Filiming Fireworks

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

As Olav van Gerven stated the OP's statement indicates he may not have a lot of experience. There are recent FAA changes with many new or even experienced UAV pilots not being aware of those changes. The OP may not know of the new changes or restrictions with night flying. It was simply a comment to help him not only learn the settings for the NEW UAV, but to potentially prevent him from encountering unnecessary regulatory problems. I as others are not here to be drone police, but to help with both technical and general education in the industry, both for commercial and hobby pilots.

 

[Jet skier]

July 23 is when LAANC starts for hobbyist flyers

 

[DroningOn]

EDIT: Maybe a sidenote, but it might be a good idea to have a written permission with you in case a LEO shows up and does not believe your word that you have permission to be and fly where you are flying. Communication during big events is not always perfect (to say it carefully)

Under what authority does a random patrol cop have to tell the OP whether or not he is allowed to fly his drone? Serious question, I would like to know. Cite a law if you can please. What other Fourth of July activities should we obtain “permission slips“ for?

 

[Jet skier]

Under what authority does a random patrol cop have to tell the OP whether or not he is allowed to fly his drone? Serious question, I would like to know. Cite a law if you can please. What other Fourth of July activities should we obtain “permission slips“ for?

You don’t necessarily need one it depends on where you’re flying and how your flying

 

[Olav van Gerven]

Under what authority does a random patrol cop have to tell the OP whether or not he is allowed to fly his drone? Serious question, I would like to know. Cite a law if you can please. What other Fourth of July activities should we obtain “permission slips“ for?

The thing is, if the LEO thinks (!?) he7she/it has the authority and does ask, you have three options:
1) You plea the 5th and remain silent. Your right, but you will find yourelf in a lot of trouble at that moment. The opportunity to get the footage you want/need is gone afterwards.
2) You reply: Under what autority do you ask me this question and again, you will spent a lot of time explaining why, how and for who you do what you are doing. Again, the smallest problem you have then is that the chance is over.
3) You give him/her/it a nod, tell him to wait for a second so you can secure your drone and you will show him the letter from the chief/city. In that case, it might only take a few seconds and you have a good chance of getting the footage you want.
Now, you may say "asserting your rights..." etc, but you have to pick the fights you fights. Don't be a Trump and fight who and whatever you see, think first, then act. It's the advice of an old man who made many mistake in his life, loosing many good chances for wonderfull moments, simply because he had te assert his rights.

 

[DroningOn]

The thing is, if the LEO thinks (!?) he7she/it has the authority and does ask, you have three options:
1) You plea the 5th and remain silent. Your right, but you will find yourelf in a lot of trouble at that moment. The opportunity to get the footage you want/need is gone afterwards.
2) You reply: Under what autority do you ask me this question and again, you will spent a lot of time explaining why, how and for who you do what you are doing. Again, the smallest problem you have then is that the chance is over.
3) You give him/her/it a nod, tell him to wait for a second so you can secure your drone and you will show him the letter from the chief/city. In that case, it might only take a few seconds and you have a good chance of getting the footage you want.
Now, you may say "asserting your rights..." etc, but you have to pick the fights you fights. Don't be a Trump and fight who and whatever you see, think first, then act. It's the advice of an old man who made many mistake in his life, loosing many good chances for wonderfull moments, simply because he had te assert his rights.

You still didn’t answer my question. I was asking you what authority, not a cop.

Edit: never mind, I just realize that you are not US-based.

 

[crlmjohnson]

I work for a local municipality and they have purchased a Mavic 2 Pro and want me to film the fireworks display this Saturday (July 6th). I am working with the fire chief and etc. to be in a safe area away from civilians. Any advice on settings with the Mavic 2 that would be different than the original Mavic Pro? I have flown a Pro in the past, but I've never tried to video anything at night and I haven't fully acquainted myself with this larger sensor on the Mavic 2 or its potential capabilities in these sorts of low light to suddenly great amounts of light settings.

I just did one last night, over water

 

[ArJay]

I recently filmed fireworks with my Mavic Air. They turned out great, but I’m having problems attaching one of the videos to this post. I’m getting a notice saying that the file does not have an allowed extension. I’m using an iPad Mini 4 and trying to upload out of my videos. Can anybody help me with this?

