Got My First Real Drone Video Planned!

Syphon · Dec 28, 2016

So, I got my Mavic Pro about 3 weeks. I have been practicing and getting to know the aircraft. I took some cool video of my neighborhood but nothing super cool yet.

The third tallest light house in the US, Ponce De Leon (175 ft) is only an hour from me, but sits only 1.2 miles off the runway of a busy municipal airport, Class D space. Their website has a form for drone pilots to submit their flight notification, which I did asking for a max altitude of 300ft for Friday afternoon, but figured they would deny it since it was so close to the airport.

Just got a call from ATC telling me they are cool with the flight as long as I adjust my max altitude to 200ft and if I want 5 minutes to go up to 300ft to just call them back on the number they called me from and they can give me a few minutes to go up to 300ft. It was super easy to setup.

Now I am just working on my shot list for the flight! Can't wait! I hope future ATC are as cool as this one. I have a few other lighthouses I will be hitting up that are within 5 miles of airports, none as close as this one is though.

Marque Glisson · Dec 28, 2016

sweet get some good shots!

TRP · Dec 28, 2016

ATC in my area are very cool headed about me flying the last few years. There is a regional airport within 5 miles of a large park I fly at and I just call the tower with my altitude and get the green light.

Marque Glisson · Dec 28, 2016

Robert Mitchell · Dec 28, 2016

Interesting. I filed for and finally got part 107 airspace authorization for that same airport, NSB muni. My sister lives across the inlet. They really are easy to work with, and appreciate operators working with them.

Good luck with your video!

Syphon · Dec 30, 2016

Video complete!

Marque Glisson · Dec 31, 2016

great job!

Golfnut · Dec 31, 2016

Your practice paid off Syphon. Well done. Also great to see you didn't just unpack the Mavic and take off for parts unknown. A responsible pilot for sure.

Joe Cosentino · Dec 31, 2016

Practice does help, I have been practicing with mine, no cool videos yet. But there are so many reports of my Mavic crashed and you see them take it out of the box put it in sport mode and take off with no practice and then they blame the aircraft when it crashes or gets lost.

Good Job oh and as a pilot ATC will always try and make your flight possible. They would rather know you are at 200 feet then not know your craft is out there.

ghostrider215 · Jan 2, 2017

Syphon said:
Video complete!

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Great video! What settings did you have the camera on if you don't mind me asking?

Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

halley · Jan 2, 2017

Syphon said:
they are cool with the flight as long as I adjust my max altitude to 200ft and if I want 5 minutes to go up to 300ft to just call them back on the number they called me from and they can give me a few minutes to go up to 300ft

This is a great attitude/solution to work with the drone pilots as pilots.

Syphon · Jan 2, 2017

ghostrider215 said:
Great video! What settings did you have the camera on if you don't mind me asking?

Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

Was on D-Cinelike -1,-1,-1 and then I did some color grading in post. I forgot to lock my exposure though

In post, I most warmed up the color (was cloudy out so it was too blue for a beach) and then just messed with contrast and saturation to get the look I wanted.

ghostrider215 · Jan 2, 2017

Thank you. Is there an easy solution to color grading that I can do right from my iPhone? If not is there a program that I can do the color grading easily to then upload videos into Instagram?

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Syphon · Jan 4, 2017

ghostrider215 said:
Thank you. Is there an easy solution to color grading that I can do right from my iPhone? If not is there a program that I can do the color grading easily to then upload videos into Instagram?

Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

Editing software has color grading in it. For example, Adobe Premiere has it in it. Final Cut Pro I believe you have to use external software. If you are wanting to just do things from the phone, you may want to just use the preset color settings in the Mavic and play with the different ones in it to achieve your look you want. The above settings are if you want a flat image where you can adjust the colors yourself.