Wildlife photography

[Baha]

Hi everyone,

I am a part of wildlife conservation group and we are doing wildlife observations in Kyrgyzstan using drones. At the moment we are using DJI Phantom 4Pro, but it's not really suitable for this application and I am looking for a better solution. If anyone from this forum can help us identifying better model I would very appreciate it. In short, the ideal model should be compact - same as Phantom or smaller, with better camera than Phantom's and/or faster than Phantom, with at least same flight time, and ideally at the same price range. It may sound unrealistic, but may be there is something suitable for us.

Wildlife observations are conducted as follows: a group of observers move in the vehicle along the predefined transect/route and when spotting wildlife species launch drone to take pictures of wildlife to identify species, number, location, gender and age. Visual contact with wildlife usually takes place from the 2 km distance. After that, one has to quickly get off the car and launch the aircraft. That's why the aircraft size is important as we usually hold the drone on laps inside the car ready to jump out and launch it. When a drone comes closer, animals usually start running faster and we have to chase them. Now, with Phantom we have to get really close to get somewhat decent quality images. And here is the trick - the closer you get, the faster they run (mainly big vertebrate mammals), so they move away further weakening signal. At the end we either end up having relatively poor quality images taken from further distance, or the aircraft start loosing signal and we have to get it back. In real life situation we were not able to fly further than 3 km from the pilot. In summary, we are looking for a drone compact enough with better camera than the one on Phantom, or may be the one which is faster and longer range. Please advise. I'm attaching few images as well. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dave Pitman]

Greetings.

I think your off the shelf options are to get an Inspire 1 or 2 with a M43 camera on which you can use a long lens. Obviously this may not be a good option because of size and expense although you could probably get set up with an i1 for close to the cost of the P4P.

Or, you could use a P3P or standard P4 and replace the lens with a longer lens so that you don't need to get as close with operation and size being the same as the P4P that you are using. DJI Phantom 4 Lenses – Peau Productions

 

[R.Perry]

I agree with Dave, I have both the P4 and fly the Inpire 2 with the X5 camera and there is no comparison in quality. Not only that there are many more lens choices for the Inspire.

Draw backs are size and cost, but quality does cost money. The I2 new with Camera, and say eight pairs of batteries figure around 11 to 12k. If you want to got to cinema quality video then figure 20k I believe.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Welcome @Baha, you have received some great advice here. We could easily get you into an Inspire 1 with a longer lens comparably priced or less than a Phantom 4 Pro but you will not be happy with the flight time. The Inspire 1 will get you about half the flight time of a Phantom 4.

Unfortunately what you are looking for is most likely not available yet, you will have to make some compromises with regards to weight, flightime, size and or cost.

Your images on the snow capped mountains are beautiful, I am not sure if the animals are some type of goat or deer. These conditions also do not help the Phantom to be stealthy as those animals are very aware as you have found out.

 

[Meta4]

In real life situation we were not able to fly further than 3 km from the pilot. In summary, we are looking for a drone compact enough with better camera than the one on Phantom, or may be the one which is faster and longer range. Please advise.

The problem with the Phantom is that the camera has a very wide-angle lens.
That's the opposite of what you need for wildlife.
But the only telephoto lenses you can get on a drone are very short tele lenses on a big, expensive and hard to transport Inspire 2 or even larger drones.
Even these drones don't lift long lenses because of the weight and balance and vibration.
Drones aren't yet able to do what you want.
Maybe you could do better with infrared cameras like these ?:
Infrared-Wildlife-Digital-Cameras | eBay

 

[Dave Pitman]

The problem with the Phantom is that the camera has a very wide-angle lens.

Perhaps you missed that you can replace Phantom lenses with longer versions up to a 47mm (35mm equivalent). Still not "long", but a 2x zoom factor over the stock lens. I can tell you from experience flying around animals that being able to stay twice as far back and get the same detail is not insignificant.

 

[BryanD]

Can you please provide some information on the Phantom replacement lenses you use? I was not aware that they are available and not sure what to look for.

 

[Dave Pitman]

Can you please provide some information on the Phantom replacement lenses you use? I was not aware that they are available and not sure what to look for.

This is where I got mine. I'm guessing there are other cheaper sources if you know what you are looking for.

DJI Camera Lenses – Peau Productions

 

[aerialimagery]

Perhaps you missed that you can replace Phantom lenses with longer versions up to a 47mm (35mm equivalent). Still not "long", but a 2x zoom factor over the stock lens. I can tell you from experience flying around animals that being able to stay twice as far back and get the same detail is not insignificant.

Do they work with the Phantom 4 Pro? How is the quality? Do they produce sharp images?

 

[Dave Pitman]

Do they work with the Phantom 4 Pro? How is the quality? Do they produce sharp images?

Did you check out the link? Did you look at the product pages and notice that there is sample media?

 

[aerialimagery]

Did you check out the link? Did you look at the product pages and notice that there is sample media?

I couldn't find anything for the Phantom 4 Pro, just the Phantom 4. I couldn't find the link for the sample images.

I was mainly interested in your experience was. Did you find the images with their lenses to be as sharp as with the original lens?

 

[Geoff G UK]

I am a part of wildlife conservation group and we are doing wildlife observations in Kyrgyzstan using drones.

