At 400' how much area does the GoPro capture?

Blue Sky Flyovers · May 25, 2016

Crazy question, but I have to cover 88 acres and am wondering if that can all be captured at 400'.

Pedals2Paddles · May 25, 2016

Define cover. Just a wide angle photo? Or a straight down mapping image?

Blue Sky Flyovers · May 25, 2016

Looking straight down, wide angle.

twitchyzero · May 25, 2016

88 acre sounds like a lot...im going to say no

but what you'll likely do is stitching multiple photos together

That's how i've seen people take a large area without breaking the 400' limit...and the final image will turn out less distorted too.

Blue Sky Flyovers · May 25, 2016

That's what I thought. I am thinking it will take about 10 images to get it all in. Based on Google Earth at 400'.

RPM · May 25, 2016

Use Tower survey grid it will tell you.

Blue Sky Flyovers · May 25, 2016

I am using an iPad... No tower yet.

Ed Beck · May 25, 2016

Blue Sky Flyovers said:
I am using an iPad... No tower yet.

Don't hold your breath for Tower on iPad. If this is something you'll do often get an Android tablet and use Tower.

Blue Sky Flyovers · May 25, 2016

Thanks!

RPM · May 25, 2016

Or jump on a PC and use mission planner to do the calcs.

EricG · May 25, 2016

For a 40 acre field at 400 ft it takes me two flights and around 50-60 pictures with my trusty 3DR IRIS.

Acroduster · May 25, 2016

I did a zig-zag pattern over 230 acres with 2 batteries on video at 165'. The site is about a 2:1 aspect ratio and I went up and down the long way. I only made 5 passes, though, and you'll probably need tighter passes than what I used.

MillsapsPE · May 26, 2016

According to Mission Planner, a single picture from a GoPro 4 Black will cover 645 ft x 875 ft at 400' AGL. With a 65% overlap, that is about 25 min flight time at 5 m/s.

Edit: In my experience, MP seems to overestimate flight times.

Dave Folts · May 29, 2016

I switched to a 5.4 lens from Peau Prod on one of my gopros and get sharper images with zero distortion. Now that is a 60 deg fov...the 3.7 lens from those guys is abt 100 deg fov and would be a suitable survey lens from 165 feet. From 400 feet I'd use the 5.4. I like to use my canon 330 under my iris for survey composites at any rate.