Q500 4k, professional?

[stevebuk]

Hi all! First post here!

I'm currently training for my caa permission to use drones commercially in the UK, so obviously doing a bit of research on what drone to snap up.
Being looking closely at the q500 4k to start with, for many reasons... One big factor being the Price and what you get with it. I also read the support from yuneec is top notch compared to Dji..

But my question is, is it good enough to use for commercial use? I.e. Real estate photography, land and building surveying, advertising etc.

I'm starting out small with the plan on building up, any advice info on the q500 would be grand
Cheers Steve.

 

[Sirwilliam70]

Hi all! First post here!

I'm currently training for my caa permission to use drones commercially in the UK, so obviously doing a bit of research on what drone to snap up.
Being looking closely at the q500 4k to start with, for many reasons... One big factor being the Price and what you get with it. I also read the support from yuneec is top notch compared to Dji..

But my question is, is it good enough to use for commercial use? I.e. Real estate photography, land and building surveying, advertising etc.

I'm starting out small with the plan on building up, any advice info on the q500 would be grand
Cheers Steve.

As far as photography goes, this is as good as it gets for under $1500. The next level would be in the $5000-$10,000 range for something big enough to carry a dslr cam. I would assume for any kind of surveying or inspection you would need something that can zoom and plot waypoints of which this does neither. Range is about 1/3 mile (very limited by comercial standards)

 

[stevebuk]

So you would say it's better Still photos than the p3p or the inspire 1?

Yes, the higher end drones are out of my reach at this time through price lol.. I guess it goes without saying that the more you pay in the higher end the more bang for buck you get. But it generally does depend on what sort of surveillance we are talking about. People in the UK use drones like the phantom and inspire to do roof and solar panel surveillance amongst other things.

Puting the dji poor customer support aside, why go for a q500 when the majority consider the p3p to have a better camera? Or is it more personal preference...

 

[Sirwilliam70]

So you would say it's better Still photos than the p3p or the inspire 1?

Yes, the higher end drones are out of my reach at this time through price lol.. I guess it goes without saying that the more you pay in the higher end the more bang for buck you get. But it generally does depend on what sort of surveillance we are talking about. People in the UK use drones like the phantom and inspire to do roof and solar panel surveillance amongst other things.

Puting the dji poor customer support aside, why go for a q500 when the majority consider the p3p to have a better camera? Or is it more personal preference...

 

[Sirwilliam70]

I'm not sure about the inspire but my stills look about the same as my buddy's P3p. The video is as stable as the inspire footage I've seen but the inspire is a lot faster and appears just as stable at full throttle.

 

[Guest99]

Hi all! First post here!

I'm currently training for my caa permission to use drones commercially in the UK, so obviously doing a bit of research on what drone to snap up.
Being looking closely at the q500 4k to start with, for many reasons... One big factor being the Price and what you get with it. I also read the support from yuneec is top notch compared to Dji..

But my question is, is it good enough to use for commercial use? I.e. Real estate photography, land and building surveying, advertising etc.

I'm starting out small with the plan on building up, any advice info on the q500 would be grand
Cheers Steve.

Steve:
The video is stunning! The Q500 4K is easy to fly. I'd send you a DVD in the mail of my first aerial. Drop me a PM and it's in the mail on Monday. I shot a few minutes of video above my ranch here in Texas about a week ago and I can't believe my eyes. Now, I'm wanting to go back to Stonehenge (was there several months ago) and I'd like to shoot video there (although I suspect Stonehenge is restricted and impossible, unless you are with the BBC.

 

[stevebuk]

Hi all thanks for the info!
Very much considering the q500 4k also looking at the typhoon H 4k for when that comes out.

Luke, would you really send me a dvd? probably cost abit to the UK?

Yeah i bet Stonehenge would look pretty impressive! I've had a quick look, and Stonehenge is in a military air zone - airspace G.. so because the q500 is below 7kg, you could fly there, but not within 50 meters and would require contacting the the air traffic control to let them know. So, deafeningly not impossible

 

[Guest99]

Hi all thanks for the info!
Very much considering the q500 4k also looking at the typhoon H 4k for when that comes out.

