In theory the work rate for drone pilots is supposed to slow down in the winter months. Days are shorter, the light is not so great and it is cold. But we have never been so busy.
We have been up and down the UK including an incredible loop round Scotland which took in Loch Goil, the Isles of Coll and Skye, Perth and Glasgow.
Projects have included this beautiful house which was imported from Sweden and rebuilt long before the days of HufHaus.
Maybe it was their inspiration? And talking about being inspired, we have some exciting news.
Batteries don’t like cold. It reduces duration and can even create scary moments if one decides to fail altogether in flight. There is plenty you can do to help prevent batteries operating at sub-optimal temperature like use warmers or you can do what we just did and invest in an inspire 2!
Inspire 2
We decided that going forward we should spec the best we could so hello X7s sensor and a set of carbon fibre bodied prime lenses with focal lengths from 16mm to 50mm. The inspire 2 also has a feature we love which is an onboard battery warmer. I’ve seen battery temperature drop after take off in cold weather despite running the motors. This can lead to a sudden catastrophic failure.
The DJI Inspire 2 has a built-in warming feature on its dual batteries which will sense a drop in temperature and compensate in flight automatically. You can also warm them away from the aircraft.
Action battery stations
For me the biggest production flow issue when in the field is exactly that – you are in a field. Recharging batteries can become a major issue. So we added a battery station to the new order. This brilliant gadget is the size of a carry-on (so taking your batteries on board is a no-brainer) and it can recharge 8 batteries in around 90 minutes. At once. It charges all 8 at the same time.
I am currently chained to my desk editing a lot of the material I have been shooting over the last month. Another project was the property below which was at the other end of the country to the other one.
Again the weather was grim. It was raining on and off, borderline windy – the limit is 10 metres per second – and freezing. The battery warming icon was showing on my screen for every battery change.
The inspire 2 handled the conditions and the appallingly low light really well. It “inspires” confidence!
There is a long list of projects I need to cut together and grade before Christmas.