2 Pro Filming a Drone in Flight - A Challenge

[RadioFlyerMan]

We conducted an experiment to film a drone in flight. It was really difficult to do.
My wife put an MPP into a 100 foot radius POI, at 200 ft AGL, flying at 3+mph, and maintaining VLOS. I then had to locate it using my M2P. Keeping the MPP in frame while it moves in a circular pattern requires compound controls. Although I could predict its general path, it's not an easy thing. I'm thinking that an FPV drone could do a better job.

No sound, just raw clips.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I think you did pretty good for following a circle.

I tried last year to follow out a drone down the river and out to the lake and it was very hard to keep in camera also.
Did you try to use the active tracking on the Drone ?

Were getting ready to try this again with the AIR 2S following the Mavic Pro 2.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your AIR 2/S in the Rain.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

I think you did pretty good for following a circle.

I tried last year to follow out a drone down the river and out to the lake and it was very hard to keep in camera also.
Did you try to use the active tracking on the Drone ?

Were getting ready to try this again with the AIR 2S following the Mavic Pro 2.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your AIR 2/S in the Rain.

I just tried Active Track today. I chose to approach from below with the camera pitched up for better visual contrast with the sky. I did get object recognition. But it didn’t track properly and started to oscillate, moving from side to side. My theory is the tracking algorithm was confused because there is an expectation the object would be below the horizon. With the proper lighting, I’m going to try AT from above. More to come…

 

[projectarjun]

Active Track works well on cars and humans, wish DJI could allow it to detect and follow other things as well, hopefully in a future firmware update

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Active Track works well on cars and humans, wish DJI could allow it to detect and follow other things as well, hopefully in a future firmware update

Did you try the Air 2S yet with tracking another drone , I know the other ones cannot but have not confirmed yet the Air 2S .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your AIR 2/S in the Rain.

 

[projectarjun]

Did you try the Air 2S yet with tracking another drone , I know the other ones cannot but have not confirmed yet the Air 2S .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your AIR 2/S in the Rain.

I have not yet, but I did see one of the reviewers on YouTube attempting to follow another drone using the Air 2S

 

[GFields]

I would try that but I'm afraid of losing two drones LOL

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

I would try that but I'm afraid of losing two drones LOL

I hear ya! A mid-air collision would be a disaster.

 

[projectarjun]

I hear ya! A mid-air collision would be a disaster.

Yeah, you wouldn't like being featured in National Geographic's Seconds from Disaster (bad joke)

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Very cool!

 

[Meta4]

it's not an easy thing.

The big problem is that DJI drones have very wideangle lenses which make things look further away.
To make the drone show up well enough to be the subject of a photo from another drone, you have to get in scary close.
For this shot, the drones were about two feet apart and that's when you notice how they wander and drift about two feet.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

The big problem is that DJI drones have very wideangle lenses which make things look further away.
To make the drone show up well enough to be the subject of a photo from another drone, you have to get in scary close.
For this shot, the drones were about two feet apart and that's when you notice how they wander and drift about two feet.

Yes, they do drift a lot. On future trials, I am going to attempt zooming-in during post. But it will probably make it more jumpy. I have to be careful where I conduct these experiments in the event of a mid-air. I have 15 acres of room to play with. I wouldn’t do this in any public arena.