Automated motion for video

[Peter Barnes]

Hey, I have been using my Mavic Pro for 18 months now and loving it - but exclusively for still photography. Now a friend has asked that I take a couple of motion shots for a short film he is making. One is the opening shot where the camera has to come in from a hight viewpoint out at sea to a cave opening on the beach. I have been practising, but finding it difficult to get a smooth transition from far away to close up to the cave using the controller. The hardest part is getting the Mavic to fly in exactly the right direction as I adjust the forward speed and the decreasing altitude.

I have been wondering, is there a way of using the automated flight features of the Mavic to have it fly itself to a point I select on the screen? - it would have to fly forwards and down at the same time.

 

[Jack Daw]

I suspect the easiest way would be with a Litchi waypoint mission. Enter starting point, camera heading and altitude, add ending point and altitude, and it'll just fly it.

 

[Mavic Ray]

What I do is start close and fly backwards and up. I then reverse the video. This may not work if you see any movement that only moves in one direction such as waves or people walking.

 

[skadee]

I suspect the easiest way would be with a Litchi waypoint mission. Enter starting point, camera heading and altitude, add ending point and altitude, and it'll just fly it.

I’ll second Litchi. You might still have problems, and unfortunately, there’s not a trial period, but I’ve reverted to using it much more than DJI Go.

You’ll notice some quirks, but like Jack stated, you can pre-program your waypoints, and let the camera remain on a fixed focal point while the MP flies forward/backward, while climbing/descending (however you’d like for it to react).

I’d be willing to help you out if you want. Just PM me, maybe we can skype and step through it. What you want to do is simple to set up, but doing it without knowing anything at all may take you a few hours to figure out.