The Ultimate 1K Target Viewing Idea

[Ledd Slinger]

Ok, so I have a friend at work who was showing me pictures and video he took with his flying drone. The drone comes with the camera built in and produces 1080 HD video and 12 MP pstill photos. The features are too many to list. The one he has costs about $1000. The video and pictures are simply stunning! Range is 1.2 miles and can travel at speeds of 35 mph+. GPS waypoint controlled or can be manually flown.

I was going to buy a long range wireless camera system for 1K target shooting...But this drone has me thinking othewise. Shoot, fly it down there, assess the target with live video, take pictures, land it a ways off to the side, shoot another group, fly it over assess the target again... You get the idea.

Not traveling to the target, not setting up equipment at the target and bench then driving down ther to disassemble it later. Just see it all through your smartphone attached to the controller.

What do you folks think? Sounds like a pretty slick idea to me 8)

 

[skiutah02]

I like the way you think. ;D

Can you pass along the specs of the drone you saw?

 

[outasite`08]

Hey Ledd, Sounds like a good idea.Check the archives I think there is a video of a member using his drone to show a range in Montana.Keep us updated. Have a Nice weekend. Jeff

 

[Alexander-M]

Is the drone required? How much would such camera and transmitter by themselves cost, without the drone?

Mount the camera 'close' to the target, and it seems as though it should work fine, or maybe even better as there would not be any motion, as generated by the drone.

Nando

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Is the drone required? How much would such camera and transmitter by themselves cost, without the drone?

Mount the camera 'close' to the target, and it seems as though it should work fine, or maybe even better as there would not be any motion, as generated by the drone.

Nando

They do make wireless camera systems, but they take a while to set up and require direct lin of sight for 'decent' video quality. None that I know of produce true HD video. The drone my buddy has is equipped with gyroscopic motors that keep the camera perfectly still under any motion. It's really amazing. The videos he has is like watching a high quality movie production. Absolutely nothing like a shaky home video that we are used to seeing with camcorders

And the HD quality of the video is just as nice and crisp as watching a DVD on a nice 1080 High Definition flat screen TV

Don't even have to fly it back to yourself. You can fly it anywhere out of sight and if you want it to return, you just hit the 'Home' button on the controller and GPS guides it right back to you whIle in autopilot. Lands itself and everything! If it detects an uneven surface when landing, it will fly back up a few feet and re-land on a level area. The technology is unreal...and I am an automation industrial electrician so I see cool new technology all the time. These drones really are one of the coolest things I've seen. Can be used for many other things besides shooting too

The drone I am going to buy is made by DJI and is called the Phantom 3

Oh, and you can control it through a smart phone App with topo maps to create traveling way points so you can send the drone back to an exact location in autopilot

 

[sdean]

I don't see it so great Slinger. You will still have to go to the target to cover the bullet holes. I like to know where each landed for practice in the wind.As long as it takes to set up a tripod and aim a laser is how long it takes to set up a Bullseye pro. Everything else is wired in a self contained box. It really is nice to see where your last shot hit.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I don't see it so great Slinger. You will still have to go to the target to cover the bullet holes. I like to know where each landed for practice in the wind.As long as it takes to set up a tripod and aim a laser is how long it takes to set up a Bullseye pro. Everything else is wired in a self contained box. It really is nice to see where your last shot hit.

Multiple targets my friend...multiple targets

But even with a single target;
Reviewing the saved video and pictures transmitted to your phone or tablet, would make new bullet hole identification a piece of cake. I have no doub it will work better than anything else out there if you use it wisely...

 

[Medic505]

Beside, it would be fun to fly!

 

[Warren Dean]

Beside, it would be fun to fly!

Man...we could have some fun with Jade with one of those...

 

[Jay Christopherson]

It'd be cool if you could put it into a hover off to the side or something, zoomed onto the target face and just let it sit there while you shoot.

EDIT: actually, it looks like you can program it to do just that. You could easily hover it outside of the bullet path and have it continuously shoot the target face.

 

[Toolbreaker]

How long is the battery life with it flying and recording (transmitting?) simultaneously? Also, what is the practical range it can work inside of? Sounds like a pretty cool idea, especially if you're shooting across some rough terrain.

Edit: Nix the range question. I see now you said it's 1.2 miles. Also, +1 to Medic505. I think flying it would be a hoot

 

[JamesnTN]

I don't see it so great Slinger. You will still have to go to the target to cover the bullet holes. I like to know where each landed for practice in the wind.As long as it takes to set up a tripod and aim a laser is how long it takes to set up a Bullseye pro. Everything else is wired in a self contained box. It really is nice to see where your last shot hit.

It's really simple to know each bullets impact without a camera of any sort and at any distance. The magic to this is called a sharpie. Yup Walmart or any place that sells office supplies will have packs of multi colored sharpies. You can color code different loads for load developing or just use one load and color the bullet and mark the brass to segregate your brass with any flyers.

 

[spclark]

The drone I am going to buy is made by DJI and is called the Phantom 3

Hmmm... this one?

http://www.drone-world.com/dji-phantom-3-advanced-1080p-silver-drone?gclid=CNfKppf11sUCFYU_aQodtXUANw

 

[spclark]

It's really simple to know each bullets impact without a camera of any sort and at any distance. The magic to this is called a sharpie. Yup Walmart or any place that sells office supplies will have packs of multi colored sharpies.

