GoPro HERO3 Meets the DJI Phantom Quadcopter and Gets the Aerial Treatment

nofilmschool by David Kendricken

Several impressive videos achieved with minicopters have surfaced in the last year or so (pun intended). We’ve seen soaring ghost’s-eye views of hauntingly deserted urban nightscapes, and ninjas battling through ruined buildings in impossible ‘dolly shots’ — only made possible, of course, with such compact aerial shooting platforms. Now, the ‘King of the Action Cam,’ that is the GoPro HERO3, gets the sky-flying treatment — and if there’s any camera you won’t be too worried about strapping in to the DJI Phantom Aerial Quadcopter for blast-off, it’s the GoPro — check out the footage below.

It’s worth noting a few things before we get to the good stuff — firstly, depending on where you’re shooting, local ordinance may have the legality of RC minicopter use all but grounded in red tape, even for professionals, which leads into the second point: if you are legally able to shoot with such camcopters, your no-doubt best-bet is to hire a professional ‘pilot’ or operator — unless of course you already happen to be one yourself. This is, most importantly, for safety — but if you want control over your shots, chances are a pro-op will do the best job anyways. If you’re very interested in this type of thing, you’ll have to do a lot more research than we could include here — but here’s one thread on the US’s standpoint I was able to dig up. With that out of the way, check out these HERO3 copter shots, all of which were achieved with the sub-$700 DJI Phantom Aerial Quadcopter — courtesy Cinescopophilia for the finds: read more and watch the videos