The General Drone-Related Thread

Next time this effect happens I will do as long a TL as possible.
Stretched it slightly in post but battery warnings were screaming as it came back
(mini3Pro) - Because I wasted too much time before starting timelapse and it cleared away remarkably quickly so return and insert #2 was not an option

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV7-gKvG5Is
 
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I entered a Christmas competition on a photo website (Ephotozine) and blow me away, I won a (like new) Mini 3 Pro from MPB.

Now that's what I call good luck!

Anyway, I have never considered having or using a drone, so it will be a new experience for me to give it a go.

I've taken the CAA test and registered an Operator and Flyer ID, and now it's been delivered, I just need the time to give it a whirl.

Paul.
 
Paul Iddon said:
I entered a Christmas competition on a photo website (Ephotozine) and blow me away, I won a (like new) Mini 3 Pro from MPB.

Now that's what I call good luck!

Anyway, I have never considered having or using a drone, so it will be a new experience for me to give it a go.

I've taken the CAA test and registered an Operator and Flyer ID, and now it's been delivered, I just need the time to give it a whirl.

Paul.
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I don't want to rain on your parade, but I hope it's not locked (bound) to the previous user.
 
Unfortunately a friend bought one from them and it was bound to the previous owner. Happens all the time with returned/resold DJI drones.
You'll be able to connect it all up but just not fly inside to check.
 
Paul Iddon said:
I entered a Christmas competition on a photo website (Ephotozine) and blow me away, I won a (like new) Mini 3 Pro from MPB.

Now that's what I call good luck!

Anyway, I have never considered having or using a drone, so it will be a new experience for me to give it a go.

I've taken the CAA test and registered an Operator and Flyer ID, and now it's been delivered, I just need the time to give it a whirl.

Paul.
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Congrats! That's a great win, make sure you post up some pictures when you get used to it.

If you hate it I'll buy it from you for a tenner! :ROFLMAO:
 
wilt said:
Unfortunately a friend bought one from them and it was bound to the previous owner. Happens all the time with returned/resold DJI drones.
You'll be able to connect it all up but just not fly inside to check.
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I just powered it all up, and it safely rose to 1.2m and I landed it again (in the kitchen (high ceiling)).
 
Yeah. You wouldn't have been able to connect to it and take control of it if it had been bound to someone else.
Congrats on the win and clear skies to you. It's a cracker for a first drone and you'll get the hang of it in no time.
 
Paul Iddon said:
I entered a Christmas competition on a photo website (Ephotozine) and blow me away, I won a (like new) Mini 3 Pro from MPB.

Now that's what I call good luck!

Anyway, I have never considered having or using a drone, so it will be a new experience for me to give it a go.

I've taken the CAA test and registered an Operator and Flyer ID, and now it's been delivered, I just need the time to give it a whirl.

Paul.
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Congratulation on your prize winning Paul! I shall look forward to seeing some aerial spider images
 
Paul Iddon said:
I just powered it all up, and it safely rose to 1.2m and I landed it again (in the kitchen (high ceiling)).
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You were lucky there this is a classic way to smash it up on first flight.
Indoor flying is hazardous when you are 100% familiar with them
You get intermittent or no GPS and self positioning depends on good light and a patterned surface on the floor.
 
My first 2 attempts at taking the drone up. I'm astonished at how stable the drone is in flight. So I dared the dreaded first flight, and then a second.

My editing skills are not up to much, nor is my drone flying!

The Ribble Estuary, Preston:



Avenham Park is on the edge of the city of Preston in Lancashire (England).



Paul.
 
I just purchased a cheap drone (DJI Mini 2) to test out and see if it was something I'd like to get into from the perspective of a pure landscape photographer — a demographic pretty well ignored by internet reviewers.

I've decided that it is great and already took some shots I liked from the second or third day of flying. Problem is, the IQ is dreadful. I'd be embarrassed to put these into my portfolio since even at the slightest magnification the image quality just deteriorates into mushy noise. I also find that the DNG files do not have much range to them, really not much more editable than the jpegs from my X-T3! I don't want any unusable masterpieces so I plan to upgrade ASAP to a Mavic 3, plus probably a Mini 3 for those situations where I require <249g. I am really excited to get a drone out to my favorite locations to see them from new perspectives.

