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Gimbal angle - sideways flight

mADsAILOR

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Joined
Jan 11, 2021
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Age
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Hi all,

I know by now that flying forward in Sport creates a downward motion of the gimbal, to avoid having the body of the drone in the frame - this is a feature given the 40 degree angle the Mini2 flies at in fast forward motion.

I often shoot water skiing and have opted to fly sideways, along the slalom course - good shots and theoretically does away with above "feature" - flight has to be in Sport to keep up!

However, even in sideways flight, the gimbal seems to want to "correct" the angle by tilting the opposite way (left if flying right and right if flying left), often much more than needed (and locking there while in flight) - anyone know if this is also a "feature" or how to correct? (it has been suggested the side flight be used as a bypass of the forward flight tilting...) Seems to only happen in Sport...

Thanks!
 
The gimbal works in one of two modes.
One is "follow......" where, relative to the horizon, it tries to remain, in pitch and roll (with the limit of pitch travel exceptions that you note), where you set it. I can't remember if the drone can exceed the roll limitations of the gimbal.
The other is FPV where it does not compensate for the roll of the drone so when flying sideway you see the horizon tilt.
These options are selectable in one of the main menus, it's easy enough to find and consequently I do not remember which menu.
 
Hi all,

I know by now that flying forward in Sport creates a downward motion of the gimbal, to avoid having the body of the drone in the frame - this is a feature given the 40 degree angle the Mini2 flies at in fast forward motion.

I often shoot water skiing and have opted to fly sideways, along the slalom course - good shots and theoretically does away with above "feature" - flight has to be in Sport to keep up!

However, even in sideways flight, the gimbal seems to want to "correct" the angle by tilting the opposite way (left if flying right and right if flying left), often much more than needed (and locking there while in flight) - anyone know if this is also a "feature" or how to correct? (it has been suggested the side flight be used as a bypass of the forward flight tilting...) Seems to only happen in Sport...

Thanks!
I also bought my Mini 2 hoping to get some water ski footage. Curious how you are using yours for this. I have the Litchi App but have not been on the water yet. Hoping the follow mode will allow top speed out of the Mini 2. I believe you have to have the remote set to the Normal vs. Sport setting for the follow function to work.
Thanks
 
The gimbal works in one of two modes.
One is "follow......" where, relative to the horizon, it tries to remain, in pitch and roll (with the limit of pitch travel exceptions that you note), where you set it. I can't remember if the drone can exceed the roll limitations of the gimbal.
The other is FPV where it does not compensate for the roll of the drone so when flying sideway you see the horizon tilt.
These options are selectable in one of the main menus, it's easy enough to find and consequently I do not remember which menu.
Thanks for the reply!

Yes, I use the horizon levelling ("follow") mode on the gimbal for this type of filming, which is when the correction occurs (it IS a feature). Have learnt to live with it and correct any skew in post.

FPV wouldn't work for me on such occasions, as I want to simulate the effect of a fixed dolly travelling on rails most of the time (so level horizon)
 
I also bought my Mini 2 hoping to get some water ski footage. Curious how you are using yours for this. I have the Litchi App but have not been on the water yet. Hoping the follow mode will allow top speed out of the Mini 2. I believe you have to have the remote set to the Normal vs. Sport setting for the follow function to work.
Thanks
Hi Kris.

As I have never used Litchi, I would just state the obvious, being that the Mini2 only has a downward sensor and no front/rear or side ones. A software "follow mode" will not be aware of obstacles in the follow path... ;-)

Keep in mind like with all drones, downward sensors are not very reliable over water (reflection and ripples confuse them)

I always have to fly in Sport to keep up with the 55kph boat speed (and even then, have to sometimes pan to keep skier centred)
 

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