best method to fly and photograph a pre-set path and series of photos? mavic 2 pro

[merk]

hi all,

I normally never have any need to pre-program a flight path and photos since usually anything i shoot is a one time thing. But I've been shooting a construction site weekly to track progress and it's basically the same photos every week. So i was wondering what would be the best way to pre-program a flight path and photos?
I've looked briefly in the past at some of the software options for doing this but i never looked in detail since i never needed to do it before.

so just looking for any suggestions as the best option to do this? Don't really need anything fancy - just needs to snap photos at pre-arranged locations, facing in the correct direction and gimble at the correct angle. and should go without saying but i dont want to disable any of the safety/anti-collision features to do this.

Thanks

 

[Camino Ken]

I would use Litchi for this but you could also use the waypoint function in Go4.

 

[merk]

What do you like better about litchi? Is it possible for me to fly the drone manually and just record everything I do and then have it 'playback' that flight later on? I think that would be the best way for me to make sure I get all the shots at the correct position/angle etc

Actually, I guess it doesn't really need to record the actual flight path, just record the positions I take the shots in. And will the drone still automatically return to home if it loses connection with the remote?

Thanks for the feedback

 

[Camino Ken]

I like Litchi because I can program the path and the actions ahead of time, offline. Go4 waypoints works kind of like you describe where you fly the path and set the waypoints that way. You could also do this same procedure with Litchi.

With Litchi you can set it to either continue the mission or RTH on signal loss.

 

[merk]

Hmm ok. I think I'd rather fly it once and record, that way I can be sure I'm getting the shot I want. I don't think I could do that programming it ahead of time. Thanks for the advice

 

[merk]

Hmm ok. I think I'd rather fly it once and record, that way I can be sure I'm getting the shot I want. I don't think I could do that programming it ahead of time. Thanks for the advice

 

[Camino Ken]

Hmm ok. I think I'd rather fly it once and record, that way I can be sure I'm getting the shot I want. I don't think I could do that programming it ahead of time. Thanks for the advice

The programming is quite easy, just poke your finger on a point on the map and poke again to the point you want the camera to point (including elevation). Your way works and probably gives more confidence.

 

[merk]

The programming is quite easy, just poke your finger on a point on the map and poke again to the point you want the camera to point (including elevation). Your way works and probably gives more confidence.

Yes, but unless i can actually see what the camera is pointing at, I can't be 100% sure everything is framed up correctly. For example - at one point I take some shots of the long side of a narrow building. If the drone is too close, I won't get the whole side of the building in the shot. But if i go too far out, you'd start losing some of the small details.

That, and I won't have to pay for another app But mainly just for making sure everything is framed up correctly.

 

[DanMan32]

Waypoint 2.0 in Go4 lets you add waypoints as you fly using the C1 button on the RC, but presents itself much like Litchi where you add your waypoints and POI on the map.

I don't think there's an option to lock in gimbal position when adding waypoints real time. But I haven't played with waypoints all that much.

 

[merk]

Waypoint 2.0 in Go4 lets you add waypoints as you fly using the C1 button on the RC, but presents itself much like Litchi where you add your waypoints and POI on the map.

I don't think there's an option to lock in gimbal position when adding waypoints real time. But I haven't played with waypoints all that much.

Ok, thanks. Sounds like a good starting point at least.

 

[tck444]

Perhaps a simple, but not quite as accurate solution would be to fly the drone as normal then grab the stills from the video. This was not exactly the question, but seems worth a try ?

 

[parkgt]

Litchi or Dronelink will allow you to fly to a point frame the shot, move to the next and repeat as often as wanted and then save that mission for subsequent use.

 

[TailBent]

On Litchi you can fly a simulated flight in 3D on Google Earth and make adjustments before hand.
Using waypoints you can take pics and videos from the same place everytime, even months or years later with the saved flight file.

 

[parkgt]

On Litchi you can fly a simulated flight in 3D on Google Earth and make adjustments before hand.
Using waypoints you can take pics and videos from the same place everytime, even months or years later with the saved flight file.

If framing is not super critical that approach works fine. If framing is more critical or you are trying to get shots of objects that are not covered by older satellite images; using the Cable Cam function and pre-flying the mission allows for greater precision.

 

[merk]

Perhaps a simple, but not quite as accurate solution would be to fly the drone as normal then grab the stills from the video. This was not exactly the question, but seems worth a try ?

That would be kinda useless. Why bother doing that instead of just taking the photos to start with? Plus grabbing stills from video won't be as good as taking photos in terms of quality. I'm basically just looking for a way to have the drone fly the same flight path everytime and snap photos at pre-arranged points.

From looking at the waypoints function on the dji app, i think that'll work for my purposes. I can not pre-plot the path since there's no way to get accurate shots without actually framing up the shot first. So next time I am out there I'll do my usual but record the flight with the waypoint feature and see how it goes when I have it fly it automatically.

The only thing I'm not entirely sure if I can do with that setup is creating a panorama shot, since I'm not sure if i can have the drone take multiple shots from different directions at the same waypoint.

Thanks for the suggestions from everyone.

 

[parkgt]

That would be kinda useless. Why bother doing that instead of just taking the photos to start with? Plus grabbing stills from video won't be as good as taking photos in terms of quality. I'm basically just looking for a way to have the drone fly the same flight path everytime and snap photos at pre-arranged points.

From looking at the waypoints function on the dji app, i think that'll work for my purposes. I can not pre-plot the path since there's no way to get accurate shots without actually framing up the shot first. So next time I am out there I'll do my usual but record the flight with the waypoint feature and see how it goes when I have it fly it automatically.

The only thing I'm not entirely sure if I can do with that setup is creating a panorama shot, since I'm not sure if i can have the drone take multiple shots from different directions at the same waypoint.

Thanks for the suggestions from everyone.

Dronelink or Litchi can take panos.

Either program will do what you want better than Go4.

 

[bburnett15]

Following this. Many years of photographing projects ive worked on in construction and now i would like to incorporate drone photography. I hear what youre saying and am very interested in the answers!

 

[merk]

Dronelink or Litchi can take panos.

Either program will do what you want better than Go4.

well, i'm going to give go4 a try next week. I'd rather stick with dji aps if i can. And one less thing to buy. It seems like go4 should do what i want, other then maybe the pano. And there's really just one of those - so worst case scenario would be having the mavic fly the waypoints and then I just do the pano myself at the end. If i run into issues using dji's app, then I'll probably give litchi a try. Dronelink looks pretty cool - but i don't want to pay for a subscription unless it has something I absolutely need.

Thanks