Calling all bikers...

[mtnbkr123]

Hey guys. New guy here. Are any of you using the Air to capture mountain biking footage? That is why I bought mine. I still have a week to return it if I wish. It sits here in front of me unopened. Not sure how good it will be for this purpose.

I just typed a fairly detailed “Hello Everyone” post in the Pilot Check In sub-forum setting out my situation in much greater detail, and won’t bother repeating it here.

Anyway, if anyone is using the Air for this purpose, I would appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks guys.

 

[phil_b]

There is lots of videos on YouTube showing how poor the Air is at active track, if you try to get it to follow you fast downhill especially with trees involved it will probably end badly.

 

[NI.Spo]

I run an outdoor adventure programme in my school (mountain biking, climbing, trekking etc) A few years ago we bought a P4 to video our activities but due to the sheer size it was impractical to bring with us. We have just purchased a hero5 session and a Mavic Air, and we spent all day last Friday at the mtb trails testing it out.
Firstly, the packability is amazing, I was able to fit MA, controller and 3 batteries in my normal backpack. Active track worked well at the pump track which is an open area, I would not use it in the trees. I found that the APAS and obstacle avoidance worked well in the trees, enabling me to look at the screen and concentrate on the shot without worrying about a collision.
It’s definitely not going to be a case of the drone following you all the way down a single track. It’s best if you know the track and go round it and think of which types of shot you can do at each section. Then you need to go ahead and be there to film. Active track works in a fairly open area. Following a biker down over some fast rollers looked very good, as did the slo mo. It’s also useful if you want it to just hover to get a good shot angle, then go back up and ride past.
Hope this helps

 

[EVAir]

Nice info, Nl.Spo! Phil, I also plan to use my Air to film mountain biking, both myself when I ride alone & my friends. I figured I'd use a combination of tapfly, maybe active track & manual flying, some in sports mode, to film friends, as well as hovering shots from different angles. Maybe try ActiveTrack on myself in an open area, but I doubt it's up to the task of following a fast rider. Also plan to ski with it next year, got it too late in the season to try it out this year & we had a pretty sucky snow year in Utah, so while I usually backcountry ski well into May & June, probably not going to be happening this year. I have an Inspire 1, and although I have a backpack case holder for it, it's way too big to take biking & skiing, so really looking forward to taking the Mavic Air in my hydration pack!

 

[mtnbkr123]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated.

I have spent the last 3 weeks watching countless YouTube videos of the Pro and Air, in mountain biking applications and otherwise. I think I have read almost everything there is at this forum and elsewhere online.

I started out with the hope that my daughter and I would be able to blast through 15 minute sections of high speed double black downs in the Canadian Western Rockies (where I live) with the drone hot on our heels, capturing Oscar-worthy footage. Lol. Of course, that all changed (dramatically) when I began exploring things further online.

I started out looking at the Pro because I thought that the Follow Me mode (not available on the Air) had the potential to work best, using a GoPro Chesty to mount the RC to be used as a “beacon”. I did some more reading and concluded that trying to operate the Pro in this manner was likely a recipe for disaster. After I recovered from my initial disappointment, I then decided that I would still try to use a drone to capture footage, but that I would simply operate the RC to get footage of my daughter blasting down sections (using the Active Track mode to assist me), and that I would set the drone hovering in certain choice sections to capture both of us blasting past. In any event, I ended up deciding (rightly or wrongly) that the Air (even without Occusync) might be the more technologically advanced of the two, and I went with that, hoping that I would not be missing out too much not having the Follow Me mode. I have a week still to return the Air if I want. The Pro FMC is actually cheaper than the Air FMC in Canada, after a recent price drop in the former.

To add a little more context, here is the first post I made in the Pilot Check In sub forum:

I have been lurking at this site for a few weeks now trying to educate myself. My goal is to capture some serious mountain biking footage of my daughter and me, while I am still able to do so.

To this end, I bought a GoPro Hero 5 Black and a Hero Session, but then concluded that both my daughter and I have seen enough crappy POV biking footage for this lifetime, as well as the next two. I thought about things and decided to pick up a Mavic Air FMC to supplement the GoPro footage I get. I had a tough time deciding between it and the Mavic Pro but landed on the Air. I also picked up a WD 6 TB hard drive to use with my MacBook Pro, and four 64 GB SD Extreme Micro SD cards.

My Air is still unopened with 7 days left to return it. I am still not totally decided. Drone or no drone? Air vs Pro vs Mavic 2? Lots of unresolved questions but I am running out of time.

Also, not sure whether I will be into pulling out the Air after 2 hours of sustained climbing once we reach the summit. We don’t normally dilly dally too much on our rides. Not sure either how easy it will be to fly, especially fatigued, and whether I will even be capable of doing it. Finally, not sure whether I will be able to figure out how to edit the footage, without it taking all my spare time.

