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Serk
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« on: April 04, 2017, 12:34:24 PM » |
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Rather than continue on in the GOTF video thread, figured I'd start one just for talking about drones in general. I decided to finally try the Active Track feature out on my DJI Mavic Pro today. It was a VERY windy day, right on the verge of being too windy to fly (20-25mph and gusty) but decided to try it anyway. I definitely need to play with it some more. It did pretty well, but it had a hard time fighting the wind to keep up with me... Here's an example of it working. The drone is totally in control here, I have the controlled in my lap while riding but other than an occasional glance to make sure it hadn't gone crazy the drone was the pilot... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNt8_eClV6A |
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Never ask a geek 'Why?',just nod your head and slowly back away...  IBA# 22107 VRCC# 7976 VRCCDS# 226 1998 Valkyrie Standard 2008 Gold Wing Taxation is theft. μολὼν λαβέ |
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wiggydotcom
Member
Posts: 3387
Do Your Best and Miss the Rest!
Yorkville, Illinois
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« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2017, 04:30:11 PM » |
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Way to go, Brian. I knew the intrigue of testing it out would get to you soon enough. Very cool how that works. It did great considering the wind. It wasn't even noticeable in the video. But hows come at the end, there was more separation? Did you take it off tracking mode? Overall, very cool. You're almost ready for Beartooth Pass.  |
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VRCC #10177 VRCCDS #239  |
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Serk
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« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2017, 04:37:31 PM » |
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But hows come at the end, there was more separation? Did you take it off tracking mode?
Listening to the weather, they said the wind was even higher, 30ish with gusts up to 40. And it was flying in to the wind there (I think). I'm thinking it just couldn't keep up and went into it's "I'm gonna hover where I am" standby mode... Definitely need to play with it some more, don't think I'll ever take it out like that over a real highway though. |
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Never ask a geek 'Why?',just nod your head and slowly back away... IBA# 22107 VRCC# 7976 VRCCDS# 226 1998 Valkyrie Standard 2008 Gold Wing Taxation is theft. μολὼν λαβέ |
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MarkT
Member
Posts: 5196
VRCC #437 "Form follows Function"
Colorado Front Range - elevation 2.005 km
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« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2017, 04:47:37 PM » |
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I noticed recently in some parks they have "drones prohibited" signs. e.g. Pike's Peak. You gotta know some jerks are ruining it for all.
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Serk
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« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2017, 04:50:58 PM » |
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I noticed recently in some parks they have "drones prohibited" signs. e.g. Pike's Peak. You gotta know some jerks are ruining it for all.
Yup, the prohibited areas are quite extensive... I try to be a good boy and not be annoying with mine but some folks are super sensitive to 'em because of the negative spin they've heard about 'em. Already banned in all national parks (Although an interesting twist, it's prohibited to launch one from a national park, control it from in a national park or land it in a national park. However, it is okay to stand JUST outside a national park, launch it and fly it over the park, as long as you never control it from inside the park or land it there) |
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Never ask a geek 'Why?',just nod your head and slowly back away... IBA# 22107 VRCC# 7976 VRCCDS# 226 1998 Valkyrie Standard 2008 Gold Wing Taxation is theft. μολὼν λαβέ |
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dreamaker
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« Reply #6 on: April 04, 2017, 04:58:16 PM » |
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Did you get your FAA license? I started building a new all carbon fiber quad. It has tracking, long distance video and can be pre-programmed to fly a plotted route. Kind of on hold right now, went back to work for a bit.
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Serk
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« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2017, 05:17:24 PM » |
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Did you get your FAA license? I started building a new all carbon fiber quad. It has tracking, long distance video and can be pre-programmed to fly a plotted route. Kind of on hold right now, went back to work for a bit.
Yup... Not generally a fan of government licensing, but on the flip side, $5 for 3 years, and if some yahoo takes a pot shot at my drone they just shot at a federally registered aircraft... I toyed with the idea of building one myself, but for what I wanted, a already built one is hard to beat... FPV racing, build it is the way to go, but for photography/videography and general playing around, it's hard to beat a DJI drone... |
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Never ask a geek 'Why?',just nod your head and slowly back away... IBA# 22107 VRCC# 7976 VRCCDS# 226 1998 Valkyrie Standard 2008 Gold Wing Taxation is theft. μολὼν λαβέ |
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The emperor has no clothes
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« Reply #8 on: April 04, 2017, 05:24:17 PM » |
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Man, these things would be really cool for videoing grizzlies in Alaska.
