Trip to Lapland (Finland) Tips wanted

[Lozza180]

Hi All,

I will be shortly visiting Lapland on a trip of a lifetime with my wife and 2 young children to see the big man himself (Santa Claus).

I will be taking my Mavic on it’s first trip out of the country.

I’m looking for tips/advice on the following things so I am able to capture the best footage possible as it is likely to be one shot opportunities.

1: Should I remove the battery and transport in a lipo safety bag rather than in the Mavic? I have my model car charge bags so thought I could use these.

2: Any tips for recording in cold conditions? I’ve read on here keep batteries on your person before use etc. I also experienced a fogging inside the lens when i took my
Mavic between hot and cold conditions.

3: best video camera settings for winter white conditions. Expect I could face a lot of over exposure.

4: I’ve not played with the camera settings that much but I do experience the stripes over exposure when recording, how best is it too reduce having over exposed sections of your recordings?

Any other tips/advice welcome.

P.s I’ve got my drone liability insurance which I’ve read is compulsory in Finland. I’ve also read up on the countries local drone rules so I can abide by them.

Many Thanks
Chris

 

[Masa]

Do you speak finnish?

 

[Lozza180]

Do you speak finnish?

Unfortunately not

 

[Bry]

Hi sorry I will refrain on giving advice regarding best camera settings as I am very new at this but will look forward to your outcomes as I would like to do the same trip perhaps next year and also the northern lights. Best of luck and have a safe and wonderful trip.

 

[Lozza180]

Hi sorry I will refrain on giving advice regarding best camera settings as I am very new at this but will look forward to your outcomes as I would like to do the same trip perhaps next year and also the northern lights. Best of luck and have a safe and wonderful trip.

Hi Bry,

Northern lights is also on my to-do-list while I’m there. I will hopefully try and capture those on my dslr and also the Mavic maybe. It’s going to be a short full on trip as it’s only 4 days and we are already booked in for Huskie sledge rides, snowmobile rides and seeing the big man etc with the kids but I also want to try and capture our experience in as many ways as possible.

I’ve got the following to do this:

* IPhone 8 Plus
* GoPro Hero 5+
* Nikon D7100 and I think I’ll take a couple of lenses and kit
* Mavic Pro

I’m going to be loaded up like a tech donkey, just hope airport security don’t question my luggage contents.

I will hopefully report back with some good Mavic Footage

 

[Masa]

Just that I am finnish and live in middle/eastern Finland, a few hunderd Km from where you are going..

IMO: Batteries&Mavic: Keep in +20° just until flying. Some pelople say warm up batteries up to +35° before flying in subzero temperatures. I have no experience myself of flying in cold, but I have a friend in western Finland who has flown 15-20min in -10° with absolutely no issues.

Insurance and such: Finland has the loosest drone-flyin laws in whole of Europe(if not world) You are allowed for example to take off from the city center anywhere and fly 150m over houses and buildings if you "know" the area and your uav and are confident of you and your flying skills. Only things that I found that are; Not illegal but not allowed: Flying over crowds of people (no number told), military buildings and areas. And of course air- and heliports.


I would say: Fly as much and as high and fast you want. The police in Lapland don't really care (and know the laws about uavs) Only thing is: When taking off and landing, you WILL draw lots of courious and interested eyes

Have loads of fun here, there is almost 1m of snow in Lapland right now.

Masa

 

[mitchell.atheis]

To prevent over exposure I point the camera at the lightest area I will be recording, with the land & sky in the shot ( not directly into the sun) and then using manual mode at ISO 100 I scroll the right wheel to get the correct shutter speed that doesn't give zebras. ND filters are helpful as they are sunglasses for your camera, will help bring your shutter speed down in bright sunny days. Using a flat profile like d log will give a few extra stops of dynamic range but will require more post editing.

 

[mitchell.atheis]

If shooting mid day you will need quite a strong ND filter like a 32. Depends on the weather/sun intensity though. Try to shoot in golden hours and light will be a lot more tame

 

[markun]

Don't think you have to worry too much about filters, as sun does not even get above horizon at this time of year. Noon is similar to dusk time, so it will be mostly dark. Wish you good luck with the weather for aurora viewing!

 

[Lozza180]

Thanks for all of the advice.

I’ve been flying a lot more recently trying to get some flight time in. One thing I have just noticed is I’m getting fogging on the inside of the lens which I’ve just read a lot of posts on. I did leave my Mavic out in my dslr bag outside for a few hours in a little bit of drizzle. The outside of the bag was slightly moist but inside was perfectly dry and so was the Mavic. Could the moisture of got inside the lens from this?

I’m now got some of those gel moisture packs inside the bag and one inside the lens protector cover trying to extract any condensation from the lens.

 

[Tipex]

We’ll be visiting Finland as well next summer, when I had a look at AirMap the whole country seems to be Restricted airspace.

When I look at droneinfo.fi there are 3 maps at the bottom that look a lot more friendly but now I’m not sure what information I should rely on.

 

[markun]

You can fly pretty freely, there are only few restricted areas outside airport areas. In Helsinki city area you can spot couple of "No drone zone" signs.