My name is Zen, and I'm an Electric Unicycle Content Creator and Racer. I've flown quite a few drones and had an FPV drone for a short time, but I'm not as much into flying drones as I am capturing and creating content with my unicycles, onewheels, esk8, escooter, and ebikes.
The Skydio 2/2+ is perfect for that.
Military Drone Experience
I'm proud to have served 5 years in the US Army as an infantryman and also taught ICT in Cambodia and Malaysia. My first experience with drones was in Afghanistan, where we had to go on IRF missions to retrieve downed or lost military drones for reconnaissance missions.
YouTube Inspiration
I don't remember when I first saw Skydio R1 (maybe Casey Neistat?), but I immediately pre-ordered when I saw the Skydio 2 reservation page launch. I was fortunate to have received one of the first units and was inspired by Kyle Warner's YouTube channel, which had quite a bit of Skydio content. He was an inspiration to a lot of Skydio 2 owners with his YouTube channel and content.
Pushing The Limits
I like to push the limits with my gear, so my Skydio 2 has survived numerous collisions and recovery missions over the years but is still flying almost two years later. I probably have one of the most used Skydio 2s out there; it probably has developed a personality similar to Johnny Five!
Drag & Drop with the Beacon is my favorite way to reposition the drone, mainly to keep it away from hazardous obstacles that the 4K navigation cameras might not pick up due to thickness/reflectivity, lighting, flight speed, etc.
Flying Safely
To avoid the risk of crashing, be on the lookout for things like chainlink fences, power lines, or thin branches without any leaves. Slow down or position your drone away in environments with visually challenging obstacles in the area.
When you fly with the Skydio Beacon, you ensure the buttons are facing away from your body when placing it into a pocket. Doing this ensures that the buttons don't get pressed in your pocket, causing the drone to reposition or stop tracking you if you're not careful.
Post Production & Posting
I like to crop my footage to 9:16 (tall) for social media since most people scroll using their phones. Thankfully, Skydio 4K video gives you plenty of resolution to work in a 1080x1920 (tall) sequence, so you can zoom in and make some crisp content while keeping the subject large and centered in the frame.
I highly recommend the Quik or Adobe Rush App if you're interested in editing/cropping Skydio footage for mobile/social media. Quik makes editing super easy and, for lack of a better word, quick. Adobe Rush allows you more control over the final result.
I prefer Adobe Rush because it has an auto-reframing feature that automatically knows where the subject is in the frame, so you can make sure you're in the frame of your TikToks/Reels. Of course, it doesn't always work perfectly, but it's super easy and intuitive to make some final manual adjustments to framing before exporting.
Nothing Flies Like A Skydio
I love how quick and agile the Skydio subject tracking is. It captures much more dynamic shots than any other flying camera drone, especially when flying backward. My favorite place to film and fly with Skydio is in unique landscapes. Some of my favorite Skydio footage was captured in Moab, and I want to go back and film more very soon.
I love sharing short videos on TikTok and Instagram, as well as the entire 4K videos on my YouTube channel. So check me out there, as I'm constantly capturing and sharing Skydio videos.
Learn more about Skydio drones or purchase Skydio 2+ today and join our active community of Skydians on social by sharing your videos/photos and tagging #Skydio/ #SkydioFeaturedFlyer on Instagram.
Have questions about whether Skydio is right for you? Check out the Community Discord and ask our customers what they think about Skydio.