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cookiedough
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« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2017, 07:20:16 PM » |
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that is cool and seems to work well. Am sure in 10 mph and under winds, it would be fine but am pretty sure most drones cannot keep up doing 50 mph on up say riding the cycle on the hwy. I could be wrong, but I think top speeds on most expensive ones are like 30-40 mph or so, correct?
My neighbor who spent over 1K to get that 2nd top of the line drone tested the tracking feature and worked well, but was too scared to take it in town around the block with trees and light poles in the way say with me driving my bicycle or scooter. coming down in flames worth 1 grand or more is a pricey toy to be playing with in case that tracking feature fails. It also is suppose to have crash avoidance sensors to avoid trees and overhead objects automatically.
he did home in on me and I ran around an open park 5 mph or so until I got winded and it did fine, but the run time is around 30 minutes tops so not like going long distances will work while riding a cycle for very long.
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dreamaker
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« Reply #10 on: April 05, 2017, 02:10:37 PM » |
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Did you get your FAA license? I started building a new all carbon fiber quad. It has tracking, long distance video and can be pre-programmed to fly a plotted route. Kind of on hold right now, went back to work for a bit.
Yup... Not generally a fan of government licensing, but on the flip side, $5 for 3 years, and if some yahoo takes a pot shot at my drone they just shot at a federally registered aircraft... I toyed with the idea of building one myself, but for what I wanted, a already built one is hard to beat... FPV racing, build it is the way to go, but for photography/videography and general playing around, it's hard to beat a DJI drone... Did DJI contact you to join NODE ? DJI keeps changing their site around, when I go there on occasion I get lost, hard to fine the Troubleshooting forum. |
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Serk
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« Reply #11 on: April 05, 2017, 02:34:30 PM » |
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Man, these things would be really cool for videoing grizzlies in Alaska.
I've seen a lot of property owners here in The Republic using 'em to track down wild hogs too... Did DJI contact you to join NODE ?
Not directly, but I saw some discussion about it on a Facebook group so I signed up. (For those following along, NODE is to drones as the NRA is to firearms.) but I think top speeds on most expensive ones are like 30-40 mph or so, correct?
coming down in flames worth 1 grand or more is a pricey toy to be playing with in case that tracking feature fails.
Yeah, mine tops out around 45 MPH, and it's pretty quick. Some of the racing drones can get up over 100 MPH but that's a whole other kettle of fish. Tell your friend (Or anyone else that has or is looking at a nicer drone) for now at least State Farm offers insurance on 'em, although they don't advertise it, you've got to find an agent that is willing to work with you. Generally I hear it's around $60 a year for up to $3000 of drone insurance, covers it being damaged in a crash, lost in water, total flyaway, anything, with no deductible. I had to search around to find an agent willing to write a policy for me with no other insurance with that company, but $60 a year is well worth the peace of mind when you've got that much money flying around, some times out of sighs... |
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Never ask a geek 'Why?',just nod your head and slowly back away... IBA# 22107 VRCC# 7976 VRCCDS# 226 1998 Valkyrie Standard 2008 Gold Wing Taxation is theft. μολὼν λαβέ |
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Serk
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« Reply #12 on: April 06, 2017, 11:58:06 AM » |
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The weather was painfully gorgeous today, hardly any wind, so I decided to take the drone out for some more playing, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this thing... Once again, keep in mind the drone is flying totally autonomous in these video clips, I told it to track me and let it do it's thing... Following me around with Active Track, no orbit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOx3O35hcLIAnd following me around with Active Track with orbit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sglxim7lFo |
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Never ask a geek 'Why?',just nod your head and slowly back away... IBA# 22107 VRCC# 7976 VRCCDS# 226 1998 Valkyrie Standard 2008 Gold Wing Taxation is theft. μολὼν λαβέ |
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dreamaker
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« Reply #13 on: April 06, 2017, 01:45:07 PM » |
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Keep something in mind! I have found when the wind is calm down here, it is not necessarily calm up there. What size files do you get and what format are they in? Do you ever use a flight simulator, I checked out a few different brands, and ended up with Phoenix 4, it is probably up to 6 or 7 with the up dates. It's pretty cool, like the real deal, I have it setup on my Samsung TV, you use your Radio/Controller for your drone to control your program. They even have different drones to pick from in it. They even have a DJI Phantom. It is very real, but when you crash it don't cost, if you can fly The simulator, you can fly the real deal.
