Mavic 2 Pro Iceland

[Moura]

Hi, i am a photographer and will take a mavic pro 2 to iceland in September. I am a beginner will be my first drone. As i have less time to learn, i want to ask wich is the best settings for movie in day light, sunset or even in night to film the auroras. Thanks in advance

 

[DAFlys]

You have enough time to learn, you should find somewhere flat and clear and learn to fly and film and build confidence in your drone. I would not want to take a new drone out the box and fly it the first time over terrain where I might not be able to retrieve it or worse it falls out the sky onto people and thats with some experience flying. My Mavic 2 Pro was stolen in italy a couple of weeks ago and im going back through this process to make sure I have a reliable replacement.

I would recommend a set of ND filters (I like Polar Pro x6) so that you can use ISO 100/ f4 / 25-30fps. F4 seems to be the sweet spot for me, also consider adding some sharpness to the custom profile for photos.

The other tweaks I like to make is the sensitivity of the sticks/gimbal, there are advanced settings that will slow down movement and braking speeds so that you can get smoother video.

Also note that Iceland is starting to ban drones from tourist hot spots due to incidents, best to keep an eye out for signs.

Very jealous I would love to go to iceland.

 

[SmileyGC]

I am still learning after 6 months and a few holidays away with my M2Z.
I leave the camera on auto and it seems to do fine.. I have a set of ND filters which I purchased before going to Sweden and -15 snow, but never used them...
Check out my YouTube banner that was taken in Sweden - everything on Auto..
Same with the video...
YouTube Channel is MrSmileyGC...

MrSmileyGC

If possible, please watch my videos on a big TV with the sound turned on..... Living in rural Thailand with its different culture, a vast array of attraction...

www.youtube.com

I would like some polorizer filters though to sort out the skys...

 

[CanadaDrone]

First and foremost, Iceland is not a place you want to fly without experience. The weather there can change on a dime (think tropical island weather, but near the Arctic) and things like wind profiles and precipitation can be completely different even 100ft away from where you're standing. Make sure you devote the necessary time to learning what you need to.

Best photo/video settings are entirely situation dependent, there is no general settings you can just set and forget. I suggest getting a set of ND filters if you haven't already though - ND4/8/16 will be plenty. The only universal thing I can think of is to try keep the aperture at F4 (or close to it) for maximum sharpness - the image degrades quite quickly beyond that and by F8-11 is unusable (by my standards).

As for Iceland....

As soon as you guys get out of the Golden Triangle area, it's WAY less busy. I was there in May of this year and on the East/North I would often drive for 20 minutes without seeing another car. The boutique hotels we stayed in often only had 1-2 other guests. It was fantastic. Reykjavik and area were much, much, busier, but never too bad.

Just off the top of my head, some of the nicer areas you could fly were:

Godafoss (Drive up)
Barnafossar (Drive up)
Bruarfoss (short, very easy 4km hike/walk required - very worth it)
Urriðafoss (Drive up)
Sauðárkrókur and area
Anywhere you can safely pull over that is not in a National Park and not near prominent visitor areas. Lots of areas in the South/South East are gorgeous and there is nobody around.

There were lots of random places I wanted to fly, but couldn't due to wind/rain.


You will probably want to fly, but unfortunately you can NOT fly at all the really famous stops, including but not limited to:

Kerið crater
Seljalandsfoss
Skógafoss
Gullfoss
Svartifoss
Dettifoss
Kirkjufell
Geysir
Anywhere inside Vatnajökull National Park (very recently declared a UNESCO World Heritage site)
Anywhere inside Thingvellir National Park (this includes Silfra and Oxararfoss)
Anywhere inside Snæfellsjökull National Park

If you're looking at the suffixes, 'jokull' means glacier and 'foss' means waterfall. You will have waterfall fatigue by the end haha - there just so many, even just on the side of the road as you're driving around, so don''t worry about not getting enough pictures/video of those.

The "no drone" signs were usually obvious, but sometimes not. They were usually located at the entrances to various parking lots, so keep an eye out for them and respect them.

Also note I could not calibrate my compass anywhere in that entire country, but it was never incorrect (you can check on the map), and it was not an issue whatsoever.