Luke, would you really send me a dvd? probably cost abit to the UK?

Yeah i bet Stonehenge would look pretty impressive! I've had a quick look, and Stonehenge is in a military air zone - airspace G.. so because the q500 is below 7kg, you could fly there, but not within 50 meters and would require contacting the the air traffic control to let them know. So, deafeningly not impossible

Happy to drop a DVD in the mail.
I just started using Final Cut Pro X and I'm not totally up-to-speed in the software yet. Thus the video I'm able to make on my Mac is not as high resolution as the video that was captured on the SD card that was placed in my Q500 4K. The few minutes I flew my Yuneec and shot video resulted in a file size very close to 6 GB. It was stunning to see the quality off the SD card (looks fairly good on the DVD) and if a Yuneec pilot is really savvy on the software side for the video/photo settings that can be made through the controller, and then savvy on their computer they are running video and/or photo software on, I'm very confident they can extract extreme quality in the end product (much better than my first attempt.)

I'd upload my video to YouTube or Vimeo, but living on a ranch as we do, I don't have a very fast internet connection and I'm on limited date use each month.

My background is in broadcast television and film (been out of it professionally for a while) but when I saw the video off the SD card, I've never seen such high quality as this small camera was able to yield.

 

[Clifford]

Hi Guys,
My first post here. I'm new to this as well. I got the q500 4k to shoot some additional aerial footage I needed for a feature I'm doing in the Caribbean. With the "raw" setting the colorist had no problems matching it with the footage shot wiith the Arri Alexa. Unfortunately I only found this forum last week and got the pre and post flight check list...a little too late for me. #1 on that list is to check wind, I crashed last week. A wind gust took it over some houses and it could not return home.

Where are you in Texas Steve ? I may be coming to Hoiuston mid march.

 

[stevebuk]

Hi Guys,
My first post here. I'm new to this as well. I got the q500 4k to shoot some additional aerial footage I needed for a feature I'm doing in the Caribbean. With the "raw" setting the colorist had no problems matching it with the footage shot wiith the Arri Alexa. Unfortunately I only found this forum last week and got the pre and post flight check list...a little too late for me. #1 on that list is to check wind, I crashed last week. A wind gust took it over some houses and it could not return home.

Where are you in Texas Steve ? I may be coming to Hoiuston mid march.

I am actually in Hampshire, England! Some what different to Texas haha!

Cheers luke, will send you my address in a private message!

 

[Sticks]

You might want to Contact Yuneec first. The have built in, locked NFZ in the Q and the controller that can not be bypassed.

Another member here or on anther forum was rather hot under the collar about that because he was trying to do roof inspections inside to a NFZ, he had permission from the tower to fly, and has his pilots license. Still can not get the Q500 to launch - locked out, and Yuneec would not tell him how to unlock it.

These are "Toys" first and foremost. NOT professional aerial camera platforms.

People who want to use these for such due to price point is like trying to film a movie with a cell phone. Use the right tool for the job, and that means buying professional grade, not a toy (DJI Inspire and Phantom series is also a "Toy")

The Tornado that is out is professional grade, and you pay for that. I don't know if a person has the ability to unlock the NFZ, or if it even has them locked out. See first sentence of this post.

 

[stevebuk]

You might want to Contact Yuneec first. The have built in, locked NFZ in the Q and the controller that can not be bypassed.

Another member here or on anther forum was rather hot under the collar about that because he was trying to do roof inspections inside to a NFZ, he had permission from the tower to fly, and has his pilots license. Still can not get the Q500 to launch - locked out, and Yuneec would not tell him how to unlock it.

These are "Toys" first and foremost. NOT professional aerial camera platforms.

