On The Subject of Small Drones

My wife recently questioned why, when I have the Mavic Pro 4, I would then want a "toy drone" (her words, not mine) like the Neo 2 with it's paltry 12 megapixel camera.

My response was not short - but I think I made a convincing argument.

You're going out with family for a walk, or to an old hall. You fancy taking a camera to take some quick "happy snaps" kind of photos - they're not going to be commercially sold, they're just family snaps.

Firstly, they're mostly going to be shared on Facebook, Instagram, or the family Whatsapp groups; and if they ever do get printed it'll be a 6 x 4 print, or perhaps A4 at the most.

When you do the calculations on image sizes you realise that we are absolutely taking far too many images far too big! There was once a website called 3.2 is enough - it was at the point when most images were of the 2048 x 1536 size and could easily be printed to an 8" wide image and still retain 300dpi (the real resolution of most printers without interpolation etc).

12 Megapixel is 4000 x 3000 - which on the average monitor can be blown up to 3 x without any noticable pixels.

So that's my point. You wouldn't lug along a digital SLR to a family picnic; why would you take a huge Mavic Pro 4 with all it's class limitations of where it can be flown when you can take a tiny little Neo 2, in a case, and you don't even need a controller because you can fly it using your phone or even hand gestures.

The Neo 2 is a great introduction to drones - my first drone was the original Neo and look where I am now. Yes it has it's minor limitations - the resolution being the main one - but as a "personal drone" it's superb. It's like having your own cameraman and videographer with you; and coupled with a DJI Mic 3 with the onboard storage you have a recording setup in a box,

It's certainly the one I quickly grab when I leave the house anyway.

I used AI AND I feel dirty

As a side note, I'm a very naughty boy. I used AI for an image. I was in a quandry - I needed a placeholder of someone else reading a photo album of mine, but they had to be wearing kink gear as it was for my personal photos.

There's two problems here - getting someone else to wear my kink gear and be photographed, and finding someone who it will fit. So I cheated and used AI.

This was the result. I won't say I'm totally happy with it, but it fulfils the requirement.

I gave the prompt "generate a photo of a man in his 50's. he's wearing a three piece leather suit, leather shirt and leather tie. He's looking at a photo album. There's a bookcase behind him."

I do wonder who the poor guy is who became the head model for this, and if he actually consents to being in this situation but - any of my friends or followers reading this would like to be "this guy"? Let me know!