Your drone has to be marked with your name & phone number to fly there legally.

If you have any other questions about Iceland itself or flying there, feel free to PM me.

 

[Moura]

You have enough time to learn, you should find somewhere flat and clear and learn to fly and film and build confidence in your drone. I would not want to take a new drone out the box and fly it the first time over terrain where I might not be able to retrieve it or worse it falls out the sky onto people and thats with some experience flying. My Mavic 2 Pro was stolen in italy a couple of weeks ago and im going back through this process to make sure I have a reliable replacement.

I would recommend a set of ND filters (I like Polar Pro x6) so that you can use ISO 100/ f4 / 25-30fps. F4 seems to be the sweet spot for me, also consider adding some sharpness to the custom profile for photos.

The other tweaks I like to make is the sensitivity of the sticks/gimbal, there are advanced settings that will slow down movement and braking speeds so that you can get smoother video.

Also note that Iceland is starting to ban drones from tourist hot spots due to incidents, best to keep an eye out for signs.

Very jealous I would love to go to iceland.

Thanks! Already bought the filters, but only nd, not pl... im sorry with your drone!

 

[Moura]

I am still learning after 6 months and a few holidays away with my M2Z.
I leave the camera on auto and it seems to do fine.. I have a set of ND filters which I purchased before going to Sweden and -15 snow, but never used them...
Check out my YouTube banner that was taken in Sweden - everything on Auto..
Same with the video...
YouTube Channel is MrSmileyGC...

MrSmileyGC

If possible, please watch my videos on a big TV with the sound turned on..... Living in rural Thailand with its different culture, a vast array of attraction...

www.youtube.com

I would like some polorizer filters though to sort out the skys...

I bought only the nd filter pack. The pl is not easy to use inthe air... Thanks

 

[Thomas B]

@Moura .... Apparently you do have to register your drone and label it with the number issued... more in fo and contact phone number is in the link below:

Drone Laws in Iceland | UAV Coach (2023)

Want to learn more about drone laws in Iceland? Check out our list of links and regulations for people flying drones in Iceland.

uavcoach.com

 

[Moura]

@Moura .... Apparently you do have to register your drone and label it with the number issued... more in fo and contact phone number is in the link below:

Drone Laws in Iceland | UAV Coach (2023)

Want to learn more about drone laws in Iceland? Check out our list of links and regulations for people flying drones in Iceland.

uavcoach.com

Thanks Thomas, i will read carrefully.

 

[CanadaDrone]

Thanks Thomas, i will read carrefully.

Here are the rules from the Icelandic Transportation Authority rather than a blog:

Icelandic Transport Authority

The Icelandic Transport Authority is responsible for the administration and supervision of aviation, maritime and road traffic safety and the safety and supervision of transport infrastructure and navigation systems.

www.icetra.is

 

[DesertDan]

I would be surprised if you could capture the aurora with a drone as you need like 10+ seconds exposure time.

 

[Thomas B]

I would be surprised if you could capture the aurora with a drone as you need like 10+ seconds exposure time.

If photos don’t work... Pic a vantage point without ground lights. No filter. Adjust your Fstop until you see the aurora. In the drone feed on your control device. Then launch and film. Capture stills in post

 

[Moura]

I would be surprised if you could capture the aurora with a drone as you need like 10+ seconds exposure time.

Better with a DSLR, but lets see managing the ISO and 2.8 aperture.

 

[macfawlty]

I use the ND64 and ND32 filters more than others on sunny days, but perhaps Iceland is cloudy/overcast most of the time. I’ve heard it’s best to keep aperture at f5.6 or below.

 

[bazuchan]

Just for reference, I took spherical panorama of aurora in Iceland last year, m2p all settings auto: aurora in iceland

 

[TSUPD]

Great advice and accurate. I was there last year and there are a lot of no drone zones around there. That's the last thing you want to do (get it trouble). However, there still are plenty of places you can fly. Vik is nice with the black sand beaches, but there are nearby no drone zones. Have fun.

