Mini 2 - How do I get smooth panning?

nealix · Dec 25, 2020

HI:

This is my first drone, so I have no comparison, nor do I know what I should expect.
I am shooting 4K 30fps video.
I have made about 10 flights so far, and experimented with a few gimbal settings,
and even tried an ND filter, but I find that when I pan left or right, even trying to be
slow, it plays back jumpy. What I mean is that the panning motion is jumpy. But when
I hover, climb, decend, or move forward or back, the video is silky smooth.

Does anyone have some advice, guidance, or mentoring for me?
Or is this just to be expected with an entry level drone?

Thanks,

Neal

Tony McDrone · Dec 25, 2020

Are you flying/filming while in cine mode?

Kilrah · Dec 25, 2020

The MM2 pans perfectly fine.

At what framerate are you shooting? Post an unedited file of what you see as the problem.
Usually the stutters people report have nothing to do with the control, but the way people watch their footage on a computer.

nathankw · Dec 25, 2020

nealix said:
HI:

This is my first drone, so I have no comparison, nor do I know what I should expect.
I am shooting 4K 30fps video.
I have made about 10 flights so far, and experimented with a few gimbal settings,
and even tried an ND filter, but I find that when I pan left or right, even trying to be
slow, it plays back jumpy. What I mean is that the panning motion is jumpy. But when
I hover, climb, decend, or move forward or back, the video is silky smooth.

Does anyone have some advice, guidance, or mentoring for me?
Or is this just to be expected with an entry level drone?

Thanks,

Neal

You can change the speed separately for each mode. (Advanced camera settings - gimbal settings I believe)

I'd recommend having the yaw speed very low and the smoothness very high in Cine Mode which makes it much easier to do smooth pans. If you do that the M2 is capable of very smooth pans.

lannes · Dec 25, 2020

These yaw parameters settings should apply to the Mini 2 as well, see about 5 minutes in.

nathankw · Dec 25, 2020

Also - you probably know but just in case - if you launch with the remote set to Cinemode it doesn't work - you'll actually be in normal mode.
Best to launch in normal and switch once airborne (or switch and switch back)

DanMan32 · Dec 25, 2020

I used to get stuttering on playback until I replaced my graphics card with a better model.

Jet skier · Dec 25, 2020

nealix said:
HI:

This is my first drone, so I have no comparison, nor do I know what I should expect.
I am shooting 4K 30fps video.
I have made about 10 flights so far, and experimented with a few gimbal settings,
and even tried an ND filter, but I find that when I pan left or right, even trying to be
slow, it plays back jumpy. What I mean is that the panning motion is jumpy. But when
I hover, climb, decend, or move forward or back, the video is silky smooth.

Does anyone have some advice, guidance, or mentoring for me?
Or is this just to be expected with an entry level drone?

Thanks,

Neal

I will probably get some comments but I always recommend pinching the sticks as opposed to thumbing them I think pinching makes the control more solid and fine tunable

maxpower · Dec 25, 2020

nealix said:
HI:

This is my first drone, so I have no comparison, nor do I know what I should expect.
I am shooting 4K 30fps video.
I have made about 10 flights so far, and experimented with a few gimbal settings,
and even tried an ND filter, but I find that when I pan left or right, even trying to be
slow, it plays back jumpy. What I mean is that the panning motion is jumpy. But when
I hover, climb, decend, or move forward or back, the video is silky smooth.

Does anyone have some advice, guidance, or mentoring for me?
Or is this just to be expected with an entry level drone?

Thanks,

Neal

Try a lower resolution at 60 FPS, or really really slow down your panning movement.

hiflyer201 · Dec 25, 2020

you must use the 180 rule, however...panning shots tend to be ugly. Also with 4k, shooting 265 instead of 264 can cause big problems depending on the viewing equipment.

nealix · Dec 25, 2020

Kilrah said:
The MM2 pans perfectly fine.

At what framerate are you shooting? Post an unedited file of what you see as the problem.
Usually the stutters people report have nothing to do with the control, but the way people watch their footage on a computer.

Hi:

Thanks, good to know that it pans fine, because that means I can improve this as I learn.

I was shooting 4k at 30 fps. And I was indeed watching playback on a computer.
What do you suggest for frame rate?

Also, since I am very new at this forum, how do people post a clip of video here?
Video tends to be large files. And I assume if you want "unedited", that if I need to
cut down a larger clip, I should use an editor or cut tool that does not re-encode?
Any suggestions for software that will cut clips on windows without re-encode?

I am also very interested to learn what you know/meant about:
"the way people watch their footage on a computer."

Sincere Thanks,

Neal

nealix · Dec 25, 2020

hiflyer201 said:
you must use the 180 rule, however...panning shots tend to be ugly. Also with 4k, shooting 265 instead of 264 can cause big problems depending on the viewing equipment.

Hiflyer:

Excuse me for being new, but what is the 180 rule? Also, for shooting, don't you pick
a framerate instead of a codec? Or do they have codec choices like h.264 vs. h.265 in the settings
on the remote controller? Is that what you meant to say?

Thanks

Lister · Dec 25, 2020

I don't know what the "180 rule" is, but I learned long ago while shooting film (24 fps) that for non-stuttering pans, an object needs to take no less than four seconds to cross the frame from side to side. For whatever reason, this rule seemed to apply regardless of lens angle of view.

Mini 2 pans look bad, agreed. I'll set my pan (yaw) speed to the lowest I can next time I'm in camera settings.

DanMan32 · Dec 25, 2020

nealix said:
Hiflyer: Excuse me for being new, but what is the 180 rule? Also, for shooting, don't you pick
a framerate instead of a codec? Or do they have codec choices like h.264 vs. h.265 in the settings
on the remote controller? Is that what you meant to say?

Thanks

It appears the MM2 doesn't have h.265 codec. The MA2 does however.

Kilrah · Dec 25, 2020

nealix said:
I was shooting 4k at 30 fps. And I was indeed watching playback on a computer.
What do you suggest for frame rate?

That's good then, if your computer monitor runs at the standard 60Hz that's a whole multiple which is what matters. Your PC might not be powerful enough to play smoothly though...

nealix said:
Also, since I am very new at this forum, how do people post a clip of video here?
Video tends to be large files

nealix said:
Any suggestions for software that will cut clips on windows without re-encode?

Avidemux

Or just take a 5-second clip on the next flight just for showing the problem.

RogerDH · Dec 25, 2020

nealix said:
Hiflyer: Excuse me for being new, but what is the 180 rule? ...

The "180 rule" refers to the fact that classic movie film cameras use a rotating shutter that is open for 180° of the rotation. (The film is advanced during the remaining 180°). That means that the exposure time is half the full frame capture time, and if you do that with a digital camera, you get the same degree of motion blur, thereby making the motion "cinematic" in appearance.

If you want to get it exactly like a movie, you need to use the movie standard of 24 fps, but at any frame rate, when the exposure time is considerably less than the frame capture time -- which is typically the case in bright daylight -- each frame is sharply focused, which can cause our brains to sense a series of jumps rather than smooth motion.

Digital video at 30 fps is 1/30th second per frame, so the "180 rule" would use an exposure of 1/60th second. For 25 fps, you would use 1/50th second, etc.

Now, how to do that with a Mini or Mini 2... that's a long story, but you can't do it "out of the box." You need to use ND (neutral density) filters to limit the amount of light hitting the sensor.