Contributed by
Bruce Hedge
Wow...a huge new area of photography has developed (ouch!) in only about eight years. I've had a business doing aerial photography in Central Victoria, Australia, since the mid 1980s. The main platform was a Cessna 172 from the local Aero Club, flown by an exceptionally skilled pilot.
I looked at helium balloons as a platform, but they were not practical in any sort of wind, and had all sorts of other complications, so I gave that a pass. For some jobs, I jumped in a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter, but the cost per hour and the float fee generally prohibited that option. Roll on 2013, and the first DJI Phantom came on the market. I immediately saw the potential to use it as an aerial photography tool, but it did not have a camera attached. After a bit of research, I settled on the Nikon J1 camera with 10mm (28mm equivalent) lens. It had the required quality sensor, weighed only 300 grams, and, most importantly, could be set to take a photo every five seconds.