Wondering why I don't see more talk about the Smart Capture hand gestures feature in the MA...do many of you all use it? Does it work as designed? I was going to order an Air mostly because of this feature...figured it would be a nice way to take selfies and group pictures during our travels and off-roading events. I'm leaning towards the M2P, but it doesn't have this feature. Would appreciate any input y'all may have. Thanks.
Hand Gestures Feature
- Thread starter OzzieHerr
- Start date
That is a really good observation, this feature is not much talked about in this forum. But there are hood, informative videos on YouTube on this subject. I was watching a few just yesterday including one guy who took the MA for an extended walk in the park with just gesture control. Do a search on YT, you will probably find out everything you need to know.
Edit: BTW, from what I have read and heard, smart capture limits you to 1080p for video recording. That is a huge turn off for me, and I can't see why I would choose smart capture over active track which performs really well and gives you the option to record in 4K. But for selfies, I guess smart capture is perfect.
raven swe
Well-Known Member
Very nice footage. I can see why and how hand gesture control can be useful. Wish it were more popular and included w/ M2P.
I use it all of the time with my Mavic Air and Spark. I am so disappointed it's not available on the Mini. IMHO it is absolutely necessary in any selfie drone. I can fire up my Spark or MA and in just a few seconds be recording in Follow Me or in a position to grab a group shot without everyone rolling their eyes while I futz with bonding my drone to a remote or even my phone.
How do you frame your shots though? I mean I get that you are at the center of the frame by default in this mode but if you have no live feed from the camera, kinda hard to judge if you are shooting yourself right, is it not?
As the Air have 85 degree FOV you theoretically will have 12,8 meter coverage vertically if you have the drone 7 meters away ... with you in the middle. Pretty easy not to miss the situation depicted ... harder of course if you want to isolate something in the scene.
One of these days, I will have to give this mode a try. I usually shoot landscapes so never even considered testing smart capture.
One more neat function that Smart capture alone have is that the active track started there either in trace or profile mode actually gain & decrease altitude with you ... When starting only Active track from the flight mode menu in GO4 the drone only decrease altitude but the drone will not ascend, instead it will go closer & closer to ground & if you are lucky & slow enough the drone will stop due to signals from the downward sensors.
Have thoroughly tested this my self & described it in the thread --> Mavic Air - here we go again ... Active track and elevation changes
Have thoroughly tested this my self & described it in the thread --> Mavic Air - here we go again ... Active track and elevation changes
I mostly use it for video capture, although you can compose your still shots by cropping in post production. Below are some links to quick videos I have made, a good deal of it is without any controller at all or using my phone only.
My Morning Run
@slup; thanks for the tip, much appreciated! Just one more question - how does low battery RTH behave in smart capture mode? Assuming I didn't have the remote controller or a phone connected to the aircraft; I initiate smart capture via the function button at the rear end of the MA, and I make it to follow me along for say 10 or so minutes - the aircraft's battery will likely reach somewhere around 30% triggering low battery RTH. Will the MA try to fly back to the take off point? Or does it stay with you till battery level and it auto-lands where it is? Just wondering if you have been in this scenario.
Edit: I did a little search and found this
The above is from this thread which I found very informative.
mavicpilots.com
Looks like I will be taking my MA along for my next bike run
For sometime now, I have been wanting to film myself mountain biking. I thought of doing this via active track but I have no means of mounting the remote controller onto the bike's handle bar, so I let it go. I should have been looking at smart capture all along. Thanks @OzzieHerr for bringing this up!
Edit #2: It seems I still have one more question
Is the aircraft's speed limited in smart capture mode? If so, to what extent? I can't seem to be able to find any info on that.
Edit #3: Also, this on p.25 of the Mavic Air User Manual is worrying; what is under "b" especially. I will have to test this mode rigorously before I take it biking.
Edit: I did a little search and found this
The above is from this thread which I found very informative.
