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ABOUT US

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Currituck Lighthouse, Coralla, NC, 2020

About Recon Five Media

Recon Five Media was founded in 2018 by Rick Charles who was born with a love for aviation and photography.  Growing up in New York City, Rick was immersed in an environment of big newsworthy events and places.  He was fascinated with the breaking news stories that appeared from locations throughout the city as well the news helicopters that covered the stories from above the city.

 

 

Contemporary UAS technology delivers amazing imagery and when coupled with state-of-the-art IP video streaming capabilities, Recon Five Media can bring this technologies in a single, reliable system to our provide clients with an exciting perspective from the air!

 

Recon Five Media has been fully certified by the FAA as a Remote Pilot since 2017. We have completed the 2021 recurrent FAA UAS training allowing us to fly at night and over people.  We are insured to $1 Million and have a 100% safety record.  We can fly anywhere in the United States where it is legal to do so.

Recon Five Media (a part of Polaris Imagery LLC) is a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs-certified service-disabled, veteran-owned small business.

 

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Bell 407 for WABC-TV, NYC, 2019

Equipment

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Recon Five Media flies DJI Unmanned Aircraft.  We fly the Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced and the Mavic 2 Pro aircraft which can capture images in 4K high definition, in RAW and stream in HD as well as a thermal capability! 

The Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced (M2EA) brings a zoom capability in both a traditional optical (visual) and a robust thermal sensing system able to display in 10 different color palettes. 

Recon Five Media's M2EA is the same UAS aircraft and sensor used by the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) Command Tactical Unit and FDNY Robotics Unit to inform Incident Commanders at 2nd alarms or greater incidents with aerial and thermal information.

 

The Mavic 2 Pro is a robust platform in a smaller form factor that excels when a discrete presence is required.  The Mavic 2 Pro uses a Hasselblad lens to capture images in crisp definition and high dynamic range and also is 4K High Definition broadcast platform.  We use the DJI Smart Controller to enable HDMI live broadcast connectivity to our broadcast production station.

 

 

 

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Recon Five Media post-processes all our images in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and all our videos are edited in Black Magic Design's DaVinci Resolve, the same applications used in Hollywood.  We are professionally trained in all of these programs.

For live streaming, we use LiveU equipment and employ its cellular bounding technology which allows us to bypass venue WiFi connections and provide a dedicated, direct, redundant and highly reliable connection to the internet and cloud servers bypassing unreliable and congested WiFi systems thus allowing a reliable broadcast.

For traditional photography, Rick shoots Nikon cameras with Nikkor and Tamron lenses.  His photography can be viewed at www.rickcharlesphotography.com

 

About Rick Charles, Owner, Chief Pilot and Content Creator

Through Rick Charles, Recon Five Media founder and Chief Pilot, we provide real-time and Captured Imagery for Airborne Intelligence Operations.  We use over 32-years of First-hand experience in aviation, federal intelligence and law enforcement as our foundation.

Rick is an enthusiastic imagery creator.  He enjoys capturing life in action and motion...events that do no not wait for the photographer to be ready and pose the subjects.  His imagery has been published in Speed: the Journal of the International Society of Aviation Photography and commercially for private clients.

 

Rick is a self described "AvGeek" and is a proud member of the

Professional Aerial Photographers Association International (PAPA)

 

 

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