Newbie Questions - Please Help

[Morantista]

Greetings all - I'm planning to purchase a Mavic Air to shoot video in Costa Rica. I've never flown a drone and have many newbie questions. What is the minimum requirement for the cell phone? I have an ancient iphone4 or an LG K10 LTE (2016) purchased in Costa Rica. Will either of these work or do I need to purchase something else? What's the minimum requirements for a cell phone to fly the Mavic Air? Can it be flown with the VR goggles that come with most Fly More Combos instead of a phone? I will be shooting in areas that do not have Wi-Fi. Does that matter?

Would someone be kind enough to point me to some youtube tutorials for instruction on how to use it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[CanadaDrone]

The list of guaranteed compatible devices is here, about 2/3 down the page under "APP / LIVE VIEW":

DJI Mavic Air – Specs, Tutorials & Guides – DJI

If you're an Apple user, an iPhone 6 is the minimum requirement hardware-wise, or a Galaxy S6 for Android.

You do not need WiFi to fly, the WiFi connection is between the remote and the drone and is not like your home WiFi.

I cannot recommend strongly enough that you practice before your vacation in a big open field (or similar) many, many times before you try to get some fancier vacation footage in Costa Rica. I also recommend that you do not use the DJI googles until you are a more experienced pilot and have a spotter. Read every single manual all the way though. This is not a "plug and play" hobby I am afraid, despite how easy they are to fly. There is lots to learn about battery care, GPS strength, photo exposure, video exposure, memory card speeds, etc. It's intimidating at the start but not that bad.

This is an excellent watch for beginners on the Mavic Air:

I also suggest you spend time learning how video exposures work, and you will likely want to invest in a set of ND filters for Costa Rica.

This is another good thread:

Tips for New Flyers

 

[RTKD]

Costa Rica was awesome! Playa Grande was my favorite spot. I can make some recommendations...

I cannot recommend strongly enough that you practice before your vacation in a big open field (or similar) many, many times before you try to get some fancier vacation footage in Costa Rica.

I second this advice. If you're flying in an unfamiliar place, it's imperative to be familiar with your kit. I also went with 4 batteries and was glad I did. Here's my Costa Rica video

 

[RayOZ]

As mentioned, you need a lot of practice before your vacation. You need to be familiar with the behaviour of the MA is a safe environment and get used to reacting properly if something unexpected happens. You don't want to be flying over water, see some warning on the app, panic and lose the MA. You also need to be familiar with the functions available, its capability and limits, especially automated flights, like dronies, POI, etc. You also need to learn how the read the telemetry data from the app, like how far away, which direction, height, battery levels, etc.

 

[mjbok]

As many others have stated the most important thing you can do is get used to the drone. Fly it in a "safe" known environment that is wide open. Figure out what you're going to want to do with it. What of the special modes are you going to use. Get used to doing those. Flying in a new place you probably won't need waypoints. You might want POI and some of the other ones.

On vacation or location isn't the great time to be learning something new, but rather putting something you've done into practice.

 

[Morantista]

Thank you for sharing that. You have some great shots there. I do plan to practice quite a bit before shooting the lots, bays and beaches of San Juanillo.

 

[Morantista]

As mentioned, you need a lot of practice before your vacation. You need to be familiar with the behaviour of the MA is a safe environment and get used to reacting properly if something unexpected happens. You don't want to be flying over water, see some warning on the app, panic and lose the MA. You also need to be familiar with the functions available, its capability and limits, especially automated flights, like dronies, POI, etc. You also need to learn how the read the telemetry data from the app, like how far away, which direction, height, battery levels, etc.

Thank you for your reply. What's POI? Are there videos that will each me how to read the telemetry data?

 

[Morantista]

As many others have stated the most important thing you can do is get used to the drone. Fly it in a "safe" known environment that is wide open. Figure out what you're going to want to do with it. What of the special modes are you going to use. Get used to doing those. Flying in a new place you probably won't need waypoints. You might want POI and some of the other ones.

On vacation or location isn't the great time to be learning something new, but rather putting something you've done into practice.

Thank you for your advice. I won't be on vacation. This is a business trip to shoot video of land I own to put up on a real estate website. I will have a month and a half down there so can practice before I attempt anything. I wish I had more time to learn here but didn't turn out that way. Thank you.

 

[Morantista]

The list of guaranteed compatible devices is here, about 2/3 down the page under "APP / LIVE VIEW":

DJI Mavic Air – Specs, Tutorials & Guides – DJI

If you're an Apple user, an iPhone 6 is the minimum requirement hardware-wise, or a Galaxy S6 for Android.

You do not need WiFi to fly, the WiFi connection is between the remote and the drone and is not like your home WiFi.

I cannot recommend strongly enough that you practice before your vacation in a big open field (or similar) many, many times before you try to get some fancier vacation footage in Costa Rica. I also recommend that you do not use the DJI googles until you are a more experienced pilot and have a spotter. Read every single manual all the way though. This is not a "plug and play" hobby I am afraid, despite how easy they are to fly. There is lots to learn about battery care, GPS strength, photo exposure, video exposure, memory card speeds, etc. It's intimidating at the start but not that bad.

This is an excellent watch for beginners on the Mavic Air:

I also suggest you spend time learning how video exposures work, and you will likely want to invest in a set of ND filters for Costa Rica.

