artsupreme wrote: Rudy Pohl wrote:
Drone ownership feasibility in the Ottawa area - not promising
I've been doing some research over the last few days about the feasibly of getting a drone to compliment my wildlife videography here in the Ottawa area. Unfortunately, it doesn't look good. The single biggest obstacle is that virtually all the places that I've been going to over the last 15 years for doing wildlife photography and now videography strictly prohibit the use of drones.
One of my long-time photography buddies bought a DJI mini 3 Pro two years ago and he told me the other day that he's hardly used it at all because in his words, "there's almost nowhere to fly it." All the Ontario provincial also prohibit drones except by special permit which are a major pain in the neck to acquire.
Given my modest hobby budget, it looks like buying a drone is simply not a good move for me.
I'm looking at the possibility of a DJI RS4 gimbal instead in order to inject a little more pizzaz into my videos. (I think I'm showing some signs of cabin fever with the winter dragging on... lol)
Rudy
Rudy,
A quick search and all the restrictions are not applicable to the mini series. The mini series weighs less than 250g so you are fine. No drone pilot license needed and no registration needed. This is the beauty of the mini series.
Who can fly
You need a drone pilot licence to fly drones that weigh 250 grams (g) up to and including 25 kilograms (kg).
You need to be 14 years old to get a basic licence and 16 years old to get an advanced licence. Children younger than 14 must be supervised by someone with a licence. This includes clubs, camps and other youth groups.
Brett,
Thanks for the help with this, but the sad reality is that Ottawa, being the nation's capital is a bit of an odd duck - it's super-highly regulated. Almost all the green space within the city limits, which is enormous, on both sides of the Ottawa River, both in Ontario and Quebec is managed by the NCC - the National Capital Commission. As well, the huge green space outside and surrounding the city is called the Greenbelt and is also managed by the NCC - absolutely no drones permitted, regardless of size. My friend's been checking it out for the last 2 years and he said that the very few places that allow drones at all is only with special permits which are a pain in the touché to get when you can even get them. Just not worth all the hassle.
But wait, there's more bad news. The whole Ottawa region is built on an ancient huge flat seabed called the Champlain Sea. There are zero hills, zero mountains, just endless flat-as-a-pancake farmland, which is great for farming, but not so great for landscape photography. I know, I tried to make a go of it for 2 years just to capture the special beauty of where I live, but let me tell you, it's definitely not a drone destination.
And lastly, although my wife and have travelled extensively and have lived and worked in several places in Canada, the Middle-East and Africa, we no longer travel for health reasons (my wife) and so I would likely never go a place where I could do some good drone videos.
All in all, I'm not encouraged and feel that if I did this I'd be in for a big disappointment and even greater frustration. I'd rather spend the videography budget money on something else.
Rudy
Feb 09, 2025 at 01:28 PM
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