Thanks!

 

[DifferentPointofView]

Here is a video I did on the 4th. Mavic 2 Pro - no filter

 

[clydesur]

I use a Mavic 2 Zoom and filmed one in 4K and the other in 1080p 30 fps to obtain 4x Zoom. The camera is set to Auto.
I want to try again in 4K with manual camera setting this time using a night filter I purchased on Amazon. Freewell Light Pollution Reduction Camera Lens Filter for DJI Mavic 2 Zoom/Mavic 2 Enterprises Drone

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

Here is a video I did on the 4th. Mavic 2 Pro - no filter

Excellent job!. What settings were you using, focus, and how far were you from the fireworks.

 

[PhilGood301-air]

I posted this a few days ago in another thread about fireworks, but here it is again to show you how, if you don't mind the risk to your drone, you can fly up into the fireworks:

Thank you for risking your drone for this great footage. Just WOW

 

[johnmeyer]

Thank you for risking your drone for this great footage. Just WOW

Not my footage ... I would never have done something so foolish.

 

[aaronwilliam]

Hi, I know this is after the fact but, I would just like to issue a little warning to you if you're flying in Northern Virginia within a 30 mile radius of Washington, even outside of the no-fly-zone which has a radius of 15 miles starting from the middle of the attached image, there's an additional 15 mile outer zone which has it's own set of rules, I'll list those below.
Local authorities cannot issue waivers for these restrictions.

• Aircraft must weigh less than 55 lbs. (including any attachments such as a camera).
• Aircraft must be registered and marked (if it is not operated exclusively under the Special Rule for Model Aircraft, pending NOTAM change).
• Fly below 400 ft.
• Fly within visual line-of-sight.
• Fly in clear weather conditions.
• Never fly near other aircraft.

 

[Macabre]

Man, this forum can get tiresome because so any are preaching about drone laws.
The guy asked for camera settings, not what rules he has to follow.

 

[mnix]

Under what authority does a random patrol cop have to tell the OP whether or not he is allowed to fly his drone? Serious question, I would like to know. Cite a law if you can please. What other Fourth of July activities should we obtain “permission slips“ for?

In that exact moment... the one signed by Smith & Wesson
Well ok he's hardly going to do that, but the point being "I was busy dealing with a random patrol cop" is not going to fly well when explaining why you missed a one-off chance to capture an event.
Being able to direct them to paperwork in the drone case beside you, or in your hip pocket, may save you even having to take your eyes off the drone.

 

[CanyonRunVideos]

I was tasked last year to video the British Firework Championships. The footage below was taken with a Yuneec H520 and E90 camera, so the Mavic 2 Pro has the same size sensor, so is good in low light. You would want to turn off autofocus and set manual focus to infinity. Depth of field is not an issue with a Mavic 2 Pro, so f stop around 2.8 - 4. Shutter I had at 1/60, iso 1600. This year I'm planning to video the same competition using my Mavic 2 Pro, remember to turn off the front leg leds.

Hey Kev, epic footage and a nice edit as well. I enjoyed the video.

Kent

 

[Mr. Salty]

Under what authority does a random patrol cop have to tell the OP whether or not he is allowed to fly his drone? Serious question, I would like to know. Cite a law if you can please. What other Fourth of July activities should we obtain “permission slips“ for?

If the arrangement the OP had with the fire chief was to fly from city property, the patrol cop could have authority to enforce any property use rules the city has in place, especially if that area is generally not open to the public.

 

[Deleted member 95801]

I work for a local municipality and they have purchased a Mavic 2 Pro and want me to film the fireworks display this Saturday (July 6th). I am working with the fire chief and etc. to be in a safe area away from civilians. Any advice on settings with the Mavic 2 that would be different than the original Mavic Pro? I have flown a Pro in the past, but I've never tried to video anything at night and I haven't fully acquainted myself with this larger sensor on the Mavic 2 or its potential capabilities in these sorts of low light to suddenly great amounts of light settings.

You can't fly at night.

 

[Spike151]

Filmed this on the M2PRO with camera in auto