Smart Capture - Full Flight (w/comments and questions)
Still intrigued by the Smart Capture feature without remote or app, I decided to test an entire flight on a walk down by the river. I took along my Sony action camera so I could record some footage of the drone itself and how it works in this mode. (My apologies in advance for some wind noise...
mavicpilots.com
Looks like I will be taking my MA along for my next bike run
For sometime now, I have been wanting to film myself mountain biking. I thought of doing this via active track but I have no means of mounting the remote controller onto the bike's handle bar, so I let it go. I should have been looking at smart capture all along. Thanks @OzzieHerr for bringing this up!Edit #2: It seems I still have one more question
Is the aircraft's speed limited in smart capture mode? If so, to what extent? I can't seem to be able to find any info on that.Edit #3: Also, this on p.25 of the Mavic Air User Manual is worrying; what is under "b" especially. I will have to test this mode rigorously before I take it biking.
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Further, as I recall, there is a minimum battery level that is required for you to even initiate Smart Capture, but I could be wrong.
The best suggestion I have is to take it out and try it. With some practice, you the Mavic Air does a very good job. And while the MA is much better than the Spark (which takes a bit more practice to master), I find the functionality on the Spark to a major selling point. I am astounded that more people don't use this feature and that it is not included with the Mini. This to me is a no-brainer for what is supposed to be an ultra portable / travel friendly flying camera.
The best suggestion I have is to take it out and try it. With some practice, you the Mavic Air does a very good job. And while the MA is much better than the Spark (which takes a bit more practice to master), I find the functionality on the Spark to a major selling point. I am astounded that more people don't use this feature and that it is not included with the Mini. This to me is a no-brainer for what is supposed to be an ultra portable / travel friendly flying camera.
That makes sense. I always make it a point to take off with a fully charged battery; so no worries there.
I will give it a spin in a more open environment first and see how it goes. I anticipate getting the distance and height just right for the footage to be from a nice angle is going to take some practice. I am also horrible when it comes to judging distance which will make it worse. So I hear you; practice, practice, practice!
I have had my MA for 10 months now, didn't bother with trying this feature because (1) I have mainly been shooting landscapes, and (2) I assumed - and I have no idea why - this feature was just a gimmick. I concede my assumption was absolutely baseless; I just dismissed the feature off hand. I have been searching, reading, and watching a few YT videos the last few days and I am liking this feature already. I will definitely give it a shot. You are absolutely right about the Mini - it makes no sense at all that it lacks this feature.
You're absolutely correct about testing the mode before biking! It indicates the MA will fly away max 19.7' and min 6.6'; you have to stay within 23' to maintain hand recognition. Manual also recommends using prop guards in this mode. It also mentions "Face Aware" so it might need to see your face in order to follow you...not ideal while riding bike. That said, it sounds like a great feature to have!@slup; thanks for the tip, much appreciated! Just one more question - how does low battery RTH behave in smart capture mode? Assuming I didn't have the remote controller or a phone connected to the aircraft; I initiate smart capture via the function button at the rear end of the MA, and I make it to follow me along for say 10 or so minutes - the aircraft's battery will likely reach somewhere around 30% triggering low battery RTH. Will the MA try to fly back to the take off point? Or does it stay with you till battery level and it auto-lands where it is? Just wondering if you have been in this scenario.
Edit: I did a little search and found this
The above is from this thread which I found very informative.
Smart Capture - Full Flight (w/comments and questions)
Still intrigued by the Smart Capture feature without remote or app, I decided to test an entire flight on a walk down by the river. I took along my Sony action camera so I could record some footage of the drone itself and how it works in this mode. (My apologies in advance for some wind noise...
Looks like I will be taking my MA along for my next bike run
Edit #2: It seems I still have one more question
Edit #3: Also, this on p.25 of the Mavic Air User Manual is worrying; what is under "b" especially. I will have to test this mode rigorously before I take it biking.
View attachment 88273
So I gave it a try; nice feature all in all and I can see myself using it occasionally. But it kept loosing me frequently, especially when I am on my bike. I had to keep dismounting, walking back to the MA so it could reacquire me. And I forgot to put the SD card in and was unable to record anything. Interesting morning all in all. I will give it a couple more shots before I make my final judgment on this.
If you did your test with a Mavic Air, you might be able to recover your video from the 8 Gigs drone internal memory...
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