..:: ColoreX's Dream Project ::..

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
airphotostudio-logo-small.png

Current Logo

So, this is my dream project. To work with Multicopter Aerial Photography and Videography for commercial purposes (take that, USA). So I'm currently not in a good position to start any business - but I'll get there. AFAIK here in Ecuador AP is only available with real airplanes and helicopters.

If I get doing this I'll have to travel a lot - as most jobs will be in Quito (the capital of Ecuador) or in Guayaquil (second largest city). But I think there is enough jobs available to be worth it. Just need to advertise A LOT with videos like RCExplorer or TBS.

So right now I don't have a complete plan, just playing around with the idea. This is a website mockup - I'll eventually make it better.

Untitled-2-1.jpg

And I'll use cool media like this to advertise to potential new customers.

05f.jpg

I want to target the following:

- real estate
- state department of tourism (TV ads with nice views)
- hotels and tourist attractions
- non-news (documentary) reports
- small video production companies
- people with money who want an FPV adventure

So to keep my business safe I have to eliminate all factors that can hint people to how easy it is to do what I'm doing - no brands on my gear, (sorry, no flitetest either), not teaching people how stuff works, just go and do it.

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So then comes the gear. Over some time I have found these to be quite appealing:

Locust Quad Frame TBS Discovery lookalike but with GoPro tilt and !cheaper!
RangeVideo FPV
KK2.0 for cheapness, but I'd prefer ArduPilotMega + GPS.
And of course a GoPro 3 White Edition to start out simple.
Then I want a big (15"-19") screen so I can share it with my client.

If I'm going to do it right - I need a backup quad and cam - which makes it more expensive...

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I'm estimating I need to save up roughly $1500 - $2500 to start... Which is the hard part... :D

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What are your opinions? Will it work?

If the business fails, I'll have a lot of fun FPV gear to play with anyway :D

Note: This might all never become a reality, in fact, being realistic I think there's a 33% chance I am able to make this real. But it's fun to dream, isn't it!
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
I asked the HK team on Twitter if they could make the Locust frame for cheaper - and they replied!

yay1.png
 

bicyclemonkey

Flying Derp
Mentor
Sure is fun to dream! As a business owner myself, I can assure you that people are cheap skates! You'll have a lot of time in a project when you factor in travel, equipment setup and filming, and video editing. What equipment to buy is going to be the easy part. The hard part will be figuring what people will pay for this service, and getting them to pay once the project is complete. It would be interesting to know what the itemized bill looks like for a project that the big dogs like Trappy (and David W) do. The video David W did for the resort in Cozumel (?) comes to mind...If I had to guess, he got to stay at the resort for free that week and maybe got his airfaire paid...probably little, if no more.
 

Nonamerc

Arman
Servo gimballs often do more bad then good...
http://www.nonamerc.nl/

Website design and layout by me ;) Already had two clients.
A person who wanted to sell his house and someone the locall television :)

Here is how we did our free advertisement:
There sure is a festival in ecuador, film it from a save distance. (Not above people and buildings)
Give it for free to the news stations/news websites with your logo in the bottom right corner. That's free advertisement :)
 
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colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
Servo gimballs often do more bad then good...

I need a tilt gimbal to point the camera for better pictures.

Website design and layout by me ;) Already had two clients.
A person who wanted to sell his house and someone the locall television :)

Cool :) Thanks for the idea!

Here is how we did our free advertisement:
There sure is a festival in ecuador, film it from a save distance. (Not above people and buildings)
Give it for free to the news stations/news websites with your logo in the bottom right corner. That's free advertisement :)

Plenty of cool stuff to record from the air, even here in Ecuador!
 

Carbon

Elemental Madness
Sweet Colorex! I just sold my car to fund my aerial photography business! I'm using a QAV 500 and already have 5 realtors interested. $250 for 10 pictures= rich!
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Keep it low key Carbon! The FAA (Feds) currently "frown" on commercial use of UAV's.

Thurmond
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
Sweet Colorex! I just sold my car to fund my aerial photography business! I'm using a QAV 500 and already have 5 realtors interested. $250 for 10 pictures= rich!

Oh, looks like I need a car to sell :D

How is your QAV500? Have you crashed yet? What control board do you use?

I hope to use KK2.0 or if I have cash ArduPilotMega with GPS position hold.
 

Carbon

Elemental Madness
I havn't even ordered it yet. This weekend!
Thurmond: They are all family friends so it will be cash :)
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
OH Yeah! :D Thanks a lot for this link! This is like a hundred bucks cheaper!

Do you use this version? Or the "official" one?

This one doesn't seem to have the pins on it - do I have to add that myself? :confused: You are the master of AP's for me :D

I have 2 of the "Official" APM2's. RC Timer sends both straight and 90 degree headers and you solder them yourself (I prefer the 90 degree pins). Not difficult at all. I have just the board on order as of today ($89 with no GPS or Telemetry radio). I will report on it as soon as I get it and test it out. It is built from the APM open source design so as long as the manufacturing quality is good and the components are identical there should be no problems.

Thurmond
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
I have 2 of the "Official" APM2's. RC Timer sends both straight and 90 degree headers and you solder them yourself (I prefer the 90 degree pins). Not difficult at all. I have just the board on order as of today ($89 with no GPS or Telemetry radio). I will report on it as soon as I get it and test it out. It is built from the APM open source design so as long as the manufacturing quality is good and the components are identical there should be no problems.

Thurmond

Hey Thurmond, any ideas on where I can start reading up on GPS and APM and that kind of stuff? Like how to set it up, how to and how not to mount the GPS module, etc... Not saying I'll ever get to use the knowledge, I'd like to learn this stuff anyway. :D
 

tramsgar

Senior Member
From what I've learnt of other start-ups doing things that involve imaging/photo/video - do not underestimate the need for high quality cameras and pictures/videos. You'll have to get the best camera equipment available to meet this requirement. In a way, you're competing with pro photographers and an experienced customer will expect no less just because the angle is different... What looks great on youtube or fullscreen on a monitor may not be ok for pro use, like a brochure print or tv commercial. Just a heads up, I still think shoud go for it (as a side business parallel to a bread&butter job to begin with). Good luck!