More drone stuff

[Phil Himsworth]

I kept thinking about recommending a Mini 2 SE as the best proper drone that wasn't outrageously expensive, but I see I no longer need to! I have had one for a few months; I love it, the camera is decent quality, it is very easy to fly and the confidence from knowing that it will come back if you do lose signal is good. I've not needed it yet; occasionally it has complained about lack of signal for longer than is comfortable but it has always reconnected after what feels like eternity but is probably no more than a few seconds in reality.

 

It warns you about high winds; it can still fly in fairly brisk breezes though, it just goes a lot faster in one direction than the other while beeping at you a lot and making a lot more noise. It tells you the ground speed on the screen so you can judge if it's going to struggle to come back.

 

I haven't used any automatic flying modes; I didn't realise it actually had any. I will have a play next time it comes out.

 

I haven't flown it inside either. Outside it is so good at holding position you'll be fine in any half decent space. The other day I went inside a shop with my bike while I had the drone but no bike lock; the thought occurred if I had just set the done hovering above the bike while I was inside I could have used it as portable CCTV 🙂

 

Have fun flying.

[The Johnster]

Thanks, Phil, that’s reassuring.  I’ve got stuck for the moment unable to connect the drone to the app, but it’s prolly something simple like I have’t powered something up properly or in the right sequence or somthing.  
 

That apart I’m impressed with the overall feel of quality, seems to be going for the same vibe as Apple with the packaging and typeface, and I love my Mac & iPhone!  Impressed with DHL as well;  never had anything delivered by them before, but they turned up all of two minutes into the hour they’d promised, and for an item ordered Wednesday morning to be delivered just after 15.00 on Thursday is pretty good going!  Drone /app impasse may need a call to customer support.  
 

I’m a little concerned at how open the motors are at the top, though; you can look down and see the armature windings.  Unless they need that amount of ventilation, caps will be prolly the first accessory I buy; there’s all sorts of pollen and insects that’ll find their way in there otherwise .  And I had a moment of panic folding out the rear arms, until I realised they are hinged vertically…. I’ve been banned from flying in the living room by The Squeeze.  
 

Weather risk of light rain this evo and too breezy for a novice over the w/e, but looking good for test flying early next week.  I’ll prolly use RTH and the ‘Quick Shot’ automatic modes for filming pretty much from the off; safer than me actually flying the thing at first until I get the feel of it!
 

Funfunfunfunfun.  

[KeithMacdonald]

Would much appreciate our aerial reporter's report on this. It's what drones are good for....

 

Quote

A mysterious monolith has suddenly appeared on a hilltop in Powys. The gleaming, silver structure was spotted by walkers on Hay Bluff, near the town of Hay-on-Wye on the weekend.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-68547161

 

 

[Steamport Southport]

1 minute ago, KeithMacdonald said:

Would much appreciate our aerial reporter's report on this. It's what drones are good for....

 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-68547161

 

 

 

That was months ago!

 

Now in Nevada so you need longer battery life.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cekk7gm97j4o

[The Johnster]

I must register my protest in the strongest possible terms at Penbegwn (Hay Bluff) being called a 'hilltop in Wales.  At 677m, 2,221ft, ASL it's not a hill it's a mountain, and only half of it is in Wales; the border, and the Offa's Dyke Path, crosses it's summit, making it the highest point in Southern England.  It's a fine stroll from the Gospel Pass car park and commands veiws over Wales as far up as Cadair Idris and Berwyn, The Wrekin and the Shropshire Hills, Stiperstones, The Malverns, and the southern Cotswolds.  It's also prime drone-flying territory...

 

Appropos drones, the problem has been sorted out and the Mini 2SE is now 'bound' to DJI's database, it's remote controller, and the iPhone, app downloaded and functioning, camera and gimbal fully functional.  We're all ready to fly but it's gonna be a bit windy over the weekend, so it's gonna be next week, when there are some good flying weather and photo/filming conditions promised.  I'm starting to plan trips, keeping in mind that it's not just groovy views, it's strong well-lit repeating patterns.  I'm planning a run down to Port Talbot on the train to check out around the derelict docks and get what footage I can of the steelworks while they're still there.  I'll keep an eye out for the Red Knight...  Newport coat hanger I mean Transporter Bridge could be another day trip.

 

Cwmdimbath is an essential, a flight along the tramway that once linked the ruined forge still marked on the map; it's not much more than a few stones in what was a corner of the building left standing, not many people go up there, I was going to say 'now' but I doubt many ever did.  This tramroad is what I have assumed to be the trackbed of my imaginary branch.  Can be done on the bus, changing at Pontyclun. Barry (east end of the bay away from the Rhoose/St.Athan RFZ), Porthcawl, Mumbles, the Penydarren Tramroad, the mountain roads over the Bwlch and Rhigos, the Beacons and the reservoirs, enough to keep me busy until I'm too old and decrepit to bother.

 

I want to eventually have a go at a particular favourite, which would be a bit of a schlep but worth it; Whiteford Point Lighthouse.  This increasingly derelict valedictory finger of doom is a phenomenally photogenic structure, and the continuing decay makes it the more so.  It commands the eye from all sorts of angles, like a skulking dog, never obvious but always in the peripheral, always there, insinuating itself into your consciousness and some of your darkest dreams...  At high tide, especially if there's a bit of a windlessh swell running, walk of about 2 miles from Llanmadoc, which I think has an occasional bus...  Spiral up at sundown, from about 50 yards with zoom on, then direct overhead downward shot, with the waves crashing around it.  It's not quite in the Pembrey RFZ!

