As many of you know, I have been taking thousands of pictures in the course of the last ten years. Often I realized that standing on the ground and walking around an object, offered only so many views and I wished I would be able to take some shots from different angles or from above – well, this is now possible and I hope that I’m going to be able to share some exciting shots and videos with you in the future.

Believe it or not, I’m now the proud owner of a personal drone (quadcopter) allowing me to take my camera up to the sky – it’s called Phantom 2.

The Phantom 2 Quadcopter is a quad-rotor helicopter and is bundled with the Zenmuse H3-2D 2-axis gimbal. Flying time lasts to up to 22 minutes. I’m sure that the Phantom 2 will appeal to a variety of potential users, from RC aircraft hobbyists who want to record their flights, to videographers and photographers like me looking to open up a whole new range of shooting possibilities.

The Phantom 2 Gimbal is a 2-axis, motorized stabilizer for mounting a GoPro HERO3 or HERO3+ action camera. It helps to isolate the camera from vibrations incurred by the rotors to give you the smoothest possible aerial video.

After putting together the Phantom 2 for the last few days and doing some soldering (installing the flight information system and video downlink), mounting the gimbal and the camera, etc., Jackie and I leave in the morning for the White Sands National Monument (where there are no buildings, cables, ponds or other dangerous obstacles and pitfalls) for the first real test of the new equipment – it is a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to taking the Phantom 2 to many more places and get some great shots – in the mean time I certainly have to practice and improve my flying and navigation skills to get smooth video recordings.