Filming Fireworks?

bmalachuk · Jul 4, 2018

Anyone have experience with filming fireworks with a mavic pro? Yes I know I'm not supposed to fly at night. But I'll be flying over a mountain where no one lives taking off from halfway up that mountain, and getting behind the fireworks to catch the show plus my little town in the frame. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on settings. I've never film fireworks before or much of anything at night except in my own front yard.

msinger · Jul 4, 2018

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RKX · Jul 4, 2018

bmalachuk said:
Anyone have experience with filming fireworks with a mavic pro? Yes I know I'm not supposed to fly at night. But I'll be flying over a mountain where no one lives taking off from halfway up that mountain, and getting behind the fireworks to catch the show plus my little town in the frame. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on settings. I've never film fireworks before or much of anything at night except in my own front yard.

Having just done this up here in Canada for the 1st (and my first time filming at night, and fireworks) I used settings I found online here and on youtube. While they were okay I would suggest the following.

Keep in mind that settings are going to be contingent on the amount or brightness the fireworks display is going to put out, this will affect what you would set your ISO to mostly.

low light fireworks
ISO 1600. shutter 1/30. whitebalance cloudy.
This footage was grainy for me, but somewhat fixable in post (see my video below)

Medium light
ISO 800 Shutter 1/40-1/50

Kick *** fireworks
ISO 400, shutter 1/50-1/60

Tip for mavic pro: when you get a night bright firework that lights everything up a few seconds hit your focus button to lock in the focus, then hit the manual focus lock for the rest of the show. you will need to stay at the same distance away to keep that focus, but it will make sure things are sharp. about half of my footage was out of focus, (wishing i had a phantom with infinity focus for fireworks shots ).

I was about a mile away on a hill taking this video, and most of the show I would deem as light, with only the end being maybe medium. If you are lucking and filming a long show you have the option to take several shots at each of those settings and should have something pretty good.

good luck

Oh and turn off your front LED lights when filming option. but be warned you aren't going to be able to see your drone in the sky, scope out your location for any possible obstacles ahead of time like I did. and if any pilots near you talk to them and discus filming strategies and flight heights to avoid collision issues, if you've by yourself, fly safe and have at it

black_magic100 · Jul 4, 2018

That just seems stupid and dangerous TBH. I just filmed fireworks last night and the LEDs didn't interfere. Yea if your in the middle of nowhere it doesn't matter, but in what scenario would you be watching a fireworks display without hundreds of people around unless it is a friend or neighbor lighting a few off. Just keep the LEDs on because more often than not you will not be the only drone in the sky. Just my two cents.

lenabanana · Jul 4, 2018

black_magic100 said:
That just seems stupid and dangerous TBH. I just filmed fireworks last night and the LEDs didn't interfere. Yea if your in the middle of nowhere it doesn't matter, but in what scenario would you be watching a fireworks display without hundreds of people around unless it is a friend or neighbor lighting a few off. Just keep the LEDs on because more often than not you will not be the only drone in the sky. Just my two cents.

You can set one of your buttons to turn off the front LEDs and shut them off once you’re in place and want to hover. The GPS is pretty good so the drone should stay pretty stationary.

With that being said, does anyone really rewatch firework videos?

RKX · Jul 4, 2018

black_magic100 said:
That just seems stupid and dangerous TBH. I just filmed fireworks last night and the LEDs didn't interfere. Yea if your in the middle of nowhere it doesn't matter, but in what scenario would you be watching a fireworks display without hundreds of people around unless it is a friend or neighbor lighting a few off. Just keep the LEDs on because more often than not you will not be the only drone in the sky. Just my two cents.

Your position is to tell the OP he is acting stupid and dangerous going out to film fireworks at night, all while you say you just filmed some yourself? smh

Personally I filmed my city's fireworks from an empty school football field at the top of a hill while hundreds of people watched down at the park there's lots of scenarios. Don't forget you can map a nice zoom to the Dpad and it's good. (zoom doesn't work in 4k of course) I think your scenario of flying over neighbours houses at night to be more dangerous and stupid.

We're all entitled to our opinions of course, The OP asked for camera settings help not a lecture from someone who broke the same rules. Lots of posts recommend turning off the front lights, you can either set it in the options to be automatic or Just like @lenabanana mentioned set the c1 or c1 to toggle it whenever you need.

RKX · Jul 4, 2018

lenabanana said:
You can set one of your buttons to turn off the front LEDs and shut them off once you’re in place and want to hover. The GPS is pretty good so the drone should stay pretty stationary.

