Seattle Area Pilots

[Peel]

I know that many of us are still waiting for the delivery of our Mavics (me included), but thought it would be good to find out who lives in or around Seattle, so that once we all get our equipment, it'd be easier to find others to get together with to fly.

To begin, I'm Pete, live in Seattle (Beacon Hill), and am new to drones.

 

[dirkclod]

Welcome to our newest forum Peel .
Lived in Seattle in 78 - 80 Of Broadway in an apartment . Loved the place .

 

[mikesher]

Hi Pete. Mike here from Seattle. I've been flying drones for almost 4 years. My current fleet consists of 2 P3Ps (which I love), and a SteadiDrone QU4D (that sits on the shelf). Mavic on order and looking forward to it!

 

[dennya]

Denny here from the east side. Went from Phantom 1 to Phantom 3 Pro to Mavic, which just arrived today.

 

[mikesher]

Congrats Denny! Hope it works as well as anticipated. Keep us posted. I'm a bit concerned about the issues I've read about on the DJI Forum.

 

[Peel]

Congrats Denny! Now you just have to wait for some decent weather to fly in. Hopefully that wait isn't as long as the wait for the Mavic was.

 

[dennya]

Hah. The rain stopped for a while so I took it to the park for a couple of test flights. It flies like a dream. However, the app disconnected on my second flight, so that was a bit worrying. Had to slowly land it in tripod mode.

Here's a panorama of three shots of Duvall.

Duvall_Panorama_11-02-16_Mavic

• dennya
• Nov 2, 2016

Three Mavic shots stitched together on a crappy Seattle-area evening

 

[Peel]

Hah. The rain stopped for a while so I took it to the park for a couple of test flights. It flies like a dream. However, the app disconnected on my second flight, so that was a bit worrying. Had to slowly land it in tripod mode.

Here's a panorama of three shots of Duvall.

Duvall_Panorama_11-02-16_Mavic

• dennya
• Nov 2, 2016

Three Mavic shots stitched together on a crappy Seattle-area evening

Nice pic! Scary about the app disconnecting though. Glad you had the skills and calm to land manually.

Just noticed that the exit data says the equipment is a dji fc220. I haven't seen that designation before. Is that the model number for the Mavic?

 

[mikesher]

Hah. The rain stopped for a while so I took it to the park for a couple of test flights. It flies like a dream. However, the app disconnected on my second flight, so that was a bit worrying. Had to slowly land it in tripod mode.

Nice pano! What did you use to stitch the 3 shots, and did you do any corrections in post? How long was the app disconnected, and did it re-connect? iOS or Android?

 

[dennya]

I used Photoshop CC to stitch the photos together. It's actually a trio HDR shots, so the source is actually 15 different pictures from the Mavic. So given all of that, yes, there was a bit of postprocessing...

The iOS app disconnected and didn't reconnect after I killed and restarted it. It did connect after I turned the phone on and off. Kind of nerve-racking. I likely could have restarted the phone and reconnected in the air, but I didn't want to take that chance, so I landed and then did some troubleshooting. I did a real quick test after that and the app stayed connected, but I'm going to be pretty conservative flying this thing until they have done a couple of firmware updates.

 

[mikesher]

I used Photoshop CC to stitch the photos together. It's actually a trio HDR shots, so the source is actually 15 different pictures from the Mavic. So given all of that, yes, there was a bit of postprocessing...

The iOS app disconnected and didn't reconnect after I killed and restarted it. It did connect after I turned the phone on and off. Kind of nerve-racking. I likely could have restarted the phone and reconnected in the air, but I didn't want to take that chance, so I landed and then did some troubleshooting. I did a real quick test after that and the app stayed connected, but I'm going to be pretty conservative flying this thing until they have done a couple of firmware updates.

HDR's are my favorite! I also use Adobe CC Lightroom to HDR merge/post and then create pano's in Lightroom, PTGui, or 3DVista. I especially like to do 360' HDR pano's, but they do take time to stitch/post. I am hoping the shots taken with the Mavic in Tripod mode will be a little easier to stitch than those taken with my P3 Pro. I usually use the Litchi app for my aerial 360 HDR pano shots. Were you doing the shots with DJI GO, or did you use a different app? I have other apps that I don't use too often like DronePan.

 

[dennya]

Were you doing the shots with DJI GO, or did you use a different app? I have other apps that I don't use too often like DronePan.

