Cinematic Shots: drills, how do YOU practice?

[Akoztha]

Hello everyone! New pilot here, amazed by having an Eye in the Sky.
Was wondering what you guys do to practice control, steadiness, etc....
Thanks in advance.

 

[dirkclod]

Well from your avatar as far as steadiness I'd say burn one.
But might slow ya up so watch out for tree's .
JK

 

[Jayfdee]

You got the answer in your post,practice,practice, and then maybe a bit more practice.
Many of my flights are in the same area, call it a control if you like.

I usually have an objective for each flight, often based on the results of previous flights, I will try out new settings, new reveal shots, orbits, sweeping curves, sideways flying, tracking running dogs etc.
Then we have Litchi and missions.

Then there is a whole new learning curve with post production editing.
I have been flying DJI stuff for 4 years and still learning, and hopefully improving.
Good luck, hope you get as much pleasure as me.

 

[2nckayakers]

Like Jay, I pick a POI and then just fly all around it from every possible angle. I picked something to video that was the same type of object (fire lookout tower), but they are in different locations with different terrain, different obstacles around it, different lighting, etc... I learn something from every one I do. The last one I did, I flew in high wind to see if I could keep it steady. I do most all of my flying by stick rather than letting software do it, but on occasion I will use course lock or home lock if I am trying to get a good smooth flyby shot. Doing that I can just focus on the rotation rather than transitioning from forward flight, to side shifting to flying backwards.

 

[Anthony Viscomi]

Hello everyone! New pilot here, amazed by having an Eye in the Sky.
Was wondering what you guys do to practice control, steadiness, etc....
Thanks in advance.

Gotta be from California...and yes I'm jealous

 

[BD0G]

You can turn on Cinematic mode in DJI GO 4 and that will slow the control stick movements and not have abrupt gimbal stops when flying. When one lets off the sticks instead of a hard stop one gets a slow diminishing stop. So leave extra stopping distance in this mode.

Tripod Mode is also useful as it slows things to a crawl. You can also shoot in the highest speed 60 FPS 2.7 K and then slow things way down in post production.

Then one can use Waypoints and set the speed of travel to be fairly low and then have the drone fly the mission for you. Waypoint Missions will control the drone position and gimbal position much, much more steadily than any human operator.

 

[MadValley]

Gotta be from California...and yes I'm jealous

Or any one of the other more rational states...

 

[Akoztha]

Well from your avatar as far as steadiness I'd say burn one.
But might slow ya up so watch out for tree's .
JK

Homework done [emoji736] [emoji260] [emoji576]

 

[MadValley]

Tripod mode rocks. You can also calibrate the sticks so you can - or example - have rocketship-like acceleration vertically and mud-slow response in yaw, pitch, and roll. Whatever you want. Then there's the whole practice thing. Endless practice.

 

[Mossiback]

• Practice stick control in Tripod mode. Once you are comfortable with that you can move up to normal and then sport.
• Make adjustments to the sensitivity of the sticks and gimbal roll until you find what works for you. Out of the box the gimbal movement is too quick.
• Practice using the other flight modes in an open space, the Mavic does not have any collision-avoidance sensors to the sides or rear.
• Learn to fly with the RC only. It allows you to just concentrate on flying. This will prepare you for the day your display device / app crashes mid-flight.
• Familiarize yourself with the RTH and Cancel buttons on the RC.
• Practice, practice, practice.
• Have fun!

 

[Akoztha]

Amazing feedback! I got a "Mavic Notes Book" where all tips are going, I'll try all advises given, very kind from y'all!Thanks for the posts everyone[emoji106]
(Not Cali, Costa Rica [emoji560] )

 

[MadValley]

Oh yeah, you asked about drills. Circle with the camera pointing at the center or outside. Figure-8 with the camera pointing along the path of flight, opposite the path of flight, at the intersection point(-ish, it gets tricky there), and at the center of each loop of the figure 8 or outside the loop. Spiral up and down. Landing using just the camera. Flying straight at something so you know what happens when the CO kicks in. It's an endless list. Just a matter of what kind of shots you want to do and practice for that.

Now, I know some of the intelligent flight modes, handle anything more advanced than pushing Auto Take-Off but being able to correctly visualize how the MP is going to fly and respond to those modes will make you able to plan your missions better.

 

[Akoztha]

You got the answer in your post,practice,practice, and then maybe a bit more practice.
Many of my flights are in the same area, call it a control if you like.

I usually have an objective for each flight, often based on the results of previous flights, I will try out new settings, new reveal shots, orbits, sweeping curves, sideways flying, tracking running dogs etc.
Then we have Litchi and missions.

Then there is a whole new learning curve with post production editing.
I have been flying DJI stuff for 4 years and still learning, and hopefully improving.
Good luck, hope you get as much pleasure as me.

What's a good example of a Litchi's mission?

 

[MadValley]

What's a good example of a Litchi's mission?

flylitchi.com

 

[BD0G]

Yup, just visit the link above and click on Mission Hub. Then Zoom out and you will be able to see people saved missions. Double Click upon them to view them.

 

[UAVNV]

I sometimes simulate errors to practice recovery techniques, flying without compass, regaining control flying with inverted controls (drone facing backwards) etc

 

[Akoztha]

Yup, just visit the link above and click on Mission Hub. Then Zoom out and you will be able to see people saved missions. Double Click upon them to view them.

Pretty cool.
Thanks!

 

[Akoztha]

You can turn on Cinematic mode in DJI GO 4 and that will slow the control stick movements and not have abrupt gimbal stops when flying. When one lets off the sticks instead of a hard stop one gets a slow diminishing stop. So leave extra stopping distance in this mode.

Tripod Mode is also useful as it slows things to a crawl. You can also shoot in the highest speed 60 FPS 2.7 K and then slow things way down in post production.

Then one can use Waypoints and set the speed of travel to be fairly low and then have the drone fly the mission for you. Waypoint Missions will control the drone position and gimbal position much, much more steadily than any human operator.

60 fps 2.7k and slow down.
Which effect does it create?

 

[Akoztha]

• Practice stick control in Tripod mode. Once you are comfortable with that you can move up to normal and then sport.
• Make adjustments to the sensitivity of the sticks and gimbal roll until you find what works for you. Out of the box the gimbal movement is too quick.
• Practice using the other flight modes in an open space, the Mavic does not have any collision-avoidance sensors to the sides or rear.
• Learn to fly with the RC only. It allows you to just concentrate on flying. This will prepare you for the day your display device / app crashes mid-flight.
• Familiarize yourself with the RTH and Cancel buttons on the RC.
• Practice, practice, practice.
• Have fun!

Sorry to ask.
What is RTH?

 

[Mossiback]

RTH = Return To Home