Finally got me a camera drone

[John K Jordan]

After thinking about it for years I got one for my 70th birthday!

I decided on the DJI Mavic Air 2. I've only flown it twice so I'm rank beginner. Maybe I'm easily impressed but I am impressed! The thing is an incredibly stable camera platform.

I've been concentrating on learning the basics to control the thing, takeoff and landing, forwards backwards and sideways, figure 8s - and without smashing the thing! While flying I shot a little video and stills for practice. I'm starting the get a handle on smooth acceleration and deceleration but it will take a long time to master smooth coordination on the multi-axis moves! I'm no stranger to flying aircraft but piloting through a phone screen is a whole different experience...

I put a few little pieces of video together from my second flight just for fun and made a VERY short test video. I did NOT shoot with the intention of telling a story, just some point-and-shoot with no "B" roll, so the story is horribly weak and kind of choppy! However, it was good practice with the video editor I'm learning, Adobe Premiere Elements.

Good clean fun!


https://youtu.be/NZo_qWMNm_8

Hey, you video and drone experts, go easy on me! I assume there are a bunch that hang out here. The photos and video were all with the defaults, I didn't even try the high resolution modes.

A couple of stills shots from our place. The camera is rock solid even in the wind, almost like it's on a tripod. The long shot shows the house and horse pasture from hundreds of feet up from where I'm controlling behind the barn, way down the hill on other side of the ridge.

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This promises to be fun!

JKJ

[Tony Zona]

Careful of those trees, John.

I’ve been flying radio controlled aircraft for years, and I know those trees can get you. They’re devious.

But I love you video. Very nice. I look forward to more.

[Frederick Skelly]

Someday, when I retire, I hope I can have as much fun as you do John. You're always up to something and you seem to enjoy every single day. And that's the way it should be!

Your farm is beautiful! Enjoy your new drone!

Fred

[Keith Outten]

Very cool John, looks to me link you are already a professional.

[Jim Becker]

I think you did a great job flying that thang...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Seemed good for an amateur to me John. Now you can spy on your animals and find out what they do when your are not in their presence.

[Matt Day]

Very cool! Those must be fun to fly, never done it myself. Doubt my wife would blow $800 on a birthday present for me though! She thinks I have too much stuff as it is. Lol

[Jim Tobias]

Very nice John....looks like quality video to me. Look forward to more video.
I have envisioned some of the scenes you show when you have talked about the animals in the past......now it's a movie.......and I am a visual learner!

Jim

[Mike Henderson]

Your video looks great to me - not amateur at all. When you "zoomed in" was that with the camera or were you getting closer with the drone? I can see some real possibilities with a drone.

BTW, look at PowerDirector software if you decide you don't like Adobe Premiere Elements. Very easy and intuitive to use and not that expensive.

Mike

[Jon Nuckles]

Looked good to me. Hope the llamas are credited in a future film; they have star potential.

[Mark Hennebury]

Looked great, quite smooth and clear. Looks like a great spot that you live.

[Mel Fulks]

Looks like great fun! Seeing the animals look up at it ,I'm pretty sure they are wishing they could go up. Like the French
animals Jefferson watched. People who claimed to understand animal speak reported the goat said "You look pretty
small and insignificant from up there".

[Don Orr]

That's fantastic John! Can't wait to see what you do when you have more experience.

And a very Happy Birthday young fella!!!

[John K Jordan]

Thanks for the comments and compliments, everyone! I'm having a blast. I spent the day hauling and putting up hay and I kept thinking how interesting it would be to get some aerial photography of the cutting and bailing and loading.

Tony Z, believe me, I'm constantly aware of the trees! I've been studying for weeks the ways people lose, damage, and destroy their drones and flying into trees was probably the #1 mistake!

Fred, my motto is "if you can't have fun, why bother??"

Mike H., there is no zoom on the camera - any zoom or other motion is with the flight controls. The trick is getting the motion smooth enough! I've done many hundreds of hourse of of video editing over the years and tried out Premiere a long time ago. Both the full version and Elements is kind of klunky compared to what I was used to (SpeedRazor) but I think it will do the job. There is a lot to learn but I bought a good book. The "easy" doeen't matter to me nearly as much as the feature set.

