I currently am a videographer for a production company and drones have been a very useful tool. I am looking for needed info before purchasing the Alta drone. I am currently the production company drone operator having logged many drone hours. Currently though all my drone experience has been with DJI products, the phantom, then the phantom 2, then the phantom 3, and the Inspire 1. Being the Alta is a bigger buy than those other drones and I haven't flown one I wondered 1. Are the controls for flying it similar to the inspire 1 or phantom line? (I have attempted flying rc helicopters before the quads were available and those were not pleasant to fly since you had to hover it yourself) 2. Will there be extensive programming or controller setup/tweeking that I'll need to know how to do to have the thing fly correctly? (with regular rc heli's before quads you had to have everything just right to keep it from drifting on you) 3. What pieces of equipment will I need to buy to stream hd image from A7s at long distance (we have a terradek bolt, is that sufficiant or is there a better recommended product?) 4. what do I need to buy to have a streamed pilot cam attached separate from the movi and A7s 5. Basically if you were to make a list of the dream production rig for the Alta what would it be?
Philip: 1. The controls are essentially the same. You can connect up the transmitter (tx) or receiver (rx) of your choice -- but FF sell a Futaba 14SG with two Rx (for spatial diversity) and all ready channel configured for the ALTA. The biggest difference you will notice from say, the Inspire 1, is that there are control stick trims that you can use creatively to cause the ALTA to fly horizontally at a controlled fixed rate without having to deflect the stick(s). Obviously the other difference is that there is a separate FPV and Payload camera system. 2. I think I answered this above, but, if you choose to go with a non-Futaba from FF, then yes, you'll have to preprogram the appropriate "model" into your Tx to map the channels as required by the ALTA. The Synapse flight controller is set up ready for flight and thus you need not engage in tweaking. The position hold and altitude hold do just what their names imply. 3. You need to buy whatever equipment you want to stream video from the payload camera, both the for equipment on the MōVI gimbal but also for the ground station receiver/monitor. 4. Similarly, while there are wiring harnesses that provide +12v DC for an FPV camera, it's up to you to buy the camera, the video Tx, and the ground station equipment. 5. I'm afraid I don't know enough to tell you what your dream config would be....not trying to be smart-ass, but really is hard to know. 6. (New) : Remember that you'll need to purchase (or repurpose) an AC to DC power supply, charger(s), and LiPo batteries. Hope this helps. Andy.
Andy pretty much nailed it. I'd add that IMHO you should budget 50+ hours of flight practice with the ALTA and a variety of payloads, weather conditions, and other factors before you load up an expensive camera package or (gasp) fly in front of paying clients. I always imagine that each pair of eyeballs watching me fly adds some degree of payload and/or wind. And if they're paying eyeballs, even more so.
Every flight controller has it's own flight characteristics. The control sticks are the same but the way the copter reacts to your inputs may be and will be different than you used to have. Getting used to the behaviour of the copter is matter of time. I'll echo Steve on this. The more you fly, the more you get used to this behaviour and you will be more confident on your rig.
After 15-20 hours of flight time, I'm only now getting to the point where I'm pushing the limits a bit on my ALTA (aggressive moves, evaluating battery life, etc.). I started with training wheels attached.
I echo Ozkan's remarks -- it's a bit like getting into a friend's car and driving it. Fundamentally the same, but the response feels different. Of course, with cars, we're lucky that the accelerator is almost always on the right -- the exception being things like tractors with hand throttles. The harder part might be getting used to where the various controls on the transmitter might be as there seems to be no accepted standards for those. (Or as they say in the high tech world: "The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from...." Sigh...) Andy.