Flying in full sunlight at high noon in Florida with no clouds, over water.

Ttrent · Jun 25, 2020

I end up flying my Air2 often near the water on very sunny days. Even with my iPhone at maximum brightness, I still have a ton of difficulty seeing my screen.
I'm curious if anyone can recommend a specific hood they use to shade their phone when attached to the controller.

I'm also playing with the FlyMore included ND filters to see how they affect tracking objects in full sun over the water. Without a filter boats don't track well. I believe this to be because they are way overexposed.
I'll share my results with filter and object tracking after I have more data.

Thanks!

Ted

coneslayer · Jun 25, 2020

I've also had trouble seeing my iPhone X screen on hot, sunny days. One thing to be aware of is that iPhones will throttle the display brightness for thermal reasons if they get too hot, so it's not just the bright sun that's making it hard to see. Having your phone in a hot car, charging your phone, and using navigation apps can increase the temperature of the phone, so it's good to avoid those to the degree possible when you're going to be flying in the heat. Sometimes I throw my phone in a cooler with my drinks while I'm getting the rest of my drone stuff set up. I also try to keep the A/C blowing on it in the car.

iaincaradoc · Jun 25, 2020

On the water, I'd expect better results from a well-tuned circular polarizer to eliminate the glare off the surface - the tracking seems to be highly susceptible to contrast problems, and if the glare off the water is blowing out the outline of the subject it'll lose it pretty quickly.

THE CYBORG · Jun 25, 2020

The trouble with polarizing filters is that due to the nature of polarization you can only fly in one direction, once it’s set that’s it until you land again.

iaincaradoc · Jun 25, 2020

Not really. The polarizer just won't cut glare as much from other directions.

If you tune for maximum interference in the general direction of the sun reflecting on the water, that's usually "good enough," and definitely "better than nothing."

THE CYBORG · Jun 25, 2020

Good point, I have only ever used them on my stills cameras back in my 35mm days if anyone remembers what 35mm was

iaincaradoc · Jun 25, 2020

Oh, I do indeed. I'm kind of sad to hear that Olympus is getting entirely out of the camera business, because all of my original film gear was Oly before someone burgled me and took *all* of it.

That'd be when I made the decision to go digital (as offered by my insurance company - I got a MUCH better deal with new digital gear than I would have gotten replacing all of my old film/manual gear).

I use polarizers a *lot*, including putting a linear on the front of a circular to build my own "dial-your-own ND" filter. It has a color cast, but it also goes dark enough to shoot sunspots.

If you want to have some fun, try playing with a circular polarizer on the front of an IR-converted mirrorless camera. Things get *weird*.

THE CYBORG · Jun 25, 2020

I don’t get on with DSLR’s, everything is menu driven I liked all the twiddly things, sold all my 35mm equipment & settled for a basically point & shoot Canon SX50 HS I don’t get as creative but with image stabilising and a 50 times optical zoom I still get some good shots.
I have no idea what focal length a 50 times zoom equates to but it certainly gets me close.

iaincaradoc · Jun 25, 2020

THE CYBORG said:
I don’t get on with DSLR’s, everything is menu driven

I shoot mostly in manual modes.

Like... this.

iaincaradoc · Jun 25, 2020

Before I forget - as far as screen hoods go, hit your local craft store and pick up some sheets of black craft foam - it's like *really* thick construction paper, kind of rubbery, and you can make as big a shade hood as you like for your screen for about $2. If you want to get creative, glue two layers together with some hardware cloth or chicken wire between them so it holds its shape better.

I do this all the time for light-shapers to put on my strobes and flashes. Black to absorb light, white to bounce light.

Ttrent · Jun 25, 2020

Great suggestions so far...
I'm looking at these ND Polarzing filters after the suggestions here. Mavic Air 2 Filter

Gealousy · Jun 25, 2020

I bought this thing and it finally arrived but I can't get it to fit on an iPhone X (original) - it is too small, or I'm dumb, not sure which, but it doesn't work very well for me. Still trying to figure out what I can mod to get it to actually fit....

Tomat Sun Hood - Amazon

iaincaradoc · Jun 25, 2020

The iPhone X is a 5.8" screen. That hood supposedly fits up to 5.5"

I'm guessing it's just a tad too small.

Gealousy · Jun 25, 2020

Yeah the odd thing is that it’s almost like the hood is too big for it. I’ll try to post a pic.

AtortPhotography · Jun 26, 2020

Ttrent said:
I end up flying my Air2 often near the water on very sunny days. Even with my iPhone at maximum brightness, I still have a ton of difficulty seeing my screen.
I'm curious if anyone can recommend a specific hood they use to shade their phone when attached to the controller.

I'm also playing with the FlyMore included ND filters to see how they affect tracking objects in full sun over the water. Without a filter boats don't track well. I believe this to be because they are way overexposed.
I'll share my results with filter and object tracking after I have more data.

Thanks!

Ted

Smart Controller solves that problem....pray for firmware update from lame DJI.

Dave Maine · Jun 26, 2020

A monitor hood is a partial solution. A broad brimmed hat and a position so the brim of the hat helps shade the hooded controller helps as well.

GB1Yorkshire1 · Jun 26, 2020

Dave Maine said:
A monitor hood is a partial solution. A broad brimmed hat and a position so the brim of the hat helps shade the hooded controller helps as well.

Has anyone thought of using DJI or equivalent goggles rather than a iPhone?
I am seriously thinking of buying a pair because of my inability to see the screen
Suggestions welcome!

coneslayer · Jun 26, 2020

GB1Yorkshire1 said:
Has anyone thought of using DJI or equivalent goggles rather than a iPhone?
I am seriously thinking of buying a pair because of my inability to see the screen

The Mavic Air 2 is not yet compatible with goggles.

iaincaradoc · Jun 26, 2020

GB1Yorkshire1 said:
Has anyone thought of using DJI or equivalent goggles rather than a iPhone?

As I understand it (I haven't had my Air2 that long) one requires the Smart Controller to use the goggles, and the Air2 isn't supported by the Smart Controller until the firmware update everyone's been waiting for.

Also - doesn't using goggles mean that one is required to also have a visual observer handy to maintain LoS on the aircraft while the pilot is engoggled?

chuckm · Jun 26, 2020

THE CYBORG said:
I don’t get on with DSLR’s, everything is menu driven I liked all the twiddly things, sold all my 35mm equipment & settled for a basically point & shoot Canon SX50 HS I don’t get as creative but with image stabilising and a 50 times optical zoom I still get some good shots.
I have no idea what focal length a 50 times zoom equates to but it certainly gets me close.

I own a 600 mm Sony that is 25 times, so I would say 50 times is 1200 mm, wow.