Re: Drones
Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:45 pm
The DJI Phantom supposedly has a conventional controller, but has a bracket available to hold the phone, which uses wi-fi to receive the video back from the camera. The Phantom 2 includes a wi-fi range booster. I know there are some little RC craft that can be controlled from a smart phone, but I think the intent on the Phantom is to use the high end controller.
The laptop has wi-fi, Blutooth, etc, so if there is W7 software available to receive the video it ought to do the job. The turn-off for me with tablets is that I was looking around at tablet capabilities as a portable support system for my HD video equipment. I found them to be seriously limited. I expect there are some video editing apps for them, but I can find nothing to suggest they have an ability to download videos from my cameras, and until you throw some serious money at them they really don't have much storage capacity. The laptop is vastly more capable and does all this without question, and can run my preferred video editing package. You can get them with a cut-down version of Windows, which presumably will do what I need, but those are as expensive as a laptop. Another thing which is rare on tablets is an Ethernet connection. At home I never use wi-fi ... disabled it and drove a stake thru its heart. I've never encountered a wi-fi home or hotel network that performed consistently, and they're a hacking danger.
A tablet certainly COULD do what I want, if "there's an ap for that." But a fairly intensive search didn't turn up any mention of photographers and videographers using them for that purpose. I've got enough on my plate that I feel no desire to get in to writing aps for a platform that will be obsolete in a year or two. But I'd think some young kid with a Phantom, a camcorder, and a tablet could solve the problem.
I was in DC yesterday, and it was like being in a zombie movie, all the people walking around that beautiful city, staring at some rectangular gadget in their hands, white cords going into their ears, filling their minds with crap, instead of ducking in to the Smithsonian.
The laptop has wi-fi, Blutooth, etc, so if there is W7 software available to receive the video it ought to do the job. The turn-off for me with tablets is that I was looking around at tablet capabilities as a portable support system for my HD video equipment. I found them to be seriously limited. I expect there are some video editing apps for them, but I can find nothing to suggest they have an ability to download videos from my cameras, and until you throw some serious money at them they really don't have much storage capacity. The laptop is vastly more capable and does all this without question, and can run my preferred video editing package. You can get them with a cut-down version of Windows, which presumably will do what I need, but those are as expensive as a laptop. Another thing which is rare on tablets is an Ethernet connection. At home I never use wi-fi ... disabled it and drove a stake thru its heart. I've never encountered a wi-fi home or hotel network that performed consistently, and they're a hacking danger.
A tablet certainly COULD do what I want, if "there's an ap for that." But a fairly intensive search didn't turn up any mention of photographers and videographers using them for that purpose. I've got enough on my plate that I feel no desire to get in to writing aps for a platform that will be obsolete in a year or two. But I'd think some young kid with a Phantom, a camcorder, and a tablet could solve the problem.
I was in DC yesterday, and it was like being in a zombie movie, all the people walking around that beautiful city, staring at some rectangular gadget in their hands, white cords going into their ears, filling their minds with crap, instead of ducking in to the Smithsonian.