I’ve Been flying drones for about 10 years or so. DJI Phantom 3 was my first, followed by the original Mavic.

Currently I’ve been flying an Autel Evo II Pro 6K since 2020, mostly for real estate listing work. It has paid for itself, but has a couple minor issues due to minor crash damage. While it is still functional, it is getting a little long in the tooth.

It doesn’t have the hardware to be FAA compliant with Remote ID and since I do commercial flights, I’m hesitant to break the rules even if there is little risk of consequences.

While you can get a standalone device for the RID, I’ve been thinking instead of putting more money into an older, and essentially obsolete model, now might be the time for something new.


Came real close to buying the current Evo II V3 Pro, but I really like the idea of multiple cameras available now and after several hours of research, I decided to go with the DJI Air 3.



I do very little video so never really used the Autel’s 6K video feature, so going “down” to a slightly smaller 1/1.3” vs 1” sensor and 4K resolution shouldn’t be an issue. Going from 20mp stills to 48mp stills, having the dual cameras, and effectively a third “ultra-wide” camera with the Air 3’s add on lens should more than make up for whatever slight reduction in IQ there is from the smaller sensor.

The ability to put an extra wide lens on should also make it more useful for my real estate work where sometimes I don’t have enough clear room to fly and get everything in the shot using the standard 24mm. Having the option of a 15mm lens will be perfect when I need to work closer to the subject due to trees, etc.



Looks like the Air 3 has a lot better performance in regards to ascent/descent rates over the Evo which frequently annoyed me how long it would take to bring it back down after going to max altitude. More advanced OA system will also be nice upgrade over the older Evo which basically just stopped when it sensed an obstacle. The new tech senses an obstacle and then automatically negotiates around it.



Now that I am retired I’m hoping to do more recreational flying and am even thinking of getting one of the Avata 2 FPV drones after seeing videos of the stuff that thing can do.


It arrived today and took awhile for everything to get charged, of course now I have to wait for require firmware updates before I can go get airborne.



Will post some inaugural flight pics and maybe a sunset pano later this evening.

I just got my first one, an entry model, but I've enjoyed getting to play with it. I've only *almost* crashed it twice.

Like this one:



Lake about a mile from our house using the telephoto lens:



The obstacle avoidance is really cool until you walk towards the rising sun and it gets confused. At least that’s my guess as to what happened.

I had it following me around the driveway and it was working really well until I turned turned a corner and walked towards the sun. That’s when the drone drifted off into the trees to the right and proceeded to move towards me into a bunch of branches. I just sat there a watched as it tumble down branch by branch until it hit the ground. In hindsight, I probably could have tried to fly it away from the trees as soon as I saw it was in trouble. I also probably should have started with a basic one as my first drone.

Quick composite of the three lens focal length options.

Drone comes with two cameras, one is wide angle (24mm) and the other zoom (70mm). There is also an optional 15.5mm ultra-wide adaptor that fixes in front of the 24mm camera. You need to land to attach or detach the UW adapter, so need to decide which configuration will work best before launching.


While in video mode, each camera also has the ability to do 3x digital zoom, for a video zoom range of either 24-210mm without the optional lens or 15.5-46mm and than 70-210mm with it attached.


To show the options while shooting stills, I put this composite together:





You can of course do frame grabs from the 4K video to get 210mm stills - quality drops off a bit as it is a digital zoom, essentially cropping in but it does give you quite the range this one is a comparison of ultra wide (no digital zoom) and 9x, both grabbed from video files.

You really need to look close on the UW to find the white car in the center of the frame.





I am definitely happy so far with just the quick little tests I’ve done. Really looking forward to using it tomorrow on my real estate shoot.

Oh, and the flight performance is much better as well, even with it cripple some in “normal” with speed restrictions. Much faster to get it up and back down.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Like this one:

Yup, that’s the one!

quote:

The obstacle avoidance is really cool until you walk towards the rising sun and it gets confused. At least that’s my guess as to what happened.

I had it following me around the driveway and it was working really well until I turned turned a corner and walked towards the sun. That’s when the drone drifted off into the trees to the right and proceeded to move towards me into a bunch of branches. I just sat there a watched as it tumble down branch by branch until it hit the ground. In hindsight, I probably could have tried to fly it away from the trees as soon as I saw it was in trouble. I also probably should have started with a basic one as my first drone.

I never crashed my Phantom, but as big as that thing was whatever it hit would probably be what was damaged.

I put my Mavic into a tree while orbiting sideways and keeping camera fixed on center point. That was before obstacle avoidance was a thing. It was also an expensive lesson. Paid a tree guy $75 to get it out of the tree, and if I remember the replacement gimbal was another $300 or so with me doing the labor.