With that being said, does anyone really rewatch firework videos?

Agreed, even with the high winds that night for me it was rock solid as always. And I re-watched mine

(But I'm weird to begin with

).

RKX · Jul 4, 2018

Also for your settings for filming, turn on your option to allow you to tilt the gimbal up 30 degrees. you will find if you don't go very high you will 100% want that set to capture everything if it's higher that your drone, luckily with the lights off and it being dark I didn't have any prop in frame issues. But I forgot to mention it before.

Good luck to everyone in their fireworks recording

I'm jealous, up here in canada our fireworks mostly suck in comparison unless you are in a huge city. Fly safe, be respectful or your surroundings and enjoy

MrsTreat · Jul 4, 2018

RKX said:
Your position is to tell the OP he is acting stupid and dangerous going out to film fireworks at night, all while you say you just filmed some yourself? smh

Personally I filmed my city's fireworks from an empty school football field at the top of a hill while hundreds of people watched down at the park there's lots of scenarios. Don't forget you can map a nice zoom to the Dpad and it's good. (zoom doesn't work in 4k of course) I think your scenario of flying over neighbours houses at night to be more dangerous and stupid.

We're all entitled to our opinions of course, The OP asked for camera settings help not a lecture from someone who broke the same rules. Lots of posts recommend turning off the front lights, you can either set it in the options to be automatic or Just like @lenabanana mentioned set the c1 or c1 to toggle it whenever you need.

Why did you film them?

black_magic100 · Jul 5, 2018

RKX said:
Your position is to tell the OP he is acting stupid and dangerous going out to film fireworks at night, all while you say you just filmed some yourself? smh

Personally I filmed my city's fireworks from an empty school football field at the top of a hill while hundreds of people watched down at the park there's lots of scenarios. Don't forget you can map a nice zoom to the Dpad and it's good. (zoom doesn't work in 4k of course) I think your scenario of flying over neighbours houses at night to be more dangerous and stupid.

We're all entitled to our opinions of course, The OP asked for camera settings help not a lecture from someone who broke the same rules. Lots of posts recommend turning off the front lights, you can either set it in the options to be automatic or Just like @lenabanana mentioned set the c1 or c1 to toggle it whenever you need.

Please do not twist my words. I said it is a dangerous idea to turn off the front LEDs, which are the only way of realistically determining position of the mavic.

RKX · Jul 5, 2018

black_magic100 said:
Please do not twist my words. I said it is a dangerous idea to turn off the front LEDs, which are the only way of realistically determining position of the mavic.

I apologize if I misunderstood your intent, but it did sound insulting the way you said it. No worries. I make mistakes like everyone else.

Cheers

black_magic100 · Jul 5, 2018

RKX said:
I apologize if I misunderstood your intent, but it did sound insulting the way you said it. No worries. I make mistakes like everyone else.

Cheers

Fair enough. I am a stickler for the rules when it comes to drones because I really don't want to seem them banned in the US. All it takes is for one idiot to ruin it for everyone. In this scenario, I don't see any harm in filming fireworks as long as it is done safely. Their is no reason to turn off front LEDs in this case as it doesn't show in photos/videos.

RKX · Jul 5, 2018

MrsTreat said:
Why did you film them?

I like trying new things and interesting vantage points I haven't tried before. I really would love to fly through fireworks as it's quite a cool look. but the risk assessment is way too dangerous, and I also don't wanna have my drone blown out of the sky

RKX · Jul 5, 2018

black_magic100 said:
Fair enough. I am a stickler for the rules when it comes to drones because I really don't want to seem them banned in the US. All it takes is for one idiot to ruin it for everyone. In this scenario, I don't see any harm in filming fireworks as long as it is done safely. Their is no reason to turn off front LEDs in this case as it doesn't show in photos/videos.

While I may not agree with your point on the LED's (as being any distance from the drone you can barely see them anyhow) I do agree on the idiot clause, it's even more strict up here in Canada. I follow 3 simple rules, Be safe when flying, Respect people and property, and if you are at fault, own up and accept the consequences. We've already got loads of idiots out there do dumb things, all we can do or control is our own actions, I think you would agree most of us on the forum have a healthy respect for safety and an understanding of our drones.

black_magic100 · Jul 6, 2018

"While I may not agree with your point on the LED's (as being any distance from the drone you can barely see them anyhow)"

What are you talking about? The LEDs on the mavic during night time allow you to see it for miles depending on condition. Turn them off and you won't be able to see it 50 feet away.