First post with some questions

[Cloudbase Engineering]

Hello All,

I am on the fence between the Mavic 2 Zoom or Pro. My main needs are to just have a decent drone to build skills. I am a Fixed wing pilot with 250 hours in a Cessna as well as sailplanes and hangliders. I went ahead and did the Part 107 add on and have a ton of experience flying R/C but not much in aerial filming. I am a mechanical engineer with tons of work in the film industry in product design working for Element Technica, 3Ality and RED. I have been out of the industry a bit in VR gaming and LED lighting and looking to make a 180 degree switch to working for a local drone company. I am in Burbank CA so lots in my area.

Anyhow since I will likely use the drone in my hobbies, I am thinking that most of my filming will be Aviation, Mountain biking and Rock climbing related. So with that said, I am thinking the Zoom may be the better fit to be able to stay a bit farther from the rock face to avoid turbulence, keep a satellite lock and also not bother the climber too much. However as with many I like the output of the pro camera better since I am not the best at Post. However, It is something I want to spend time learning. I also fly ultralights and can fly at a speed slow enough for the Mavic 2 to chase. My stall speed is about 25mph.

So for my needs above, am I correct in thinking the Zoom would be a better fit?

Also I have a Gopro mount I designed and Patented for Aircraft and have a website here with some videos. www.cloudbaseengineering.com. I can see myself using the Mavic to add to the videos but curious how the footage looks when blending Gopro and the DJI camera.

Any advice and or help would be greatly appreciated.

Marc

 

[sar104]

For climbing videos the zoom may be better for the reasons that you stated. Just bear in mind that the zoom is effectively a cell phone camera in terms of sensor and image quality, while the Pro is comparable to the Sony RX100. The difference could be significant, depending on your planned uses.

Also note that flying a Mavic anywhere near a manned aircraft, even an ultralight, is completely prohibited by Part 107.

 

[Former Member]

You cant go wrong with either the M2P or M2Z. If you buy an M2Z and the gimbal doesnt suit your needs, I can do a gimbal swap for you to an M2P.

 

[Cloudbase Engineering]

For climbing videos the zoom may be better for the reasons that you stated. Just bear in mind that the zoom is effectively a cell phone camera in terms of sensor and image quality, while the Pro is comparable to the Sony RX100. The difference could be significant, depending on your planned uses.

Also note that flying a Mavic anywhere near a manned aircraft, even an ultralight, is completely prohibited by Part 107.

Thanks for the quick reply. In regards to operating from an aircraft seems it would be OK in Class G which is where I would be. Or does it read from a moving aircraft (no) but in B yes on land and boats?

However, since I would be in a single seat aircraft and flying it as well it violates the PIC rule and observer rule I would think. Yet it seems I could be n the ground and have another flying and film a taxi, takeoff and landing.

§107.25 Operation from a moving vehicle or aircraft.
No person may operate a small unmanned aircraft system—

(a) From a moving aircraft; or

(b) From a moving land or water-borne vehicle unless the small unmanned aircraft is flown over a sparsely populated area and is not transporting another person's property for compensation or hire.

 

[sar104]

Thanks for the quick reply. In regards to operating from an aircraft seems it would be OK in Class G which is where I would be. Or does it read from a moving aircraft (no) but in B yes on land and boats?

However, since I would be in a single seat aircraft and flying it as well it violates the PIC rule and observer rule I would think. Yet it seems I could be n the ground and have another flying and film a taxi, takeoff and landing.

Yes - it's never okay to operate from an aircraft in any class of airspace. The "unless" in (b) only applies to (b).

With regard to controlling from the ground you still have to worry about 107.37 (b):

No person may operate a small unmanned aircraft so close to another aircraft as to create a collision hazard.​

If it would be too close for another aircraft then it would be in violation of that.