Flying the drone for the first time was quite an experience! Was both thrilling but also scary. We were almost sure that we are going to loose it from the first fly or at least break something. This is the impression you get if you watch to much YouTube videos about what to do or not to do when you are flying the drone for the first time.
We decided to buy a drone in September 2021, just before traveling to Portugal in October. For monetary reasons, we bought it in our country because we have a card that allow us to buy things in instalments, so the financial impact was not so devastating.
The drone waited in the box for nearly a month before being used, because we were afraid to fly it for the first time in enclosed spaces. For example in our apartment. Going outside with the drone was not a solution either, because we live in a very noisy and busy city, where you can’t really find a quiet and unencumbered spot.
All in all we didn’t know what to expect from our first time flying the drone so we decided to wait until we arrive in Vale do Lobo Algarve Portugal. Here we have tons of open spaces and golf courses – perfect for beginners flying a drone.
Why we bought a drone
A content creator has to permanently innovate and keep the public entertained. So with my views from my YouTube channel declining slowly but surely, I thought that is time for a new perspective. A perspective from above.
Seeing Portugal from the ground is spectacular but seeing it from above is… not from this world. An unspoiled Paradise, a whole new world is revealed with the power of this tiny drone.
I don’t want to overdue it with the drone shots. I want to insert it in each and every video to show the beauty of Portugal, but just enough to compliment the subject of each video.
Of course, when I will gather enough drone shots, I will make the usual all drone video footage from Portugal, like everybody else is doing! 🙂 One video, maybe two a year will not be boring for you, I guess.
But of course, we didn’t expect that filming with the drone to bring such good experiences in our lives. Flavius is absolutely mesmerized with it, and a new passion was born on the spot. It’s a happy day for both of us any day we fly the drone. I have footage for the YouTube channel and he is happy to try new filming features, and learn something new each day.
What drone we bought and why
We decided to buy a DJI AIR 2S . We also bought the Fly more pack that includes 3 batteries, a charger that allows you to charge the batteries all at once, some filters, the sleek bag to cary all with you and some other small accessories. You can see in the picture below what the package contains.
I can say that the decision to buy the Fly more pack was a very good one because you can’t really do anything with just one battery. You absolutely need 3 (or more) even as a beginner. Especially as a beginner.
We thought that we are not going to film much at least a few months and a battery that is suppose to last 30 minutes will be enough. Nonsense! Until you get the drone in the air, until you position it the way you wanted to shoot, until you make the mandatory framework updates – you are left with enough battery to record like 5 minutes.
It’s also not advisable to fly the drone back with to little power because it will land (read – crash) wherever it will runt out of battery. So we, at least for now are not flying it if we have less than 20% battery.
We also bought the insurance for the drone, so in case something happens to it we mainly get one new (of course some conditions apply).
We mainly choose this drone because the price is the best there is for what it does. (at the moment of this article). Of course, we watched a ton of YouTube videos and read even more articles and everybody seems to agree that this the one to have for a beginner that doesn’t have a huge budget.
We wanted something semi professional but small. Smart but manageable. We wanted the drone to know to do stuff on her own until we learn how to film ourselves. And it has some amazing features, that helps even a beginner to film something more than decent.
Read this next! – How to get a NIF online in Portugal – 2021 for non-residents
My favorite things so far
- the mastershot mode and the quick modes that allows you with just a click of a button to film amazing shots; so you don’t do anything, just select the mode and she does all the job!
- the come back home feature – basically you don’t have to know to fly it back to you, you press a button and it comes back alone from the spot she left
- the fact that it tells you when the battery is almost finished and when it’s time to fly it home
- one time it was so windy and it told us that we need to fly lower because it was in danger of not being able to fly trough such rough wind
I also have a video about flying the drone for the first time. If you want to see a raw experience about what we managed to film with the drone for the first time, and also our reactions and joy, that we managed not to loose it or land it in a pond (it was also a lake nearby), just watch the video.
I will end here my expose about flying the drone for the first time with a picture taken with the drone in that very day, the first day that we flew the drone.
The picture is edited, so the colors are not so bright right out of the drone, but it goes to show what a newbie can do with a drone right in the first day of use.
The DJI Air 2S drone will be a wonderful gift for a person who wants to get into making content or maybe becoming a professional videographer. That is an idea right here for a Christmas gift!