Tricks to flying straight?

[OurAngryBadger]

I do a lot of real estate videos and videos for storefronts and the most popular effect is starting low to the house and flying up and out. Or basically, the "dronie" quick shot. But I don't want to use the quickshot anymore because I want to shoot exclusively in DLoGM which quick shot doesn't support.

So I've been doing this shot manually by pulling the left stick back and the right stick up at the same time. But I don't know if it's my hands that are defective, or if this is hard for everyone to do, or what. But I can't seem to get this straight. Either I pull the left stick a little too far to the right or left (not dead center of bottom) and the drone drifts sideways as its flying backwards, or I do the same thing with the right stick and the drone rotates left or right a little instead of flying nicely back and up straight. All because there's no "click" or feedback in the stick to let me know I have it dead center of top or bottom.

I've had better luck in tripod mode for reduced stick sensitivity, but the flight speed too slow and I really have to speed the videos up afterwards in editing, but it makes moving things like cars, people, water, etc look like a cartoon, lol.

What am I missing? Any tricks?

I havent played with the "tap fly" yet and don't know how that works, can it do a dronie type effect?

I suppose this can also be done with litchi, which I'm scared of using?

Is there a way to make the sticks have no sensitivity in the left and right directions? Hmm...

 

[Deleted member 94047]

The TapFly mode will be perfect for this I think. Start low and tap as high up above the horizon line as it will allow you; the drone will move forward and ascend at the same time. The problem with TapFly is usually the slow speed but in this case I think it will be an added bonus. Be vigilant of obstacles though.

 

[sar104]

The TapFly mode will be perfect for this I think. Start low and tap as high up above the horizon line as it will allow you; the drone will move forward and ascend at the same time. The problem with TapFly is usually the slow speed but in this case I think it will be an added bonus. Be vigilant of obstacles though.

But that doesn't work for flying backwards.

 

[sar104]

I do a lot of real estate videos and videos for storefronts and the most popular effect is starting low to the house and flying up and out. Or basically, the "dronie" quick shot. But I don't want to use the quickshot anymore because I want to shoot exclusively in DLoGM which quick shot doesn't support.

So I've been doing this shot manually by pulling the left stick back and the right stick up at the same time. But I don't know if it's my hands that are defective, or if this is hard for everyone to do, or what. But I can't seem to get this straight. Either I pull the left stick a little too far to the right or left (not dead center of bottom) and the drone drifts sideways as its flying backwards, or I do the same thing with the right stick and the drone rotates left or right a little instead of flying nicely back and up straight. All because there's no "click" or feedback in the stick to let me know I have it dead center of top or bottom.

I've had better luck in tripod mode for reduced stick sensitivity, but the flight speed too slow and I really have to speed the videos up afterwards in editing, but it makes moving things like cars, people, water, etc look like a cartoon, lol.

What am I missing? Any tricks?

I havent played with the "tap fly" yet and don't know how that works, can it do a dronie type effect?

I suppose this can also be done with litchi, which I'm scared of using?

Is there a way to make the sticks have no sensitivity in the left and right directions? Hmm...

I think the trick is not to hold the stick, but just to push it. That way the spring-loaded centering takes care of preventing lateral stick movement.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Does the M2P have home lock ?
This is great to fly directly to or away from home point, while turning at will to keep a feature in frame for video.

I've been doing this shot manually by pulling the left stick back and the right stick up at the same time.

So you want to start at an altitude looking down at a home, decrease alt while flying forward ?
So your gimbal is down on the home in the distance and you move forward / down towards it filming ?
You are trying to keep at same angle for gimbal I guess, or have to scroll the wheel to raise or lower that as needed.

Goggles and head tracking would be useful for this, but awkward if working alone (VLOS), and in urban it might be more difficult with various obstacles too.

As said, if you move the sticks dead on up / down, and no wind to affect flight, it should technically fly true.
It is very easy though to just tweak that stick a little left / right yaw, and stray from that plan.

 

[Deleted member 94047]

But that doesn't work for flying backwards.

Honestly don't know if it works flying back, never tried it that way. One more thing to test next time

Also, reversing the footage in post is an option (so long as you don't have other people walking, cars driving, or birds flying in your shot )

 

[sar104]

Does the M2P have home lock ?
This is great to fly directly to or away from home point, while turning at will to keep a feature in frame for video.



So you want to start at an altitude looking down at a home, decrease alt while flying forward ?
So your gimbal is down on the home in the distance and you move forward / down towards it filming ?
You are trying to keep at same angle for gimbal I guess, or have to scroll the wheel to raise or lower that as needed.

Goggles and head tracking would be useful for this, but awkward if working alone (VLOS), and in urban it might be more difficult with various obstacles too.

As said, if you move the sticks dead on up / down, and no wind to affect flight, it should technically fly true.
It is very easy though to just tweak that stick a little left / right yaw, and stray from that plan.

The M2 doesn't have home lock. And the question is about up and backwards, not down and forwards.

 

[sar104]

Honestly don't know if it works flying back, never tried it that way. One more thing to test next time

Also, reversing the footage in post is an option (so long as you don't have other people walking, cars driving, or birds flying in your shot )

I don't see how it can work for going backwards, because you cannot tap on anything behind the aircraft - it's not in view.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

The M2 doesn't have home lock. And the question is about up and backwards, not down and forwards.