Was very excited to get the Autel Evo with OA, but yes it definitely has limitations. I was coming forward trying to frame a real estate shot and looking at screen instead of drone. There was a phone/cable line out of camera view in front of drone and evidently too small to trigger OA. Hit it and was deflected enough to drop me about 15’ to the ground which was hard pack gravel.

In its defense the Autel withstood the impact pretty good. Cracked a forward AO sensor lens, scuffed the case, and it popped open a little. Case popped back closed ok, since everything still works (except for partial blind spot from damaged sensor lens) I didn’t bother spending any money to repair. The gimbal may have been tweaked a little as well since it always seems to have a 2 degree or so tilt.

Not a big deal, straightens out on post.


First thing I noticed with the DJI how much lighter it is than the Autel. Definitely not going to be as tough, glad I got the DJI care replacement insurance. With the 10% bump as I expect I will fly this alone a lot more and more recreationally exposing it to more risk.



Part of me wants to “test” the APAS system, but then I’m not really wanting to tempt fate…

Not a great sunset, but I’m really digging this drone!






Going to be doing a LOT more video….


This train trestle is about three miles from my house as the the crow flies, I was about 1/4 mile out from my backyard with drone in sight and shot just a quick vid of a train going by. Screen grab from the video below, shot from the same position as the sunset. Notice the point in the train pic, you can just barely make out the point in the sunset pic almost all the way tot the left of frame as the slough dumps into Puget Sound.

The pictures with the white car zoomed and ultra wide are really cool. I’m going to have to take a look at that lens.

There I was, flying mine at right around 400’ and it suddenly says “Manned Aircraft Nearby”. First, how in the world does it know that? Then I’m thinking where is it and WTF am I going to do about it? I dropped down to 200’ and figured since that’s only about 100’ above the trees, if there were an issue, my drone wasn’t going to be the problem.

I wasn’t there for more than a few seconds, I had the shot, there was no danger, so I took it:



Used the regular lens to find them, then switched to the telephoto lens to take the shot. I’m a little surprised managed to figure out what and how to do it with such short notice.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
“Manned Aircraft Nearby”. First, how in the world does it know that?

ADS-B is how it knows.
When you file a flight plan through LAANC (or have Remote ID enabled), your drone appears as an unidentified aircraft at 200’ (or the max altitude you’ve chosen) on other aircraft’s ADS-B receivers.

It doesn’t always work well, but usually does with a good cell signal connection.

quote:

Originally posted by VictimNoMore:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
“Manned Aircraft Nearby”. First, how in the world does it know that?

ADS-B is how it knows.
When you file a flight plan through LAANC (or have Remote ID enabled), your drone appears as an unidentified aircraft at 200’ (or the max altitude you’ve chosen) on other aircraft’s ADS-B receivers.

It doesn’t always work well, but usually does with a good cell signal connection.

Yes, ADS-B however…

I am one of those folks who actually reads a fair bit of the manual. The Air 3 has ADS-B receiver but it does not transmit ADS-B.


So IF a nearby aircraft is transmitting, you might get a warning. It is line of sight though so can be blocked by obstacles. Also since ADS-B isn’t a requirement, I imagine a fair amount of GA aircraft don’t have it. According to DJI, not all military aircraft have it either.


While I was flying last night, there were a couple light aircraft I got no warning of, but then there also was another aircraft I did get alerted to.

Pretty cool.

You are correct, 911Boss. I should have elaborated further.
Not too long ago, ADS-B info appeared in the apps used to file flight plans via LAANC. AutoPylot doesn’t have that capability, however.
Nowadays, I just use ADSB Exchange to monitor traffic via web browser.

So I may get notifications of nearby aircraft, but nearby aircraft are not getting notifications of my drone. I had VLOS with my drone but because I was in a pocket surrounded by trees, I could only hear the helicopters.

My understanding is the Air 3 is broadcasting Remote ID information using WiFi, Bluetooth, or both. Apparently there’s an Android app that will pick up both signals, but the iOS version is Bluetooth only.

They came back later in the day followed by a third that my son took the picture of below from the front porch. I’m sure he’s below 500’, we are in a sparsely populated area and I’m guessing right the shore is considered open water as well. I bought it up here to learn how to use and fly it without having to worry about other people or aircraft.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
So I may get notifications of nearby aircraft, but nearby aircraft are not getting notifications of my drone…

Correct. Even though it isn’t required during daylight, I have attached three strobes on mine - flashing white on top, flashing green on the left side of the body and flashing red on the right side of the body.

quote:

My understanding is the Air 3 is broadcasting Remote ID information using WiFi, Bluetooth, or both. Apparently there’s an Android app that will pick up both signals, but the iOS version is Bluetooth only.