One issue I am wrestling with is that my photography almost completely revolves around the use of filters (PL, ND, and GND — often all 3 types at the same time) and I am having a hard time figuring out how to make that work with a drone, short of the menace and expense that is the DJI Inspire or Sony Airpeak. I can see ND+PL filters available for all drone models, and certain models like the Mavic 3 Classic even have compatible (though unadjustable) GND filters, but I don't see any way to combine the 3 types or convert to a screw-in system.

I am wondering about throwing together a screw-in filter adapter. I have a lightweight 49mm filter system for my Fujifilm X100 that weighs 68g including a 1-stop circular CPL and 2 rectangular filters (10-stop ND + 3 stop GND in this case). I could probably shave that down to ~60g if I used an aluminum rather than brass CPL filter. I am sure it'd be too much for a Mini 3, but does anyone know what sort of weight the Mavic 3’s gimbal can tolerate?

Photo of the filters in question (3-stop and 6-stop NDs not pictured):

IMG_4801.jpg
 
js47 said:
I just purchased a cheap drone (DJI Mini 2) to test out and see if it was something I'd like to get into from the perspective of a pure landscape photographer — a demographic pretty well ignored by internet reviewers.

I've decided that it is great and already took some shots I liked from the second or third day of flying. Problem is, the IQ is dreadful. I'd be embarrassed to put these into my portfolio since even at the slightest magnification the image quality just deteriorates into mushy noise. I also find that the DNG files do not have much range to them, really not much more editable than the jpegs from my X-T3! I don't want any unusable masterpieces so I plan to upgrade ASAP to a Mavic 3, plus probably a Mini 3 for those situations where I require <249g. I am really excited to get a drone out to my favorite locations to see them from new perspectives.

One issue I am wrestling with is that my photography almost completely revolves around the use of filters (PL, ND, and GND — often all 3 types at the same time) and I am having a hard time figuring out how to make that work with a drone, short of the menace and expense that is the DJI Inspire or Sony Airpeak. I can see ND+PL filters available for all drone models, and certain models like the Mavic 3 Classic even have compatible (though unadjustable) GND filters, but I don't see any way to combine the 3 types or convert to a screw-in system.

I am wondering about throwing together a screw-in filter adapter. I have a lightweight 49mm filter system for my Fujifilm X100 that weighs 68g including a 1-stop circular CPL and 2 rectangular filters (10-stop ND + 3 stop GND in this case). I could probably shave that down to ~60g if I used an aluminum rather than brass CPL filter. I am sure it'd be too much for a Mini 3, but does anyone know what sort of weight the Mavic 3’s gimbal can tolerate?

Photo of the filters in question (3-stop and 6-stop NDs not pictured):

View attachment 379053
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You aren't going to be hanging 68g from the gimbal! (y) Even some of the standard ND filters which with next to nothing can sometimes unbalance the gimbal.
 
LeeRatters said:
You aren't going to be hanging 68g from the gimbal! (y) Even some of the standard ND filters which with next to nothing can sometimes unbalance the gimbal.
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I echo what Lee has said, only use filters which have been specifically made for that model of drone, anything else and you risk overloading the gimble or worse breaking it.
 
LeeRatters said:
You aren't going to be hanging 68g from the gimbal! (y) Even some of the standard ND filters which with next to nothing can sometimes unbalance the gimbal.
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TVRTim said:
I echo what Lee has said, only use filters which have been specifically made for that model of drone, anything else and you risk overloading the gimble or worse breaking it.
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Thanks for confirming that, gents. I thought I had read somewhere about the possibility of using counterweights behind the camera to make heavier filters work but at that point it is a lot of extra weight! I expect at the very least it would compromise the efficacy of the gimbal's stabilization –– which would defeat the purpose given that high-ND long exposures are the primary goal of using these filters in the first place.

There are plenty of combination filters out there which offer ND+PL in the same filter, so all I'd be missing is the GND. Ideally I'd be able to find a filter that combined CPL+GND but finding a standalone GND is hard enough given how video-centric the drone market is!

How is the dynamic range of the newer DJI sensors? It is almost complete rubbish on my Mini 2. I use GND filters for my normal photography since I like to get my images as close to my vision as possible straight out of the camera and minimize editing, but I suspect I may need to explore HDR techniques for aerial.
 
js47 said:
Thanks for confirming that, gents. I thought I had read somewhere about the possibility of using counterweights behind the camera to make heavier filters work but at that point it is a lot of extra weight! I expect at the very least it would compromise the efficacy of the gimbal's stabilization –– which would defeat the purpose given that high-ND long exposures are the primary goal of using these filters in the first place.

