How was this follow video achieved?

[Citizen Flier]

As a drone user & mtn biker, I'm impressed by the follow capabilities of whatever custom race unit was used to follow/video this excellent rider through so many tight squeezes. Anyone here proficient with custom race drones to fill in how this was achieved? (I tried posting this in Photo/video showcase, but I couldn't select the proper prefix to permit post)

I'm guessing the rider wore a transmitter and that there was no hands on pilot. The drone did wander off more than once, which was followed by a cut. There were also sections that appeared to be controlled my a human pilot controlling pans & rear facing shots.

A local pal here did some impressive ride tests with a Skydio that followed him accurately along a winding trail with trees/foliage etc. It mostly stayed on track, and when obstacles were too dense, the unit flew up & forward, and relocated the subject quickly. This often added an interesting bird's eye view. But the trees/foliage in my buddy's test were nothing like those in this video.

It would be interesting to know what (customized?) hardware & techniques were used for this. Perhaps commercial units would now be capable? I know that my M2P would either stop, lose the rider, or crash in terrain like this. Is there any DJI unit that could do this? (Just to be clear, this was NOT my video)

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[Deleted member 103366]

Me and my old P3adv roflmao.


Blimey that's blooming impressive flying what or who ever is responsible

 

[TheDude]

It says in the title “Race Drone” which is an FPV drone. It also says in the description of the video that it was filmed by @flowmotionaerials. On their insta he shows how he uses FPV with an Insta360 or GoPro camera on it:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGsWf7Ohgfz/?igshid=hkv57uhogrir

 

[dronerdave]

Looks like a standard FPV drone racer flying. I got a couple of friends who are into the sport. Here is a video that has been posted and discussed about for quite some time here on the forum. Some of these people's fly skills are quite impressive.

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[dirkclod]

Looks like a standard FPV drone racer flying. I got a couple of friends who are into the sport. Here is a video that has been posted and discussed about for quite some time here on the forum. Some of these people's fly skills are quite impressive.

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God yes don’t remind me ?

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Uuuuuuuummmmmmm wow, is it easier to see what is happening or what you are flying towards when wearing those goggles than it is when watching the video? The pilot adjusted the fight path and was past obstacles before I could even blooming twitch.
How long was that train?????????????
I have to admit the window shut was perhaps quite an emphatic p off and made me laugh, if so nice to see it was heeded.

 

[Citizen Flier]

Thanks. My only experience is with M2P. I occasionally do pro bono photography for a local Bicycle Museum, and other local bicycle advocacy organizations. I have limited experience doing follow videos with the M2P. It would be useful to have better follow capabilities primarily for cycling on trails. I'm not tech savvy enough to build or mod custom aircraft. I'm just an "off the shelf" guy. Even worse, I don't get paid for most of what I do in this area.

 

[dronerdave]

...wow, is it easier to see what is happening or what you are flying towards when wearing those goggles than it is when watching the video?

For me it's more like flying a RC airplane. You just react to the aircraft's attitude. After a time you just get a feel for what it can do through the goggles. However I'm not very good flying my racing drones FPV and am glad they crash so well because I've got a long way to go.

If I fly my one of my fixed wing planes steady enough, I have a buddy that can come in from behind with his drone, fly over me, turn around pointing the camera at the nose of my plane and stay inches in front of me.

 

[Lastrexking]

I think 360 cameras are the future for drones rather than gimbals. I have an insta360 one-r, and that stability is amazing, plus the option of choosing your shot after filming is amazing. Less weight, and less moving parts would make them lighter too, and more efficient battery wise.

 

[Citizen Flier]

I'm less interested in fancy flying than: #1 IQ of still images; #2 video. But close follow with better obstacle avoidance would be nice. Maybe DJI will offer a wearable transmitter for the M3P, although I suspect that's more of a Mini or Air feature.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Thinking of the inertia what is the mass of one of these acrobatic drones vs the mass of an M*P? Would it be possible to throw an M2P around the sky like that or would DJI need to starve its successor to make it that agile?

 

[VenomXts]

Looks like a standard FPV drone racer flying. I got a couple of friends who are into the sport. Here is a video that has been posted and discussed about for quite some time here on the forum. Some of these people's fly skills are quite impressive.

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lol, I follow Nurk the one that did that video.... that cost him "the price of a car" with the FAA. Super entertaining to watch his you tube stuff as i dive into FPV more and more.

 

[okw]

Though the video title says it was a "racing drone," the OP's video was certainly shot with a freestyle quad with a GoPro using ReelSteady. It was flown entirely by hand using FPV goggles, without using any type of tracking. Flow Motion Aerials, who shot the video, claims to use the Shendrones Ichabod Jr.

Some people (which does not include me ) are just that good at flying these things, as shown by the video that dronerdave posted. Nurk is a beast of a pilot, but posting that video on YouTube for all to see was not his best move.

 

[Lastrexking]

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[okw]

Thinking of the inertia what is the mass of one of these acrobatic drones vs the mass of an M*P? Would it be possible to throw an M2P around the sky like that or would DJI starve its successor?

My 5" quad, without battery, but with a RunCam 5 Orange 4K camera added weighs 518g. A 4S battery will add about 170-190g to that. There's talk that DJI is releasing an FPV quad soon. They already make FPV camera systems.

 

[Citizen Flier]

Though the video title says it was a "racing drone," the OP's video was certainly shot with a freestyle quad with a GoPro using ReelSteady. It was flown entirely by hand using FPV goggles, without using any type of tracking. Flow Motion Aerials, who shot the video, claims to use the Shendrones Ichabod Jr.

Some people (which does not include me ) are just that good at flying these things, as shown by the video that dronerdave posted. Nurk is a beast of a pilot, but posting that video on YouTube for all to see was not his best move.

That's the info I was looking for. But what about signal? Did the pilot have to keep moving closer to follow the action? Pretty sure my M2P & SC would loose signal between the rocks & trees. I did note that most sequences didn't last very long. Thanks

 

[okw]

That's the info I was looking for. But what about signal? Did the pilot have to keep moving closer to follow the action? Pretty sure my M2P & SC would loose signal between the rocks & trees. I did note that most sequences didn't last very long. Thanks

I don't know what communication and video systems they were using, but there are longer range systems available that would have better signal in the trees than others. For instance, TBS Crossfire operates at 900MHz and has much better range than the 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz control systems. Typically, the higher the frequency, the worse the signal travels through solid objects.

The biggest concern would be video reception. You can't slow down the video signal too much because the video lag would make for a short flight before you hit something. Not sure what the best video transmitters are for the best range in that kind of terrain. The short segments in the posted video shows that they couldn't go too far before the video signal started to drop off.

 

[DanMan32]

Me and my old P3adv roflmao.


Blimey that's blooming impressive flying what or who ever is responsible

So that's what that big bulge was on his back. The RC remote.

 

[Edh]

WOW, it is unbelievable how some folks just have talent in any endeavor. I guess that is what separates the Pro's from the amateurs.

 

[Moon4Drone]

OK, as an M2P and a Skydio2 pilot I, like most in the thread, are totally in awe of the flying talents of these FPV pilots. While the Skydio2 will track you hands free with the beacon, it can't do anything like an FPV with a talented pilot (

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). However, all we are hearing about as "regular" drone pilots (recreational or commercial) these days are the new FAA rules and how much regulation and restriction that we are going to be experiencing in the future. Aren't FPV drones subject to the same regs? Some of our Great Britain drone pilot friends sound as though it is getting near impossible to fly anywhere there.