When The Bird Flew The Nest

Welcome back!

A couple of weeks ago I decided it was 'high' time to upgrade my drone. I'd been eyeing up a more portable option to the Phantom 3 series drone that I bought two years ago, mainly due to the fact that I tried to hump a camera backpack and drone case around at the same time and it just didn't work. My Phantom 3 Advanced drone certainly gave me a good return during the two years I owned it and my completed video's and aerial images can be found on my website - www.ashleycorr.com. Fast forward two years from the purchase date and here I was, advertising it for sale, in mint condition. Within 48 hours it was sold, alongside 4 batteries and a host of accessories. I was chuffed to get the asking price of £500, plus the fact that it was a quick sale and sold locally, with no silly offtakes, which would have been the case had I gone down the eBay route. So the bird flies the nest ...

Enter stage left, the all new shiny Mavic Air. The Flymore combo weighs in with 3 batteries at a cost of £849.00. Take a look at the photo (shown here) of the Mavic Air in my hand. Yeah, you get the picture. A foldable portable drone with a host of new tech, all wrapped in a tiny box and ready to send into the sky. This thing looks awesome! Let's hope it flies and captures photo and video just as well. As yet I haven't had time to give my new toy its first real flight. I did load the aircraft and remote controller with the latest firmware and carried out a few settings adjustments via the DJI GO 4 app, before sending it on its maiden flight, albeit a very brief one. This was simply to check that everything worked as it should, which it did, before bringing it back to the home position. So it's all systems go and I'll be recording more aerial video very soon. Stay tuned ...

Cheers, Ash

 

The Kelpies, Falkirk, Scotland

Across the border and into Scotland for my latest low-light shots. The location was Falkirk, home of The Kelpies, the largest equine sculptures in the world. The Kelpies are 30-metre high horse-head sculptures, standing next to a new extension to the Forth and Clyde Canal in The Helix, a new parkland project built to connect 16 communities in the Falkirk Council Area, Scotland. The sculptures were designed by sculptor Andy Scott and were completed in October 2013. The sculptures form a gateway at the eastern entrance to the Forth and Clyde canal, and the new canal extension built as part of The Helix land transformation project. The Kelpies are a monument to horse powered heritage across Scotland. The sculptures opened to the public in April 2014. As part of the project, they will have their own visitor centre, and sit beside a newly developed canal turning pool and extension. This canal extension reconnects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the River Forth, and improves navigation between the East and West of Scotland.

It was dusk when I arrived at the site and the blue hour was almost over, so I quickly got to work while there was still decent colour in the October sky. Initially I ran with a Canon 17-40L lens, but soon switched to my brand new and as yet unused Samyang 14mm prime. The difference was immediately noticeable, not only with the extra wide angle field of view, but also the focus ring, which is manually operated and glides easily with just one finger. The Samyang 14mm is a rectilinear fisheye lens, which would be much smaller and less expensive, but also curves everything into a ball. Samyang is a Korean maker of security camera lenses -  Tamron does the same thing in Japan. Compared critically to Nikon and Canon's 14mm lenses, the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 is the least expensive 14mm ultra wide lens ever made and it attempts to keep straight lines straight.

But enough about the new lens, more of that will be revealed at a later date when I post more pictures and a review after putting it through its paces. To view 'The Kelpies' page on my website click here and go to Gallery 2 > Special Feature Galleries. Here is a small selection of shots from my visit, the first of many...
Back soon, Ash