Using the Air as a Stabilized Handheld Camera

Hiflyer808 · Feb 19, 2018

I remember reading that using the Mavic Pro in a pinch as a stabilized handheld camera didn't work very well, mostly because the gimbal didn't work very well when used in that way. But the Air's gimbal is better, the field of view is wider, and with its smaller size it should be easier to hold as a camera. I wonder how realistic it is to use it instead of a gopro style camera on a gimbal in situations like hiking. Obviously there are drawbacks such as lack of sound recording, narrower pov, and, especially, much shorter battery life, but I can see it as a viable option if you want to do something like supplementing your drone shots of a hike with a few closeup pov shots and shots in jungley areas like we have here in Hawaii, with multiple obstacles.

So, have any Air owners tried this? Is the battery life a lot better when props are not on? How well does the gimbal smooth out walking?

SlavicSoul · Feb 19, 2018

Using drone as handheld is a massive pain, and I honestly do not understand why would anyone do it. You will need phone or tablet to frame the shot anyway and ether one of those alone will do great job as substitute for run and gun situation anyway.

Save your drone battery for flight.

Air Beetle · Feb 19, 2018

I found a thread where a guy took a C handle and made one for his Mavic Pro. I ordered a $13 handle and am going to fashion a mount for my Air.

Hiflyer808 · Feb 19, 2018

Phones and tablets are generally not nearly as well stabilized as a gopro + gimbal combo (electronic vs. physical stabilization), and in my experience produce horrible jello in action situations like running or hiking. So I dont really see a phone as a viable option gor video. Also, in these situations you are mostly not trying to frame shots exactly, just kind of pointing the camera in a general way. How often do you see people carefully framing a gopro shot? And yes it's a hassle to hold a drone as a camera, but it's also a hassle to carry the gopro + gimbal in addition to the drone and controller. So, I basically want to know if the gimbal works substantially better than the Mavic Pro's does when walking, and how long the battery lasts when props are not on. Maybe the 24mm fov as opposed to a gopro's much wider pov means that walking shots will still be unacceptably jerky, and maybe you still only get 20 minutes or so battery time, but maybe not! Let's see some extended test footage.

Zabenoid · Mar 29, 2018

Battery time not much better than flying, unfortunately. Fans start soon blasting full speed, i guess the mobo+gfx chip are hot by design, and LiPo:s are hot by nature. But yes, some close-ups works fine with holding MA in hand.