There are plenty of combination filters out there which offer ND+PL in the same filter, so all I'd be missing is the GND. Ideally I'd be able to find a filter that combined CPL+GND but finding a standalone GND is hard enough given how video-centric the drone market is!

How is the dynamic range of the newer DJI sensors? It is almost complete rubbish on my Mini 2. I use GND filters for my normal photography since I like to get my images as close to my vision as possible straight out of the camera and minimize editing, but I suspect I may need to explore HDR techniques for aerial.
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I think you get about an extra stop above the start of the "zebra" warnings before things are completely blown - in video at least. I would imagine photo would be the same really.

It's a bit too spray and pray style for me, but I do tend to shoot in AEB mode most of the time now because it's certainly not as easy to get exposures perfect like with the ground camera! Especially with the more limited dynamic range and how less workable the DNG is.
 
It seems more than acceptable, it's worth exposure bracketing for manual blend in PS layers rather than HDR as a rule.
The Mavic 2 pro has a bigger sensor than my current #1 mini3pro - but the results are hard to tell apart.
 
js47 said:
How is the dynamic range of the newer DJI sensors? It is almost complete rubbish on my Mini 2. I use GND filters for my normal photography since I like to get my images as close to my vision as possible straight out of the camera and minimize editing, but I suspect I may need to explore HDR techniques for aerial.
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It gets a bit better the further up the range you go, but its only in small increments. I use a Mavic 3 Classic with an M 4/3 sensor, its about as good as it gets for a sensibly priced drone. For anything nearing professional quality you have to be looking at a Zenmuse X5 which is M 4/3 or the X7 which is 35mm, both of these need to be fitted to an Inspire model and then your talking thousands of pounds, my Classic comes in at about 1500 pounds or so depending on which controller you choose.

The M3 Classic is certainly the best drone I have ever used for imaging, decent sensor with a good dynamic range as far as it goes.
 
LeeRatters said:
I think you get about an extra stop above the start of the "zebra" warnings before things are completely blown - in video at least. I would imagine photo would be the same really.

It's a bit too spray and pray style for me, but I do tend to shoot in AEB mode most of the time now because it's certainly not as easy to get exposures perfect like with the ground camera! Especially with the more limited dynamic range and how less workable the DNG is.
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I am still learning the sensor but I have taken some shots where I really expected to be able to pull the highlights back down but they ended up being blown. I could have underexposed more, but pushing the shadows up even a little results in a lot of noise. I think the Mini 2's sensor just doesn't have enough dynamic range for difficult lighting conditions.

I'll attach two images below where I had to choose between blown highlights and noisy shadows.


 
4wd said:
It seems more than acceptable, it's worth exposure bracketing for manual blend in PS layers rather than HDR as a rule.
The Mavic 2 pro has a bigger sensor than my current #1 mini3pro - but the results are hard to tell apart.
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That's really good to know to blend later. I use Capture One but I have never used the blend function. I take a small amount of pride in that every photo I have ever shot has been the result of a single press of the shutter button!

I think the image sensor size difference between the Mavic 2 Pro/Air 2S (1") and Mini 3 (0.77") is probably made up for by the newer software/hardware of the Mini 3. The biggest difference for me would be in printing from 12MP vs 20MP files, but even so I feel like at this point there is no reason to get the Mavic 2 Pro or Air 2S over the Mini 3 — marginal image quality loss, but in exchange you get a drone that is <249g!


TVRTim said:
It gets a bit better the further up the range you go, but its only in small increments. I use a Mavic 3 Classic with an M 4/3 sensor, its about as good as it gets for a sensibly priced drone. For anything nearing professional quality you have to be looking at a Zenmuse X5 which is M 4/3 or the X7 which is 35mm, both of these need to be fitted to an Inspire model and then your talking thousands of pounds, my Classic comes in at about 1500 pounds or so depending on which controller you choose.