I tried this once a few years ago, found the powder residue tended to obscure the color trace from bullets passing thru typical paper targets. Maybe there's a better technique than I was using - 'painting' bullet ogives with Sharpie-type markers - or I was using the wrong powders....

Technology certainly has come a long way when it comes to imaging and camera platforms, the drone idea may have a place among the toolset for remote target applications. It's a PITA shooting alone when your target's 600 or more yards away.

 

[JamesnTN]

It's really simple to know each bullets impact without a camera of any sort and at any distance. The magic to this is called a sharpie. Yup Walmart or any place that sells office supplies will have packs of multi colored sharpies.

I tried this once a few years ago, found the powder residue tended to obscure the color trace from bullets passing thru typical paper targets. Maybe there's a better technique than I was using - 'painting' bullet ogives with Sharpie-type markers - or I was using the wrong powders....

Technology certainly has come a long way when it comes to imaging and camera platforms, the drone idea may have a place among the toolset for remote target applications. It's a PITA shooting alone when your target's 600 or more yards away.

Here's an example. I've never had any problem with the sharpie colors transferring to the paper. If this is the case a Q tip and some alcohol will pull that color out like you wouldn't believe.

 

[mysticplayer]

How much does a quality gyro equipped drone with HD camera cost?

And the support gear to make it work?

How well does it work in the wind?

What is the run time on the batt packs in flight?

Jerry

 

[Ledd Slinger]

How much does a quality gyro equipped drone with HD camera cost?

And the support gear to make it work?

How well does it work in the wind?

What is the run time on the batt packs in flight?

Jerry

Well the down side is that the flight time is only about 23 minutes. You would want spare batteries. You can preserve battery life by landing the drone until ready to shoot. That way you should have plenty of life to shoot multiple strings using live video feed or just taking pictures. The Phantom 3 Professional with the 4096HD camera and 2 batteries is about $1359 ($1259 with one battery). Normally a battery is $150, so you save some money when bundling. The Phantom 3 Advanced with the 1080HD camera and 2 batteries is about $1099 ($999 with one battery).

Wind was a concern of mine as well My buddy said his works very well in 10-15 mph wind. Of course travel speed in a headwind will be reduced, but it has plenty of power to get through it.

As far as support gear...There is nothing you need. The GPS service and smart phone app is free. Remote battery is rechargeable and last so long that my buddy has not ever had to give it another charge after many flights.

It's just an idea to save some time consuming driving to the target after each string. This way you can get more rounds down range in an alloted time. Most know just know how long it takes to set up 1K shooting by yourself as I do. Set up targets, drive back and set up bench/rifle/rest, zero scope at 1K with sighter shots, drive to check target (usually multiple times), shoot 1K group, go check your target, get set back up, shoot, go check the target, etc...

 

[22BRGUY]

Here's one I looked at a while back. I'm not a "techy" on this so not sure how it compares but it seems these are only around $500 but do your own research. On Amazon, I saw the ad for it at Best Buy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUpmPUcnuBY&feature=youtu.be&autoplay=1

Here's a comparison vid also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPNwqru-7QU

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Yeah the DJI drone is not the only one out there with a built in camera, but compared to others, it's supposed to be the King of the hill. I checked out other drones, but they didn't have as many features or abilities. Though if super high def video and pictures aren't desired, then they would work fine I'm sure. Don't really need a ton of detail to view a target anyhow. Most of the other drones with 720p HD cameras would be more than ample for detailing bullet holes on a target.

I'm intrigued with the Phantom because the HD picture and video quality it produced blew me away when I was watching it on my buddy's phone. And he only has the 1080p camera on his drone. He even had still pictures from over 1000 feet in the air and you could zoom in on the picture he had saved on his Samsung S5 phone and the picture still maintained excellent detail.

The only thing I wish the Phantom had was a zoom camera. The camera is basically just an action cam like the GoPro. But like I said, the detail is so crisp that you can zoom in once saved to your phone or tablet and see all the close up detail that way. I suppose if you wanted a close up while flying, you could just fly right up to whatever you're looking at.

I am waiting for the double battery bundle packages to come out for the DJI Phantom 3 Professional (4K HD Camera). Not sure exactly when they'll be out. I could buy the drone with just the one battery and purchase an extra battery, but I'll save $50 if I wait for the double battery bundle packs to come out.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Here's one I looked at a while back. I'm not a "techy" on this so not sure how it compares but it seems these are only around $500 but do your own research. On Amazon, I saw the ad for it at Best Buy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUpmPUcnuBY&feature=youtu.be&autoplay=1

Here's a comparison vid also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPNwqru-7QU

The comparison is for the Phantom that does not have it's own camera. It has a GoPro Hero 4 mounted to it which costs an additional $500. The newer Phantom 2 versions and the newest Phantom 3 have their own 1080pHD or 4K HD cameras built in that transmit to phones and tablets like the Parrot. But as you can see, even the older original Phantom 2 has much higher quality features. The 11 minute flight time on the Parrot is what really scares me. You'd be lucky to fly 1000 yards to the target, take pictures and video of a few strings of shots and make it back. 11 minutes just isn't enough time on a battery.

The new Phantom 3 models are even more stable with even better video and have an extended range of 2000 meters (about 1.25 miles)