Not quite a flyer yet, in New Zealand
- Thread starter NZBob
- Start date
Greetings from Birmingham Alabama USA, welcome to the forum! We look forward to hearing from you!
Thanks Cees, I have just clicked buy on the Air 3s, so I will find out soonHi NZBob, welcome , I live in NZ Blenheim and enjoy flying my drone
and I know you will like it to.
I will hopefully get to do some flying down the South Island, we try to get down every second year and we are overdue!
Is it worth buying a hard case? The combo comes with a carry bag but I have no idea how much protection that offers. I would always carry it onboard when flying commercially.
I don't know what is best, I always use my soft case , but maybe a hard case
is better for flying.
is better for flying.
Thanks Cees, I will put it off then, they are not cheap
Once the drone is up above 100 feet nobody will hear or see it. I try to take off and climb right away to annoy less people and to get it away from birds. It’s a big sky up there.
The 3S is fast by all accounts and you shouldn’t have to worry about the wind too much. BUT be careful about turbulent air behind obstacles. Saw two guys try to take off in a cement enclosure where the wind was swirling around. Instant crash! I generally don’t fly in winds above 18 mph. If you get the drone down wind it could take a while to get back. Of course there is a gradient near the ground so wind speeds can be faster higher up.
I take a lot of panoramas and you can get great results that way.
Congrats! That’s a really capable drone and I think you’ll have a blast with it.
Ok, I have it all and I am slowly working through settings etc trying to understand it all. All fully charged after having to go out and buy another charger!
Should I auto-sync flight records?
If I do, should I turn on 'Flight Record Authorisation' or is this only when you have a problem like a flyaway?
And can anyone please point me towards a good reference about all the best camera settings to use?
I have two 128GB SD cards, so put the better on in the drone, is there any point in putting the other in the remote? (If I do, do I need to transfer the stuff to it that is already there?)
Hopefully my very first flight this weekend
Should I auto-sync flight records?
If I do, should I turn on 'Flight Record Authorisation' or is this only when you have a problem like a flyaway?
And can anyone please point me towards a good reference about all the best camera settings to use?
I have two 128GB SD cards, so put the better on in the drone, is there any point in putting the other in the remote? (If I do, do I need to transfer the stuff to it that is already there?)
Hopefully my very first flight this weekend
MARK (LI)
Well-Known Member
I suggest going to your computer and checking Youtube tutorials for this drone....give yourself a few hours to go through a few of them with a pad and pencil.... you will probably come across some information that makes more sense when you are more familiar with your new drone...good luck and
Ok, I have it all and I am slowly working through settings etc trying to understand it all. All fully charged after having to go out and buy another charger!
Should I auto-sync flight records?
If I do, should I turn on 'Flight Record Authorisation' or is this only when you have a problem like a flyaway?
And can anyone please point me towards a good reference about all the best camera settings to use?
I have two 128GB SD cards, so put the better on in the drone, is there any point in putting the other in the remote? (If I do, do I need to transfer the stuff to it that is already there?)
Hopefully my very first flight this weekend
As far as the micro SD cards, probably want to make sure they are of the U3 variety. And you might want to pick one with known good speed and compatibility like this one. Or this one, that DJI lists on their site.
You can use a memory card in the controller to download local maps of the area you'll be flying in (if you got a controller with a screen.) Otherwise your map screen will be blank (Unless you use your phone as a hotspot, and connect to it during flight, but that can interfere with your controller signal.)
Or you can record the controller's video. That's super handy if you look back and figure out why your video looks funky (check the settings) or if you drop it in the drink, then you can use that it for DJI Care? You can show your friends what the controller screen looks like. One thing I like to do is download and view panoramas *while the drone is in the air* to see what they look like (e.g. check the composition). I think you need a card for that (not sure).
As for camera settings ... settings for what? Photos? Videos? Night time? Panoramas?
I do like @MARK (LI) 's suggestion of just going and watching a bunch of you tube videos.
I have flown!
Very happy with my choice of the Air 3s, so simple to fly and nice and quiet! Yes, you are right, once it is a short distance away the sound is not intrusive. Very impressed with its responsiveness and stability. It was a cloudy day with some wind, so I took it to a school field (holidays now) that was completely empty. Plenty of room to zip around with nothing to hit or annoy. I will need plenty of practice to be able to fly smoothly when taking video! Emptied the three batteries and had a blast!
This is looking out to the coast.
Very happy with my choice of the Air 3s, so simple to fly and nice and quiet! Yes, you are right, once it is a short distance away the sound is not intrusive. Very impressed with its responsiveness and stability. It was a cloudy day with some wind, so I took it to a school field (holidays now) that was completely empty. Plenty of room to zip around with nothing to hit or annoy. I will need plenty of practice to be able to fly smoothly when taking video! Emptied the three batteries and had a blast!
This is looking out to the coast.
