operator that will determine how the footage turns out.

1) I never offer 4K to my customers, DJI's horrible H.264 compression algorithm pretty much ensures that 4K will not look much better than 1080P so you don't need the Pro version to get equivalent footage.

2) I would never just "keep the camera rolling", that is a huge waste of space and a nightmare to edit, store, backup, and archive. I shoot very short 30s to 60s clips with precise industry standard movements (truck, orbit, pan, tilt, dolly, etc) and that's it with a little B roll for backup.

3) I do not use ND filters, the whole shutter speed problem is mainly a problem at night, in the daylight for an 8s aerial clip when you are 150-200ft off the ground with a 100 degree FOV, no one is going to notice the difference between 1/60s or 1/2000s for your shutter speed. ND filters add weight, they shorten the life of your gimbal motors (due to an unbalanced load), and as I mentioned, no one will notice anyway

4) I never hand over control of my Phantom to an app. Sorry, DJI has enough problems with their native software and firmware, adding an app on top of that is just a recipe for disaster. To comply with Part 107 you have to keep a LOS on the drone anyway, so the only thing you can do with one of those apps is get in trouble.

5) I shoot in either 30 or 60FPS (depending on if I want slow motion video), I never use 24P. Cinematic is great for Hollywood but when you are filming a real estate video customers want smooth footage. If you want to move up the ladder to commercials, car scenes, etc. you will be using something like the I1 or I2 anyway.

Now--for what I do in fact do

I have the P3Pro, the P4Pro, the Inspire 1 pro, and about to get the Inspire 2 Pro. Each one has their strengths and weaknesses. For real estate and construction videos I still use the P3Pro; why risk a more expensive drone for such a low paying gig?

Aerial videos are just overdone, it's like a new playground for people that have never done professional photography or videography. I only use Aerial video to establish the scene, without traditional video, an aerial video gets boring very quickly, unless you are doing something dangerous like flying low or close to obstructions. So if you want to make good aerial videos you first have to be good at making traditional videos. So I can easily shoot a 3 minute promo video and only have 30 seconds of aerial video in it.

Pictures - Always shoot RAW, edit in Lightroom, touchup in Photoshop as needed

Video - Corel VideoStudio is actually great editing software but a bit buggy when dealing with DJI's aforementioned H.264 implementation. I would start there and if you decide video editing really is for you, then check out DaVinci Resolve for color grading and Adobe Premier Pro for NLE editing. If you are on a Mac then of course FinalCut Pro is the only thing I would consider. Also, the Adobe Suite is expensive, but if you have an old college email address or a kid in college or any way to sign up as a student (need a .edu email address) then you can get some pretty good discounts.

Anyway, I have rambled on long enough; I shoot everything from model fashion shoots with my DSLRs to aerial event videography; so yea, I've been doing this for awhile. I rarely have time to post on here, but there is so much bad advice floating around these places. At the end of the day to truly succeed in this market you have to be a videographer/photographer first; a drone pilot second.
 
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Well I am a professional videographer and photographer and I will admit, I disagree with most of the information that has been provided so far in this thread but to each their own. You absolutely can use the P3 and make great videos; it is not the equipment it is the operator that will determine how the footage turns out.

1) I never offer 4K to my customers, DJI's horrible H.264 compression algorithm pretty much ensures that 4K will not look much better than 1080P so you don't need the Pro version to get equivalent footage.

2) I would never just "keep the camera rolling", that is a huge waste of space and a nightmare to edit

3) I do not use ND filters, the whole shutter speed problem is mainly a problem at night, in the daylight for an 8s aerial clip when you are 150-200ft off the ground with a 100 degree FOV, no one is going to notice the difference between 1/60s or 1/2000s for your shutter speed. ND filters add weight, they shorten the life of your gimbal motors (due to an unbalanced load), and as I mentioned, no one will notice anyway

4) I never hand over control of my Phantom to an app. Sorry, DJI has enough problems with their native software and firmware, adding an app on top of that is just a recipe for disaster. To comply with Part 107 you have to keep a LOS on the drone anyway, so the only thing you can do with one of those apps is get in trouble.

5) I shoot in either 30 or 60FPS (depending on if I want slow motion video), I never use 24P. Cinematic is great for Hollywood but when you are filming a real estate video customers want smooth footage. If you want to move up the ladder to commercials, car scenes, etc. you will be using something like the I1 or I2 anyway.

Now--for what I do in fact do

I have the P3Pro, the P4Pro, the Inspire 1 pro, and about to get the Inspire 2 Pro. Each one has their strengths and weaknesses. For real estate and construction videos I still use the P3Pro; why risk a more expensive drone for such a low paying gig?

Aerial videos are just overdone, it's like a new playground for people that have never done professional photography or videography. I only use Aerial video to establish the scene, without traditional video, an aerial video gets boring very quickly, unless you are doing something dangerous like flying low or close to obstructions. So if you want to make good aerial videos you first have to be good at making traditional videos. So I can easily shoot a 3 minute promo video and only have 30 seconds of aerial video in it.

Pictures - Always shoot RAW, edit in Lightroom, touchup in Photoshop as needed

Video - Corel VideoStudio is actually great editing software but a bit buggy when dealing with DJI's aforementioned H.264 implementation. I would start there and if you decide video editing really is for you, then check out DaVinci Resolve for color grading and Adobe Premier Pro for NLE editing. If you are on a Mac then of course FinalCut Pro is the only thing I would consider. Also, the Adobe Suite is expensive, but if you have an old college email address or a kid in college or anyway to sign up as a student (need a .edu email address) then you can get some pretty good discounts.

Anyway, I have rambled on long enough; I shoot everything from model fashion shoots with my DSLRs to aerial event videography; so yea, I've been doing this for awhile.

Ouch! Good advice.
 

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