CAVU – America’s Largest Aerial Photography Company

Recently we had a chance to sit down with and talk to Dan Isaacson the CEO of CAVU and Kate Isaacson, his wife and VP of Digital Content. It was great to talk with someone as passionate about the drone industry as we are. Dan has some fantastic ideas and really is a visionary in the drone industry.  We talked about the future of drones and how we are only scratching the surface of how they will impact our lives. CAVU is the largest aerial photography company in the United States and they have a fleet of drones videoing breath-taking footage for their clients across the country.

Check out some of the awesome work that CAVU does

While we could have spent the night just talking drones, we did manage to get to their business. We wanted to know what kinds of drones they use.  The majority of the drones in their fleet are DJI Phantom 3 Advanced drones. While they do have some more advanced drones, the DJI Phantom Advanced did everything they needed without added cost. We talked about the Phantom 4 and some of its advanced features, but it is mostly overkill for most applications. Obstacle avoidance is a nice feature of the Phantom 4, but it doesn’t save the drone when it’s flying backwards or sideways. The drone pilots at CAVU are professionals and can fly drones without needing the safety net that the obstacle avoidance provides.

We have often thought 4K video was overkill and Dan agreed. It is nice, but is limited in who can actually view content in 4K.  Full HD is crisp and high quality enough for most applications. 4K also takes up a lot of memory which is another negative for the video format. There is no doubt that as more TVs and monitors become 4K capable people will be more eager to record in this format, but for today it often isn’t needed for the professional videographer.

CAVU does majority of their business doing aerial photography for real estate. But they also video for businesses, construction projects and weddings. Imagine getting an aerial update on a daily/weekly/monthly basis for your construction project. In some cases, they have their footage to create time lapse like montages of construction projects. They have even filmed traffic patterns and intersections to help local municipalities make decisions on roadwork construction projects.

Of course CAVU also does aerial footage for weddings.  Anybody can hire a photographer, but adding an aerial photographer, now that’s a special touch.  They are able to capture video angles that would otherwise require a crane and smooth motion that matches expensive studio equipment.

Dan has even talked about ideas he has to help law enforcement and park rangers. His passion for drones is obvious and he has some fantastic ideas on how drones can make the world we live in a safer and better place. He has even developed a product to make existing drones better. Dan and his team have developed their own line of drone antennas, Tough Leash.

Dan says that his antennas can increase the drone’s range up to 8 miles (this was achieved by a man in Costa Rica.)  However the most important feature of the Tough Leash antenna isn’t the added range, but the added signal strength.  Nothing can ruin a photo or video like losing signal, even if it is momentarily.  The Tough Lease antenna helps to alleviate this problem.  Not only do the antennas increase signal strength, they look awesome.  Tough Leash antennas are fully customizeable and you can pick from an endless number of color combinations.  We are looking forward to putting one of these bad boys to the test soon.

CAVU does business across the United States and has licensed drone pilots ready to shoot quality footage for you. Dan has generously agreed to let us tag alone on one of his photo shoots, so stay tuned for an update on CAVU.

Click here to go to the CAVU website.

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