People who want to use these for such due to price point is like trying to film a movie with a cell phone. Use the right tool for the job, and that means buying professional grade, not a toy (DJI Inspire and Phantom series is also a "Toy")

The Tornado that is out is professional grade, and you pay for that. I don't know if a person has the ability to unlock the NFZ, or if it even has them locked out. See first sentence of this post.

Again, it depends on the usage, I'm not expecting to shoot a Hollywood movie.. I have a full time job that I don't plan to Jack in anytime soon.. This is something I'm doing on the side and like I said starting small.
I was generally looking to see what people thought of the q500 and how it performs considering the price.

Would the no fly zones not be turned off if he took it out of smart mode?

Yuneec might wanna look at there tech then... It's slightly different rules in America than in the UK..but if you can get permission from the air traffic control it shouldn't be a high risk area.. I.e. A no fly zone.. Unless, Yuneec have set the air traffic zones, as the no fly zones.. If you comply by the rules, drones under 7kg in weight can fly in the majority of airapace with contact to correct air traffic control.. But as you put it, they are "Toys" and the majority of its users won't know the different classes of airapace so I guess they are being safe

 

[Sticks]

At this point, and I am only repeating what another member stated, Yuneec would not tell him how to disable the NFZ in his system. If one were to contact Yunnec and ask them how this might be accomplished - I.E. send in your equipment along with the required paperwork from the local governing agencies, then they may be able to do a special "unlock" on your unit for you, and you alone.

Yunee's list of 2015 NFZ looked to only have Military bases, and international airports/major airports. I looked at the list and only fond the three I expected to see, not the 15 that are on the DJI list for the same area,

 

[Steve Kristiansen]

The video quality of the Q4K is really good at this price point. It also flies very well, and the gimbal does a really good job. Don't see why you should be able to sell e.g. simpler aerial real estate work like building/land photos&videos and so forth - the biggest possible problem being that you (and any customers) must live really far away from any airport Of course, most clients and people live in cities - and airports (big or small) tend to be in one...

The BIGGEST minuses for pro usage with the Q4K in my opinion are:

1. Yuneecs "unique" No Fly Zone policy. Possibly have customers in a city with an airport? Forget it.
Draw a 6 km static circle around the tower..Within that circle, you have $1000 of flashing led lights.
No way around this, does not help to turn off GPS or go to angle mode.
Possibly, you can apply for a "manual override" with Yuneec along with a tower permission and a lot of
paperwork and weeks of planning before the shoot - but I can't find any official info on this from Yuneec on this.

1b. Yuneec, unlike Dji, has no "unlocking by registration" DJI - The World Leader in Camera Drones/Quadcopters for Aerial Photography. In short, Yuneec don't trust you can act and think for yourself. Dji says you can - if you identify yourself an take responsibility.

2. Lens - the 14mm wide angle lens is okay for aerials, not so much for e.g. detailed roof inspections...
Also, although the quality is okay in the middle of the picture, it's rapidly degrades towards the outer edges. This is of
course an optical limitation of such a small lense/sensor. The limitations in manually controlling the image is another
problem, think mobile camera versus a full blown DSLR...You have very little manual control, although the CG03 have
some degree of control on ISO, shutter speed - but not nearly to the degree most professionals would want.

3. Wind&weather - The Q being very light...but that can also be a plus (less to carry around)

4. Next to your local competition with an Inspire Pro/X5 or a perhaps a Tornado with an GH4,
your tiny plastic (firmware restricted Q4K that won't start) may look...uurmm, not so pro

 

[Sticks]

Ya know, if I lived in a super saturated area, with a butt load of airports and DOD bases around, and this whole RC aircraft was not a social experiment for me ~ meaning I had not done the research into the FAA BS that was going on ~ and had only based my UAV camera platform purchase based solely on user reviews then fond out I had no way to bypass the NFZ that Yuneec has, I can see getting a little upset about it. But I am an adult, this is for personal "hobby" use, and there is a whole lot more areas I can go fly.

