Add a drone or 360 camera to your paragliding flight?
The GoPro is already free, so is it worth paying 400.000 đ extra for a drone or 360 camera? We compare the shots each one delivers and suggest what to choose for each type of traveller.
Đội trưởng Mỹ · · 6 min read
Should you add a drone or a 360 camera to your paragliding flight? The short answer: GoPro photos and video come with every flight, free of charge, and are enough to capture the "you and your pilot up in the sky" moment. The drone (400.000 đ/guest) is worth it if you want wide shots showing your whole wing in the middle of the valley. The 360 camera (400.000 đ/guest) is worth it if you want eye-catching video you can spin in any direction for social media. The flight itself lasts only a few dozen minutes, but the photos and videos are what you take home, so this article helps you choose based on the actual shots each option delivers.
Free GoPro: close-ups, enough for most people
Every flight at Quản Bạ already includes GoPro photos and video. The pilot mounts the camera on a pole in front or to the side, pointed at you, and records everything from the take-off run to touchdown. You get:
- The take-off: a few running steps and the moment your feet leave the ground.
- Close-ups of you in the air: your expressions, your smile, the valley behind you.
- The landing on the flat field down in the valley.
The limitation is the camera angle: it is always "close", you fill most of the frame, and you almost never see the whole wing together with the surrounding landscape. For first-time flyers who want proof that "I flew", the GoPro is enough.
Drone: wide, the most "cinematic" shots
The drone is flown from the ground by a member of the team and follows your wing from the outside. You appear tiny amid the valley, the river and the stone mountains — the kind of shot that tells the story of the Rocky Plateau. Typical shots:
- Your wing in the middle of the valley: the Cô Tiên twin mountains, tai mèo (cat-ear) limestone outcrops, cornfields and the Miện River all in one frame, perfect for a cover photo or wallpaper.
- Take-off from the mountaintop: you running to the edge of the slope at about 950 m as the wing rises up.
- Top-down landing shot: the wing spiralling down to the flat field.
- Several wings in one frame if you come as a couple or group and are scheduled to fly close together.
Because of battery life and range, the drone usually doesn't film the whole flight from start to finish but focuses on the best parts: take-off, mid-air and landing.
Choose the drone if: you are a couple or a group, want anniversary or wedding photos, want truly wide shots of Hà Giang, or are flying a cloud-chasing or sunset package — packages where the scenery is the star.
360 camera: your full point of view
The 360 camera is mounted on a pole and records the entire sphere around you at once. When editing, you can choose any angle you like: look back at the wing, down at your feet, or round to the pilot. The pole almost "disappears" from the image, making it look as though someone is flying beside you. Typical shots:
