Hi, new to everything...

[mmurfitt]

Hi,
I've seen some amazing footage shot with an octo-copter (not sure if that's the correct term) and it looks amazing, so in a nutshell, I want in!
I'd love to shoot footage similar to what I've seen, and would be very excited to combine it with a hexacopter, or the like.
I know nothing about remote controlled multi-rotor aircraft, I don't know how to assemble them, I've never flown one, never even seen one, but I'm very excited to get started.
Not so long ago I gave up full time photography, however having seen this amazing footage using an octo-copter I think this may be an interesting business venture.
By the looks of things this forum seems to be the right place for me to start my journey into the world of remote controlled model aircraft, so let the fun begin!

 

[BorisS]

Hi mmurfitt,

japp these mutltirotors are very tempting. I would recommend though that you don't got for a full Hexa or Octo setup right from the beginning. Start of with a small quad and get the feeling for fly it. Of coarse there are a lot of helpful features for multi rotors that make flying them an ease. At the same time though these features can fail resulting in a copter in the air harder to control than without them.

Take me as an example. I stepped in by buying an expensive ready to fly MK DW Octo and I must say I never learned how to fly with this thing. The investment i had in the air just freaked me out to do anything more than hovering. Than i finally got a quad thus less cash in the air and i started to push it around. If at the beginning with the Octo anything unexpected would have happened a sudden Yaw/ Spin around its vertical axis i would have been lost etc ( which actually resulted in an expensive crash once) . Now getting my flying experience with the quad i fell much safe with the bigger birds !

This is just an example there are many other cheaper quads out there: http://www.dji-innovations.com/products/flame-wheel-multi-rotor/overview/ ( showing a hexa but there are two quad version)

The only thing I would consider if you want to go this cheaper way at the beginning it to choose you components wisely like radio receiver etc. that they will work give you all the features that you will need if you invest in a bigger bird later.

Boris

 

[mmurfitt]

@Boris - Thanks for the advice, this is exactly what I had in mind!
While I want an all-singing, all-dancing octocopter I know the sensible thing is to learn to fly with a machine which costs a fraction of the price and get my skill levels up.
One thing I was thinking however, I'm assuming the feel of a quadcopter is different to a octocopter, in that the weight of a quadcopter is different to a octocopter resulting a different feel and manoeuvrability?
But I guess you don't know until you try..

 

[VINHEX]

I recently purchased a DJI F550 with a wookong-m and have to say I love it. I was the same as you knew nothing and went for it as well as the photography side as well. They do a F450 with a Naza / GPS as well which is cheap. I went for the F550 as I've seen a lot of kit attached and they fly stable. Well mine does now. Big learning curve, but the guys on here really did help.

Have fun welcome to the world of multirotors. Like changing from normal to macro in the photography world... I can't wait to get my gimbal and camera next month. Going to push for FPV(First person view) later.

 

[mmurfitt]

@VINF550 - Thanks for the advice, I've seen the F450 and was thinking of starting with that as it looks good enough to feel like a 'proper' quadcopter, but simple enough for a newbie (like me) to put together and start with.
I'm finding it useful people having their kit in their signatures, it kind of works like a 'recommendation' as to what's good - helps to cut through the sales speak you see on a lot of websites.