I did see the dronie reference in the first para, but the OPs own words "by pulling the left stick back and the right stick up at the same time " aren't in line with that.
Left back (pushing forward) could be construed as up, I thought back towards the pilot first off . . . but right stick up was confusing.

Manual dronies aren't difficult, the OP will just have to practice pulling back that left stick nice and centred.

 

[Deleted member 94047]

I don't see how it can work for going backwards, because you cannot tap on anything behind the aircraft - it's not in view.

I did a little search on youtube abd, it looks like it does fly back and ascend at the same time and you control this by tapping above or below the horizon line the same as you do in TapFly Forward mode; only in Backward mode, it flies from that point backwards and you tap below the horizon to ascend and above it to descend.

EDIT:
I think this is a better tutorial

Also, corrected an important detail in my post above (drone doesn't fly to the selected point backwards, it flies from the selected point backwards)

 

[slup]

I did a little search on youtube abd, it looks like it does fly back and ascend at the same time and you control this by tapping above or below the horizon line the same as you do in TapFly Forward mode; only in Backward mode, it flies to that point in the horizon backwards and you tap below the horizon to ascend and above it to descend.

EDIT:
I think this is a better tutorial

Agree fully, have tested the tapfly sub-mode "Backwards" so it's doable for a shoot like this. It's just bit backwards ? that you must tap below the horizon for it to ascend...

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

you must tap below the horizon for it to ascend...

Sounds like a bit of practice in a safe spot for this, before taking it to site working (or rec flights).
I haven't even tried tapfly forward, let alone looked in to it for backward flight.

 

[Deleted member 94047]

Sounds like a bit of practice in a safe spot for this, before taking it to site working (or rec flights).
I haven't even tried tapfly forward, let alone looked in to it for backward flight.

Yeah, that is a bit counter intuitive. I too have not tested backward mode but I have used TapFly in Forward and Free modes a few times and it is a really great feature.

 

[slup]

Sounds like a bit of practice in a safe spot for this, before taking it to site working (or rec flights).
I haven't even tried tapfly forward, let alone looked in to it for backward flight.

Nah ... it's easy, the AC will go in a straight line away so shouldn't be any problems. And as with all automated modes tried out for the first time (or perhaps every time...) it's always good to place your thumb on the pause button to be prepared & make a test run before the real shoot.

With the backwards mode it's of course more difficult to pass near things then with the front facing mode as you can't see the flight path in the camera view... Also note that the "tap point" on the screen can be dragged around changing heading & ascend angle during the execution.

 

[Michael Gilbert]

But that doesn't work for flying backwards.

It does work in reverse as well.

 

[sar104]

I did a little search on youtube abd, it looks like it does fly back and ascend at the same time and you control this by tapping above or below the horizon line the same as you do in TapFly Forward mode; only in Backward mode, it flies from that point backwards and you tap below the horizon to ascend and above it to descend.

EDIT:
I think this is a better tutorial

Also, corrected an important detail in my post above (drone doesn't fly to the selected point backwards, it flies from the selected point backwards)

Good information. I should have read the manual for that one.

 

[Checki]

Of course you can fly backward in tap fly mode! You just turn the drone around, where is the problem!? That's the whole point of this mode.
The problem is, and I told Dji long time ago and they won't fix that, the stick sensitivity is set back to normal!!
Which brings me to the next point, maybe you lower the Sensitivity that's basically necessary for everyone to fly smooth.
Your task seems to be very easy, or I didn't understand the difficulty, so I think you just need to practise.
I start doing 4 directions at the same time plus gimbal movemnt and it begins to get smooth, but still I fail many times.
But I also play the piano, so maybe my coordination is better.

Edit: changing sensitivity only applies for P mode, not sport or tripod.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Is there a way to make the sticks have no sensitivity in the left and right directions? Hmm...

Hey there, in addition to the tap fly advice that this thread figured out, there are DJI Go settings you can change. The won't make the sticks have NO sensitivity, but you can make them smoother. I can't find a single tutorial that covers it all, so here's a search. Look for EXP settings, and also for gimbal ... roll break? (forget what it's called) settings:

Search results for query: pitch yaw settings

mavicpilots.com

You can find a lot of youtube videos that cover the EXP/Pitch and gimbal roll/break settings, but since they're mostly not specific for the Mavic 2, the numbers won't match. But the concept is still the same.

Also, in addition to TRIPOD mode on the controller, there's also the CINEMATIC mode in DJI Go. With CINEMATIC, you get smooth settings all the way around, but you need to take care with the braking since it is slow to brake (therefore may not stop as quick as you are used to). This is a mode you want to practice on in an open field. See the owners manual for this one.

Chris

 

[OurAngryBadger]

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

Just to clarify, I'm looking to fly backwards and upwards at the same time, so that im zooming out and away from the subject.

Like this:

As mentioned, tripod/cinematic mode is too slow, I need the be able to make the effect 10 seconds or less and if it's a big subject like a big building it could take 30 seconds or more in tripod mode. So faster speed in P mode is essential.

I will look into the tapfly videos posted.

I wish the controller had a semi-locking channel like a cross + in it, that would really help out cinematographers to keep panning shots straight and level!

With the tap fly can you apply manual backwards/forward stick to speed it up without losing the directional lock?

I might also think about making some kind of device with a channel in it to affix to the controller so that the stick can only be moved up or down and not sideways

 

[Deleted member 94047]

Good information. I should have read the manual for that one.

As is often the case, the user manual is very conservative when it comes to giving details leaving it to us to figure our these things (part of the fun of flying DJI drones )