Camera Tilt Helps GPS position?

kilomikebravo · Nov 23, 2018

While perusing the manual again this morning, I saw a statement I didn't remember seeing previously:

"It is recommended to adjust the gimbal tilt to -90 to make it easier to measure the GPS." (bottom of pg 29)

Does anyone know why?

KB

4wd · Nov 23, 2018

Never heard that before, but you could assume some electronics in the camera interfere slightly less if further from the body.
A simple test would be to observe the number of satellites shown, with camera in different positions.

kilomikebravo · Nov 23, 2018

Thanks 4wd, that's an interesting idea, I'll try your suggestion next time I fire her up.

KB

Meta4 · Nov 23, 2018

4wd said:
Never heard that before, but you could assume some electronics in the camera interfere slightly less if further from the body.
A simple test would be to observe the number of satellites shown, with camera in different positions.

No ... The camera has no effect on GPS.
Technically, tilting the camera couldn't but if it did, DJI would have fixed such a flaw before ever releasing the drone.

Look at what is just above this note in the manual to get some context.

Point of Interest 2.0
Select a subject through GPS positioning: Manually fly the aircraft above the subject, and then press
the C1 button or select in DJI GO 4 to confirm the subject.

It's simply telling you (in DJI's trademark poor wording) that if you don't have the camera pointing straight down, you won't be marking the point that you want to.

Ex nihil · Nov 23, 2018

It's just poor wording. English is not DJI's first language, so they're doing their best. What they mean is that unless the camera is pointing straight down the image will not be centred on the GPS coordinates, which are perpendicular below. There is no connection between the GPS and the camera other than the image metadata will record the location of the drone, which may differ from the location the camera is actually looking at.