Green River Gorge, King County, Washington

[KeithLa]

www.skypixel.com/videos/green-river-gorge-washington

Mavic Pro Platinum, DJI Go 4 Editor (hence low res video, created from 720p local video cache files)

Green River Gorge, King County, Washington

• KeithLa
• Jul 24, 2018

 

[KeithLa]

In case anyone wondering: I post to DJI's SkyPixel site because my videos created in DJI Go 4 don't play well on YouTube, for some reason (skips, A/V synch problems). Very curious that SkyPixel plays them OK.

 

[Twice_Knightly]

Hi Keith, Great footage.

Are you capturing audio with your Mavic? in the video it sounds like there is the running water audio.

Thanks for the post.

 

[KeithLa]

Hi Keith, Great footage.

Are you capturing audio with your Mavic? in the video it sounds like there is the running water audio.

Thanks for the post.

DJI Go 4 has an option to capture local device audio with the cached video, but it is off by default in the app. This movie was made in the DJI Go 4 Editor, using the locally stored 720p clips with audio, but I only enabled it on the first couple scenes with the background waterfall sound.

Unfortunately, it doesn't sync very well, so the dog barks you can hear in one of the river scenes occur a second or two after the dogs actually appeared.

I actually like the DJI go 4 video editor user interface, but it does have quality quirks like that.

 

[Twice_Knightly]

I tried turning on audio cached in the settings thinking it would add it to the video recording. Then i realized it was cached.

Havent tried to find it yet. Is the audio in a separate audio file or with cached 720 video?

Thanks.

 

[KeithLa]

Audio is recorded directly in the cached video files.

 

[Twice_Knightly]

Oh I see. Thanks for the info Keith. Ill be sure to try it and see what happens.

Fly safe.

 

[architect.aliqais]

Beautiful capture,
I'm a newbie if you haven't noticed., So which is the one to go with? Airmap shows more 'do not fly zones' and orange circles than others basically makes me feel like I should return my drone It includes every single airport in the area (large to tiny.

Hover is giving me hope looks better gives me the most hope.

B4UFly is not user-friendly (IMO).

Also, it seems like there differences in the range around airports. I'm in the Puget Sound (Seattle/Tacoma) area.

If there is someone from the Seattle/Tacoma (Puget Sound) area please chime in with any thoughts or hints or experiences, I'm all ears (eyes). Should I just return it and say I can't use this awesome thing because of all the regulations?

 

[KeithLa]

Should I just return it and say I can't use this awesome thing because of all the regulations?

No, but reading the shrill lectures, blatant misinformation, and fear mongering on this forum, I can understand how it feels that way to many new drone owners. For example, I wrote an entry on here a few months ago talking about how too many people on this forum misunderstand and misuse the "no fly zone" (NFZ) term, often incorrectly referring to DJI's "warning zones" as NFZs.

In another example, last month I also corrected someone's incorrect interpretation of zones on the official Switzerland flight map, where it's actually legal to fly within the city of Zurich under a particular altitude.

I rely on AirMap and DJI's GeoZone map to assess safety and legality of flight areas, plus websites published by local aviation authorities, where available. With AirMap, remember to zoom in to only the specific radius you're actually going to fly, otherwise it'll show the myriad warnings and restrictions beyond that. I've found DJI's map to correspond well to what good judgement would conclude in given areas.

Thanks for the compliment on my Green River Gorge video, one of my earliest. Check out this thread for related discussion about regulations in Europe, and pics and videos from my recent visit there: Zurich, Italy, Greece, Malta, Amsterdam: Suggestions, restrictions?

 

[Twice_Knightly]

Should I just return it and say I can't use this awesome thing because of all the regulations?

Hey there aliqias, I recently got my first Mavic as well. I have had similar issues trying to figure out where to fly. Mainly where to practice and test things. I also use AirMap which helps, ill check out Hover.
I found a park in Carnation that is not too out of the way for me. Tolt river John Macdonald park, It's pretty wide open and clear of any airfield circles. One of the park staff said it was cool with them for me to fly there just to not fly over the campsite area. Also did not have many people there at the time I went. The staff member did mention something about king county having its own regulations on drones however when I did some search for any info I did not find anything about that. Maybe KiethLa knows more about it?

I definitely don't regret getting my Mavic I bet you won't either. Thanks, and Enjoy!

 

[KeithLa]

I haven't looked up King County park rules, and actually don't really know of any such parks in particular. Drones are prohibited in all Seattle and Bellevue city parks, and all Washington state parks.

Drones are permitted at Luther Burbank Park on Lake Washington on Mercer Island, which is pretty scenic and spacious, though can be crowded.

Drones are permitted at Sixty Acre Park in Redmond, but it's a little boring there.

Rattlesnake Lake in North Bend is beautiful for flying over water, but beaches can be busy. Note, I have seen a low flying heli there, who looked to be near 400' over trees.

Other good practice spots are school sports fields after school hours, friends' yards, empty lots.

As for heliports and airfields, my take is to use common sense and judgment if you're a few miles away. I've placed a few calls to private heliports less than five miles from my home, and had a conversation with one of the owners and chopper pilots. He wasn't too concerned about me flying my drone under 400 feet AGL, and as you start flying your drone more, you'll realize it's usually pointless to go more than 200-300ft very often, because there's really nothing very interesting to see or photograph that high. Most often when I've wanted to climb high above my take off point, it was to track along a hillside, anyway.