I’ve yet to find any app that will actually receive the info. I remember reading somewhere it may only be avail to “official” entities due to privacy concerns. Not sure if that is accurate or not. Same article mentioned it would be difficult for Apple devices due to their security protocols in allowing random wi-fi connections or some such techie reason. That seems to be inline with you sayin Apple app is BT only.


If you are aware of an app, especially for Apple devices I’d be interested in getting it. Might even consider getting a cheap Android tablet
If necessary.

A quick try of the android app didn’t work.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

I’m sure he’s below 500’, we are in a sparsely populated area and I’m guessing right the shore is considered open water as well.

He looks to be perfectly legal if he's offshore.

I used to fly for a marine biologist every Friday morning. He had a contract (U.S. Dept of Agriculture?) to survey the shoreline from the 28th parallel to the 31st, so I would go offshore at Sebastian Inlet, drop down to 200' and hold that altitude up to the 31st, somewhere off Georgia, then climb back up to a decent altitude and head back home.

We usually did this in a Cessna 182 that had a RADAR altimeter. I would set it for 200' and it was easy to maintain altitude by watching the red indicator lamp with peripheral vision, just keep it flickering on and off as I would go a few feet below and above the preset altitude.

200' was legal, my track was about 1/4 mile offshore.

quote:

He looks to be perfectly legal if he's offshore.

That’s a CH-53K King Stallion. I think it flies wherever it wants.

I wasn’t questioning the legality. I was more pointing out for other recreational drone newbies like myself who might read this thread that the 400’ max altitude for our drones creating a seperation from the 500’ minimum altitude for manned aircraft doesn’t always hold true.

Interested in what you mean by "doing real estate work" but not video. You mean you are just capturing the still images from above for pictures on listing, not videos for listings? Curious how one gets into that line of work? I imagine it would likely start with a few friends in RE who can start putting your name out there?

I'm always on the hunt for a retirement gig. I've thought about diving into the seamless video runs through buildings with a FPV drone... Def some real estate uses there.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
Interested in what you mean by "doing real estate work" but not video. You mean you are just capturing the still images from above for pictures on listing, not videos for listings? Curious how one gets into that line of work? I imagine it would likely start with a few friends in RE who can start putting your name out there?

I'm always on the hunt for a retirement gig. I've thought about diving into the seamless video runs through buildings with a FPV drone... Def some real estate uses there.

Yup, have a good friend who is an agent. Started with him and then collected more. Initially was interior pictures and exterior with camera on a painter pole for a little bit of elevation.

When drones became popular, everyone wanted aerial shots. When COVID hit, 360 “virtual” walk throughs became popular but now that regular showings are the norm again demand for those seems to have dropped a bit.

In my area not much demand for fly-through videos, but most folks still want aerial photos especially if it is a larger plot of land.

Using a drone you’ll need to get your Part 107 license if you haven’t already, in order to be “legit”. For interior, a decent DSLR or Mirrorless and a wide angle lens as well as a standard lens or zoom. I use FF mirrorless Canon with a 11mm ultra-wide as well as a 14-35mm zoom. Multiple off-camera flash (I use as many as 4), a few lights stands and a tripod.

I use Photoshop for editing, but Lightroom or other software would work as well.


RE listing photography seems to vary widely based on location. To get a sense of what is popular in your area, surf local listings on Zillow to see what kind of photos are being used. In some areas it seems everyone just does crappy unedited cellphone pics. Of course the higher the market prices, the higher level of photos being used.

Unless you really dive in whole hog, it is hard to make a living doing it. For me it has always been a side hustle to justify and fund my lust for gear. I do run it as a legit sole-proprietorship, schedule-c business. I average about $70-$75/hour gross and I count travel time, time on site, and editing time. My “average” job runs about $275-$300 with interior and drone shots and is usually 40-60 min drive time (round trip), 60-90 minutes on location, and another 60-90 min edit time.

Tried to test my drones water resistance rating today.....


Skip to 4:30

Close one, Jesse. Even the very expensive drones have a problem with water. I try to stay away as best I can.

Trapper- another angle to consider is doing mapping/measuring with drones in the construction industry. In addition to my video work (my full time job), I spend 4-5weeks each year doing mapping and measuring flights at one of our companies’ asphalt plants and rock quarries/stone yards across the state of WV.
Get your Part 107 certificate, get software or app such as Drone Deploy, and learn how to do the flights. It’s very specific work, not glamorous, but always in demand and pays well.

That was thumperfbc that asked about making money, but I appreciate the suggestion too. Part of the reason for buying one was for my oldest son the learn how to use one. He wants to be volcanologist and I figure drones are probably really useful for that and other fields of geology he could get involved in.