After New-York and Tokyo I was looking for something different, challenging, out of my comfort zone. The main idea was to take pictures but I also wanted to take that opportunity to realize a video of my trip and that’s why I decided to buy a drone.

At first, the video was supposed to be just some nice aerial shots. It’s actually my first project with a drone so I wanted to focus on that. However, after one day driving through Iceland, I was so impressed by the diversity of the landscapes and this infinite road number 1 that I had to capture some footage from the car too!

The video ended up being a mix between sequences taken from the drone and from the car.

In terms of cameras, I used a GoPro Hero 3 Black edition on the drone and a GoPro Hero 3+ Black edition on the car; both with the Protune Mode ON, 2k, 30fps. The post-production was done with Adobe Premiere (editing) and Davinci Resolve 11 (color grading).

The music is “In the Shadow of the Colossi” by Doug Kauffman.

I used the DJI Phantom II with the Zenmuse H3-3D Gimbal to stabilize the GoPro. I also bought a video monitor Black Pearl 7 RC 801 which allows me to see what I’m filming. I bought this configuration because I didn’t want the built-in camera from DJI. I want to be able to use/change/update the GoPro. It also means I had to install the transmitter, the iOSD and the gimbal by myself but some great DIY videos on Youtube make it quite easy actually.

What I’ve learned so far with the drone: never take-off directly after starting your drone. You have to calibrate it for every flight but also you have to let the drone find as many GPS signals as possible before take-off. GPS signals are very important when you are a beginner because it helps you stabilize the drone and make your flight way easier that in manual mode. Also, once the drone has enough GPS signals, it will record is “home” position, so that it can come back to it by itself if it is out of range or if the battery is too low. So before each flight, wait for the lights to turn green! It will save you some troubles. Of course it’s not easy to flight when the wind is strong that’s for sure… also the cold temperature directly affects the battery’s autonomy. You can fly between 15 and 20 minutes max when the temperature is below 0°, try to keep your battery in a glove or in a pocket against your body.

The First Person Viewer is a must have, especially because you can quickly lose your drone! As you can imagine, Iceland is quite white during the winter with the snow, so your white drone on that white background will be hard to follow. Once it’s at 300 meters from you, it’s impossible to follow with your eyes. You should also consider the DJI iOSD. It’s an essential accessory that allows you to see your battery level on the screen, as well as your distance, altitude and also the amount of GPS available. More importantly, it helps you to measure the distance between you and the drone, which it’s quite useful when you don’t see it very well and you wonder if it’s coming back or going further.

Pictures

If you should pick only one lens for Iceland, it’s a wide one. For most of my pictures I used the 17-40mm with a polarize filter on it and I had my second body ready with the 100mm Macro in case I wanted to capture something close or a texture. Usually I never leave the 24-70mm off my body, but those landscapes are so huge and the light is so strong that I actually found myself almost not using it at all.

Very important: pay attention to the temperature and keep your cameras in a bag when you go inside or outside. I had an issue with my 5D Mark III after spending an hour in the rain and the wind. I thought it was okay because my camera was in special plastic bag to protect it from the water. It was freezing and the camera was really cold, I enter in a bar, the temperature was warm and of course it started to condense, that was my first mistake. But my biggest mistake was going back out without putting the camera in the bag. I had some dysfunctions, like it was taking a picture when you half press the shutter button… Fortunately for me, after one night inside it was completely dry and everything was fixed. So remember, if the temperature is radically different, keep your camera in the bag or leave it in the trunk if you don’t need it inside.

As I want to keep my gear with me in the plane, I’m limited in terms of weight and number of bags. I had two backpacks: TheVanguard UP-Rise II 48 which is in my opinion the best backpack for the DJI Phantom II and it accessories. The ThinkTank Airport Essentials which become my first choice for traveling lightweight (2kg empty).  Weight limitations was one of the reason I didn’t take my rolling bag: the ThinkTank Airport International V2, because it weight 5kg empty.