Air 2 Foggy morning flight over the American River Parkway

[Steve F]

Posting a video of a flight I did this morning under foggy conditions over the American River Parkway on the east side of Sacramento, California.
Much of the flight is on the edge of the fog bank when it is thicker. To minimize the hazard of moisture when the fog was more intense, I would only dip below it on relatively shorter intervals.

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[Jack43]

Posting a video of a flight I did this morning under foggy conditions over the American River Parkway on the east side of Sacramento, California.

Hi Steve,
you have some really amazing and mistic shots/views! The music fits very well...But unfortunately the video is way too long. I´m afraid that no one will watch the video to the end! ?
cheers Paul

 

[SkyeHigh]

Hi Steve,
you have some really amazing shots/views! The music fits very well...But unfortunately the video is way too long. I´m afraid that no one will watch the video to the end! [emoji26]
cheers Paul

Sorry to say I agree. The length is fine if you’re watching it yourself or if you know the area but for another viewer, especially online, the attention span isn’t there.

Better to edit shorter and use your absolute best shots with plenty of variety and keep it under 3-mins.

A typical professionally filmed shoot rarely uses more than a third of what was captured.

That said there’s some lovely footage.

 

[Jack43]

Sorry to say I agree.

??

 

[Mazdaman323lx]

Epic Capture my man , but with footage that good its hard to cut out any of it . Screw the begrudges , as long as your happy with the finished video that's all that matters.

 

[A.O.]

Pretty cool...

 

[DaveS]

Don't you love flying around fog! It all looks so "other-worldly." Nice job Steve. Real steady flying. Yes. the length is too much. Also, you should have stopped down the iris more when flying toward the sun, assuming you have a Mavic 2 Pro. If you don't have iris control, dial down the ISO all the way and/or add a heavier ND filter. You'd still see the fog but the sun would look better.

 

[RustyRussell]

I was hypnotized! If that was my footage, I would hate to have to eliminate any of it - beautiful. I love moody, misty video and when I see "fog patches" in the forecast (Toronto, ON) I'm off like a shot early in the morning. A few weeks ago, some heavier fog rolled in unexpectedly off Lake Ontario as I returned to home and my MA stopped dead. I was unable to move it - lost all contact. It was hovering above a marsh, for the longest time, but finally got it back with literally 1% of battery left. For some reason the RTH failed. A close call! Again, wonderful video which looked amazing on my TV and great music to boot!

 

[Steve F]

Thanks for all the feedback. I have been torn on cutting the length as well, as I wanted to document the full journey. But this seems to be a recurring piece of feedback I have gotten that I probably need to take to heart more seriously.

 

[Steve F]

Hi Steve,
you have some really amazing and mistic shots/views! The music fits very well...But unfortunately the video is way too long. I´m afraid that no one will watch the video to the end! ?
cheers Paul

So, did you miss the part where I flew under the bridge?

 

[Steve F]

Don't you love flying around fog! It all looks so "other-worldly." Nice job Steve. Real steady flying. Yes. the length is too much. Also, you should have stopped down the iris more when flying toward the sun, assuming you have a Mavic 2 Pro. If you don't have iris control, dial down the ISO all the way and/or add a heavier ND filter. You'd still see the fog but the sun would look better.

Thanks for the feedback Dave. I used a Mavic Air 2 with a polarizer. To get a more robust signal, I am using a Yagi antenna booster from Drone Valley. Although I do you ND filters on occasion, I find that it limits my ability to get sharper still photos. After this flight was over, I still was able to spend another 5 minutes capturing some nice still shots.

 

[Steve F]

I was hypnotized! If that was my footage, I would hate to have to eliminate any of it - beautiful. I love moody, misty video and when I see "fog patches" in the forecast (Toronto, ON) I'm off like a shot early in the morning. A few weeks ago, some heavier fog rolled in unexpectedly off Lake Ontario as I returned to home and my MA stopped dead. I was unable to move it - lost all contact. It was hovering above a marsh, for the longest time, but finally got it back with literally 1% of battery left. For some reason the RTH failed. A close call! Again, wonderful video which looked amazing on my TV and great music to boot!

That is a nail biter. I have had one time in the fog where the drone started ascending on its own. I was able to regain control after getting it back via the RTH button, with it flying back above the fog layer. I am thinking that it must have had some condensation on its downward facing sensor that subsequently evaporated off.

 

[Dale D]

Posting a video of a flight I did this morning under foggy conditions over the American River Parkway on the east side of Sacramento, California.
Much of the flight is on the edge of the fog bank when it is thicker. To minimize the hazard of moisture when the fog was more intense, I would only dip below it on relatively shorter intervals.

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Accept third party cookies

Beautiful scenes but waaaayyy too long. I just could not watch 8 minutes of fog.

 

[SkyeHigh]

Ideally the length should suit the intended target. If you’re documenting then stay with the full version. If on the other hand it’s more for entertainment or to be part of a showreel then shorter.

It’s still great footage.

 

[SpitFire]

Nice footage, each to his own as far as the length of the video.

 

[normanh2]

Hi Steve,
you have some really amazing and mistic shots/views! The music fits very well...But unfortunately the video is way too long. I´m afraid that no one will watch the video to the end! ?
cheers Paul

Respectfully agree.

 

[Dale D]

Beautiful scenes but waaaayyy too long. I just could not watch 8 minutes of fog.

My Vimeo account weekly report repeatedly advises me that my view rate (e.g.: FINISHES) is about 30%. That is, only one out of three viewers see my 3-4 minute films to the end. This stat has been consistent for at least the past 2 years of of my Vimeo account. Remember- only One out of three ((1/3rd) of the viewers finish. Average viewing time is about 1 1/2 minutes!!!

 

[Jack43]

So, did you miss the part where I flew under the bridge?

finally I saw it! As I said above, very nice shots but way too long!

 

[jowlymonster]

Stunning conditions, well captured, but I'd echo some of the other comments in that it's probably too long in its current form- although it would work well as one of those "slow-tv" pieces that sometimes get shown!

 

[Steve F]

My Vimeo account weekly report repeatedly advises me that my view rate (e.g.: FINISHES) is about 30%. That is, only one out of three viewers see my 3-4 minute films to the end. This stat has been consistent for at least the past 2 years of of my Vimeo account. Remember- only One out of three ((1/3rd) of the viewers finish. Average viewing time is about 1 1/2 minutes!!!

Sighhhh....