Any tips for flying near the ocean/water/beach?

nveer · Jun 3, 2017

Gerry65 said:
Hi nveer. I hear ya about being excited about others with Mavics in the area. But, no, the plan for NWFL to meet never materialized, which is too bad but you should post there and reignite the interest. Were you able to open my picture from my post above. I believe that is where Robert's open beach shots came from.
Dropbox - Photo May 26, 12 19 57 PM.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ulzayyimmncw45/DJI_0037.jpg?dl=0
I got the above sunrise shot from Casino Beach in Pensacola Beach but it was back in mid January when I had my P3S quad. Launched from a dock in the back of a place called, appropriately, 'The Dock'. It's actually just a stones throw from the Beach cop station. I was on the fringe of Special Air space but didn't have any issues flying as it was before DJI started cracking down on this behavior. I did, however, plan my flight using AirMap just in case I'd get approached. I don't think I'd be able to fly from there now with the restrictions but I plan on trying when I get back there. I flew a lot back in Jan and Feb from from the back of our condo which is on the sound side near the entrance to Fort Pickens. That area is even closer to NAS so I'm thinking my bird will blow up if I tried to go from there again. I made a couple of vids of my condo neighbor and his grandkids wind surfing which allowed me to get my first real practice at using the tracking modes. Not bad for a first try:

Windsurfing Santa Rosa Sound

Windsurf & SUP

I'll make a note to contact you when I return to the area in, maybe, 2 weeks or so. We spend most of our time at our condo as my wife and I are retired but in Illinois now helping the in-laws. I will try flying from 'The Dock' when I get back and will let you know if it's restricted or not. Otherwise, you should try the spot depicted in the photo.

Nice to have another Mavic in the area. Let me know in the interim if you find a place to fly anywhere around the area.

BTW...I watched Robert's video again and if I'm not mistaken that's right here in Navarre...what I would call "my beach".

theskyisthelimit99 · Jun 4, 2017

Here is some video I took today from Perdido Key Public beach, just outside the national park area.
Not the greatest lighting today, but it worked ok.

nveer · Jun 4, 2017

Nice. I may have to trek out there for some beach shots. How high up were you there and how far out over the ocean did you go? Still freaks this nube out a bit.

.

I shot some stuff over the sound here in Navarre. You're right that the lighting was a bit rough but the clouds added some nice drama.

Santa Rosa Sound, Navarre FL

theskyisthelimit99 · Jun 5, 2017

nveer said:
Nice. I may have to trek out there for some beach shots. How high up were you there and how far out over the ocean did you go? Still freaks this nube out a bit. .

I shot some stuff over the sound here in Navarre. You're right that the lighting was a bit rough but the clouds added some nice drama.

Santa Rosa Sound, Navarre FL

Thanks.. i might have been 100 feet out, nothing major... In the air i was generally at 100-130 feet, playing it safe. For a brief moment I shot to 250 and then back down after a fast pan. Back home its no issue in SW Pa to climb to the 400 foot limit, but in these populated beach areas with air traffic i think 100 is good and looks good for ground shots.

I like your video of the sound.. you did some speeding up of the video which is also what i rendered for my new one tonight at orange beach, ill post later.. helps make it a bit more dynamic. You were over some water as well.. that part freaks me out a bit but today at Orange Waterpark i went out over wide open bay water a solid half mile, pretty sure.

Ill post that one when I get a chance. I still need to fine tune the mavic color/brightness settings.. i found a few links with suggestions, such as trying D-Cine and a few other tweaks.. I may also lower the yaw from .25 on EXP to .20 to see if it smooths it out a bit.

nveer · Jun 5, 2017

theskyisthelimit99 said:
Thanks.. i might have been 100 feet out, nothing major... In the air i was generally at 100-130 feet, playing it safe. For a brief moment I shot to 250 and then back down after a fast pan. Back home its no issue in SW Pa to climb to the 400 foot limit, but in these populated beach areas with air traffic i think 100 is good and looks good for ground shots.

I like your video of the sound.. you did some speeding up of the video which is also what i rendered for my new one tonight at orange beach, ill post later.. helps make it a bit more dynamic. You were over some water as well.. that part freaks me out a bit but today at Orange Waterpark i went out over wide open bay water a solid half mile, pretty sure.

Ill post that one when I get a chance. I still need to fine tune the mavic color/brightness settings.. i found a few links with suggestions, such as trying D-Cine and a few other tweaks.. I may also lower the yaw from .25 on EXP to .20 to see if it smooths it out a bit.

Yes I've slowed everything down from the gains to the gimbal speed. That really helped a lot. I'm still switching between d-cinelog and art. Not sure which I prefer for post color work. This was the first video. Shot with my ned filters as well and I love what they did for the overall look of the video...buttery smooth compared to without. Would love to see what you shot today.

theskyisthelimit99 · Jun 5, 2017

Here is footage from Orange Beach Waterfront Park, roughly 2600 feet out at one point

nveer · Jun 5, 2017

theskyisthelimit99 said:
Here is footage from Orange Beach Waterfront Park, roughly 2600 feet out at one point

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Looks like a fun place to fly. Is that's a national park. Does anyone care if you fly in the national parks? I know technically they are NFZ's but was wondering if anyone cares.

theskyisthelimit99 · Jun 5, 2017

nveer said:
Looks like a fun place to fly. Is that's a national park. Does anyone care if you fly in the national parks? I know technically they are NFZ's but was wondering if anyone cares.

