Kactusking

It is good to see some other Draganflyer folks.)

I am new to this board, but not new to RC flying. A long term fascination of mine has been aerial photography, and I have tried various methods of achieving this. I started out a number of years ago with a large parafoil kite, a stratoscoop 4 that is made by Greens of Burnley. This kite lifts between 20 and 40 pounds, depending on the strength of the wind. I attached my father's video camera to it, and after some nice footage, the camera came loose and crashed to the ground. Since then I experimented with other kites, but the limited maneuverability, combined with extensive launching requirements (i.e. large field, the right wind, etc.) led to more frustration than anything else. In addition, kites tend to become more unstable and more likely to crash the higher they fly. The next phase involved purchase of a very well built RC paraglider from Dave Garber. This machine has a Zenoah 62 engine, and a 12 foot foill attached to the back. It came with a professional aluminum camera mount, and easily accommodated a digital video camcorder. Once again, initial success and I did get some fantastic video of my neighborhood. This I thought was the perfect vehicle, as it required very little runway, was easy to control, and so well built I believe almost indestructable (it is entirely out of steel and aluminum). However one morning, with the camera on it, I lost control and the throttle opened up autonomously. I watched it go higher and higher, then drift with the wind toward the south. To make a long story short, it ended up on a naval base about 10 miles away, crashing into the fuel depot, having glided in right over the runways for the F-14s. I endured several meetings with the FBI over this incident, as they wanted to make sure I was who I said I was, and not some terrorist. They did eventually give it back to me, sans videotape. I have been too scared now to even fly it again, and after thinking about it quite a bit, it is so heavy that it certainly could do some damage to people or property if I lost control again and it crashed somewhere. Enter the current phase, the Draganflyer.
I got this from my wife as a request for my Christmas gift, and I have been most pleased so far. I am still on a steep learning curve, as I have only become proficient in hovering (which is good because replacing rotors and capacitors was becoming expensive and time consuming, respectively). Perhaps I am delusioned again in thinking that this is finally the ultimate flying platform for videography. Like the previous poster, I am mainly interested in the X-Pro, but I think it is wise to become proficient on a much cheaper model first. I would love to see some photos posted or even aerial videos. I did not buy the camera, as I was dubious about this craft's capabilities in the beginning. However I am starting to feel confident this will become a very long term endeavor and not end in disaster like so many other things along this avenue that I have tried.