One of the things I tried for the first time a couple days ago, was setting waypoints. I set 7 waypoints, and then started recording and just let the drone go from waypoint to waypoint. I just pushed forward on the stick to set the speed. It did nice smooth turns and followed the path. Seems useful.
On that photo you posted, lots of nice detail there. The patterns of silt in the mudflats looks interesting. If you shoot that with the camera straight down, you might get a good abstract out of it. One way to make a panorama is to take a shot, then *move* the drone, take a shot, move, etc. You need to leave a lot of overlap, like 1/3rd of a frame. If you're really ambitious, you can do multiple "columns". You have to make sure you don't get the sun's reflection in there, so probably 2 hours after sunrise or 2 hours before sunset would be good times to shoot it.
For shooting pano's, it's good to pick an exposure setting and then turn off "Auto" on all the camera settings. It's much easier to process if all the frames have the same exposure time.
I posted this on the forum a couple weeks ago, this is an example of that kind of panorama. It's big so zoom in. This was 24 shots total.
ClamPassRed-1 Panorama 32x9_7680.jpg
drive.google.com
Thanks Erk1014, yes, they are both new fast cards, ones they recommend. The RC2 controller has quite a bit of inbuilt memory and it seemed that you used one or the other. I has seen that you could record the controller screen, but totally forgot to turn it on. Yes, I guess 128 will be better than the built in with maps and recording. Thanks.
With the camera settings, I meant using ND filters and then setting ISO etc. My combo kit came with a set of ND filters but with zero instructions about where or when to use them. Plenty to learn!
One of the things I tried for the first time a couple days ago, was setting waypoints. I set 7 waypoints, and then started recording and just let the drone go from waypoint to waypoint. I just pushed forward on the stick to set the speed. It did nice smooth turns and followed the path. Seems useful.
On that photo you posted, lots of nice detail there. The patterns of silt in the mudflats looks interesting. If you shoot that with the camera straight down, you might get a good abstract out of it. One way to make a panorama is to take a shot, then *move* the drone, take a shot, move, etc. You need to leave a lot of overlap, like 1/3rd of a frame. If you're really ambitious, you can do multiple "columns". You have to make sure you don't get the sun's reflection in there, so probably 2 hours after sunrise or 2 hours before sunset would be good times to shoot it.
For shooting pano's, it's good to pick an exposure setting and then turn off "Auto" on all the camera settings. It's much easier to process if all the frames have the same exposure time.
I posted this on the forum a couple weeks ago, this is an example of that kind of panorama. It's big so zoom in. This was 24 shots total.
ClamPassRed-1 Panorama 32x9_7680.jpg
Wow! Seriously cool pano! I think I am a way away from doing that! Definitely in the future
I was not brave enough to let the drone out of the school grounds for that flight, and even then, I 'lost' it for a moment, I could no longer see it against a tree in the distance. As I gain confidence in my flying, and the drone, there are so many great places to fly around here. The mudflats are part of a large estuary with several parks adjoining, so plenty of places to launch from with good views to keep VLOS. As we are moving into summer, there should be plenty of good hours in the day to give it a go.
I must admit that I was very impressed with the RTH accuracy, it landed within inches of the take-off position. That gives me more confidence!
Yes, I watched a video about way-points, and they said it was a good way of getting smooth video, thanks for the reminder. I really like that there is so much to learn, as well as the thrill of the flight itself. Hopefully prove the saying about 'old dogs' wrong
Thanks! Agree 100%. When I got my first DJI drone, I was floored by how sophisticated it was. These drones really are amazing.
All was going well until today. I went out and did some practice flights, and took a little video and some photos. When I got home, I plugged it into my computer as I have done before, and both the internal drive and the SD card were inaccessible. I have been using the SD card and have downloaded photos etc several times without problem. It does warn that the internal drive needs formatting when I plug it in, but I have always ignored this and opened the SD card to copy off the media. This time it said that BOTH needed formatting :-(
The photos this time are not important, but this would be very stressful if they were.
Any advice about this? Is this a common problem at all?
The only thing that I did differently this time, if it matters, is that I didn't have a battery fitted in the drone, but it is not necessary to turn on the drone to download pictures, so I figured that didn't matter.
The photos this time are not important, but this would be very stressful if they were.
Any advice about this? Is this a common problem at all?
The only thing that I did differently this time, if it matters, is that I didn't have a battery fitted in the drone, but it is not necessary to turn on the drone to download pictures, so I figured that didn't matter.
LoudThunder
Part 107 Licensed
You wrote that "The only thing that I did differently this time, if it matters, is that I didn't have a battery fitted in the drone…"
Did you then insert a battery as you have done previouly? What was the results…
When I want to directly download the files to my PC, I install a battery, turn the drone ON, and the then plug the cable into the computer. If you plug the drone into the computer before turning it on, it goes into charge mode and you (actually me) gets nothing… Sound familiar?
Hi, if you have a card reader try it with that , I always use my card reader and put in my SD card and put that in my computer.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
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