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> For another way to think of this, an object that is 8" (assuming a 12" drone at an angle) should appear to be a quarter the size of the moon to the naked eye

> For another way to think of this, an object that is 8" (assuming a 12" drone at an angle) should appear to be a quarter the size of the moon to the naked eye at 300 feet. If a drone was a solid spherical mass like the moon, your guesstimate might have some merit, but it’s not. In reality, your 8” is already way overshooting it. Furthermore, the amount of light reflecting by the moon is significantly higher providing much higher contrast for edge detection. The matte white plastic of many common drones however easily blends into the sky. Am I saying no camera would do it? No, that’s obviously wrong. But the post I replied to used a very vague wording which implies a majority of cameras would do it, which is definitely not the case. Happy to provide real photos to inspect this weekend (assuming it’s not still raining) at 100, 200, 300, and 350ft at whatever megapixel you’d like (up to 22mp) and focal length (from 8-1600mm, 35mm equivalent) so you can see what I mean.

kbenson 8y ago
> In reality, your 8” is already way overshooting it. Given the body area of most these drones, I'm not so sure. I'd best the visible cross-section is pretty close to 64 sq. inches from most angles, if you include the small amount of area from the arms, but ignoring rotors. > But the post I replied to used a very vague wording which implies a majority of cameras would do it I don't read what I said that way. I said a digital camera, as in there exists a camera or type of camera that would work. I mean, there's some pretty crappy digital cameras out there, if you want to go really cheap. > Happy to provide real photos to inspect this weekend (assuming it’s not still raining) at 100, 200, 300, and 350ft at whatever megapixel you’d like (up to 22mp) and focal length (from 8-1600mm, 35mm equivalent) so you can see what I mean. Sure, I would be interested in see how it looks in practice. I purposefully limited myself to a little over 8 megapixels (4k) as I assumed video, and that's fairly easy to get with consumer grade hardware, which sets a nice precedent. If cheap consumer grade hardware can do it, a government solution with possibly special purpose hardware would have no problem. Knowing how a decent still camera views it at full res with little or no zoom would be a good way to look at is, as I think that would approximate a high-end video system, or a mid-range one in a couple years. I get emails on replies, so I shouldn't miss it even if it's a few days later.

kbenson 8y ago

> In reality, your 8” is already way overshooting it. Given the body area of most these drones, I'm not so sure. I'd best the visible cross-section is pretty close to 64 sq. inches from most angles, if you include the small amount of area from the arms, but ignoring rotors. > But the post I replied to used a very vague wording which implies a majority of cameras would do it I don't read what I said that way. I said a digital camera, as in there exists a camera or type of camera that would work. I mean, there's some pretty crappy digital cameras out there, if you want to go really cheap. > Happy to provide real photos to inspect this weekend (assuming it’s not still raining) at 100, 200, 300, and 350ft at whatever megapixel you’d like (up to 22mp) and focal length (from 8-1600mm, 35mm equivalent) so you can see what I mean. Sure, I would be interested in see how it looks in practice. I purposefully limited myself to a little over 8 megapixels (4k) as I assumed video, and that's fairly easy to get with consumer grade hardware, which sets a nice precedent. If cheap consumer grade hardware can do it, a government solution with possibly special purpose hardware would have no problem. Knowing how a decent still camera views it at full res with little or no zoom would be a good way to look at is, as I think that would approximate a high-end video system, or a mid-range one in a couple years. I get emails on replies, so I shouldn't miss it even if it's a few days later.