First Drone for a Pro Photographer

[Stevezphoto]

Hello all,

10 years ago I joined the DWF Digital Wedding Forum en route to my new career as a wedding and portrait photographer. So many hours of my life spent there! After some years that forum faded from its previous glory and I haven't been active on any forums since.

4.5 years ago I closed my photography studio, rented my condo in Colorado, and headed off to Asia with a backpack to see the world. I never thought it would go this long, but I'm still going!

I've had a drone urge for a long time, but I'm a world traveling minimalist, and never wanted to carry the extra gear. Well, the Mavic Air has finally piqued my interest for size and quality, so I made the jump and picked one up a couple weeks ago in Australia.

Now that I've got a dozen flight in, I'm itching for more info on how to get the results I want. Searching Google isn't getting me the results I want...so here I am!

Looking forward to sharing and comparing and looking forward to some dronespiration.

Cheers,

Steve Z

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Can you show us an example of the results you are getting and what you are looking for? You are probably used to high quality glass and larger sensors.

 

[Bunny Too]

Hello all,

10 years ago I joined the DWF Digital Wedding Forum en route to my new career as a wedding and portrait photographer. So many hours of my life spent there! After some years that forum faded from its previous glory and I haven't been active on any forums since.

4.5 years ago I closed my photography studio, rented my condo in Colorado, and headed off to Asia with a backpack to see the world. I never thought it would go this long, but I'm still going!

I've had a drone urge for a long time, but I'm a world traveling minimalist, and never wanted to carry the extra gear. Well, the Mavic Air has finally piqued my interest for size and quality, so I made the jump and picked one up a couple weeks ago in Australia.

Now that I've got a dozen flight in, I'm itching for more info on how to get the results I want. Searching Google isn't getting me the results I want...so here I am!

Looking forward to sharing and comparing and looking forward to some dronespiration.

Cheers,

Steve Z

Howdy from Wyoming @Stevezphoto , welcome to the community, plenty of fine folk and excellent information here.

 

[RKX]

Hello and welcome from Ontario Canada to Mavic Pilots!
And enjoy your stay here, there is a wealth of information to be had so take your time and look around and enjoy reading all the great stuff you can do with your Mavic, Feel free to ask any questions you may have and remember the search tool is a great resource to see who may have had a similar issue or may offer a great tip.
Enjoy your day and happy flying

 

[Stevezphoto]

Sure I can post some shots. Tomorrow though, its bedtime in Australia and I fly to Indonesia tomorrow!

You are totally right about the sensors/glass. I haven't been pixel peeping too much. The results have been better than what I thought actually! I'm happy to be able to shoot in RAW and do my Lightroom thing. I'm more trying to figure out what I want to shoot, rather than worrying about the quality. Artistic vision always trumps gear. I am just trying to learn how to figure out what I want to shoot from the air, when I can't see it beforehand because I am on the ground!

Where in Florida are you at? I graduated BSME from USF in Tampa.

Can you show us an example of the results you are getting and what you are looking for? You are probably used to high quality glass and larger sensors.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Sure I can post some shots. Tomorrow though, its bedtime in Australia and I fly to Indonesia tomorrow!

You are totally right about the sensors/glass. I haven't been pixel peeping too much. The results have been better than what I thought actually! I'm happy to be able to shoot in RAW and do my Lightroom thing. I'm more trying to figure out what I want to shoot, rather than worrying about the quality. Artistic vision always trumps gear. I am just trying to learn how to figure out what I want to shoot from the air, when I can't see it beforehand because I am on the ground!

Where in Florida are you at? I graduated BSME from USF in Tampa.

It is new learning curve shooting from the air! Our storefront is in Ft Myers.

 

[Stevezphoto]

I'm starting focusing on stills. We will see if anything happens in the video department!

It is new learning curve shooting from the air! Our storefront is in Ft Myers.

 

[Stevezphoto]

Can you show us an example of the results you are getting and what you are looking for?

I guess I don't know what I'm looking for ... But here are some shots from my first flights!

I'm not sure if I should insert images as thumbnails or full images. Here goes thumbnails.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Thumbnails work, you just have to keep a couple of empty lines between your last written text and when you insert the photos. Otherwise the text mixes with the photos. They look great and you have awesome subject matter.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

I am envious of the diversified landscape options you have to choose from to photograph.

 

[Stevezphoto]

I've driven A LOT of miles for those shots! I shoulda started this before my 2.5 months in New Zealand preceding this. Ah well!

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Safe Travels.

 

[dirkclod]

Welcome to Mavic Pilots .
I hope you will find our site helpful and look forward to any input , photo's/video's you might post .
Don't be shy and ask anything if you can't find it by searching .

 

[Mossiback]

I'm starting focusing on stills. We will see if anything happens in the video department!

For video you will need a set of ND filters to slow down the shutter speed.

Nice pics, very well done.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Hello,
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the Mavic Pilots forum.
I hope that you will be able to use the forum to further your safety knowledge and for the exchange of innovative ideas and as a resource for current developments in Mavic quadcopters.
Enjoy!
*MAVIC PRO/PLATINUM MANUAL: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/mavic/Mavic Pro User Manual V2.0-.pdf
*MAVIC AIR MANUAL: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/Mavic Air/20180213/Mavic Air User Manual_v1.2.pdf
*GO 4 APP MANUAL: DJI Go 4 Manual

 

[genesimmons]

i am hoping the new rumored mav pro2 will have an adjustable aperture camera,2.8 is to shallow, i want to close her down to f8 and get everyghing in focus, pretty happy with the results with this camera but it takes some work to get there, welcome to the forum by the way

 

[Aerial-Pixel]

Welcome to Mavic Pilots from Dayton Ohio! Fly safe and have fun when you get a new bird!

 

[Stevezphoto]

I have a set and I know what they are for, but am interested to see the difference with and without. I'm sure its been written about, but what is the optimal shutter speed?

I'm also curious what the minimum shutter is for stills, and how you figure out what it should be since its hard to know exactly what speed the upper level winds are.

For video you will need a set of ND filters to slow down the shutter speed.

Nice pics, very well done.

 

[Stevezphoto]

That's a good point. I will have to keep f2.8 in mind.

Have you found that the AF generally chooses the subject that is closest ... Or in the center ... Or ?

i am hoping the new rumored mav pro2 will have an adjustable aperture camera,2.8 is to shallow, i want to close her down to f8 and get everyghing in focus, pretty happy with the results with this camera but it takes some work to get there, welcome to the forum by the way

 

[genesimmons]

That's a good point. I will have to keep f2.8 in mind.

Have you found that the AF generally chooses the subject that is closest ... Or in the center ... Or ?

its hard to tell, the mav is usally in continous focus and the focus range is small green box i just push the screen in the general area i want in focus and it seems to do pretty good, i think the nd filters are more for video and slowing down the shutter speed for video, i dont think 1/2000 is optimal for 4k video and they recomend much slower and since theres no aperture nd is the only way to get there, i dont shoot much if any video so i dont worrry about it, i dont mind 1/2000 for stills, i know it will freeze the shot anyways haha, i do havea set of nd as well and only used them once but i didnt like the color cast, i got the cheapies haha