Air 2 Past peak on the Potomac River with turnaround (MA2)

[macfawlty]

Hope you all haven't put away your drones for the season! Past peak is a wonderful time to fly and film. The resolution of these drone cameras reveals all of the textures in an ever changing landscape. This was one of the last flights of a 5 battery 2 drone session so it's getting dark. I exported this particular clip from yesterday afternoon's session to demonstrate the 'turnaround' move. This is a good move to practice as you change direction. It works as a 180 or other directional turn. The first video is the MA2.

This move can be very dramatic if you pull it off, but it requires multiple inputs carefully coordinated and timed. Even when you don't pull off flawlessly, it can still work as a transition. Here's how it works:

Start at a lower elevation while flying close to treetops or ridge line (1/3 horizon). Increase elevation and start to gimbal down, maintaining axis from center point of rotation. Begin your turn as gimbal tilts below horizon. Continue turn and gimbal tilt until gimbal is approx. 60 degrees. At apex of turn, begin decreasing elevation and gimbal tilt up as you descend. As the horizon appears, continue slight gimbal up until you reveal approx. 1/3 horizon. Continue descent as you fly over treetops, ridgeline, river or landform. You'll notice at the end of the clip, I tilted gimbal down again to change composition. The turnaround move has a vertical profile like a roller coaster. My turn wasn't perfect and I didn't descend after the turnaround, but you get the idea.

Here's another flight at golden hour with my M2P.

 

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[macfawlty]

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Apologies. YouTube corrupted the first upload. Check the new link.

 

[naiku]

YouTube is also currently down...

 

[macfawlty]

YouTube is also currently down...

I wondered what the heck was going on.

 

[macfawlty]

The first video is a smoother turnaround that resolves to gimbal about 55-60 degrees after the turn.
The second is a selected POI with simple forward/lateral travel. Live selection on the MA2 opens up so many possibilities, allowing you a myriad number of inputs while maintaining POI. I wish they'd add a firmware update for the M2P.

My goal in these primarily practice sessions is to work on moves that require combination inputs using left and right joysticks, gimbal tilts and modified intelligent modes. A POI is a nice automated feature, but looks even better with travel, like an inverse boomerang.

Viewing clips in post I'm analyzing what worked and why, improving input control, anticipating timing of moves in-flight, etc. Practice them until it's second nature and you'll start feel it. Your hands will work without so much conscious effort.

While this is a beautiful and worthy locale, only 11 miles from home, more importantly it's a great area to practice flying & filming techniques for when it really counts. Flying and filming a bucket-list destination, you should be planning out the variety of moves you want to capture and have the competence to execute them.