It doesn't seem like a very sensitive way of surveying wildlife to me (by needing to chase then faster and faster).

Have you though about ways to make the drone appear less like a predator, perhaps by camoflague, finding a quieter model, flying more slowly so that they accept it, or not flying directly towards them?

 

[Meta4]

Perhaps you missed that you can replace Phantom lenses with longer versions up to a 47mm (35mm equivalent). Still not "long", but a 2x zoom factor over the stock lens. I can tell you from experience flying around animals that being able to stay twice as far back and get the same detail is not insignificant.

That's still not even a tele lens.
Perhaps you missed my comments on the unsuitability of short tele lenses that are available with bigger and more expensive drones.
The lens is part of the problem. The noise of the Phantom is another part.
Together they mean that the Phantom isn't going to do what he requires.

 

[Electronick]

I'm not aware of anything on the market that will really meet your needs at the moment, certainly not at the price of a phantom.

From experience of travelling off-road in a land rover while filming a (slow) continually moving herd of animals over several miles, the Phantom series is great as you can deploy and recover it very quickly, and it is easy to hang on to it (and it's remote controller & screen) inside a small vehicle cab that is being pitched/slammed around while travelling over uneven/rough ground. The inspire series in contrast are a bit too big to hang on to with props and camera attached inside the vehicle safely, and need to be stowed/secured somewhere where they aren't easily damaged - that makes them slower to deploy and recover in a fluid situation. When filming the same scenario over again using an Inspire 2 I was more limited by the equipment - the travel case for the Inspire took up too much room and to have to stow and setup the aircraft each time made it too slow and difficult to travel over the same terrain. It might have been possible if I'd been able to dedicate a vehicle solely to support the drone, and arranged the vehicle so that the drone could be put in the back of the vehicle fully assembled, but in a position that was secure and meant the drone wouldn't move around or crash into anything when the vehicle was pitching & rolling around.

However, having said the Inspire isn't so suitable, it could actually provide the answer for you - if your budget could be stretched to purchasing a used inspire 1 and a DJI Z30 camera, then you could deploy the Inspire and photograph the animals from higher/further away, leading to less flushing or disturbance. The downside of the inspire 1 is it's flight time is probably only half that of the latest Phantoms. If you could afford it and wanted longer flight time, then you could also use the Z30 with the Matrice 200 which uses the newer TB50 or TB55 batteries... but the cost of this setup is pretty high in comparison to the Phantom you could always try contacting DJI and see if they wanted to help out or use you in a promo video demoing the potential uses of an inspire/matrice with the Z30

 

[Meta4]

if your budget could be stretched to purchasing a used inspire 1 and a DJI Z30 camera

Apart from the portability issues of the Inspire, the big downside to the Z30 camera is that it can only create 2MP images.
For most purposes, this camera isn't useful at all.

 

[Electronick]

Well, that puts paid to that one then

Maybe try something smaller and non-white like the Mavic Pro may not spook them as much as a white phantom.

otherwise the researchers may need to change their tactics about how they approach the animals, maybe approaching slower and higher, before descending slowly once above the herd/flock/target. I've found the (admittedly domesticated) animals that I've filmed react better to a slower, non head-on, approach - fast head-on approach at low level is seen by them as an attack, so they spook.

Maybe a fast high flight until close to target, then slowing until overhead, followed by a reasonably slow vertical descent might help. It's worked for me over sheep, cows, horses, alpacas and llamas . If they're already spooked by approaching vehicles a few km out, then a slower approach might be needed there too... or an alternative means of transport?!

 

[Baha]

It doesn't seem like a very sensitive way of surveying wildlife to me (by needing to chase then faster and faster).

Have you though about ways to make the drone appear less like a predator, perhaps by camoflague, finding a quieter model, flying more slowly so that they accept it, or not flying directly towards them?

Thanks Geoff, may be you are right and we should revise our flights tactics like finding quieter model or appearing less like a predator. But we do consider things like wind direction trying, where possible, to approach wildlife from the leeward and etc.

 

[Baha]

Thanks to all members for valuable comments!

To summarize - I understand that what we are looking for is probably not avaible yet. Revising the flight tactics is definitely a good idea. But are there any temp or compromise solutions that we can use for now?

Or,

What would be the ideal camera for wildlife photography? And what would be the ideal aircraft capable to carry such camera taking into account its size and price? May be it is possible to come up with the custom solution integrating such camera with the aircraft?

 

[Baha]

The problem with the Phantom is that the camera has a very wide-angle lens.
That's the opposite of what you need for wildlife.
But the only telephoto lenses you can get on a drone are very short tele lenses on a big, expensive and hard to transport Inspire 2 or even larger drones.
Even these drones don't lift long lenses because of the weight and balance and vibration.
Drones aren't yet able to do what you want.
Maybe you could do better with infrared cameras like these ?:
Infrared-Wildlife-Digital-Cameras | eBay

Thanks, we use those - it's a different wildlife observation method.

 

[Meta4]

But are there any temp or compromise solutions that we can use for now?

What would be the ideal camera for wildlife photography? And what would be the ideal aircraft capable to carry such camera taking into account its size and price? May be it is possible to come up with the custom solution integrating such camera with the aircraft?

You are asking for something that isn't available.
The reason it isn't available is because affordable drones aren't able to carry large telephoto lenses.