If you fly a drone and post footage on YouTube, you could end up with a letter from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Earlier this week, the agency sent a legal notice to Jayson Hanes, a Tampa-based drone hobbyist who has been posting drone-shot videos online for roughly the last year.

The FAA said that, because there are ads on YouTube, Hanes's flights constituted a commercial use of the technology subject to stricter regulations and enforcement action from the agency. It said that if he did not stop flying “commercially,” he could be subject to fines or sanctions.

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-faa-says-you-cant-post-drone-videos-on-youtube

It seems the US government is happy to allow commercial drone flights for those folks who can afford the legal fees necessary to file for an "exemption." I find it particularly interesting that the primary supplier of exemption paperwork to the FAA is a Chicago law firm that charges between $5000-$7500 to offer their "assistance" with obtaining the exemption. Unfortunately this makes the price of entry impossible for many small operators who are just trying to start up or expand their filmmaking business. ETA: Ah, you also need a pilot's license!

The Lily

Lily Drone..

Here's the official site: https://www.lily.camera/ Price is $519 including shipping if you pre-order by June 15. It's $1,019 if you pre-order it after June 15. Expected release date is February 2016 which is a pretty long way off.

Hands on: http://www.slashgear.com/lily-camera-drone-hands-on-aerial-video-no-pilot-required-12383161/

it says it comes with two cameras front and bottom. Really want to get my hands on some footage to grade. I think it'll be a fun toy to mess around with for the introductory half price. hope they keep on improving on in from now till then and maybe a manual mode in future. Stick that intel avoidance tech and its the beginning of SKYNET ha

For anyone that remembers me, I am a GH2 owner that films in Japan. I stopped posting for the most part a couple years ago, and there are a couple of reasons. 1, I am now a daddy, and two, I have spent the last two years learning to build and fly multicopters with the intention of doing film eventually with a GH2, or similar camera. Though I am still working with a gopro 3+, I am starting to get work, and expect to put a larger camera in the air sometime this summer. The following video is from my 3rd medium-large build, a 680mm quadcopter with an Eagletree Vector flight controller (kicks ass over naza). I would appreciate any suggestions on improving the color in the video.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/7/8883821/drone-search-engine-faa-approved-commercial-333-exemptions