The M3 Classic is certainly the best drone I have ever used for imaging, decent sensor with a good dynamic range as far as it goes.
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I am extremely tempted by the Mavic 3 for its 4/3" sensor. I think I'd want to use it in conjunction with a Mini 3 though so I can still fly something around town. Should note that the X7 is not 35mm but rather Super 35, aka APS-C. The X9 is full frame though and I expect the Inspire 3 will be compatible, but no word on that yet from DJI.

I expect also that DJI will either kill off the Air line (effectively replacing it with the Mavic Classic line) or release a 4/3" Air 3 sometime soon. I reckon the release of the Mavic 3 poached a lot of Inspire 2 customers, and the release of the Mini 3 poached a lot of Air 2S customers. Plus, DJI will want a full frame Inspire 3 anyway in order to compete with the Sony Airpeak.

Out of curiosity, I just did a quick eBay search and found an Inspire 2 with Zenmuse X5S+15f1.7 (including 4 batteries and an extra set of props) sold last week for £1800. That is basically the same as a used Mavic 3 (non-Classic version). Only problem is I don't really want to be "that guy" who is flying an Inspire.... Plus the Inspire would take you well over the 900g limit for A1 flight in the EU, hopefully the UK adopts those rules at some point too.
 
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@js47 I had the same limitations with my Mini 2, great for general use but with high dynamic range scenes or low light it struggles a lot.
I sold it and got the Air2S and I'm very happy with it, it's no Mavic 3/Classic but a great drone with fantastic image quality, low light/night time is very good too.
 
gremlin16 said:
There hasn't been much on this post for a while, so here is a recent video I made of the local town hall. Paranoid about pigeons!

View: https://youtu.be/kiEb-YXI9-s
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I have done just 2 flights - but must admit I fancy taking the drone up over Preston (city centre) but it fills me with trepidation!

Did you launch from a car park top floor? If I was to go into the city centre, I guess I need a good place to take off and land from - it isn't a NFZ (the app says) but still, flying over a major conurbation is... daunting...

Paul.
 
Paul Iddon said:
I have done just 2 flights - but must admit I fancy taking the drone up over Preston (city centre) but it fills me with trepidation!

Did you launch from a car park top floor? If I was to go into the city centre, I guess I need a good place to take off and land from - it isn't a NFZ (the app says) but still, flying over a major conurbation is... daunting...

Paul.
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More daunting is if you lose control, or it breaks, and you don't have third party liability insurance. If your drone lands on someone, or causes someone to crash their car...well, it doesn't bear thinking about. I joined the BMFA as for (I think) about forty two quid a year, you get third party liability insurance. Just worth thinking about if you're going to fly over cities.
 
Paul Iddon said:
I have done just 2 flights - but must admit I fancy taking the drone up over Preston (city centre) but it fills me with trepidation!

Did you launch from a car park top floor? If I was to go into the city centre, I guess I need a good place to take off and land from - it isn't a NFZ (the app says) but still, flying over a major conurbation is... daunting...

Paul.
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I've flown over Bristol and Bath. Clifton Suspension Bridge, SS Great Britain, harbourside, Clifton village, Bath Abbey, Pultney Weir..... Just fly as normal and be sensible.

That doesn't really take into account lots of people mind you because like with photography I tend to do most of my flying at sunrise and maybe sunset.
 
wilt said:
@js47 I had the same limitations with my Mini 2, great for general use but with high dynamic range scenes or low light it struggles a lot.
I sold it and got the Air2S and I'm very happy with it, it's no Mavic 3/Classic but a great drone with fantastic image quality, low light/night time is very good too.
Click to expand...

I think I'll probably go the Mini 3 route for now (versus the Air 2S/Mavic 2 Pro) since I think the small image quality difference will be worth the tradeoff for the freedom of a <249g drone. In addition I think I'll get a Mavic 3, because that's the maximum IQ achievable whilst maintaining some portability. If after some time with the Mavic 3 I still find myself wanting square filters, I'll grab an Inspire 2 with X5S (X7 does not have an adequate lens selection)— but I'll wait until the Inspire 3 drops first to deflate the prices a bit.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Mini 3 pro this morning.
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Fantastic shots! I was only 20 miles away from there that day "as the drone flies" but was shrouded in thick fog the entire time. It was so dense that my Mini 2's downward position sensors kept putting the drone into landing mode whenever I pulled down on the stick, even when it was 50 feet up. I imagine a drone with more sensors would have been unable to fly at all.
 
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