DJI Mavic Drone

[aceofbase]

Correct, which is why I'm interested in seeing the float setup. I don't really care about keeping it dry, just need to be able to recover.

Do you see the pic I just reposted with the floats on the gear?

 

[Trevor Shipman]

No, still not coming up. Just

 

[Ronnie]

@aceofbase , I didn't see the float pic you posted, just a blank post. I did see the pic @Benny Sibbitt posted of the four floats though and suspect it is the same as yours. I like the float idea but couldn't bring myself to spend $40 on it at the time. I may order them this weekend as a preventative solution against water damage. I already have "getter back" floats meant to recover fishing rods that fall over pbaord and sink (self inflating balloon) but if the mavic hits the water with this its toast. The floats may keep it from getting wet, depends on if it lands or crashes as well as water conditions.

I too have lost a phantom to the water, it had pool noodle floats on it so I could get it back but the water wasn't that deep and it was only in it for a minute or so. I got replacement coverage from dji for the mavic but I have heard some bad things about how dji handles some claims (you may not get back the same mavic, it may be a refurbed unit not a new one, so it may not perform as well as expected and the return process can take a few weeks).

Here is a pic of my mavic currently, just got the extended gear and prop guards (doubt I will fly it like this much as its is quickly getting bigger and less portable). Also here is a link to the video of my phantom 2 crashing into the water. My pride was more hurt than anything. Up my wallet ultimately hurt to the tune of $1,000 when I pic hashed a phantom 3 to replace it.

Looking forward to seeing some boating videos from you guys.

 

[Benny Sibbitt]

@Ronnie that sucks
What cause it to crash?
Did you bump into something?
The weight of the floats?

 

[Ronnie]

I wish it were something or someone else's fault but it was all me. I calibrated the compass to close to the tow vehicle and took off from the hood. As soon as I let go of the sticks to Let it auto hover it took of with a mind of its own. Had a large crowd watching to as I had flown there before and had a flight planned to include the crowd and entire boat launch process.

 

[Benny Sibbitt]

I wish it were something or someone else's fault but it was all me. I calibrated the compass to close to the tow vehicle and took off from the hood. As soon as I let go of the sticks to Let it auto hover it took of with a mind of its own. Had a large crowd watching to as I had flown there before and had a flight planned to include the crowd and entire boat launch process.

damn that sucks

 

[Ronnie]

Here is a link to the latest Mavic test video that I filmed and edited yesterday/last night.

So far things are looking good where my planned use of the Mavic is concerned.

The track me mode seems to be working well at relatively low altitudes and distance from the subject no matter what position the copter is in.

The spotlight modes keeps the subject in the frame of the camera regardless of how the pitch and roll are manipulated during flight.

Also the Mavic has been able to keep up with subjects doing 15 to 20 mph.

Switching to sport mode is immediate and the increase in speed and responsiveness is very noticeable although it does disable the advanced flight modes so I want this to keep up with the boat I will have to fly it manually.

I did notice an autofocus problem but only once over three batteries and it would have been easy to avoid, just touch the screen to refocus.

Finally, my FPV setup went blank during the session, it looks like the tablet went to sleep or just crashed. It all worked out but I need to figure this out and refine the camera and gimbal settings before I fly over water.

 

[buckbuck]

It's ability to track while moving looks promising. Help me understand. You just input a target and it flies and records without any manual flight control? Do you think it could track a surfer while ignoring the boat?
I am a bit disappointed in the quality of the camera. Is there a way to broaden the range of exposure? Those shots into the light did not strike me as being accurate.

 

[Benny Sibbitt]

It's ability to track while moving looks promising. Help me understand. You just input a target and it flies and records without any manual flight control? Do you think it could track a surfer while ignoring the boat?
I am a bit disappointed in the quality of the camera. Is there a way to broaden the range of exposure? Those shots into the light did not strike me as being accurate.

looks like he shot it under exposed, yes you can manually change the exposure
don't forget to register your drones and put FAA registration number on your drone
https://registermyuas.faa.gov/

 

[Ronnie]

I am running the camera with a filter on it and under its default setting right now. I will work on those soon. Maybe dji has equalized the features of the mavic and phantom 4 via firmware updates if not the mavic will be my primary and the p4 a spare.

@buckbuck , I'm sure others could explain the features better but the one I am most interested in is active track. The active track allows the user to highlight an object for the copter to follow. From what I have experienced so far the min distance to an object to be tracked is 15 feet (out and/or up) from the subject. Sometimes the mavic loses the subject and which needs to be reselect to be tracked.

Also, there are three variations of active track, i) standard, ii) spotlight and iii) trace.
In standard you highlight the subject and the mavic follows it. In spot light the user can move the copter toward or away from the subject or to either side of it during flight and the camera will always face the subject. I have not tried trace yet but as I understand it the copter tracks the subject's route so it can fly it again if desired, possibly in reverse.

 

[Benny Sibbitt]

Here is a very informative video on mavic camera settings to get good videos and photos

 

[Ronnie]

Thanks @Benny Sibbitt , I will check it out, hopefully it cover not just the camera setting but gimbal as well. My biggest problem is I'm old school and fly too much whereas videography with a drone requires less flying, more hovering and slower movements all the way around.

Here is a pic of my Mavic with the floats that just came in.

 

[haknslash]

A coworker brought his Mavic to work today and I got to check it out. It feels like a nice quality drone and the controller was even better! I can't justify buying one these days but maybe in a few years.

 

[aceofbase]

 

[Chase Worthington]

Mavic or Airdog?

 

[Ronnie]

Air dog if you want to be filmed instead of film and you are willing to pay the premium, it's bucks without a camera and the company has a bad reputation when it comes to customer service.

 

[Ronnie]

I took the Mavic to the water for the first time last weekend. I didn't get a lot of air time but the video I took when it was in the air looks like crap. That is, I forgot to focus it on anyone thing and never hit the focus on the center of the screen button I had set up. Lesson learned I guess but I never had this happen with any of the four versions of the phantoms I had.

On a side note, I flew with the floating landing gear in sustained winds of under 10 mph and the Mavic was slower /noticeably less responsive. Not sure if I will fly with these in similar conditions again or if I will just use the getter back emergency float instead.

Lastly, I had to repack the Mavic system so it would fit into my Waverunner. Here are pics of my Waverunner and boat carriers.

 

[Volffas]

I don't think the Phantom cameras have a focus on them, they are similar to the GoPro camera that just kinda stays in focus all of the time.

How do you like the focus aspect of the camera? Almost sounds to me like it is just one more thing to try and remember.

 

[Ronnie]

The Aspect is fine. If I'm using the follow me or track functions I should always be touching the screen and focusing on a specific subject but if not I need to remember to hit the center focus button that I custom configured or risk the footage/shot being out of focus. Kind of sucks don't know why they didn't just port the auto focus from the Phantoms to the Mavic?

 

[Ronnie]

Here is my first water related video using the Mavic. You can clearly see the difference in auto focus and manual focus.

I just per-ordered the dji googles and expect to have them around mid June.