Matt D., I've done aerial photography from airplanes and helicopters and in comparison, this thing is almost free! I already have a list of friends who want me to come and shot pictures of their place from the air.

Jon N., the llamas have already been featured on two TV commercials! Two of them, a mother and daughter, have won a number of awards at llama shows. I also take them to churches, schools, assisted living homes, and Christmas parades. Come visit - take a llama for a walk!

Mel F., the first day of flying I took it out in the horse pasture since it's a wide open space. At one point I flew the thing low towards where the three horses were having a hay snack. I didn't want to get too close and spook them so the picture is a frame captured from the video, cropping to zoom in a bit. Two of the horses are looking at the thing like "what in the world..." The horse on the left is totally blind and didn't notice. :) They've done something with the propellers on this drone to make it a lot quieter than most so he might not have even heard it.
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They stared at it until I moved up and away then went back to eating hay!

JKJ

[Tom M King]

Nice Toy! I'm surprised you are still feeding hay, this time of year. Ours won't even bother to smell of hay, once the grass is out.

[jared herbert]

I have thought of getting one of these toys. I have no experience with video editing etc. how hard is it for a tank amateur to learn the ins and outs of this whole process?

[Mike Henderson]

I have thought of getting one of these toys. I have no experience with video editing etc. how hard is it for a tank amateur to learn the ins and outs of this whole process?

My advice is to start slowly. Start by making videos from your smartphone and learn how to edit them. I use PowerDirector which I found to be easy to learn and not that expensive. Other people may give you other ideas.

Once you feel comfortable that you can produce a video to your standards, get a drone and learn how to operate it.

Mike

[John K Jordan]

My advice is to start slowly. Start by making videos from your smartphone and learn how to edit them.

I agree. I'd get a video editor that for a desktop or laptop. While tablets and phone apps will allow basic editing in my experiences they can be excruciatingly SLOOOW. There are many editing programs available now and most any should work for basic editing. The PowerDirector looks fine from their web site (if trying that I'd go for the Ultimate version) but I have no experience with it. I've used several professional editors over the years and at the moment am using Adobe Premier Elements, pretty cheap as these things go. I personally am not interested in all the flashy automated thing these programs advertise now, you really only need the basics - a program with good timeline editing, cut/trim (they all do this), basic transitions like cross-fade/dissolve, and good audio support.


My oldest son is a professional photographer, videographer, and video editor and I asked him recently for software recommendations when I had to create a small video in a hurry. He wrote this:

Here would be my recommendations, not in any particular order:

1) Adobe Premiere Elements, on sale for $75 (until 4/19) -- fairly simple, should be easy to learn, free trial, 1-time payment (not subscription)

2) DaVinci Resolve (free) -- high-end/professional but has a simple editing mode called the "cut page" which should meet your needs for this project. Good starting tutorials on the Black Magic site.

3) Hitfilm Express (free) -- haven't tried this in a while but what I remember it was fairly intuitive. Can't hurt to try since it's free.

Something to keep in mind with all of these, some or all may not play well with cell phone video. I would guess that Premiere Elements may play with them the best. But you can always transcribe cell video to a usable format. I had to do this with most of the videos I used in the virtual choir. I can help you more with this if needed.

I'd recommend download & try them all and see what imports/plays back.


I took the drone out again today and drained two batteries! Progress. :)

JKJ

[Roger Feeley]

I live in the dc area inside the beltway. You can’t legally fly a drone around here without some special permitting. The neighbor two doors down is a photographer for National Geographic. She bought one and has to drive a ways out of town to practice. She said it’s not any sort of jamming. She said that the better drones have gps chips and there are certain areas where they simply won’t operate. Ohhhkaayy...

i still think someone is jamming my old garage door opener frequency. I’m told that there is somebody within a mile that gets some sort of protection and that may include some jamming. They aren’t telling and I don’t want to know.

[John K Jordan]

She said that the better drones have gps chips and there are certain areas where they simply won’t operate. Ohhhkaayy...


The areas around here are clear for flight except, I'm assuming, like elsewhere around airports and perhaps around some of the government facilities in Oak Ridge. (When I was flying airplanes we were discouraged from flying over one particular facility since it put them on alert but wasn't banned, at least back then)

The B4UFLY app is supposed to let you know if your planned area is OK. I haven't seen any alerts in the limited areas I've flown the drone.
https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/where_can_i_fly/b4ufly/

The DJI drone I bought (Mavic Air 2) is likewise supposed to have built-in checks not only for areas restricted to recreational fliers, but warnings for manned aircraft in the area. It "features" active shutdown if you enter a restricted area. I read one reviewer who said he was flying in one area when his controller beeped and announced the drone had entered a restricted area and would land in 10 seconds. He was flying over water at the time!

From one writer explaining how the DJI Geofencing works: "Your drone will not take off if you start your flight in one of these areas without special action. If you are already in flight and hit one of these boundaries, your drone will stop in mid-air like hitting an imaginary wall. And then it will auto-land without any regard to what’s below it. Look out!"
https://www.jmpeltier.com/understanding-unlocking-dji-flysafe-geofencing/

JKJ

[Roger Feeley]

The areas around here are clear for flight except, I'm assuming, like elsewhere around airports and perhaps around some of the government facilities in Oak Ridge. (When I was flying airplanes we were discouraged from flying over one particular facility since it put them on alert but wasn't banned, at least back then)

The B4UFLY app is supposed to let you know if your planned area is OK. I haven't seen any alerts in the limited areas I've flown the drone.
https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/where_can_i_fly/b4ufly/

The DJI drone I bought (Mavic Air 2) is likewise supposed to have built-in checks not only for areas restricted to recreational fliers, but warnings for manned aircraft in the area. It "features" active shutdown if you enter a restricted area. I read one reviewer who said he was flying in one area when his controller beeped and announced the drone had entered a restricted area and would land in 10 seconds. He was flying over water at the time!

From one writer explaining how the DJI Geofencing works: "Your drone will not take off if you start your flight in one of these areas without special action. If you are already in flight and hit one of these boundaries, your drone will stop in mid-air like hitting an imaginary wall. And then it will auto-land without any regard to what’s below it. Look out!"
https://www.jmpeltier.com/understanding-unlocking-dji-flysafe-geofencing/

JKJ

wow! All I knew came from my neighbor. It sounds to me like a modest software upgrade is in order. I like the wall idea but not the auto land.

btw, you can google my neighbor. Karen Kazmowski (sp). You know those National Geographic photo cruises to exotic places where the send a pro to help you? She does some of those. I think she won a Pulitzer or something for a book. She’s been all over. Kinda cool. And she’s really nice.

[John K Jordan]

Nice Toy! I'm surprised you are still feeding hay, this time of year. Ours won't even bother to smell of hay, once the grass is out.

It's a bit of coastal burmuda hay. They think it is candy for horses and vacuum up every bit.

[Tom M King]

I can get Coastal dirt cheap here, but it has a bad reputation for creating colic, so we've stayed away from it. We had a pony a long time ago that was prone to colic, and did once on Coastal hay.

edited to add: Also, I remembered it didn't keep weight on the ones that were hard to keep weight on through the Winter.

[John K Jordan]

I can get Coastal dirt cheap here, but it has a bad reputation for creating colic, so we've stayed away from it.

I have read about that reputation and the reasons for the reputation. I decided it is fine for snacks and treats for the horses and mini donkeys. Most of the hay I feed in the non-pasture months is a good mixed grass. The llamas and alpacas get the same hay but with small alfalfa treats.

JKJ

[John K Jordan]

My oldest son Ben is a freelance videographer and photographer. Soon after I got my camera drone I sent him some clips and he decided to get one! He got the same model I did, the DJI Mavic Air 2. He played with it a few days to get the hang of what it would do then took it on vacation last week and took some shots.

