Mavic AIR Indoor Flight. Vision Mode. Swerving Left To Right.

[plainman007]

Hi,

I was shooting some footage 2 days back indoor and it was a fairly large living room, approx 20ft by 50' long. I just tried to film in a straight line center thru the 50ft length. Was in the middle of the room and in tripod mode. Vision sensors active. And i was flying straight with a gentle push of the joystick. It goes straight and then takes a swerve (snake like) to the left and then to the right kind of, killing the shot. Redid several times with same results. Couldnt get to just film super slow in a straight line.

How do you shoot indoors in this kind of situation ? Vision/obstacle sensors to be deactivated ?

 

[BearMan54]

Hold it in your hand would be best indoors...

 

[Mossiback]

Shooting indoors you lose GPS stabilization so it can be pushed around by drafts, including those made by it's own propellers. The positioning sensors will help hold it still if there is a unique pattern under it to fix on but this will not help while moving. Normally while shooting indoors it is best to put on prop guards and disable obstacle sensors.

 

[fegan]

My choice would be a GoPro on a gimbal...flying a drone this size indoors is looking for trouble.
If you really need to use a drone, perhaps a Spark if 1080p is enough for the project your working on?

 

[plainman007]

I tried walking with it in my hand but the capture was going tilted to one side even though i held the drone straight and oriented in a flying position.

However the living cum dining room is fairly huge, approx 1000sqft, with 15 feet high ceilings.

I had prop guards on. But i didnt have the obstacle sensors off. Is it possible the sensors sense something and try to pus away from surfaces below causing side drift ?

 

[Mossiback]

... Is it possible the sensors sense something and try to pus away from surfaces below causing side drift ?

If anything, the bottom sensors would make it rise up if it flew over an object.

Did you fly in Tripod mode?

 

[plainman007]

Yes i was in Tripod mode ! I shouldn't have been ?

 

[plainman007]

My understanding so far has been that when theres no GPS the MA would enter Vision Mode. In Vision mode only 5m is the max height we can fly. If we deactivate the downward vision sensors it goes into ATTI mode and then allows 30m max altitude of flight in that mode ?

Please correct me if im wrong.

 

[plainman007]

My choice would be a GoPro on a gimbal...flying a drone this size indoors is looking for trouble.
If you really need to use a drone, perhaps a Spark if 1080p is enough for the project your working on?

Maybe i could get the katana type mount to hold the MA and then point it manually. Does that work as you walk and pan, or the gimbal goes woozy and starts veering off to one side or down ?

 

[Mossiback]

Yes i was in Tripod mode ! I shouldn't have been ?

I recommend Tripod mode for indoors so you are okay. Indoor shots are normally slow and short. You could try hand-holding. It takes some practice but my MP works well (folded up with props removed) as the gimbal smooths out my movements. I think your original problem is that without GPS to help hold a course you are subject to movement of the air mass you are flying through. Your own prop wash will create turbulence that can push you around.

 

[Crunch]

Hand held works really well indoors in my experience. I simply don't fly indoors anymore, I did initially but I've seen too much odd behaviour. I think that lack of GPS combined with magnetic fields (metal, electrical wiring) and surfaces that confuse sensors (carpets, highly polished surfaces) means that crashes are inevitable. If I had to fly inside I would turn off all of the sensors I could, perhaps even try shield from GPS (a random connection near a window, might be confusing), finally make sure nobody was nearby. Last time I flew inside it was hovering then suddenly went full power into a leather chair, I didn't touch a thing. In hind sight it would have been interesting to look at the flight log.

 

[plainman007]

Hand held works really well indoors in my experience. I simply don't fly indoors anymore, I did initially but I've seen too much odd behaviour. I think that lack of GPS combined with magnetic fields (metal, electrical wiring) and surfaces that confuse sensors (carpets, highly polished surfaces) means that crashes are inevitable. If I had to fly inside I would turn off all of the sensors I could, perhaps even try shield from GPS (a random connection near a window, might be confusing), finally make sure nobody was nearby. Last time I flew inside it was hovering then suddenly went full power into a leather chair, I didn't touch a thing. In hind sight it would have been interesting to look at the flight log.

When i do handheld indoors, will the pitch angle change on its own. In my experience when i frame a room, as i change my angle walking around but keeping the nose pointed (as i would a normal camera) at the subject, the camera angle has changed from the nose direction and is pointing elsewhere. How will i frame what im shooting ?

 

[ciscokid]

When shooting inside i use the OSMO and it is awesome. Great video and stills. very smooth.

 

[CanadaDrone]

Indoors you are better off putting the Mavic Air in a rig and using it like a traditional video camera. The gimbal still works perfectly and all other principles apply, so you're good to go.

The other thing you can do is use your smartphone - assuming it shoots 4K/30P the quality will be roughly the same as sensor sizes and resolution are the same on most common smartphones and the Mavic Air. Bitrate however is not 100 Mbps.

 

[plainman007]

Indoors you are better off putting the Mavic Air in a rig and using it like a traditional video camera. The gimbal still works perfectly and all other principles apply, so you're good to go.

The other thing you can do is use your smartphone - assuming it shoots 4K/30P the quality will be roughly the same as sensor sizes and resolution are the same on most common smartphones and the Mavic Air. Bitrate however is not 100 Mbps.

Ill try getting a Katana type hand grip to hold onto the MA.
I had one other problem when flying indoors and outdoors of the same building for that matter. The LED lights even though i selected OFF WHEN RECORDING option wouldnt ever turn off. I had to click the other 2 options which permanently switch off the LED's (Back LEDs off toggle & Front LEDs Toggle). Then why give an option called Turn Off LEDs when recording ?

I was trying to do that because the LED lights were being reflected off the glass surfaces.