This wasnt National Park territory.. i dont dare take off in those areas, the fines range from 50 to 1000 dollars. I kept it to a very short line of sight range to capture the pier and the island edge.

theskyisthelimit99 · Jun 5, 2017

nveer said:
Yes I've slowed everything down from the gains to the gimbal speed. That really helped a lot. I'm still switching between d-cinelog and art. Not sure which I prefer for post color work. This was the first video. Shot with my ned filters as well and I love what they did for the overall look of the video...buttery smooth compared to without. Would love to see what you shot today.

Do you feel or is it standard knowledge, that d-cine and other settings like d-log are really for post editing only.. when i switched to d-cine, it seemed less blown out and clearer.. which has me leading to think ill use it on the next flight.. things have been set to standard on my flights so far, and some slight color and contrast/exposure tweaks (which may have been too dark). Which gimbal speed setting do you use.

Gerry65 · Jun 5, 2017

nveer said:
Hi Gerry65,

Thanks for your response and for re-posting those images. That's not too far from me. Navarre Beach is pretty much off limits both due to Eglin being so close and it being a national park.

The links you sent me, for some reason keep redirecting to my own Youtube channel so I wasn't able to view them. Would love to see wha you shot.

On another note, I went out to the sound on the Navarre side today to practice some shots. It stopped raining for exactly an hour and I as able to sneak in some flying. It still terrifies me to fly over the water. I had obstacle avoidance turned off based on some online suggestions but that added to the terror.

Here's a few shots from today's adventure.
Santa Rosa Sound, Navarre FL

Do let me know how your experience is flying out of your condo when you're back down here. I may go explore those areas as well. Did you have any trouble flying on the beach due to it being a national park? How strictly is that enforced?

P.S. My family and I moved here from St. Louis 2 years ago. Feel like you're my neighbor.

My my, very nicely constructed video and moving music. When I shoot over the Sound in back of our condo I'm not in the Fort Pickens park but just outside of it as the gate for the park is a mile west of us. Our condo is actually the last one before you get to the park's entrance. But, NAS is just across the Sound and the old FW would let me self-autorize. Not sure I could even take off from there now given the new FW. I'll let you know though when we return. And, yeah, neighbors, what a coincidence. We moved her from the Carbondale/Makanda area and still have our place there.

Here's my youtube channel in case you're really hard-up for entertainment .

Gerry Faw

The video are all shot over the water. And, I think they all were shot with my first drone (P3S). When I fly with my Mavic l think I'll turn off the downward sensors and precision landing. However, I never had issues with my P3S over water...even 10 feet or so above but that may have been because the Phantom didn't have any type of sensors to get confused and cause issues over water.

Gerry65 · Jun 5, 2017

theskyisthelimit99 said:
Do you feel or is it standard knowledge, that d-cine and other settings like d-log are really for post editing only.. when i switched to d-cine, it seemed less blown out and clearer.. which has me leading to think ill use it on the next flight.. things have been set to standard on my flights so far, and some slight color and contrast/exposure tweaks (which may have been too dark). Which gimbal speed setting do you use.

Ahh, you're making me miss flying at the beach guys. I'm still playing around with camera settings too but began using what was called 'Cinelike'. Don't know if that the same as d-cine. Maybe they've changed it in the new app/FW. I recently bought some LUTS, however, and they are for video shot in either Cinelike or D-log at +1, -1, 0. So I'll be experimenting some more with those modes.

I've slowed my gimble tilt and used other recs from Tom Tech which you can find in this youtube video. I found these to be real helpful at smoothing the footage.

TheEMan199 · Jun 5, 2017

My Mavic flew fine around water. No altitude change due to reflective surfaces.

Nephroghost · Jun 16, 2017

Just bought my Mavic a week ago and am really loving it! I've flown daily and just getting the hang of all the controls. Heading to a beach vacation soon so all the info in this thread has been really helpful, thanks!

aaronhud · Jul 4, 2017

Great vid what were some of your settings for vid mode if you could share.

nveer · Jul 5, 2017

aaronhud said:
Great vid what were some of your settings for vid mode if you could share.

Its a been a while but I've settled in on d-lo +1,0,0 these days a Polar Pro ND Filters with polarization. Check out some more I've shot more recently with these settings here: Nathan Veer

NAVDudeFL · Jan 14, 2023

nveer said:
Hi there,

I'm a new Mavic owner and am tickled silly to find this online discussion and community. I live in Navarre and am looking for places to fly where I want be shot down by our friends at Elgin or at least get fined. Do you have any more info on where this place near Portofino is? Have we (in the Pensacola to Destin area ever scheduled a meet up?

I still live in Navarre Beach, you still around? I just got a DJI Mini 3 and would love to meet up with someone more experienced in this area. The maps are kinda confusing..

NAVDudeFL · Jan 14, 2023

nveer said:
Hi there,

I'm a new Mavic owner and am tickled silly to find this online discussion and community. I live in Navarre and am looking for places to fly where I want be shot down by our friends at Elgin or at least get fined. Do you have any more info on where this place near Portofino is? Have we (in the Pensacola to Destin area ever scheduled a meet up?

I still live in Navarre Beach, you still around? I just got a DJI Mini 3 and would love to meet up with someone more experienced in this area. The maps are kinda confusing..