Render Perfect’s Eye in the Sky

Render Perfect has a Drone!

Yep, we jumped on the aerial bandwagon. How couldn’t we?  The thought of shooting 4K footage from the air was just too tempting.  It is the final frontier of video production.  We had to go there! We have been waiting for a good time to pull the trigger on a Drone. When we saw the 3DR SOLO’s promo on the No Film School NAB newsletter feed, we knew that it was time.

SOLO is the considered to be the first “smart” drone, meaning that it has advanced software and hardware developed to assist the pilot in capturing spectacular footage.   This “smart” assistance aspect was of great interest to us.  When we are able to be out in the field shooting for ourselves or for our clients,  SOLO’s Smart Shot features allow us to capture the aerial cinematic shots at the push of a button.

Smart Shots allow for shots that would otherwise be difficult to obtain, such as…

• Cable Cam (virtual straight line shot)

• Orbit (wraparound shot)

• Selfie

• Follow (hands-free camera follow)

….Pretty cool, right?

   We’ve only had one test flight so far, and we can’t yet speak to the smart flight automation features baked into the SOLO; but based on what we’ve learned so far, we have very high hopes! Below is a look at our 3DR SOLO in flight.  Some of the footage was shot at high frame rates to show the props and movement.  It took some time to properly connect the SOLO to the necessary GPS satellites, but after one (small) crash, the new drone flew like a champion.

We are looking forward to receiving our 3-axis gimbal so that we can begin capturing truly professional-grade aerial footage.  For now, we’ll keep practicing flying this thing and building out our aerial skills. Practice makes (Render)Perfect!