Walking on frozen lake in Sweden - Lessons learned

logge · Apr 3, 2018

I recently visited Sweden and since it was -15 degrees C (5 F) the nearby lake was completely frozen over. A great opportunity to go for a walk and of course to take the Mavic for a spin. In the video you'll also see the traditional Swedish ice transportation device: The Kick (Spark)

Lessons learned from flying in such low temperatures

The Mavic itself worked wonderfully despite the cold. I didn't even notice a big drop in battery time.

Check that your phone can handle the cold. My old iPhone 6s shutdown after just a few minutes of use meaning I had to control the Mavic without the video feed. Difficult when filming. My new Android phone (OnePlus 5T) worked flawlessly however, not having any problems with the cold (30+ minutes use).
Flying with gloves is terrible. I ended up using a small pen for touch screens which made it possible to enable automatic flight modes and change settings without taking off the gloves all the time.
The cold might have affected the gimbal somewhat. I noticed weird leaning images and jerkiness when stopping the Mavic that I didn't see before (could be a coincident).
Automatic flight modes work really great thanks to the high contrast with the snow
Swedish parents are not great at spelling

Feedback is welcome

BD0G · Apr 3, 2018

I really liked the diagonal shots where you were gaining altitude and using course lock to keep the camera pointed in the direction of your intended subject. You needed a few sled dogs for that "kick" thing.

logge · Apr 3, 2018

BD0G said:
I really liked the diagonal shots where you were gaining altitude and using course lock to keep the camera pointed in the direction of your intended subject. You needed a few sled dogs for that "kick" thing.

Thanks!

I agree, a couple of dogs would really have kicked up things a notch