On Drones

HowardSol
HowardSol
Aug 9, 2017 · 4 min read

After much deliberation (as in, years) I recently purchased a DJI drone. The model I purchased is the Spark and I’ll explain my rationale in a moment.

My initial apprehension was based primarily on two factors: cost and usability. Cost speaks for itself — I wasn’t terribly interested in spending thousands of dollars on a device that might fly off a cliff, never to return. And usability wise, it looked like they might be difficult to fly and I wasn’t sure I had the energy or time in terms of figuring it out.

The introduction of the DJI Spark, however, really changed the game for me. Two things in particular jumped out: the price and the fact that they marketed its ease of use by focusing on gesture control (a feature, ironically, I have yet to really use).

So, I bought the thing and made the leap of faith. I also thought I could use it to take some cool aerial shots while on vacation in France, which I did. Also, those of you who know me know I love cool tech toys. So, there’s that.

Initially I was quite tentative about using it. I’d basically fly it up, take a few pictures and fly it right back down down. But then a funny thing happened; the more I flew it, the more I realized it wasn’t really at all complicated. You really need to focus on just a few key features. After having really it put it through its paces while on a boy’s trip last weekend to a desolate cabin on a desolate lake I got a really good feel for it and arrived at a few observations:

  • These things are really — as in REALLY cool from an engineering perspective. There is just an incredible amount of technology built into these devices on both the hardware and software side. They and DJI, the market leader get their fair amount of attention, but if these drones were built by, say Apple or Google, people would be going absolutely gaga over them. They are VERY impressively built and though I am not an expert by any means on this market, it strikes me that DJI has a solid first mover advantage in the consumer marketplace. This was evidenced in part by GoPro’s initial failing/recall around their first market product.
  • The fact that the price point is dropping so sharply in such a relatively short overall lifecyle is a strong sign that the market is starting to approach some degree of critical mass. Once the price drops a bit more — and there’s no question that this will be a matter of “when” versus “if” — you’ll see adoption really rise. This will pose a series of separate “social” issues that will bubble up. I mean, imagine a sky full of drones. I mean that almost literally; we could soon approach a point where that’s what’s happening in our world. There are sundry privacy and security issues associated with this. The implications here, particularly from a security standpoint, are potentially huge. And not to mention — if there is a downside to drones, is that at minimum, they can be flat out annoying. I can definitely attest to this in my three weeks of using one; I was told by two people to take it elsewhere. I definitely understood where they were coming from.
  • It will take photography to a new level, no pun intended. We’re accustomed to linear phography. Aerial stills and videos are an entirely new frontier of opportunity on a number of different levels. One of the things that made GoPro stand out in my viewpoint, is that it enabled anyone to quickly become an “action” oriented director/cameraman. Drones will take this to an entirely new level. Forget cameraman, now everyone can be their own James Cameron.
  • Once you start using one regularly, you can start to really see the business use cases: aerial surveillance for construction, farming industries (along with other markets), delivery of goods, as outlined by Amazon and even sport (see: Drone Racing League, which seems to be really taking off). Those are use cases that just come to mind immediately. I’m not even talking about how they relate to surveillance from a defense industry standpoint.
  • And last but not least — they are fun as hell! I mean, really, really fun. While on our boy’s weekend, our group of 50-somethings were almost like, well, boys again when flying them (one of my friends, who happens to have worked at a senior level in technology, was so impressed he bought one on the spot). While my original intent in buying one was primarily for photographic purposes, they are just a ton of fun.

So, that’s my long winded diatribe on drones. I think on both the consumer and professional side this is still a very nascent market that is rife with opportunity. Even if it doesn’t seem like flying a drone is your “thing” if you have an opportunity, check one out. Not necessarily to buy, but just to gain some measure of familiarity with the technology and how they operate. Because in my opinion, there’s no question: they ARE the future and will play a prominent role in our technology and cultural landscape for many years to come.

Life on the Run

Random musings about life on the go. Subjects could include running, family, gadgets, travel, literature, perhaps some politics and whatever the hell else might come to mind.

HowardSol

Written by

HowardSol

Public relations professional; dad of two little kids; interests include endurance sports (triathlon, open water swimming and ultra running)

Life on the Run

Random musings about life on the go. Subjects could include running, family, gadgets, travel, literature, perhaps some politics and whatever the hell else might come to mind.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade