The General Drone-Related Thread

Ben6 said:
Go straight for the Mavic, you'll be fine. Just take it steady. My first drone was a P3A and just took off kept it low and in open space until I was comfortable with it and I'd say I'm pretty confident with it now.
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thanks a lot... when it becomes more readily available... when when my wallet allows i will buy one! (with extra batteries of course! :) )
 
Took my Mavic out for its first flight today, loved it and really easy to use.

However just wondering for those with the Mavic how long does the battery in your phone last? I used an iPhone 6s with a fully charge and probably got about 40-45 minutes out of it. I wasn't expecting the battery to drain that fast as the controller is also charged.

It was quite cold today about 0 deg c so that may factor into it but just wondering....
 
I don't understand why but some iphones are doing this - but as you say they also don't like the cold.
My Samsung S5 goes down about 10% during one battery flight but Androids do draw some charge from the cable.
The S5 does have a pretty big battery that will last three days on standby though.
 
4wd said:
I don't understand why but some iphones are doing this - but as you say they also don't like the cold.
My Samsung S5 goes down about 10% during one battery flight but Androids do draw some charge from the cable.
The S5 does have a pretty big battery that will last three days on standby though.
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OK well I'll be out with it again tomorrow and if am still getting that sort of time then I think I'll have to get something to use just with the mavic, any suggestions? what's the screen like on the S5?

I actually had 2 iPhone 6s with me today (one being my work phone) and when I swithched phones it seemed to last no time at all.
 
It's pretty good, I wish it was bigger.
You can get a refurbished S5 as low as £100 and it doesn't need to have a sim card to run the Mavic except you'd need load any maps on wifi or hotspot from main phone..
I have a 2013 Nexus 7 will just fit in the arms but not actually tried it yet. It worked fine with Phantom3.
A cheap tablet might be worth trying but you'll need quadcore and 2GB RAM
 
4wd said:
It's pretty good, I wish it was bigger.
You can get a refurbished S5 as low as £100 and it doesn't need to have a sim card to run the Mavic except you'd need load any maps on wifi or hotspot from main phone..
I have a 2013 Nexus 7 will just fit in the arms but not actually tried it yet. It worked fine with Phantom3.
A cheap tablet might be worth trying but you'll need quadcore and 2GB RAM
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Will a tablet fit or do you need an adapter?
 
Jase said:
I found out about this a little earlier and as it happens when I put the serial number in it says I need to get the battery replaced! it's because of a randon shutdown (which does happen to me) so not sure if it all affects battery life but I'll find out :)

Thanks for the link!
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My 6s battery hardly drops at all even after using 2 batteries in the phantom. Can't imagine mavics are that much worse.
 
Ben6 said:
My 6s battery hardly drops at all even after using 2 batteries in the phantom. Can't imagine mavics are that much worse.
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I wll go out with it again this afternoon, I'll have 100% battery to start with and I will time how long it lasts today.

Is there anything you turn off or do on the 6s to save battery? ie do you put it airplane mode or something?
 
Jase said:
I wll go out with it again this afternoon, I'll have 100% battery to start with and I will time how long it lasts today.

Is there anything you turn off or do on the 6s to save battery? ie do you put it airplane mode or something?
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Nothing at all. I just plug it in and load the app. Seems very strange for you to use so much battery. Does the Mavic controller recharge the phone while it's in use?
 
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I took the Mavic out again today and used my 6s (not the one that needs a new battery) and it lasted OK.

I had about 40-45 minutes flight time and that used about 15-20% phone battery which is closer to what I was expecting. It wasn't anywhere near as cold today though so maybe that is a factor.

Anyway loving the Mavic although my Pilot skills are terrible... no worries that will come with practice :)
 
Well after more than 2 months waiting I cancelled my Mavic order. I will use the money for my holiday instead, then order the Mavic 2 whenever it comes out.
 
Ricardodaforce said:
Well after more than 2 months waiting I cancelled my Mavic order. I will use the money for my holiday instead, then order the Mavic 2 whenever it comes out.
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The supply of the Mavic is ridiculous. Yet the Phantom 4 Pro is readily available.
 
Rubiks said:
The supply of the Mavic is ridiculous. Yet the Phantom 4 Pro is readily available.
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Depends where you get it from, I ordered mine this month and had to wait 2 weeks direct from DJI, that's not bad.
 
Ricardodaforce said:
Well after more than 2 months waiting I cancelled my Mavic order. I will use the money for my holiday instead, then order the Mavic 2 whenever it comes out.
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Apple seem to be getting regular stock? I was in an Apple Store last week, said they could get me one in a couple of weeks..
 
Been out practicing with the Mavic today and love it, I bought a set of filters for it which really help.

Next stop is getting some proper footage to do a video.

What software are you guys using to edit? I know how to use Premiere (did a fair bit of editing years ago) but it's not presently on my CC package so can't decide whether to update my CC package or buy something like Final Cut Pro... I'm a Mac user btw.. I've given iMovie a go and it's OK but pretty limited.

Also where are you getting music from for the Youtube videos? with youtube being a pain now with music usage where's a good place to get music to use? I don't mind paying a bit for it but not a fortune.
 
I use Final Cut Pro and it's more than capable of handling my footage. Also for music I've been using purple planet music it's royalty free
 
Jase said:
Been out practicing with the Mavic today and love it, I bought a set of filters for it which really help.

Next stop is getting some proper footage to do a video.

What software are you guys using to edit? I know how to use Premiere (did a fair bit of editing years ago) but it's not presently on my CC package so can't decide whether to update my CC package or buy something like Final Cut Pro... I'm a Mac user btw.. I've given iMovie a go and it's OK but pretty limited.

Also where are you getting music from for the Youtube videos? with youtube being a pain now with music usage where's a good place to get music to use? I don't mind paying a bit for it but not a fortune.
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https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/sharing-my-music-and-sound-fx-over-960-tracks.631207/
 
Yeah FCPX. I know loads who use premiere though so if you got experience in that perhaps you'd be better off there
 
Rubiks said:
Yeah FCPX. I know loads who use premiere though so if you got experience in that perhaps you'd be better off there
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Well it has a free trial so may as well give it a go I reckon, how's the colour grading process in it?
 
I went out with the Mavic today however when I got back and looked at the footage, it looked like an oil painting ie lacked detail etc.

I haven't had that problem before so any idea what could cause that?
 
Beware of under-exposing, it's very easily done if you try to use manual.
Leave it on Auto and adjust the EV in most situations.
Also the sharpening seems too strong at first and most go to -1 or -2, however this seems to automatically apply something more like aggressive noise reduction? - try to put up with it on zero and add a slight Gaussian blur later when editing if artefacts are annoying.

I see Art Mode is back in latest IOS app, it will be in next Android version shortly.
This is definitely the best choice if you like to tweak things later.
If not the D-Cinelike is probably best bet contrast and saturation on -1

There's some suggestions the painted look is like a 'stuck' NR setting and a camera reset will put things back to default.
Make sure the focus is locked on a contrasty point too.
 
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4wd said:
Beware of under-exposing, it's very easily done if you try to use manual.
Leave it on Auto and adjust the EV in most situations.
Also the sharpening seems too strong at first and most go to -1 or -2, however this seems to automatically apply something more like aggressive noise reduction? - try to put up with it on zero and add a slight Gaussian blur later when editing if artefacts are annoying.

I see Art Mode is back in latest IOS app, it will be in next Android version shortly.
This is definitely the best choice if you like to tweak things later.
If not the D-Cinelike is probably best bet contrast and saturation on -1

There's some suggestions the painted look is like a 'stuck' NR setting and a camera reset will put things back to default.
Make sure the focus is locked on a contrasty point too.
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Thanks, I've just been doing some research and it appears to be a problem.

I was running with D-Cinelike -1-1-1

When you say a camera reset, do you mean the calibration it does when you turn the mavic on or something else, if so how do you do that?

Also when you say focus locked, I tap to focus but have noticed the Mavic does refocus itself from time to time (can you stop that)

Thanks
 
I did the reset myself once and it seemed to help with out of focus on one side - it's in the app settings somewhere.
You can turn Manual focus on, then you see a different icon top right - after it focuses in auto use that to switch to Manual and it should lock it on that point near infinity - or be prepared to tap to refocus periodically.
Actually focusing with the manual slider is pretty hard but can be done especially if you zoom in.
 
4wd said:
I did the reset myself once and it seemed to help with out of focus on one side - it's in the app settings somewhere.
You can turn Manual focus on, then you see a different icon top right - after it focuses in auto use that to switch to Manual and it should lock it on that point near infinity - or be prepared to tap to refocus periodically.
Actually focusing with the manual slider is pretty hard but can be done especially if you zoom in.
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Thanks, there seems to be a lot of people (I mean pages of them) with the issue. Someone just advised of a solution that worked for them and it's similar to wha you suggested about reset of the camera.

But instead of doing the standard reset they recommend changing region ie PAL to NTSC and then back, on each occasion it forces a reset and apparently clears more settings that the standard reset.

I'll try it a.s.a.p.
 
Yes it's heather and bracken mainly, you can just make out the distant North Sea at one point, which surprised me on larger screen.
The castle thing was built about 1870 as a Shooting Lodge in gothic style by Duncombe family from Helmsley not far away, so isn't really very old or historic - however it's thought the site was previously a Knights Templar Preceptory where they accommodated travellers over the moors.
 
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