If I wanted to get all cranky about it, I would first contact Yuneec, and ask politely, why can I not bypass the NFZ if I have met the guidelines set forth by the FAA for flying inside a NFZ. If the final answer was still "Not going to happen" then I would chock it up to my being a bad consumer (REMEMBER - buyer beware), not doing my research, and selling off my purchase for the loss (penalty for not doing my research - lesson learned) then go find something that would suit my needs. I certainly would not go flaming the company on every forum I can find blaming them for the NFZ lockout, and what BS it is that I bought a high end toy that I can't use for my intended purposes because I was a bad consumer.

Now, when you get down to it, in addition to being in a NFZ, you are also flying over structures - obviously, likely traffic, and people, also on the "No No" list by the FAA. Increase this with the known risk of heavy RF interference associated with urban areas - recipe for bad juju.

Buying a Q500 for "Professional" use, well, that is like being a wedding photographer and my camera is a disposable from the local convenience store. Choose the right tool for the job. These are not professional grade, these are high end toys that happen to have a decent camera for panoramic shots.

 

[KramerMD]

Yunee's list of 2015 NFZ looked to only have Military bases, and international airports/major airports. I looked at the list and only fond the three I expected to see, not the 15 that are on the DJI list for the same area,

Will you post the Yuneec NFZ list or a link to it? That should be on the Yuneec web site, if not already,

 

[R.Lee]

Ya know, if I lived in a super saturated area, with a butt load of airports and DOD bases around, and this whole RC aircraft was not a social experiment for me ~ meaning I had not done the research into the FAA BS that was going on ~ and had only based my UAV camera platform purchase based solely on user reviews then fond out I had no way to bypass the NFZ that Yuneec has, I can see getting a little upset about it. But I am an adult, this is for personal "hobby" use, and there is a whole lot more areas I can go fly.

If I wanted to get all cranky about it, I would first contact Yuneec, and ask politely, why can I not bypass the NFZ if I have met the guidelines set forth by the FAA for flying inside a NFZ. If the final answer was still "Not going to happen" then I would chock it up to my being a bad consumer (REMEMBER - buyer beware), not doing my research, and selling off my purchase for the loss (penalty for not doing my research - lesson learned) then go find something that would suit my needs. I certainly would not go flaming the company on every forum I can find blaming them for the NFZ lockout, and what BS it is that I bought a high end toy that I can't use for my intended purposes because I was a bad consumer.

Now, when you get down to it, in addition to being in a NFZ, you are also flying over structures - obviously, likely traffic, and people, also on the "No No" list by the FAA. Increase this with the known risk of heavy RF interference associated with urban areas - recipe for bad juju.

Buying a Q500 for "Professional" use, well, that is like being a wedding photographer and my camera is a disposable from the local convenience store. Choose the right tool for the job. These are not professional grade, these are high end toys that happen to have a decent camera for panoramic shots.

After 20 years as a professional photographer you are dead on about this Q500 4K being a decent camera for panoramic landscape shots. I do like the fact that the CG03 has some manual functions on it for those that know how to use them.

 

[R.Lee]

Will you post the Yuneec NFZ list or a link to it? That should be on the Yuneec web site, if not already,

Kramer, put this website on your cell phone and you'll always be flying out of any NFZ no matter where you fly. AirMap.io

 

[Sirwilliam70]

Kramer, put this website on your cell phone and you'll always be flying out of any NFZ no matter where you fly. AirMap.io

I just checked out that website. Is this for real? According to their map, I've been flying in nfz's almost every time I fly! What the ****? It says the entire coast of Washington state is a nfz!

 

[R.Lee]

Over to the right you have options to click on what no fly zones you want to see. I have just the local airports, schools and National Forest clicked on mine not sure about Washington cost as I live in Phoenix Arizona. You might want to go to your local RC hobby shop and see if anybody knows anything about NFZ in your area. Show them the website or see if anybody else on the forum here is using it or knows about it I got it off of youtube channel I was watching.