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Inspire over dreamy fields of ice on Chicago's Frozen Beaches

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Jan 23, 2015
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I spent a bunch of days flying my Inspire over Chicago's frozen beaches back in February. I've been taking pictures of the lake when it freezes for the past 4 years so it was a treat to get my Inspire in time to capture some footage there this season.

This is my first drone and the main reason I bought it was to make this edit actually haha. I tried to focus more on the textures of the ice and less on the touristy parts of the city, but there's a few skyline shots in there too. Let me know what ya think!

 
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Very beautiful, congrats. That dog passing the fence was perfect timing ;-)

Curiosity: where do all the boats go? Sail south to warmer weather? Land space for all of them?
 
So, what's the official min temp we can fly?
I'm in central Canada, so it gets a tad chilly here.
It would be neat to head out in the winter.


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Very nicely done. Good mix of shots, didn't get repetitive, sync with beat was comfortable, reveal shots were great and variety of locations and angles we're refreshing.

Bravo.
 
So, what's the official min temp we can fly?
I'm in central Canada, so it gets a tad chilly here.
It would be neat to head out in the winter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Official Operating Temperature Range is -10° to 40° C.

I've flown in much colder though. Just have to be careful of sudden battery voltage drops and frost bite on your fingers.

Example: despite the video name, some of the shots were so cold (-20C with windchill) I literally could only fly for 5-10 minutes before jumping back in the running car for warmth. But the Inspire had no complaints.

 
Thanks everyone! I tried to keep it short and sweet but wish I had another day or two worth of footage to put in there, a few clips I don't love in the edit..but oh well! I was trying to only fly on sunnier days too to keep the edit consistent. A few earlier drafts I thought were a little repetitive and I was trying to get away from that...I accidentally had the sharpness to +1 for a few of the shots too and you can see some noise in there a little bit.

Most of these flights were 10 degrees to 30 degrees fahrenheit...I didn't want to fly below 0 degrees and tried not to fly in too much wind either, it's nerve wrecking enough to have it out over the water!

I only had a sudden battery drop once, it dropped from 26% to 6% when I was flying back but was still over the water, barely got a chance to land it in time!
 
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Most of these flights were 10 degrees to 30 degrees fahrenheit...I didn't want to fly below 0 degrees and tried not to fly in too much wind either, it's nerve wrecking enough to have it out over the water!

You sir are a brave man but Wow! look at the video! Good Job! Where did you get the music?
 
Th
You sir are a brave man but Wow! look at the video! Good Job! Where did you get the music?
Thanks! I licensed it from premiumbeat.com

Very beautiful, congrats. That dog passing the fence was perfect timing ;-)

Curiosity: where do all the boats go? Sail south to warmer weather? Land space for all of them?

I'm not a boater but I'm pretty sure in Chicago it's required by law that everyone remove their boats from water for the winter, they have to store them indoors somewhere I guess
 
I spent a bunch of days flying my Inspire over Chicago's frozen beaches back in February. I've been taking pictures of the lake when it freezes for the past 4 years so it was a treat to get my Inspire in time to capture some footage there this season.

This is my first drone and the main reason I bought it was to make this edit actually haha. I tried to focus more on the textures of the ice and less on the touristy parts of the city, but there's a few skyline shots in there too. Let me know what ya think!


Very nicely done video. The sound track matches the mood, the editing is sharp, and I love the mix of aspects between vertical and horizontal. Made me want to watch it a second time!

I flew mine in MN back in Feb during the Big Freeze, and I could only stand about 10 mins before my hands, even in gloves, were complaining big time. Keeping the batteries in a warm car kept them ready for flight, and I made some homemade neoprene covers for the batteries, so they stayed nice and toasty, unlike my hands. o_O
 
Very nicely done video. The sound track matches the mood, the editing is sharp, and I love the mix of aspects between vertical and horizontal. Made me want to watch it a second time!

I flew mine in MN back in Feb during the Big Freeze, and I could only stand about 10 mins before my hands, even in gloves, were complaining big time. Keeping the batteries in a warm car kept them ready for flight, and I made some homemade neoprene covers for the batteries, so they stayed nice and toasty, unlike my hands. o_O

Thanks! Yeah i actually got a set of gloves with the fingers that peel back but then I had to get another set of very thin glove liners underneath that because my exposed fingertips would still freeze after flying the inspire for a few minutes. Had to run back to the car and warm up often too.
 
Very very cool. Take out the skyline shots and it could pass for some sort of frozen post-apocalyptic wasteland.
 

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