Video,Water,Boats

[EyeSail]

We are cruising currently in Mexico, on a catamaran and I'm on my second drone.

Had a phantom 4 pro. which (probably due to operator error) got dipped in salt water. I was able to get the drone up and fly it back to the boat despite various warning messages but the drone does not boot properly, so I purchased a Mavic Pro Platinum. Plan to send in the Phantom when I'm In the USA again

I fly the Mavic off the boat all the time. At anchor. sensors ON and manual take off and landing. Would love to film underway but can't quite picture how you land on a moving boat. Its pretty easy to hit the trampoline at anchor but underway I feel like I would have to keep the right stick forward while landing in order to match the drone to the boat speed. That combined with operating the boat feels a little busy... then once its on down I would need to turn off the drone in such a way that it didn't crash. Don't like using my cell cause the screen is small and often smudgy. and then of course

I get a lot of Lost Video messages. The drone does not return to home but I can fly it home... The lost or Jerky video feed makes image capture really difficult. I nudge the drone to line up the image but it's actually too far and seconds later I get a new image with the image shifted too far. I have a samsung tablet ( A6) plugged into the controller. The pad is in Airplane mode because I think the WI FI interferes but Airplane mode doesn't seem to matter.

And then there is the image quality.. Sometime fabulous but sometimes white out greater in the center of the screen. The lens is clean not using the dome. Almost like the whitebalance. I Shoot my big cameras manually as needed, but the drone I would prefer to be fairly automatic unless There is an obvious problem, because the drone is busy enough... I find my self doing exposure compensation all the time which seems crazy.

I've attached an image with the white out phenomenon.

Love the portability and quiet of the Mavic but miss my phantom.

Thanks in advance for any help

Michael Britt
Footloose
Catana 471 #28
Blog: www.sailfootloose.com

 

[2nckayakers]

I have not filmed from a sail boat or power boat before, but I do a lot of filming with my Mavic from a kayak. On moving water it is very challenging to hand catch, which is the only way I can land since there isn't enough surface area anywhere on the kayak to land without risk of slipping off into the water. What I do, and you may try on the sail boat is I fly ahead of the kayak trying to match my speed to the boat and then just pull back on the stick to decend while keeping steady speed. It took me a lot of practice to get it down and you are going to bolt a few times even when you do pracitce, so you need to make sure you land well before you get low on battery.

I can't try it in a kayak, but I have watched some videos where folks have landed in the back of a moving truck. I imagine you could try that too if you have a clear approach from the stern of your boat.

Good Luck!

 

[EyeSail]

Does this mean with forward throttle up giving the drone forward speed, I can still land and shut off the rotors? In terms of shutting down I find I have to wiggle the stick slightly toward the center before the drone actually shuts off. Straight down doesn’t seem to do it.

Michael

I have no idea how you would do that from a kayak, hand catch the drone. Not even sure I would grab a Mavic. With the phantom those big Loopy legs are easy to grab.

I have not filmed from a sail boat or power boat before, but I do a lot of filming with my Mavic from a kayak. On moving water it is very challenging to hand catch, which is the only way I can land since there isn't enough surface area anywhere on the kayak to land without risk of slipping off into the water. What I do, and you may try on the sail boat is I fly ahead of the kayak trying to match my speed to the boat and then just pull back on the stick to decend while keeping steady speed. It took me a lot of practice to get it down and you are going to bolt a few times even when you do pracitce, so you need to make sure you land well before you get low on battery.

I can't try it in a kayak, but I have watched some videos where folks have landed in the back of a moving truck. I imagine you could try that too if you have a clear approach from the stern of your boat.

Good Luck!

Thanks,



Thanks for the input.


Michael

 

[Lake_Flyer]

I have to wiggle the stick slightly toward the center before the drone actually shuts off. Straight down doesn’t seem to do it.

That sounds like it needs a stick calibration.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

If you keep one hand for your self and one for the boat (known seamanship), where is the hand to catch the drone? You should have another person catching it. Switch of Landing Protection in any case.

 

[2nckayakers]

Yes I can land and still have forward motion, but no I cannot turn off the motors without pulling both sticks down, so you must have your hand firm on the bird before you can shut the motors off.

Yes it would be much easier if you had a second person, one to catch while you operate the controls. In a kayak by yourself though you have to juggle things around a bit. Of course you can't paddle and do all this, so I secure my paddle. I can keep the boat tracking with the rudder using my foot controls so that helps a bit. The trick for me though is using the mavic controller one handed. Two finger pinch on the sticks with both hands is out. What I do is put the controller in my lap, use one hand for the catch, and with my other I use my thumb and index finger to manipulate the throttle and my pinky on the same hand to manipulate the pitch and yaw. It took a lot of practice on dry land to get a hang of it and it is still tricky, but totally doable.

Yep in a Sailboat though, you definitely need more than one person as someone has to sail the boat. At least in a kayak I am just floating along at a relatively slow speed so I don't have to worry too much about other boats, or people around me.