I had an older GoPro that I used maybe 10 times and gave up. I hated that people I rode with started dialing in on the footage, instead of the ride. And the editing almost sucked the life out of me.

I am hoping this time my experience trying to capture some footage for my daughter to remember us by will be more enjoyable than my experiences in the past.

Anyway, thanks for all the invaluable information. Very much appreciated.

 

[NI.Spo]

Good luck. I think you should go out with the specific purpose of making a video, rather than enjoying a ride. Also, I've found that the two free go pro apps (splice and quik) take the hassle out of editing- compared to what I used to use (Adobe elements)

 

[EVAir]

"but then concluded that both my daughter and I have seen enough crappy POV biking footage for this lifetime"

This is so funny, and true. I've got tons of mountain bike & ski footage from either a helmet or chest mount perspective, and even I get bored with it in 30 seconds or less. The best action sports videos I've seen cut in many different angles & perspectives. I think plenty of hovering shots, from above, front, side, behind, and judicious use of POV shots from a GoPro, with some decent editing will make good videos. While I do want to get some follow shots, I don't think they have to be the majority of the video to be good. And, as myself & my friends have found out from shooting ski vids, if you really want good footage you have to sacrifice the time, and like Nl.Spo points out, go out to make a video, realizing that you are going to have to have lots of stops & starts, resetting camera, etc. I find it helpful to have a cheap set of walkie talkies along as well. Good luck, I'll be posting some efforts this summer, looking forward to seeing yours. I'd love to come ride in western Canada some day, Whistler, etc, North Shore, really awesome stuff. I live in Utah & we have a pretty good inventory of trails as well

 

[mtnbkr123]

"but then concluded that both my daughter and I have seen enough crappy POV biking footage for this lifetime"

This is so funny, and true. I've got tons of mountain bike & ski footage from either a helmet or chest mount perspective, and even I get bored with it in 30 seconds or less. The best action sports videos I've seen cut in many different angles & perspectives. I think plenty of hovering shots, from above, front, side, behind, and judicious use of POV shots from a GoPro, with some decent editing will make good videos. While I do want to get some follow shots, I don't think they have to be the majority of the video to be good. And, as myself & my friends have found out from shooting ski vids, if you really want good footage you have to sacrifice the time, and like Nl.Spo points out, go out to make a video, realizing that you are going to have to have lots of stops & starts, resetting camera, etc. I find it helpful to have a cheap set of walkie talkies along as well. Good luck, I'll be posting some efforts this summer, looking forward to seeing yours. I'd love to come ride in western Canada some day, Whistler, etc, North Shore, really awesome stuff. I live in Utah & we have a pretty good inventory of trails as well

Yes. I would say you certainly have. I love Utah. I have ridden in Moab (and Fruita) about a dozen times now, and made it to the St.George/Hurricane area last year as well. In a word, awesome.

 

[Robothamster]

I had a rubbish time trying to get Active Track to follow me on my MTB, it's not too bad if you ride slowly out in the open, but don't do any fast changes of direction.

So instead (and I'm still experimenting so this is far from my ideal footage) I went with a mix of some GoPro footage and some clips of the drone from different angles. I love the Air, it packs so small that it pops into my MTB backpack with ease.

Give my vid below a watch if you're interested:

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[mtnbkr123]

I had a rubbish time trying to get Active Track to follow me on my MTB, it's not too bad if you ride slowly out in the open, but don't do any fast changes of direction.

So instead (and I'm still experimenting so this is far from my ideal footage) I went with a mix of some GoPro footage and some clips of the drone from different angles. I love the Air, it packs so small that it pops into my MTB backpack with ease.

Give my vid below a watch if you're interested:

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Nicely done. Ripping it up on some hardtails. That was very cool. What did you use to edit your footage?

 

[Robothamster]

Nicely done. Ripping it up on some hardtails. That was very cool. What did you use to edit your footage?

Thanks!

I use Powerdirector 16 for my editing.

 

[mtnbkr123]

Thanks!

I use Powerdirector 16 for my editing.

Awesome. I loved watching the MA take off. I have not seen any footage anywhere of that and have not seen one fly yet. I was shocked at how quick it was.

Have you been flying drones for very long? Is there a learning curve to being able to fly one? I have read the manual and watched every single video online that I can find but am still a very nervous about getting out there. Especially at altitude. I will be routinely taking that drone to summits that are almost 10,000 feet above sea level.

I have cathedral ceilings in my house (open, 2 story rooms). Is flying the MA inside while I wait for the snow to melt, something you would recommend or discourage?

 

[Robothamster]

Awesome. I loved watching the MA take off. I have not seen any footage anywhere of that and have not seen one fly yet. I was shocked at how quick it was.

Have you been flying drones for very long? Is there a learning curve to being able to fly one? I have read the manual and watched every single video online that I can find but am still a very nervous about getting out there. Especially at altitude. I will be routinely taking that drone to summits that are almost 10,000 feet above sea level.