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Serk
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« Reply #14 on: April 06, 2017, 01:57:11 PM » |
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Keep something in mind! I have found when the wind is calm down here, it is not necessarily calm up there. What size files do you get and what format are they in? Do you ever use a flight simulator, I checked out a few different brands, and ended up with Phoenix 4, it is probably up to 6 or 7 with the up dates. It's pretty cool, like the real deal, I have it setup on my Samsung TV, you use your Radio/Controller for your drone to control your program. They even have different drones to pick from in it. They even have a DJI Phantom. It is very real, but when you crash it don't cost, if you can fly The simulator, you can fly the real deal.
Yup, I use an app called "UAV Forecast", you can tell it what altitude you want the wind speeds for and it'll show you if it's "safe" or not to fly... Very handy. I believe file types can be changed, but I'm shooting in 3840x2160 at 29 FPS (It'll do 4k, but drops the FPS down and I think the slightly lower resolution with the higher FPS looks a little better), the files coming off the SD card are .MP4 (I think it'll do .MOV as well but I despise all things Apple so try to avoid anything remotely related to them.). For an idea of size, the 2nd video above is 1:14 in length and 533 MB in size... I've played with the simulator built into the DJI Go app a little bit, but it's a little lacking. I can see the advantage of learning on a simulator, but I spent the last year flying a pair of Symx X8's to get a feel for basic drone piloting before I felt ready to move to my "Big Boy Drone"... (That, and this thing makes it so easy to fly...) |
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Never ask a geek 'Why?',just nod your head and slowly back away... IBA# 22107 VRCC# 7976 VRCCDS# 226 1998 Valkyrie Standard 2008 Gold Wing Taxation is theft. μολὼν λαβέ |
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fudgie
Member
Posts: 10629
Better to be judged by 12, then carried by 6.
Huntington Indiana
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« Reply #15 on: April 06, 2017, 05:51:54 PM » |
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I bought one at Brookstone in Dec. Flew it around in the house a few times running into stuff.  Late Jan it was nice enough (30 deg) to go out side for its maiden voyage. Flew it off the deck. Going great so far. Had it hovering and stuff. Started to go up slow and got out of sight due to the roof. Tried to bring it forward but it shot off behind me. I looked for that bitch for 4 hrs till dark. Never did find it.  Someone will find it mowing this summer. |
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 Now you're in the world of the wolves... And we welcome all you sheep... VRCC-#7196 VRCCDS-#0175 DTR PGR |
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dreamaker
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« Reply #16 on: April 07, 2017, 05:39:55 AM » |
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When you play with it on occasion it can be tricky. You try and go forward and you seem to get turned around and you go backwards. You go forward on the joystick but it is come towards you. You got to tweak the brain. I have a SkyZone head set, which give you a POV from the Drones camera like you are inside. Haven't tried that yet, they tell me you must sit or you may fall on the ground, because of the sensation. It boils down to, practice and feel!! Here in the Metro Detroit area you see on TV Ads and clips about drones dropping off products. I don't think it will ever fly, no pun intended. First, drones can be like fling chainsaws, also when the criminals see them they will follow them and snatch them, not to mention the people that try and shoot or throw things to knock them out of the air. I am not trying to discourage anyone, I am just point out the responsibility for them. They are fun, but you have to think smart, before you put one in the air. Also DJI have some great sales on Phantoms, very reasonable, I don't recall if it started with the Phantom 2 or 3 but they have GPS tracking through your Smartphone or Iphone to see the location where the drone may have gone down.
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