Drone cameras

Hey anyone have experience with flying drones with cameras to take roof pics? Im seriously considering buying one but would love to hear from a roofer if possible.

Good roof pics require proper elevation. I used to hire a guy with a helicopter but he was expensive. Then there was a guy with a balloon that had a camera hung from it. That worked better and a little less expensive but still both depend on weather, timing and permission.

Ive been looking at a quadcopter called steadydrone. It has a mount for a go pro and the new go pros work with wifi so i believe i can see what the camera sees from my iphone? Very curious if any roofers have experience with this stuff.

One of my customers daughters recently took some drone pics of a couple of my roofs and i was blown away. I must find out how to do this myself!!!

Cool stuff Tim.

I have the DJI Phantom Vision 2+. On Amazon, get the one with the spare battery. Also spent the $7 for the prop guards.

Lefty, I poured a lot of milk on the kitchen counter until I learned to touch the jug with the glass. Yes, everyone would protect their eyes better if they spent a morning with 1 closed. Just brushing your teeth and getting the cap back on the tube can be a challenge. Also having an artificial leg, I have to be really careful at roof edges as I can't tell if I'm 2" away or 4'. It is amazing how fast your brain adapts to this - my brain knows how big pea gravel is, this if there are hundreds of stones between my shoe and the gravel stop, I know I'm a ways away. If there are only a dozen stones between my shoe and the gravel stop, I instinctively know I'm pretty close to the edge.

Same goes for the drone - I resist the temptation to hover it 5' up and grab it out of the sky because with no depth perception, that's a good way to get fingers in the props.

Tim, I do not know what Phantom Vision means? I have a double issue. I have 10% of my vision in my left eye. My loss of depth perception comes from my brain not using my left eye for information since it is blurred. This caused the left eye to not focus on the same spot as my right eye. My case also gives me double vision.

For those who do not have this issue. Cover one eye try and walk up steps or open a door, shake hands. Simple tasks that will have you smacking yourself with doors. tripping up steps. Shaking peoples fingers instead of their hands. After 47 years the steps and doors are not an issue. Shaking hands is still an issue. I do not know how to correct it.

Every time I am in an airport, getting on or off an escalator is a challenge. I can miss judge the step as it disappears under my feet.

Is that version 3.0 Tim? Is that the stock camera? I'm just wanting to check my options.

Lefty, I'm blind in 1 eye - I have zero depth perception. Beyond 16' we all use other visual cues for depth perception, e.g., the tree obstructs part of the house, so the tree is closer than the house. I learned this from an FAA study after losing eyesight in my eye.

Is yours a Phantom Vision? If you make sure you never liftoff until you have locked onto 7 or more satellites, you won't crash it. Wherever you put it in space you can take your hands off the controls, go in the house and get some coffee, and when you come back out it will be 2.5 meters from where you left it.

I have the drone and camera sitting in a box. I have been so busy. I really need to get on the ball with getting that up and working.

There is a certain fear of me crashing it. I have no depth perception. Experience is the only thing that saves my ass. I hate driving down roads with no lines painted on them. The lines let me gauge distance. When their are no lines I look for the seam in the black top for a gauge. So up in the air will be a challenge.

Roofguy said it I need to be ahead of my peers.

In about 6 weeks I will be rolling out a YouTube drone video that I expect to go viral in this region. Interspersed in it will be our logo and domain name. It will be the cheapest advertising ever.

Master, while opinions are great and fun and always welcomed, I can't recall seeing one that was as wrong as yours. :-)

The drone is not the only inspection I do on a roof. It is simply another tool, another perspective - one that 99% of my competitors can't offer their customer. It absolutely offers far more than you can with just a camera. Eagle View and Google Earth images are not always current. Even so, they cannot come remotely close to what I can show the customer about his building, his roof, his property.

The camera on the drone is gimble-stabilized 14 megapixel. Your digital camera has a serious lack of coolness factor to the customer. Your images look like every other image every one of your competitors offers the customers. It's called selling the sizzle and customers like it. Tat's all that really matters.

Here is one I threw together quickly for a formal bid opening. Half the people in that town have shared the video with someone...with my logo prominently displayed. It has already resulted in an invite to another bid. You simply cannot beat this free advertising.

See video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtwdiY5xz9I

Sorry to offend. The examples i see in the replies could be better done by getting on the roof and taking photos close up. Yes more high def than Eagle View but then Eagle View is there for measuring the roof, not showing issues on the roof that need to be addressed. As for the soffit example, you are going to have to get up close to determine the extent of damage anyway. I don't think you are going to rely on the drone to do that. Again just a plain camera is better or at the very least as good.

Not saying the drone is not nice...but I stand by the position that it adds little to the actual assessment and evaluation.

Chuck www.masterswa.com

Yep this is going to be the best way to showcase roofing work. I am still interested in the 360 virtual tours I'm thinking I could stand in the center of the roof and take a 360 pic of the work. It would be a hell of a lot easier to use the drones. Hey I wonder if the is a drone company that will come out and take the video so you don't have to buy one. Oh well anxious to see someone do it and post a link.

Gimmicky? Dude me and you are on two different planets. I don't play the production game whatsoever. I take photos for myself. I don't sell. My phone number is extremely hard to get. I do not even have a business card. Gimmicky? Get real.

Im with roofguy in that i dont see how drones are gimmicky in the production world either. You think satellite measurements are gimmicky too?

Not sure how adding information to the customer about his building is gimmicky. You absolutely cannot get this perspective any other way. As an example, I can fly the drone up under the soffit on a 3-story building to show the owner rotting wood. I can let him see his roof from above in much much much higher definition than you can get with Eagle View, and in video, not still shots.

It does make some customer edgy, but if I take the drone inside and let them see it up close, see how the gimble works, explain how it locks on to 7+ satellites, most are intrigued.

My goal is not just what the drone can do - it is a concept of always being 1 step ahead of what my competitor is doing. When they get drones, I'll have something new that they don't.

Nice photo I must say. It is gimmicky to be sure and does not seem worth the cost and labor to execute. I could see some customers leaning your direction due to the high tech but really? I'm pretty skeptical. Seems more like a solution looking for a problem.

Chuck - Masters Roofing Edmonds www.masterswa.com

Let's see how all this shakes out. http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/27937751/emergency-response-reported-at-white-house B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

I noticed an article about a new organization that wants to write the regulations and standards for drones.

http://www.propertydrone.org/

The fact that it is financed by Eagleview makes me a little suspicious that it might be a bit self-serving.