For many years my videos have been a combination of hand or tripod shots and the occasional Glidecam 3000, a low-cost "Steadicam" that I purchased several decades ago. To be honest, that has sat in a box for probably the last decade. It's just too heavy and cumbersome to set up.
Cut to the new age of handheld camera holders with gimbals that allow smooth, flowing moment throughout a scene. I'm still behind the times in that respect, but I just added a new tool to my creative toolbox, and it's going to make all the difference in my productions.
Drones have always seemed too large and intimidating to me. And costly. But a relatively new drone, the HoverAir X1, weighs only 125 grams and fits in your hand or pocket when folded up. I say relatively new even though it came out over 2 years ago, but it's new to me.
What makes this drone special is that it can track and follow you without a controller. Buttons on top of the drone allow you to set up various modes like Hover, Zoom, Follow, Orbit, and Bird's Eye. Once you select an option, you just aim the drone's camera at your face, tap the power button, and it will start up and perform the desired mode. Then it will come back to you! Placing your hand under the drone will cause it to lower and stop.
For instance, Orbit allows the drone to film around you in a circle at the distance that you set. Bird's eye will raise the drone up as high as 15 meters (49 feet) and film straight down as it ascends and descends. You can even have it rotate as it's doing so. Zoom can fly away from you and upward to achieve some pretty spectacular establishing shots.
Manual control is also possible with the phone app's virtual joysticks. That means you can film scenery with the camera pointing away from you. This opens up a whole new world of creative shots.
Here is a video of me using the drone for the first time outdoors.
If you're a hiker or biker, the drone can follow you from the front (Dolly Track) or behind (Follow) up to about 15 mph. It can also Hover in place like a virtual tripod that turns with you or remains aimed in one direction. It will even tilt the camera down if, say, you wanted to crouch to point out a flower or something nearer to the ground.
The drone comes with a phone app that allows you set up more detailed mode settings and download your footage from the built-in 32 Gig storage (about 23 Gig after firmware). The drone is capable of shooting as high as 2.7K footage. Newer, more expensive models allow up to 8K. Battery life is estimated at 11 minutes of flight time, which requires good planning of shots. You will want multiple batteries.
As if it couldn't get any better, the drone also has a feature that removes the drone noise when you record narrative audio through your phone or attached phone microphone. It's pretty amazing. This allows you to create short demonstration videos or speak about your surroundings. Just make sure the Hover app screen remains open and that you download the videos to your phone first before transferring to your computer to pair the audio. Use video editing software to realign the audio with the video if it's not synced properly. If you don't need narrative audio, you can transfer files directly from the drone itself with the supplied cable.
Note that this model should not be flown over water or all-white snow cover as the bottom sensor needs to see a good ground texture to position itself. Although this model does not have front and rear obstacle sensors, it does a pretty good job of dodging things as long as it can keep you in frame when using the automatic modes. It's made of a durable, flexible plastic that can withstand some hits and also protects the rotating blades.
You can purchase the HoverAir X1 Combo Plus, which includes 3 batteries and a separate charger, on Amazon here for under $350.
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