Mini 4 Summer Summit Sky-sailing - Butser, Hampshire, UK

[AeroJ]

Having finally found an evening where there weren't perilous winds, angry birds, or a sky-full of paragliders and kites it was 3rd time lucky up at Butser the other day. It's not that big a hill at 889 ft, but it's the biggest one we've got, which is big enough for it to be classified as one of Britains 'Marylins' (hills worth writing on a list) and I can go +400 ft above that for some spectacular views of the 'Hamp' shires, and on clear days, all the way to the coast. Today, however, there was a little rare treat in that we had a bank of rolling clouds over most of the surrounding hills. I considered flying over there to see them up close, and I was tempted to see if the Mini could make it, but I knew I would have to be so far beyond VLOS and into untested CE transmission range that would have been maximum risky biscuits and didn't need the additional stress !

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As it was, even next to a whacking great 200 ft radio transmitter the M4P behaved immaculately from start to finish, which was nice.

 

[GFields]

Awesome video! I loved the scenery. Did you climb the tower?

 

[AeroJ]

Did you climb the tower?

Lols - no ! Barely had enough energy to climb the hill !

 

[sarahb]

Nice video.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Having finally found an evening where there weren't perilous winds, angry birds, or a sky-full of paragliders and kites it was 3rd time lucky up at Butser the other day. It's not that big a hill at 889 ft, but it's the biggest one we've got, which is big enough for it to be classified as one of Britains 'Marylins' (hills worth writing on a list) and I can go +400 ft above that for some spectacular views of the 'Hamp' shires, and on clear days, all the way to the coast. Today, however, there was a little rare treat in that we had a bank of rolling clouds over most of the surrounding hills. I considered flying over there to see them up close, and I was tempted to see if the Mini could make it, but I knew I would have to be so far beyond VLOS and into untested CE transmission range that would have been maximum risky biscuits and didn't need the additional stress !

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As it was, even next to a whacking great 200 ft radio transmitter the M4P behaved immaculately from start to finish, which was nice.

Next time, just fly those first few bits of walking video. That way they will be smoother and eliminate that bouncing present in the video clips, making for an improved video. Another tip is to walk when you are coming into a shot, so the viewer is not aware that you are the person standing still. Nice bit of scenery though.

 

[AeroJ]

Next time, just fly those first few bits of walking video. That way they will be smoother and eliminate that bouncing present in the video clips, making for an improved video.

Interesting comment, cheers. I put that whole bit there as I was trying to 'tell the story' of the mission and thought it made a nice contrast from the flight footage that followed it. But yes, other point taken - I am always forgetting to walk out of shot

 

[Cymruflyer]

Interesting comment, cheers. I put that whole bit there as I was trying to 'tell the story' of the mission and thought it made a nice contrast from the flight footage that followed it. But yes, other point taken - I am always forgetting to walk out of shot

Completely understand, however, you can fly that bit you walked, at the same height, so it would be exactly the same as what you have currently, the only difference is that you would not be seeing that bouncing video due to you walking and not keeping the camera smooth. Bouncy walking video footage is less desired, if it can be smoothed out with a long stick to mount the camera on and thereby dampen the bouncing, or use the drone to fly at the height you were hand holding your bouncing camera. Hope that makes sense.

 

[AeroJ]

Hope that makes sense.

It would do if I wasn't deliberately trying to give the impression of walking in that bit ! Ah well - can't please all the people all the time !

 

[Cymruflyer]

It would do if I wasn't deliberately trying to give the impression of walking in that bit ! Ah well - can't please all the people all the time !

Ohhh, that's different of course. You should have stated that straight away, that you intentionally wanted the bouncing in there. Would have saved us all a bunch of time.

 

[Boost DS]

Awesome footage, J! All the different angles you captured stitched together beautifully. Did you use any lens filtering for the drone portion or do you let the Mini do it's thing and then make all necessary edits in post? I'm a total newbie and am trying to decide which accessories I should prioritize. Appreciate you sharing!

 

[AeroJ]

Did you use any lens filtering for the drone portion or do you let the Mini do it's thing and then make all necessary edits in post?

That one was all in Auto Mode everything except white balance which I fixed a little warmer than standard, and no ND filter, as I was losing the light, and those don't help us then. Footage required only the tiniest amount of grading, and added perhaps 5% saturation and contrast, and sharpened a wee bit, but apart from that - nada ! the M4P really is exceptional out of the box left to its own devices !

However, with that said, if you are doing a lot of ground based movement on a bright day, then an ND filter is very good news.

Cheers for the feedback btw - nice to know someone's enjoying 'em !

 

[Boost DS]

That one was all in Auto Mode everything except white balance which I fixed a little warmer than standard, and no ND filter, as I was losing the light, and those don't help us then. Footage required only the tiniest amount of grading, and added perhaps 5% saturation and contrast, and sharpened a wee bit, but apart from that - nada ! the M4P really is exceptional out of the box left to its own devices !

However, with that said, if you are doing a lot of ground based movement on a bright day, then an ND filter is very good news.

Cheers for the feedback btw - nice to know someone's enjoying 'em !

Very helpful, thank you. Keep up the good work, brother!