russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

....is JPG or DNG+JPG. Since I convert all my RAW files to DNG, this is pretty cool for me. Something I was unaware of before I bought the drone which, by the way, is a Yuneec Typhoon H with RealSense Technology. The files are 4000x3000 pixels and the pictures are excellent.

Bozsik Loc: Orangevale, California

Have you received your FAA license yet? My friend just got his a couple of months ago. He is all set.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

I won't need it unless I start doing commercial photography. Right now my intent is my own personal research on the history of railroads in San Diego County, and the drone will allow me to get to some inaccessible mountainous areas in East San Diego County.

Bozsik Loc: Orangevale, California

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

That is where you are wrong. An FAA Hobby class license is required for ANY drone (UAS) weighing over .55 pounds. You absolutely are required to posess an FAA Hobby class license at any time you are operating your craft.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

I see on Amazon there is an H and an H Pro. Out of curiosity, which do you have, and how did you choose?

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

Not according to the FAA, and not according to the police who visited me this morning while I was out flying. They asked me all the right questions and I had all the right answers. You do need to register it, though, and put your registration number in a visible place on the drone. Mine is registered, and the registration number, while ugly where I put it, is easily viewable and readable.
https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/fly_for_fun/

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

Oopsy. I left out the Pro. I do have the Yuneec Typhoon H Pro with Intel RealSense Technology. To decide which drone I wanted, first I chose the most expensive drone from each manufacturer. Then I compared specs. The Typhoon H Pro with its RealSense Technology has Obstacle Avoidance, Point to Fly, Home, and Follow Me modes, all of which will be important to me. For some of the abandoned railroad tracks that I can get to, I want the drone to follow me as I traverse the tracks. In other instances, where I don't want to hike down and up a canyon's walls, I'll want to use Point to Fly. Obstacle Avoidance will come in handy in the Follow Me mode so that I can pay attention to where I am placing my feet on 100-year-old railroad tracks, and Home comes in handy when the battery gets low but it's on that side of the canyon where I don't want to land it. I put it in Home mode and it flies back to where it took off.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Then you already have the hobby license

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

There's no license involved. The FAA drone rules are not even a year old yet so they are still collecting data on who's flying, where they are flying, what drones they are flying, etc. That's the current purpose of registering.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

To follow up real quickly on hobby vs. commercial since there seems to be some confusion, the FAA requires that all drones weighing .55 pounds or more up to 55 pounds be registered. In all cases. Hobby or commercial ventures. Registration costs $5. There are no other requirements for flying for fun.

For commercial ventures, there are additional requirements, called "licensing" by the FAA, and there's a lot more involved in getting a license. Studying, practice, lots of fees, instructors, etc. There are even schools which will help you jump through all the hoops in getting what is called a "Part 107" or "107" license. The lowest fee that I have found for a school that is close to me is $998. The highest is $2,398. Two to six week courses. Some guarantee that you'll pass.

The picture here is of my drone registration. Notice that it says "Certificate of Registration." Read the fine print in the third paragraph on the right side and you'll see that this is not a license to fly. Instead you have to know the requirements for flying as it pertains to your specific purposes. Right now, my purposes are to learn how to fly the durn thing and then to gain confidence in flying it a mile away from me, with the landing gear up, and getting it to return to me and land without crashing. That doesn't require a license. Heck, I could turn this $2,000 piece of equipment over to the 6-year-old kid in my drone club and let him fly it if I wanted to. No license required. Just registration.

jim quist Loc: Missouri

It might be a good idea to get that license anyway in case the law changes your re set to go. Or if some Barney Fife with a chip on his shoulder confronts you.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

Eventually I'll get a commercial license but it's not a high priority right now. A commercial license won't prevent some Barney Fife from confronting me. This is Twitler's America we're currently living in. Barneys are everywhere and just itching to confront people.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

My dad was a RR man, since a kid of 14 that was 1917. Once I saw narrow gage RR tracks at edge road. He said that all the small towns were connected with RR. Friends grandmother told me that in Richmond VA area all the small towns were connected by historic interurban railroad lines. I have a 1935 map of GA/FL... small towns have disappeared as have RRs and rail street cars of towns like Detroit Michigan... and EveryVille for EveryMan.
Googled historic interurban railroad lines and chose images... wow...

Russelray, thanks for the prompt... best of luck on historic RR image preservation.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

The nation's only operating commercial narrow gauge railroad is here in San Diego County at Plaster City, which is nothing but a monster gypsum plant for UNG. The narrow gauge runs about 10 miles out into a gypsum mine in the middle of the desert. I've been there by helicopter. Now I can go there by drone.