I just used DJI Go. I don't think any of the third-party apps have added Mavic support yet. Plus I just want to establish familiarity with the built-in stuff and give it some pretty extensive testing before trying any third-party apps.

 

[mikesher]

I just used DJI Go. I don't think any of the third-party apps have added Mavic support yet. Plus I just want to establish familiarity with the built-in stuff and give it some pretty extensive testing before trying any third-party apps.

Good call. Better to be safe and fly conservative with only the DJI Go for a while. With my P3 Pro's I fly over water 95% of the time, but would be hesitant to do that with a newly released Mavic, at least until I gained trust. Hopefully, by the time I actually get mine there will be some firmware updates available.

 

[ricphoto]

Ric here from West Seattle...semi-retired commercial and editorial photographer

New to Drones...Recently picked up a P4 and have a Mavic on order...

I know that many of us are still waiting for the delivery of our Mavics (me included), but thought it would be good to find out who lives in or around Seattle, so that once we all get our equipment, it'd be easier to find others to get together with to fly.

To begin, I'm Pete, live in Seattle (Beacon Hill), and am new to drones.

 

[mikesher]

Ric here from West Seattle...semi-retired commercial and editorial photographer

New to Drones...Recently picked up a P4 and have a Mavic on order...

Welcome Ric! Mike here. Hope you are enjoying your P4. Since you are new to drones, the P4 is a good platform to build your skills & confidence.

 

[ricphoto]

Thanks Mike...I'm amazed at just how stable and nimble she is...been flying around inside the house for the last few days and haven't hit anything yet ;-p

Did get a chance to launch her straight up from my house today and was surprised by her ability to hover and get some decent 3 shot panos...now I just have to get the nerve to take her up higher and further

 

[mikesher]

Thanks Mike...I'm amazed at just how stable and nimble she is...been flying around inside the house for the last few days and haven't hit anything yet ;-p

Did get a chance to launch her straight up from my house today and was surprised by her ability to hover and get some decent 3 shot panos...now I just have to get the nerve to take her up higher and further

Cool picture!

I usually fly directly across the bay (Elliott Bay Marina) from your picture. Looks like a few of us in the Seattle area (yourself, @dennya, and I so far) are admittedly having fun with Panos. I don't think @Peel doesn't has his drone yet.

I am still working on building my 360 HDR pano skills, and am using a P3 Pro. I have not perfected them yet, and stitching can be difficult. For 360's the conditions are critical (especially wind). As you can see from one of mine shot in marginal 360 pano conditions here: Elliott Bay Marina by SuperPirateMike | Spinattic.com

Looking forward to my Mavic, as I am hoping a Mavic in Tripod mode will work better for 360's.

 

[Peel]

Cool picture!

I usually fly directly across the bay (Elliott Bay Marina) from your picture. Looks like a few of us in the Seattle area (yourself, @dennya, and I so far) are admittedly having fun with Panos. I don't think @Peel doesn't has his drone yet.

I am still working on building my 360 HDR pano skills, and am using a P3 Pro. I have not perfected them yet, and stitching can be difficult. For 360's the conditions are critical (especially wind). As you can see from one of mine shot in marginal 360 pano conditions here: Elliott Bay Marina by SuperPirateMike | Spinattic.com

Looking forward to my Mavic, as I am hoping a Mavic in Tripod mode will work better for 360's.

That looks great Mike! Except for the swirl in the sky directly overhead you can't see any of the stitches. And I'm guessing if there's any wind and the clouds are moving it will be difficult to get that overhead bit to be perfect. Is that HDR as well?

And you are correct: I am still waiting on getting my first DJI drone. Based on their letter they sent out yesterday, I'm predicting it will be Thanksgiving weekend or the following week before it shows up


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

 

[dennya]

@mikesher, what software are you using for 360 panos? I actually shot 360 on the pano I posted earlier, but since I was doing HDR I only did three of the shots.

 

[mikesher]

That looks great Mike! Except for the swirl in the sky directly overhead you can't see any of the stitches. And I'm guessing if there's any wind and the clouds are moving it will be difficult to get that overhead bit to be perfect. Is that HDR as well?

And you are correct: I am still waiting on getting my first DJI drone. Based on their letter they sent out yesterday, I'm predicting it will be Thanksgiving weekend or the following week before it shows up


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

Thanks @Peel . That is actually a post-edit (replacement sky - non HDR using Photoshop) on the top where the drone was. Haven't quite figured out the tricks to make that seamless. You'll get your Mavic before I do, since I just ordered mine this week.