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Dropping Altitude on "Follow Me" function

Simon (NI)

New Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2020
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2
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Age
45
Location
Northern Ireland
Hello Guys,

I have the DJI Mavic Pro (MK1) and I bought this in order to film me running down Mountains.

I didn’t realise at the time that when using the Active Track and Follow Me function that the drone will only increase in altitude and that it will not decrease. After I descend 20 - 30M or so the drone loses me as I become so small as it will stay at the same altitude.

I contacted the DJI online support on several occasions and I am unable to get anyone who can give me an exact answer to confirm if the drone can drop in altitude with me keeping the same distance from me at all times.

I realise that I could give the controls to a second user and they could reduce the altitude for me so that the tracking is still locked onto me but I would like to be able to do this all by myself as it is difficult to get someone to come up the Mountains with me. (It would mean that once I get the drone set up and following me, I would put the controller in my rucksack - obviously ensuring neither of the joysticks get moved.)

After searching in Google I came across the Hangar Autopilot. I believe this uses a smart phones GPS and Barometric information to maintain not only a focus but also a 3-dimensional distance.

My question to you is that I wanted confirmation that this will actually work as some forums are saying that a second phone is required in addition to the phone which is being used for the controller.

I have checked the Hangar tutorials as per the below link but I am unable to confirm this fully and this is far too technical for me to understand.

My understanding is that I would use the Peer to Peer Airspace mode but would need further help with this.

Tutorial - Hangar

Ideally I would like my Drone to lock onto my phone and keep tracking this at a distance of say 15 – 20M and drop in altitude accordingly as I start to decent which I thought would be really straight forward especially with the number of people who would use this function for skiing.

Any help that you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Simon.
 
I'm thinking that you are going to be so preoccupied by your drone that it could cause you to take a header down the mountain. Personally, I think that tracking mode shot from the backside is beyond boring. Could you put the drone down lower and video yourself running towards it and past the drone or maybe off to the side. One long continuous shot would be easier on you but hard on the viewer.. ;)
 
Thanks - but it will probably become a competition among my friends as it is the tallest mountain in Northern Ireland so it will not matter what view is shown - just the evidence and the time that is important. The drone being lower will not work as the drop in altitude will be between around 450 - 500 vertical Metres in a time of around 11 minutes.
 
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