Seeing the sights of central Newfoundland with a drone

A man in central Newfoundland is using the latest technology to film local landmarks from a bird's eye view, recording short movies of the scenery for fun.

Robert Gardner says he bought his drone, outfitted with an HD camera, in St. John's for $1,600.

Gardner said the drones are getting to be more popular with amateur film makers, and there's a good reason for that.

"It's just fun to fly. I guess everybody has thought of flying and they've wanted to fly, and this kind of gives you eyes in the sky, so it's putting you up there where you've never been before, in a sense," he said.

Gardner said while filming with drones is an addictive hobby, some people in town areworried about privacy.

"I'm a bit of a privacy buff and I wouldn't want one of these things flying over my head and snooping at what I'm doing, so I'm not gonna do the same to anyone else," said Gardner.

"I won't fly over anyone's home and I won't point the camera down and hover over a house, and if I'm flying over houses, I'm high enough, so there's no way you could see any detail on the ground at all."

The drones have become so popular with film buffs in St. John's, some stores are struggling to keep them in stock.