Flying over ships

[johnnylang]

Any advice for flying and filming large container/oil tanker ships?
I love the footage and got myself in a good position last week, ship came along, flew out to it, about 40m above, popped active track on, good footage but upon circling I got the message about bad interference and screen blacked out briefly before moving away and closer to home point,

Anything I was doing wrong or any tips how
I can get good footage?

Cheers

 

[itsneedtokno]

Any advice for flying and filming large container/oil tanker ships?
I love the footage and got myself in a good position last week, ship came along, flew out to it, about 40m above, popped active track on, good footage but upon circling I got the message about bad interference and screen blacked out briefly before moving away and closer to home point,

Anything I was doing wrong or any tips how
I can get good footage?

Cheers

What drone are you using?

 

[johnnylang]

What drone are you using?

M2 zoom

 

[itsneedtokno]

How far away were you?

I'm thinking the ship had WiFi, and Ocusync 2.0 being a wifi based system might have caught some interference on the far side of the ship (with the ship between you and the drone). I would maybe suggest flying higher on the far side to alleviate any possibility of the above. On the near side you should be fine at any elevation really (assuming you aren't 8km away). Just don't fly too low.

 

[Hamish McSporran]

Could the ship have had a surface-scanning radar system? If it was ocean going then this is likely. At only 40m up you'd definitely be in its wave.

Or maybe it was the AIS transponder (less likely I think)?

 

[johnnylang]

Thanks for the replies guys, the interference was at its worst when on the far side of the ship, so that makes perfect sense now, maybe i'll try higher next time!
Thanks again for taking the time to reply!

 

[Meta4]

Could the ship have had a surface-scanning radar system? If it was ocean going then this is likely. At only 40m up you'd definitely be in its wave.
Or maybe it was the AIS transponder (less likely I think)?

Marine radar, AIS transponders adn all the other equipment on a ship doesn't produce any significant interference for DJI drones at that sort of distance.

 

[Dakarenduro]

The ship being a large metal object between you and the drone would be a significant factor. As others stated, higher might be better.

Be sure to adjust RTH height, you wouldnt want it to go into RTH mode and fly into the side of a container stacked on the deck!

 

[RoarRoar]

Keep your altitude up. Ive done plenty of ship flybys and ship chases. I've never had my screen blackout.

 

[DillyDrones]

Ive only had cutout issues when filming large grain ships in my hometown when im pushing my range limits.

 

[Davros007]

The ship being a large metal object between you and the drone would be a significant factor. As others stated, higher might be better.

Be sure to adjust RTH height, you wouldnt want it to go into RTH mode and fly into the side of a container stacked on the deck!

You could at least then email DJI that it was on its way back to China for a crash repair and possible water damage! Might get there quicker than standard postage these days!