This is the first video he put together with shots from the new drone.

https://vimeo.com/433783734

This thing seems like an excellent addition to a videographer's tool kit!

I can't wait to see what he does next.

JKJ

[ChrisA Edwards]

That's really cool.

[Mark Hennebury]

Beautiful!

[Warren Lake]

Very nice,

friends son has one, me being an old guy totally unaware hit him up with questions and finally how far can that go before you lose it. 8 kilometers wholly crap.

Now if someone can figure out how I can use one to trim the candles on my white pines that are about 22 feet tall now and oh the ash tree has died, can I hook up the Stihl chain saw to it? For years ive told arborists I want a laser tree trimmer so I can do it from the ground. Drone with a laser?

Those drones are amazing. Even RC cars and how far they have come. I think some can go faster than the Wallywagon.

Reminds me of the old Clint Eastwood movie with the RC car with the bomb in it doing wheelies and chasing him down the road.

[John K Jordan]

Very nice,

friends son has one, me being an old guy totally unaware hit him up with questions and finally how far can that go before you lose it. 8 kilometers wholly crap.


Although youtube is full of people who do otherwise, the FAA has some rules that may limit the distance.

"Keep your drone within your visual line of sight, or within the visual line-of-sight of a visual observer who is co-located (physically next to) and in direct communication with you."

I get nervous when mine is at the other end of my horse pasture, maybe 1000 ft from the house. At that distance it's so tiny I can't see it without binoculars.

The controllers are evidently getting better at communicating at long distances. The Mavic Air 2 used dual frequencies for incredible distance control. This guy turned back at over 5 kilometers when his battery started to die. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjW2smXRsTE

These things can be set to automatically turn around and come back to the starting position if the signal is lost for some reason. One reason is signal interference.

JKJ

[Warren Lake]

John think he told me about the turn around and come back thing. I was pretty stunned at how advanced they are.

[John K Jordan]

...I was pretty stunned at how advanced they are.

Me too! I almost bought one a few years ago but now I'm glad I didn't. The new model is less than half the price of what I almost bought, has a longer fly time, more solid communication, collision avoidance, better camera, and much smaller (and folding) to boot. What will they think of next.

JKJ

[Warren Lake]

by the was john when I read your "old and feeble" comment on your chainsaw aid it reminded me of an artist I met once and when I asked what he did he said he was a starving artist. I asked some others about him later they said he was well respected and wealthy.

Sure enough I clicked on the link to see that beast you have and what it can do. Thats cheating :) however love to have one of those. A few of my machines were lifted off the trailer with a new giant John Deer tractor, thats another level of mechanical stuff that amazes me, your machine as well. Last year I was pulling railway ties out by hand for a day then a farm guy came in a skid steer with special forks took 10 seconds to remove one then he picked up four or five at once an moved them all. Right tools for the job.

[Mark Hennebury]

I have seen videos of them with hand guns, shotguns, machine guns, Missiles, knives and flamethrowers mounted on them, so a laser or chainsaw may not be a stretch.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNPJMk2fgJU

[Mark Hennebury]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b93H5U6bcVI

[Mark Hennebury]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07rtBip9ixk

[Warren Lake]

geez Mark maybe I could just sharpen the blades for trimming the candles on the white pines. Noticed the american car and seems he has an endless supplies of manequins.

Likely Military have that stuff or well more of it than we are aware of.


Years ago I came over a hill not far from where i live and in the distance I saw lights flying, I stopped on the side of the road and took 100 plus photos, of what I wasnt sure. stuff came from the east flying together then went north and disappeared and more kept coming from the east. Sometimes the lights changed position same time., I forgot my still shot camera had video and should have had that on. I didnt sleep that night then went back to the area and asked endless people. No answers then checked with the military close by if they were flying something and they said no. It never got answered but there was one report of UFO very close in the area on an american site. All I can think of it was 25 guys with drones flying at once. I was a bit stunned I was the only one that saw this. As I came over that hill and driving into that small town the lights were evident from far away, up fairly high and bright like crazy. I didnt hear any noise but there was traffic driving past me so some noise and all were oblivious to it.