Superyachts show off their best sides in drone movies
By Ollie Williams, for CNN
(CNN) — “It takes a special person not to barf in the trash bag.”
Welcome to the glamorous life of the sailing drone operator.
Justice L Bentz, 26, lives in Antigua and shoots video profiles of some of the world’s most expensive private yachts.
Not a bad life. But it does come at the cost of wearing a black bag on your head.
“Sometimes, I fly the drone with my head in a trash bag so I don’t get salt spray from the sea on my equipment,” Bentz explains.
“I’m inside the bag, looking at my monitor and basically playing a video game — watching that screen and securing myself so I don’t get thrown around. We go out in the craziest conditions, and the Caribbean winds are really strong.”
If Bentz isn’t the most appealing sight, out on deck in a black bag, his footage is a different story.
Drones have revolutionized what is possible with a camera, but rarely does the end product match this vista of superyachts and Caribbean seas.
“It’s just a perspective you never really see,” says Bentz. “You can either charter a helicopter to come out for an hour for a thousand euros, or I can come out.
“How much do I cost? It really depends on what you want. In some cases, it’s more. But I can get shots and angles a normal helicopter can’t get.
“On the low end, I’m putting about $3,500 in the air. On the high end, up to $35,000. That would be an octocopter with a Canon 5D camera and a three-axis stabilized gimbal, with a two-man operation.”
Bentz began flying drones as a hobby, then developed a passion for yachts when he spent two years working on board the 88m-long Maltese Falcon, one of the largest private yachts in the world.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/17/sport/sailing-drones/index.html?iref=allsearch
