Shooting LOW LEVEL Aerial photos

It used to be fairly common practice to rent helicopters for shooting aerial photos of large estates or properties to show off the grounds and surrounding areas. Then a little thing called 9-11 happened. The FAA (which has always been fairly standoffish to general aviation traffic) began to clamp down on all kinds of private flights, and fines for encroaching on airspace or violation noise ordinances were more liberally distributed.

Nowadays, it's difficult to get a helicopter to shoot photos in an urban area because if you're lucky enough to be out of controlled airspace, most HOAs frown on low-level helicopter flight, and one call to the FAA will get a nasty letter sent to the helicopter firm, which won't want to take the risk of flying out there again (and you just KNOW there's always at lease one neighbor in an HOA who loves to complain about things like that).

So, the helicopter firms often won't fly under 1000 or even 1500 feet, and that's not a great angle for taking estate photos.

Our solution to this has been the X6 helicopter:

This little guy is remote controlled, battery operated (which makes it virtually silent), deploys in under 5 minutes, and get great photos from the best altitudes (50-200 feet).

Being silent and fast to deploy, the X6 can get in, get the shot, and get out with disturbing neighbors or attracting attention. It's great for residential and commercial properties, and can even be used inside if the space is large enough.

It's also a very safe little bird, with built in GPS and inertial stabilizers, and an 'auto-land' feature if it flies out of range or gets low on battery. Here's a shot of me just after landing:

It's also FAR cheaper for our clients than renting a helicopter, and takes far less time. If you'd like to find our more about our LOW-LEVEL aerial photo/video service, drop us a line at 480.240.9270, or visit us at www.PrimeImageMedia.com.

Now, here are a few of the shots we got this morning in beautiful Arrowhead Lakes....