An Early Christmas Gift

It's been two weeks since I posted about a 3D CG aircraft I am modeling in Blender, and here I am again with another aircraft-themed blog. But this time the flying thing in question is a quadcopter drone. This toy was given to me by my uncle (one of mom's brothers) who is visiting from Melbourne, along with his wife.

He and his wife would often fly in annually, not just for a short vacation, but also to take care of business with the two condominium units they have here. And the last time they were here was in Feb. 2019, as they were not able to visit during the two years of lockdown.

He had already given me a helicopter when he visited us back in 2016. And since it was in a disassembled state and lacked some parts, and the fact that I was still working in a big animation studio at the time prevented me from working on it to get it flyable again.

Fast forward to today and it is still in the box in the condition it was when I received it. And now, here is a new one, brand new and ready to fly. All I have to do is buy three rechargeable AA batteries for the remote control.

A Copy of A Clone

Immediately after getting home I got online and started researching about this package. There was no brand logo on the box or any manufacturer information to search about online.

Also, I couldn't find any review about it as most were about the DJI Mavic clone - the Eachine E58. But it turns out that this drone is one of the numerous $30 knock-offs of the E58 made by not-so-well-known manufacturers.

So, it's a cheap copy of a clone of a popular model from a well-known brand.

But, Is It Good?

Since I have not flown it yet I cannot say anything about its flight characteristics or the quality of the video its camera can capture. Flying it will have to wait until summertime, when the conditions are right for such an activity.

Besides, the rechargeable batteries and charger are going to set me back by about $20 - money I cannot afford to spend right now as I am saving up for a new computer and phone. So I guess I'll just have to keep blogging for now to earn funds for my future flying activities.

Serious cinematography requires a camera that can shoot a minimum of Full HD (1080p) resolution to give a decent quality video. I don't know what this cheap drone's camera can do as the manual doesn't say anything about it, but I'm guessing it can only do 720p.

That's not exactly something to get me excited about the prospect of making money with this thing. No complaints here, though. It's a gift, and it's the thought that counts anyway.

I see it as more of a trainer drone for practice, and to have some fun with as well. And as a new addition to my content creation arsenal, this will usher me into a new realm of creative possibilities through the things I will learn with it.

And that's it for this post. This drone will surely be the subject of many of my future blogs, and I really hope to get into aerial cinematography someday, not just as a hobby, but also for occassional freelance video work. My uncle is flying back to Melbourne on the 23rd, and tonight we're having a send-off party for him. See you later after the party!