Air 2 A dusk flight around a Florida Everglades pump station.

[JackL]

A massive network of pumps and man made canals is what keeps South Florida from reverting to swampy Everglades. This is one of those pumps and a few of the canals. It was my first attempt at using spotlight to track something. The MA2 got fixated on the face of the building halfway the circle and I had to take over. Good thing since I didn't see that crane it probably would have hit going sideways...

I almost got hit by a flock of birds too. Dusk is not the best time to fly a drone near the Everglades

 

[Thomas B]

Took an airboat ride through there a couple of decades ago... cool to see it today.

 

[JackL]

Took an airboat ride through there a couple of decades ago... cool to see it today.

I liked it much better back in those days! I grew up camping, fishing and riding ATC's all through there before most of that existed and it was just swamp. I hope this latest facelift doesn't ruin the last of it. Shame cameras weren't in everyone's pocket back then. So many great memories.

Next clear day I am going to put the polarizer on and see if I can find a big pile of gators

 

[Bxr532001]

A massive network of pumps and man made canals is what keeps South Florida from reverting to swampy Everglades. This is one of those pumps and a few of the canals. It was my first attempt at using spotlight to track something. The MA2 got fixated on the face of the building halfway the circle and I had to take over. Good thing since I didn't see that crane it probably would have hit going sideways...

I almost got hit by a flock of birds too. Dusk is not the best time to fly a drone near the Everglades

Very cool to see a pumping station from the air. I’ve been by 2 in my area that I have only seen 1 side. I’m sure you will be able to spot a few gators next time.

 

[Ragnar]

A massive network of pumps and man made canals is what keeps South Florida from reverting to swampy Everglades. This is one of those pumps and a few of the canals. It was my first attempt at using spotlight to track something. The MA2 got fixated on the face of the building halfway the circle and I had to take over. Good thing since I didn't see that crane it probably would have hit going sideways...

I almost got hit by a flock of birds too. Dusk is not the best time to fly a drone near the Everglades

Just wondering, is that around Holiday Park?....nice video!

 

[Dale D]

A massive network of pumps and man made canals is what keeps South Florida from reverting to swampy Everglades. This is one of those pumps and a few of the canals. It was my first attempt at using spotlight to track something. The MA2 got fixated on the face of the building halfway the circle and I had to take over. Good thing since I didn't see that crane it probably would have hit going sideways...

I almost got hit by a flock of birds too. Dusk is not the best time to fly a drone near the Everglades

I watched the entire video. I have a few small comments. When you first put the drone up in the air, edit out the footage where you are trying to decide in your mind what to do or where to fly next! It adds nothing to the video and lengthens it needlessly. Also, needs some more color grading, opening up of the shadows, and sharpening. Of course, a music track would have been nice. I've done several Everglades videos and they are best done in better lighting situations. Your video exposures were overcome by the bright skylight and it caused an underexposure of the ground details. Hope you can return there in better conditions.
One more thing. I find that circling is much easier for me by one of the intelligent flight modes like circle or waypoints. I recently used Waypoints 2 to pre-program the flight. It can even be done from your house before going out.
Dale
Miami

 

[SpitFire]

I enjoyed the video, not bad for your first attempt at using spotlight to track something. And give me a birds eye view of the pumping station. Don't want to discourage you from showing you videos here.
All those other suggestions are right on, but it takes time to perfect all of those points. For instance, I have to video food distribution, planning it out in advance on paper before the flight. Been a wedding photographer for 45 years, flying and taking pictures is a different ball game. Learning about all the cinematic moves/techniques. Having fun, I don't get everything right either, its not a job, its fun.

 

[JackL]

I watched the entire video. I have a few small comments. When you first put the drone up in the air, edit out the footage where you are trying to decide in your mind what to do or where to fly next! It adds nothing to the video and lengthens it needlessly. Also, needs some more color grading, opening up of the shadows, and sharpening. Of course, a music track would have been nice. I've done several Everglades videos and they are best done in better lighting situations. Your video exposures were overcome by the bright skylight and it caused an underexposure of the ground details. Hope you can return there in better conditions.
One more thing. I find that circling is much easier for me by one of the intelligent flight modes like circle or waypoints. I recently used Waypoints 2 to pre-program the flight. It can even be done from your house before going out.
Dale
Miami

Thanks! I had been shooting some spectacular DLSR sunset pics and was leaving when I decided to give dusk flying a try. I was pretty nervous since I didn't see much hope of recovering the drone in the event of a problem and have always flown in bright light before this. I was pleasantly surprised how well it could see. The entire time I was flying I was thinking how much nicer it would have looked 45 minutes earlier. I fully intend to try it again during sunrise and sunset. I am looking forward to storm season when the pumps are are cranked up and I have some experience with the intelligent flight modes. I have been totally neglecting them for pointless long distance ocean flights since it is the only time I actually feel really comfortable flying.

I am going to try and learn Waypoints right now. Thanks for that too. I'll be back with color grading questions soon.

 

[JackL]

I enjoyed the video, not bad for your first attempt at using spotlight to track something. And give me a birds eye view of the pumping station. Don't want to discourage you from showing you videos here.
All those other suggestions are right on, but it takes time to perfect all of those points. For instance, I have to video food distribution, planning it out in advance on paper before the flight. Been a wedding photographer for 45 years, flying and taking pictures is a different ball game. Learning about all the cinematic moves/techniques. Having fun, I don't get everything right either, its not a job, its fun.

I shoot underwater video and the similarities in drone flying and diving are really helpful. I so love this thing. If only I could maneuver it like I can myself when underwater! I just got two more batteries so hopefully I will be able to try out the intelligent modes more quickly now and finally learn to make a nice cinematic turn!

 

[Dale D]

Waypoints 2 for the Mavic 2 Pro has been dramatically improved. I simply could not learn the Waypoints #1. The nice thing about Waypoints 2 is that you can bring up the map in your house, at your desk, and pre-plan the entire flight and store it! When you get to the site, you merely open the stored flight and hit OK once you are up in the air. Here are my very first two waypoints. In both videos I have circumscribed (circled) a pre-determined waypoints path around a lake. Very easy to do. I set the height at 164 feet but it can be varied in the waypoint. There are several good You Tube videos that will help you through it. Check these two out

Give it a try at your local park. It is a good idea to have a central point of interest (POI) and turn all of your arrows towards it. Another hint- have the 1st and last way point set to start recording and stop recording. Have the last waypoint near where you are standing. If you have a POI the gimbal will fixate on the POI an the drone will turn on an axis around. (noted well in the shopping center fountain). You might need small corrections to keep on the POI.