First and foremost, Iceland is not a place you want to fly without experience. The weather there can change on a dime (think tropical island weather, but near the Arctic) and things like wind profiles and precipitation can be completely different even 100ft away from where you're standing. Make sure you devote the necessary time to learning what you need to.

Best photo/video settings are entirely situation dependent, there is no general settings you can just set and forget. I suggest getting a set of ND filters if you haven't already though - ND4/8/16 will be plenty. The only universal thing I can think of is to try keep the aperture at F4 (or close to it) for maximum sharpness - the image degrades quite quickly beyond that and by F8-11 is unusable (by my standards).

As for Iceland....

As soon as you guys get out of the Golden Triangle area, it's WAY less busy. I was there in May of this year and on the East/North I would often drive for 20 minutes without seeing another car. The boutique hotels we stayed in often only had 1-2 other guests. It was fantastic. Reykjavik and area were much, much, busier, but never too bad.

Just off the top of my head, some of the nicer areas you could fly were:

Godafoss (Drive up)
Barnafossar (Drive up)
Bruarfoss (short, very easy 4km hike/walk required - very worth it)
Urriðafoss (Drive up)
Sauðárkrókur and area
Anywhere you can safely pull over that is not in a National Park and not near prominent visitor areas. Lots of areas in the South/South East are gorgeous and there is nobody around.

There were lots of random places I wanted to fly, but couldn't due to wind/rain.


You will probably want to fly, but unfortunately you can NOT fly at all the really famous stops, including but not limited to:

Kerið crater
Seljalandsfoss
Skógafoss
Gullfoss
Svartifoss
Dettifoss
Kirkjufell
Geysir
Anywhere inside Vatnajökull National Park (very recently declared a UNESCO World Heritage site)
Anywhere inside Thingvellir National Park (this includes Silfra and Oxararfoss)
Anywhere inside Snæfellsjökull National Park

If you're looking at the suffixes, 'jokull' means glacier and 'foss' means waterfall. You will have waterfall fatigue by the end haha - there just so many, even just on the side of the road as you're driving around, so don''t worry about not getting enough pictures/video of those.

The "no drone" signs were usually obvious, but sometimes not. They were usually located at the entrances to various parking lots, so keep an eye out for them and respect them.

Also note I could not calibrate my compass anywhere in that entire country, but it was never incorrect (you can check on the map), and it was not an issue whatsoever.

Your drone has to be marked with your name & phone number to fly there legally.

If you have any other questions about Iceland itself or flying there, feel free to PM me.

 

[CanadaDrone]

If photos don’t work... Pic a vantage point without ground lights. No filter. Adjust your Fstop until you see the aurora. In the drone feed on your control device. Then launch and film. Capture stills in post

You can get a much longer exposure with a single photo rather than video even on a M2P. It's very unlikely you're going to be able to capture it with video, especially with the poor (relative) ISO performance on the M2P and F2.8 isn't that wide of an aperture. Virtually all the video you see of the Auroras are long exposure time lapses for this reason - to the naked eye or standard video they don't look anything like they do in most pictures or professional productions, unfortunately.

 

[frantheviking]

All this thing of the No-drone zone is bothersome... Is there any rule that says from what point beyong that rule applies? What if I stop let's say 200m before the signal, is it still a no-drone zone? This is not clear to me at all... It makes sense that form the moment you see the signal, closer to the attsraction you cannot fly, but what is you move 100m away (to say)?

 

[Moura]

I never been there but is no possibility to fly at sunrise for example when people are sleeping and no one around the spots? Since the major problem is flying over people...

 

[frantheviking]

I really don't know what the motivations are, but it would make sense to fly even at this places if:

1. You don't disturb people or fly over them, ask for permission
2. Don't disturb animals
3. Don't exceed the max altitude
4. Fly responsible

Just prohibiting for the sake of it, makes no sense

 

[globetrotterdrone]

Just prohibiting for the sake of it, makes no sense

I know, but just prohibiting it is the easiest approach for them.
Ban it and all you ever do is illegal. It's cumbersome, as you pointed out but on the other side, there are reckless flyers too, those extremes are never good.

I wish there were less rules and more common sense if people would care about their neighbours as much as for themselves.