Photographing aerial Malta with a drone

Malta by Microlight

In 2005 I made a DVD of Malta from the air. It took me about a year to do the filming from microlight aircraft from the Malta Microlight club and editing . I sold about 1000 copies on the internet and through staitioners and souvenir shops in Malta. I was pretty pleased with the results but looking at the video now ten years later, I must admit that it looks a bit ‘tired’, especially compared to HD footage from modern camera drones!

If you can’t wait to see “Malta by Microlight – an aerial adventure”, I have put it on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. Scroll to the bottom of this post for the links.

If you haven’t already seen what is possible with the current generation of drones, do a quick search on YouTube or Vimeo for “aerial videos” and you will be amazed! If you are good with your hands, you can put together a drone from a kit for something less than 500€ plus the camera. A plug and play drone with a built in camera can be had for about twice that.

My Drone

I took the plunge earlier this year and bought a DJI 450 Flame Wheel kit from the DJI online shop. It cost about 219€ and came with the frame, flight controller (autopilot), motors, propellers, GPS antenna/compass, speed controllers and all of the screws and other bits and pieces required to put it together. Not included was the radio transmitter and reciever, batteries, camera (I already have a GoPro) or the gimbal to stabilize the camera.

It really was very simple to put the basic quadrocopter together. Some soldering was required but nothing too fancy. After a couple of evenings I was ready for a test flight with my son Sam at the controls….

Only joking! After signing up for the obligatory 3rd party insurance, my first flights were made in the snowy fields behind my house and I soon found that it was VERY easy to get some amazing shots with relatively little effort!

I am not going to go into the details of how to fly a drone here. It is really not that difficult and there is masses of information on the internet written by people much better qualified than I am. The main thing to remember is to be sensible about where you fly. Check the local rules. Don’t fly too close to people. Don’t fly close to airports. Don’t fly too high (the maximum legal height varies by country but it is typically around 100 metres).

Anyway, enough of the boring stuff. Late September 2015 I packed my drone in a suitcase and headed off for a long weekend in Malta. This is the video I shot….