How to spend £1500?

[graham harcombe]

Nice one Sassan - that looks like pure fun, I don't think I'd look good in a superman suit though :-D

[miketoll]

Dollar sign swapped for pound sign is pretty much the norm for prices over here which is why it is known as rip off Britain The machine looks brilliant though the laws in this country would need careful study.

[sassan]

graham harcombe:
Thanks and glad you liked my suggestion (I was ready to leave another dozen LINKs to convince you otherwise but you did great and deal is done).

I am personally looking seriously into DJI.
To learn the piloting, there are many softwares that you can try before loosing any real money on real crash but I not a consul gamer type (Must admit my 10 years old {For the legal purpose of this discussion: Above 14 years old - as rule of operation mandates} can pilot this to the extreme accuracy just due to play with some war games that had copter in the game, he knows all the hovering technique and flight tricks), so I got myself the mini version of DJI just to learn the technique. My homework shows Hubsan is the best in micro copter market and I have the intermediate priced version that came with a good but low rez internal video camera for about $50. Here is a >>>> L I N K <<<< in case anyone interested and would like to follow my path. The good news is that due to small size, this thing is hard to be broken by normal crash and again being so small, it can be very well used indoor (During wrong season or when wind outside makes flight impossible). Also because this one doesn't have GPS, you can rely on your skill rather than automated features. There is internal gyro that really helps for the novice or for ease of flight, but even that has manual overcontrol and you can turn it off (First thing my son wanted to know on the first day of flight. Because he wanted to flip the copter and gyro wouldn't allow that.... These kids are hard to compete, forget about beating). Anyhow these things are fun to say the least and at such a low price, you can't go wrong. I am getting a lot better, that is after totaling one copter so far and near losing 2 (Thanks heaven haven't lost any yet). I guess I need to consider stepping up to DJI soon.

Miketoll: Yes you are right but then don't be worry. Through a lengthy discussion I had with my wonderful friend of this forum, RIP Dear Duncan, he made me to understand that you pay higher when buying items in form of Tax, VAT or whatever and we do exactly the same or even lose more when it comes to seeking for health care(Must admit healthcare is totally sick in this side of pond) that you get it for granted and if not better than us in USA. So we all pay, only in a different ways. But then if you ever come to visit USA, make sure to come with empty luggage and big wish list.

[gordon g]

By dint of doing a lot of extra hours, I did get £1500 to spend on gear earlier this year - and bought a canoe!
Ok, not an obvious bit of photography gear, but it is a nice stable 16' open canoe which I can shoot wildlife and landscape images from on the water, and it will carry me, my camera gear and some camping kit to get to some of those less accessible places that are always on the wrong side of a loch, or on an island.
I have had a few trips out on local canals, and in the Lakes already this year to test the idea, and am planning some trips to the Highlands later in the year to explore some of the big lochs. Putting all the gear in the boat and paddling along Loch Ba will beat tramping over the sodden peat of Rannoch Moor any day!

[miketoll]

Sounds like you will have a great time Gordon, weather permitting.

[sassan]

Ok I am to top my prior offer!!! Lets see if you agree:

This one is a camera that is sold with the build in Cameraman, that won't ask you for any salary raise, now and then, yet will give you a shooting and angle of view that no other cameraman on earth will do. You only set the parameters such as what angle, what altitude etc and then the camera smoothly follows you, "the action" very efficiently. Just imagine the impact of this guy on sport events, Olympics, say fast moving skier, boarder, swimmer or runner. I guess in the next Olympics we are going to see vintage points like never before.

LINK

Make sure to set the setup on 1080 rez to enjoy it fully and if your internet speed is slow, first use "YouTube Downloader" to download the clip and then watch it undisturbed and smoothly. BTW it should become available to market very soon and at a price tag much under the proposed value here, then even cheaper than the current DJI Phantom Vision Plus that is the gold standard of current generation of quadcopter drones.
Have fun.