This is another good thread:

Tips for New Flyers

Thank you very much for all of your advice and the video. I'm not sure I'll be able to practice before I leave since the trip was rushed (orginally planning to leave in January now leaving Dec. 14th). This is a business trip and I need to shoot video for real estate purposes. I'll be there a month and a half so have time to learn there. I do hope to shoot some footage for myself of the beautiful bay and exotic wildlife where I'll be staying (Pacific Northwest Coast). Do I need to set up anything here before I leave? WIFi? GPS? I'll be in a remote area where WIFi is spotty and won't be available at all where I'm shooting. I bought the Fly More Combo that has 3 batteries, ND filters, 1 32 GB extreme memory card & landing pad, plus other items. It's going to arrive only 2 days before I leave, so I'm nervous to say the least. I am a video camera operator and Final Cut Pro editor so have camera experence, but this is a whole new ball game. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[RayOZ]

Thank you for your reply. What's POI? Are there videos that will each me how to read the telemetry data?

POI = Point of Interest. Automatic flight where it flies a circle with the camera facing a target. The MA doesn't have side sensors, so you have to be mindful of its trajectory before using. But I guess if you dont know much about that, don't use it until you are more familiar with the MA. There's plenty of youtube videos to help.

 

[mjbok]

Thank you very much for all of your advice and the video. I'm not sure I'll be able to practice before I leave since the trip was rushed (orginally planning to leave in January now leaving Dec. 14th). This is a business trip and I need to shoot video for real estate purposes. I'll be there a month and a half so have time to learn there. I do hope to shoot some footage for myself of the beautiful bay and exotic wildlife where I'll be staying (Pacific Northwest Coast). Do I need to set up anything here before I leave? WIFi? GPS? I'll be in a remote area where WIFi is spotty and won't be available at all where I'm shooting. I bought the Fly More Combo that has 3 batteries, ND filters, 1 32 GB extreme memory card & landing pad, plus other items. It's going to arrive only 2 days before I leave, so I'm nervous to say the least. I am a video camera operator and Final Cut Pro editor so have camera experence, but this is a whole new ball game. Thanks again for the advice.

Before you leave I would do the following:

1. Make sure you have all the firmware updates (drone and batteries). This may require (probably will) turning on your drone with each battery individually
2. Do a couple quick flights. When you do this, do the following:
a. Tweak the sensitivity on the tilt and yaw
b. Remove restrictions on distance, height, etc.

Once you're on site you will have to recalibrate. Research how this is done.

 

[mjbok]

Before you leave I would do the following:

1. Make sure you have all the firmware updates (drone and batteries). This may require (probably will) turning on your drone with each battery individually
2. Do a couple quick flights. When you do this, do the following:
a. Tweak the sensitivity on the tilt and yaw
b. Remove restrictions on distance, height, etc.

Once you're on site you will have to recalibrate. Research how this is done.

One other thing (and it is probably too late to do this), if you can get a tablet for this. I started with an iPad Mini, but have since moved up to a full size iPad for both my Air and my Spark. Being able to get an iPad Air for just over 100 bucks (115 shipped as recently as last week) the additional real estate on the screen is worth it for me. I have three drones that require an external screen (Air, Spark, Evo) and all three of them have dedicated devices that are only used while flying. This might seem excessive, but so is having three drones. It makes the experience a lot better and easier.

 

[CanadaDrone]

Thank you very much for all of your advice and the video. I'm not sure I'll be able to practice before I leave since the trip was rushed (orginally planning to leave in January now leaving Dec. 14th). This is a business trip and I need to shoot video for real estate purposes. I'll be there a month and a half so have time to learn there. I do hope to shoot some footage for myself of the beautiful bay and exotic wildlife where I'll be staying (Pacific Northwest Coast). Do I need to set up anything here before I leave? WIFi? GPS? I'll be in a remote area where WIFi is spotty and won't be available at all where I'm shooting. I bought the Fly More Combo that has 3 batteries, ND filters, 1 32 GB extreme memory card & landing pad, plus other items. It's going to arrive only 2 days before I leave, so I'm nervous to say the least. I am a video camera operator and Final Cut Pro editor so have camera experence, but this is a whole new ball game. Thanks again for the advice.

First of all if this is a business trip where you are shooting real estate make sure you do the following:

1) Check local laws about flying in residential areas (I.e. above a house)
2) You need a permit for commercial flying in Costa Rica - make sure you have this
3) You likely also need insurance if flying for commercial purposes

Other points:

- "Extreme" means nothing on your memory card, the manufacturers use all kinds of fancy language and do not advertise minimum sustained write speeds, which is what matters to you. Look for the symbols "U3" or "V30" - if it doesn't have those (or higher) the card will not work for 4K video. Class 10 / U1 cards are not fast enough.

- You probably aren't going to learn what you need in 2 days, honestly I think you are very likely to run into issues if you do not spend a proper amount of time learning beforehand. I understand you are strapped for time, but I cannot stress enough the importance of learning how to be a good pilot before you fly in unfamiliar areas and especially if you are flying for money/payment. This is exactly how most drone accidents/crashes happen as 99% of them are user error. All I can suggest is not to fly anywhere other than a giant open field until you are completely confident with the drone and are familiar with the details every feature. It will be very tempting to fly in all the prettiest areas the moment you land, but if you can resist that and instead learn how to use your drone properly and safely, you will be better off.