I have cathedral ceilings in my house (open, 2 story rooms). Is flying the MA inside while I wait for the snow to melt, something you would recommend or discourage?

I bought a Spark in November 2017, it was a brilliant drone and I was totally happy with it. Then DJI announced the Mavic Air end of Jan and I couldn't get the urge to sell the Spark and get the Air out of my head so after about 3 weeks of deliberations I finally did it and I love it. (I didn't want the Pro because even though it packs up small too, it's still bigger and heavier than the Air so wouldn't want to lug that about all day in my backpack)

These DJI drones almost fly themselves, they are dead easy to control. With all the sensors on the Air it's quite difficult to crash. Not impossible though, there's no side or top sensors.

You'd be fine flying in indoors, just fit the prop guards and put it in tripod mode so it reduces the speed. Only thing is indoors they are very loud, so there's that to bear in mind.

Buy one, you'll not be disappointed. Yes the Active Track is not perfect, but there's some other great modes such as Spotlight which basically hovers the drone in one spot and it tracks you as you fly past, I only learnt about that after I made that vid above, but I think it'll be useful.

 

[mtnbkr123]

I bought a Spark in November 2017, it was a brilliant drone and I was totally happy with it. Then DJI announced the Mavic Air end of Jan and I couldn't get the urge to sell the Spark and get the Air out of my head so after about 3 weeks of deliberations I finally did it and I love it. (I didn't want the Pro because even though it packs up small too, it's still bigger and heavier than the Air so wouldn't want to lug that about all day in my backpack)

These DJI drones almost fly themselves, they are dead easy to control. With all the sensors on the Air it's quite difficult to crash. Not impossible though, there's no side or top sensors.

You'd be fine flying in indoors, just fit the prop guards and put it in tripod mode so it reduces the speed. Only thing is indoors they are very loud, so there's that to bear in mind.

Buy one, you'll not be disappointed. Yes the Active Track is not perfect, but there's some other great modes such as Spotlight which basically hovers the drone in one spot and it tracks you as you fly past, I only learnt about that after I made that vid above, but I think it'll be useful.

Thanks for the help and great input. And again, great job on the video. Keep posting them. I will watch them and comment.

Hopefully I will be posting some soon as well. From places like this...well, maybe not. I tried to post a pic but this forum isn't like others in that regard. Not sure how to post a pic from my computer. Oh well. Think of large mountains, and nice techy single track...

 

[Robothamster]

Hopefully I will be posting some soon as well. From places like this...well, maybe not. I tried to post a pic but this forum isn't like others in that regard. Not sure how to post a pic from my computer. Oh well. Think of large mountains, and nice techy single track...

Hit the "Upload a file" button below and then when it's undeneath, click on Full image:

 

[mtnbkr123]

Thanks.

That is 45 minutes from my driveway. Lots of good riding where I am. I am very fortunate.

EDIT: not sure why, but I seem to be misspelling a lot of words at this site. Don't worry - I am not illiterate. Lol!

 

[Robothamster]

View attachment 36362

Thanks.

That is 45 minus from my driveway. Lots of good riding where I am. I am very fortunate.

Yes you are, that looks like my idea of heaven.

 

[mtnbkr123]

Yes you are, that looks like my idea of heaven.

Cheers!

 

[Tinmania]

These DJI drones almost fly themselves, they are dead easy to control. With all the sensors on the Air it's quite difficult to crash. Not impossible though, there's no side or top sensors.

I would not say it's quite difficult to crash. In fact, it is quite easy. Better to keep that in mind than believing in the the inadequate collision avoidance.

Based on what the OP seems to want to do, "My goal is to capture some serious mountain biking footage of my daughter and me," if there are trees or terrain changes during the biking the Mavic Air just won't cut it when using Active Track.

It's possible the Skydio R1 would work a lot better, but it costs 3X as much as the Mavic Air, and is not as good in other areas as the Mavic Air. But for biking through the woods or terrain? I think it would do it.

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Mike

 

[mtnbkr123]

I would not say it's quite difficult to crash. In fact, it is quite easy. Better to keep that in mind than believing in the the inadequate collision avoidance.

Based on what the OP seems to want to do, "My goal is to capture some serious mountain biking footage of my daughter and me," if there are trees or terrain changes during the biking the Mavic Air just won't cut it when using Active Track.

It's possible the Skydio R1 would work a lot better, but it costs 3X as much as the Mavic Air, and is not as good in other areas as the Mavic Air. But for biking through the woods or terrain? I think it would do it.

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Mike

Thanks. Yeah. I have seen videos and read some stuff about the Skydio and AirDog, both of which appear to be designed for totally autonomous flying, geared for adrenaline junkies. Cost is the biggest obstacle with both.