How to Turn a Drone into a UFO

UFO researchers are not having an easy time these days. Between photos and videos that are easily doctored, the “truth” has never been harder to find. It makes matters worse when drones can just pretend to be UFOs. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully would be tearing their hair out today. Now these drones here can easily be mistaken for spaceships.

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PBS Digital Studios channel Shanks FX has created some really cool UFO lighting effects. They attached a variety of light sources to a DJI Phantom 3 drone and the results are pretty awesome. Close Encounters of the Third Kind awesome.

The video shows how to attach and power different light sources to simulate that sci-fi space invader look. Something tells me that we will be seeing a lot more UFOs in the night sky.

[via Laughing Squid]

DJI Phantom 3 Quadcopter with 2.7K HD Camera Is a Drone for Pros

DJI Phantom 3 2.7K HD Camera Quadcopter Drone

After learning how to fly and shoot videos using smaller drones with lesser cameras, the obvious next step is to move to a professional quadcopter such as DJI’s Phantom 3, which can record spectacular aerial videos and photos.

Since DJI Phantom 3 is a drone for professional applications, it won’t do any flips while flying. Other than that, drone users who are familiar with how a drone is supposed to be controlled should have any issues with this one. There are a few differences, but not that major, so while it isn’t recommended to get the Phantom 3 as your first drone, upgrading from an inferior model definitely is the way to go. DJI’s offering is in a class of its own, as far as consumer drones are concerned, since it impresses not only with its camera, but also with its steadiness when flying.

Assembling the drone is quite easy, assuming that users follow the instructions provided in the included manual.

The 2.7K camera is definitely one of the major highlights of the DJI Phantom 3 Standard. The 2704×1520 resolution may seem a bit peculiar, but there is a noticeable difference from 1080p. At that resolution, the camera can record either at 24 or 30 frames per second. Other possible resolutions and framerates are 1920×1080 at 24, 25, 30, or 48 fps and 1280×720 at 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, or 60 fps. Shooting slow-motion videos is not possible with this module, but I hope that DJI is considering that for the future iterations of this camera. The drone comes with an 8GB microSD camera, so if you’re planning to record more footage, you might want to buy with a larger capacity.

If you’re into action sports and want some professionally-shot footage or photos of yourself riding the waves, the DJI Phantom 3 Standard will be there to deliver, assuming you have someone to control it. The DJI Go companion app for mobile phones and tablets can be used for displaying live streams from the drone up to half a mile away. Besides that, the quadcopter’s GPS module enables users to fly the Phantom 3 safely, without having to worry about losing it.

The included battery can keep the drone in the air for up to 25 minutes, so it might not be that bad of an idea to get an extra one.

The DJI Phantom 3 standard quadcopter drone with 2.7K HD camera sells on Amazon for $699 ($848 with an extra battery, or $838 if you want an extra battery and a hard shell backpack), which is by no means a small amount of money, but people who really could use such a drone will see this as an investment, rather than an expense. If you or someone you know is looking to shoot professional videos from a unique perspective, there’s still time to place this drone under the Christmas tree. Assuming that you opt for One-Day Shipping at checkout, orders placed by 6 a.m. PST on December 22 will be delivered the next day, so just in time to give yourself or a loved one a memorable gift this Christmas!

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