First time P3A owner doing dumb stuff already

stixgod · Feb 10, 2016

Hello all, been playing around with quads for a couple years now and finally decided to "pull the trigger" last week when I picked up a Phantom 3 Advanced. I have about 15 flights under my belt now and with every take off, my new addiction grows. The main reason I wanted to get into aerial photography was to shoot wakeskating which I finally got the chance to do yesterday. I'm very aware that this is risky business and I know that I will most likely lose my quad one day to the depths of my lake but I plan on being a hawk about my battery life and am constantly reminding myself of my novice pilot status.

My first attempt at filming wakeskating, I sat on the back seat of my seadoo and took off from a dock, and proceeded to try and chase my subject. This proved to be much harder than I anticipated and was not without near catastrophe. Due to a little miscommunication between the driver and I, we unexpectedly went under a bridge and I had a slight panic moment but after increasing altitude and waiting a second, I was able to recover. Anyways, heres the flight.

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Wilfros · Feb 10, 2016

Very Nice! Good job keeping the subject in frame

Sinisalo · Feb 10, 2016

Why did you need to be on the Seadoo? Also there is an app called Vertical Studio that you might want to try, it will keep your subject in frame and smooth out all that yaw movement

Sinisalo · Feb 10, 2016

Did you see that Gull at 3:34 that flew between your subject and drone?

stixgod · Feb 10, 2016

I sat on the ski because my house is off a canal and not on the main lake. To fly as low as low I wanted to fly, I needed clear line of sight to feel confident. I probably won't do this every time though because many times we only ride a short pass on a rail that we built right in front of that bridge. When we're staying in one spot for the duration of a shoot, I will most likely sit on an anchored boat near by or build a small dock in the shallows behind the rail.

Also, the birds were insane out there! There were a few close calls, and a shot of one dive-bombing into the lake right next to the subject, but for the most part the birds seemed pretty aware of the quad the whole time.

Shademan · Feb 10, 2016

Great video! There are so many simultaneous responsibilities in these shots, it is hard to keep your head wrapped around it. Just the thought of riding backwards and getting acclimated to the directional changes is enough to keep your head spinning.

Did you try the "follow me" option on the DJI app?

eaglegoaltender · Feb 10, 2016

Oh yea - great job there man - looks like a lot of fun! You had plenty to think about while sitting backwards while flying the bird not to mention having a lot of trust in your driver. Even not using "Vertical Studio" you did a heck of a job staying with your subject. The VS app is still in beta testing but you can sign up for it here Vertical - EPIC Aerial Filming and try it out - it would really help you concentrate more on flying and less on the subject! Good luck and safe flying.

NotARubicon · Feb 10, 2016

how high above the water were you when you were low? Did you disable VPS?

Scratch · Feb 10, 2016

Awesome video! I can see some great videos coming from you! I hope you have plans to add some sort of "recovery float" or something though just in case...

JKDSensei · Feb 10, 2016

Bridge scene starts at 4:25

stixgod · Feb 10, 2016

I was probably at about 10ft at my lowest point. Does the Vertical program have access to flight input or just gimbal? I'm a little weary of the autonomous flight modes still. I figure it's best to learn how to do something manually first before relying on assistance. Thanks for all the feedback, I've learned a ton from reading through the threads in this forum so I was itching to get some of my own footage up here so I could get some input on what I'm trying to do.

henick · Feb 10, 2016

Vertical allows you to fly while it attempts to track a contrasting subject with the gimble. You fly yourself normally but there is a neat 'orbit' function that I have tried a few times. It worked ok when I planned my clothing to contrast my expected background correctly.

CCDD · Feb 10, 2016

That was really cool!!!

henick · Feb 10, 2016

Vertical - EPIC Aerial Filming

eaglegoaltender · Feb 10, 2016

stixgod said:
Does the Vertical program have access to flight input or just gimbal? I'm a little weary of the autonomous flight modes still. I figure it's best to learn how to do something manually first before relying on assistance.

I hear ya on that and it is a justifiable question and concern - when I emailed them with the same question, they suggest keeping the DJi Pilot app running in the background so you can flip between the two apps. Would need lots of practice with that prior to over the water I am sure.

Here is photo of the screen when looking at your device and using the VS app - does show battery level and GPS lock info.

stixgod · Feb 10, 2016

The thought of switching between apps over water makes me a little nauseous but I can definitely see how this could simplify what I'm trying to do a bit. I'll have to give it a try this weekend while filming some skateboarding first just to see how she's going to react.

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Browneee · Feb 11, 2016

Great shooting mate... I've been doing the same thing for couple years now from my boat while mates are out wake boarding. You get use to facing back wards and flying and giving signals to driver. Basically driver & I agree on the run were using, then he calls out when we're turning and what directions. Leaves me just to fly all by line of sight. Only difference I use a custom built 650 hex with and max take off weight of 6000grams, fully loaded with 10000mAh batt & GoPro its weighs 2700grams and has a flight time of 18 minutes. I use a hex for the engine out capabilities to get back to the boat. I've gotten use to never looking at FPV screen ( I use a devo F12e Tx ) I can tell which way the camera is facing and have neutral on the gimbal Ctl set at 33degs down.

Keep it up, anything. Behind a boat/JetSki makes me an instant fan [emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41][emoji41]

Browneee in West Oz

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