First night video - questions

[Chris_H]

New to the forum and new to flying drones. I've had my Mavic Pro a few weeks now and have had a great time flying it and learning on it. I took it out the other night to test out the Firehouse Technology lights I mounted on it and thought I'd get some footage while I was at it. I threw this video together (new to editing too) and noticed the black areas are sometimes not fully black, especially up around the corners. It's almost like it's pixilating or something. Any ideas on how to fix that? I believe the camera settings were 4k/30fps, ISO 800 shutter I can't recall off the top of my head. Open to advice/constructive criticism.

Guess a link would be handy!

Thanks!
Chris

 

[MMCompton]

Nice vid, but be careful. Not sure where this is, but if it’s in the US then flying more than 30 mins after sunset is illegal unless you are flying under Part 107 with a waiver from the FAA.

 

[beachcombing]

Nice vid, but be careful. Not sure where this is, but if it’s in the US then flying more than 30 mins after sunset is illegal unless you are flying under Part 107 with a waiver from the FAA.

Actually, for hobby/recreation flight, this is incorrect. There is no "law" prohibiting night flight. You need to have lighting on the drone, however.

 

[MMCompton]

Actually, for hobby/recreation flight, this is incorrect. There is no "law" prohibiting night flight. You need to have lighting on the drone, however.

You’re quite correct, thanks for the clarification.

 

[rfc]

New to the forum and new to flying drones. I've had my Mavic Pro a few weeks now and have had a great time flying it and learning on it. I took it out the other night to test out the Firehouse Technology lights I mounted on it and thought I'd get some footage while I was at it. I threw this video together (new to editing too) and noticed the black areas are sometimes not fully black, especially up around the corners. It's almost like it's pixilating or something. Any ideas on how to fix that? I believe the camera settings were 4k/30fps, ISO 200 shutter I can't recall off the top of my head. Open to advice/constructive criticism.

Guess a link would be handy!

Thanks!
Chris

Looks good. How did you manage focus?

 

[Chris_H]

Thanks for the feedback. I got the aircraft up to where I wanted it, pointed the camera down some, had it auto focus on a well lit area and then went to manual focus from there. Tried to keep the aircraft at the same height during the flight to maintain that same focus.

 

[genesimmons]

nice vid, luv the choice of music, fits it well

 

[Chris_H]

nice vid, luv the choice of music, fits it well

Thanks!

 

[LarryFL]

Actually, for hobby/recreation flight, this is incorrect. There is no "law" prohibiting night flight. You need to have lighting on the drone, however.

These are the regs for 107 exemptions (you need to get waiver any time you want to violate these rules). Strange that hobbyists don't need to follow 107.29, nor 25 and 33.

• Operation from a moving vehicle or aircraft (§ 107.25) *
• Daylight operation (§ 107.29)
• Visual line of sight aircraft operation (§ 107.31) *
• Visual observer (§ 107.33)
• Operation of multiple small unmanned aircraft systems (§ 107.35)
• Yielding the right of way (§ 107.37(a))
• Operation over people (§ 107.39)
• Operation in certain airspace (§ 107.41)
• Operating limitations for small unmanned aircraft (§ 107.51)

 

[MMCompton]

Thanks, Larry. I have the same confusion and started a thread over here: Hobby flying much less restrictive that commercial?

 

[flockshot]

The AMA throws in a sentence that indicates you must do everything they list AND comply with all applicable regulations. This is their bail out for any conflicts between their rules and the FAA rules.
If you want to violate Part 107 and use your recreational status as a reason to do so the AMA will not be the ones who pay your lawyer. You may well win your case (unless they can find one thing you were doing that violates the AMA code) but you will bear the cost of legal representation and time.

 

[flockshot]

Actually, for hobby/recreation flight, this is incorrect. There is no "law" prohibiting night flight. You need to have lighting on the drone, however.

This flight does not comply with AMA safety standards (intentional flight over occupied vehicles and people, line of sight and orientation, etc). Therefore it does not qualify as a hobbyist flight. You can't pick and choose on the rules, you are either all AMA or all Part 107 for any given flight.

 

[beachcombing]

This flight does not comply with AMA safety standards (intentional flight over occupied vehicles and people, line of sight and orientation, etc). Therefore it does not qualify as a hobbyist flight. You can't pick and choose on the rules, you are either all AMA or all Part 107 for any given flight.

Right. But I was commenting on the poster who a that the flight could not occur after sunset. I didn't watch the video and made no comments about whether this particular flight was in compliance.

 

[flockshot]

Right. But I was commenting on the poster who a that the flight could not occur after sunset.

This web site if packed full of people telling other model drivers how the 'laws' do not apply to them because they are recreational. Some will be telling their lawyer that they thought they could do it because they read it on the internet. This video is NOT a legal night flight, plain and simple. Yes, you can fly at night recreationally, but the minute you violate the AMA safety policy you are no longer recreational.

 

[HiKen51]

I threw this video together (new to editing too) and noticed the black areas are sometimes not fully black, especially up around the corners. It's almost like it's pixilating or something. Any ideas on how to fix that? I believe the camera settings were 4k/30fps, ISO 800 shutter I can't recall off the top of my head. Open to advice/constructive criticism.

To answer your question about pixelation, there are a lot of threads on here about the video quality. The upshot is don't go above 100 ISO with a tiny sensor on your camera--like the one on the Mavic, because of the noise problem, which is probably what you're seeing. The smaller the sensor on a camera, the more noise problems, and the only way to minimize that is low iso. You'll also find a lot of discussion about the merits of changing the sharpness settings to avoid some of the noise. A lot of different opinions on that. Lots of YouTube videos on the topic too, just do a search on best camera settings for Mavic Pro.

 

[Chris_H]

To answer your question about pixelation, there are a lot of threads on here about the video quality. The upshot is don't go above 100 ISO with a tiny sensor on your camera--like the one on the Mavic, because of the noise problem, which is probably what you're seeing. The smaller the sensor on a camera, the more noise problems, and the only way to minimize that is low iso. You'll also find a lot of discussion about the merits of changing the sharpness settings to avoid some of the noise. A lot of different opinions on that. Lots of YouTube videos on the topic too, just do a search on best camera settings for Mavic Pro.

Thanks for the reply, finally somebody who actually addressed the question I had. I had read some of the previous threads about night settings and went with what seemed to be a common setting but I'll have to make some other adjustments in upcoming ones. Seems my latest one was a lot cleaner and didn't have the pixelation in the darker areas. I might be on the right track with the settings.