[The Johnster]

Just had a half-hour out on the patio; hover, fly around a bit very slowly, check out fpv view, out from under the sunshade, up to roof level no higher because there's a phone line from a distribution pole up there, no change in control when it was up in the breeze, everything under control and hover steady within about half an inch; impressive!  DJI do a pretty good drone, and even if it was at the top of my budget it was deffo worth it; I am in awe of it's capabilities, and I haven't even tried most of them yet! 

 

I have the confidence to take Mr.Drone over the rec tomorrow evening for golden hour, forecast wind is well within what I now know to be it's comfort zone; looking forward to the adventure!

[The Johnster]

Bit cloudy and grey, so the vids were less than impressive, but Mr Drone behaved immaculately, as did Mr Camera and Mr Gimbal.  Managed to try out all the 'Quick Shot' modes and some basic moves, including the all important RTH.  Learned a lot very quickly on this, the first sortie with a decent drone in proper airspace, at dusk and in failing light. 

 

Lesson 1; I need lights.  The drone has a flashing status indicator light on the back just beneath the battery hatch, but that is not visible from any except a rear view.  Couple of times I had to hover the drone and turn it to be able to pick up proper visual, at not more than about 20m in the failing light.  Plenty of retro-fit stick-on leds available, so this isn't going to be a problem so long as I can keep the extra weight within 250g.  Mini 2 SE weighs 246g.  Even without the poor light before the sun went down it was hard to spot the drone.

 

Lesson 2; I need a take off pad.  Even the rec's shortish grass is long enough to foul the gimbal, and the app won't let you take off if it's movement is compromised.  Improvised with the rucsack last night but this will not do long term.  Probably don't need a landing pad, which sounds like a bit of a faff esp. if there's a bit of a breeze, and don't need anything if I'm taking off from a hard reasonably level surface; the app will not allow take-off if the drone is not level enough.  The answer is likely to be a sarnie box, with sarnies in as ballast and a couple of Lego bricks to level it.  Drone sits on top of box to take off, sarnies are eaten when the sortie is ended.  Like the Meerkat says, simples... 

 

Now, to check the weather for tomoz golden hour and plan some filming!  I'm now confident to fly over water, knowing that I can get the drone back with the RTH.  Come to daddy!

Edited June 24 by The Johnster

[AlexsTrains]

Having recently purchased a DJI Mini 4K (which is a Mini 2 SE but upgraded camera)  myself, I'm finding it to be an awesome bit of kit.

 

Done a few flights outside in wide open spaces, getting more and more confident with it height and distance wise, but not braved over water yet.

 

I can recommend getting a landing pad - I've got a collapsable one from Amazon which can be pegged into the ground which makes take off and landing on grass very easy. Using a sandwich box may potentially confuse the drone with the sensors underneath when landing.

 

[The Johnster]

Good point, and I hadn’t thought of it.  Still need a sandwich box, though.  Nerves of steel, wills of iron, hearts of gold, and knobs of butter.  For the sarnies…

 

Off to Amazon to check out landing pads, then!

[The Johnster]

The sandwich box accompanied Mr Drone and myself for golden light evening session around Cardiff Bay’s Norwegian Church* (once attended by Roald Dahl, who my dad knew and I met him several times in my early teens).  Didn’t use any of the ‘Quick Shot’ modes, all manually controlled flying albeit the drone’s clever electronics & positioning did the real work.  Getting the hang of smooth and graduated stick movements and raising/lowering the camera manually with the gimbal control wheel. 
 

Got some pretty good footage, including going up to 390’ and slowly rotating the a/c for a 360degree vista in 4x zoom.  It must’ve been pretty breezy up there, but she maintained station and that superb gimbal kept things rock steady.  I don’t mean acceptably steady, I mean as if the camera was on solid ground; that gimbal is an amazing piece of kit!

 

I was a little nervous about going out over water, and took things slowly and carefully, which indubitably benefitted the footage.  Did quite a bit of fpv flying, far more accurate than trying to assess the exact range & position of a tiny dot a couple hundred metres away (200m limit set in flight preparation).  There’s not much I’m nervous about now so long as there is open space, and I must be conciously aware of the dangerous combination of overconfidence & inexperience.  But a most pleasant evening in a pleasant spot; there are plenty more of these around the Bay.  

 

 

*The Norwegian Church is not in the same place as when Dahl attended it.  It was dismantled when the the old West Dock basin was converted into Plas Roald Dahl: it was on the side of the West Dock next to Neale & West’s trawler wharf, pretty much where the Millenium Centre (Copper Woodlouse) bus stop now stands    The church, distinctively white painted, plank clad on a wooden frame, was not difficult to dismantle and re-erect in it’s present location next to the Roath Basin Locks.  There is a similar structure on Swansea Docks and, I believe, one at Hull.  

[The Johnster]

I filmed the model Terra Nova yesterday evening, along with some nice sunset-over-the-Garth and sunset-light-on-the-city-centre stuff.  The Scott Memorial went up in 1915, in the middle of a war; cant imagine that happening in WW2!  The model, bronze sheet, doesn’t look much like the real ship close-to, and I suspect they used the hull of something intended to be something else or the modeller made a generic hull shape.  Terra Nova did not have a fo’csle or poop, or the rather German looking rounded stern.  Masts, funnel & riggin’ (for the friggin’) look about right; she has simplified rigging in what looks to be quite beefy copper wire.  I reckon I’ve wanted this close-up view for close on 70 years!

 

 

 

[Matt C]

Good to see a budding drone club on here ! 

My recent Birthday wish list gift was the Potensic Atom ( not the SE)

Very impressed! It's  got really good comparison write ups from ' those in the know', and comes out very favorably to the Dji.  I got the 'pack' offer which gives you the drone, three batteries giving 90 minutes  Total fly time, A triple charger, that  charges the handset and all three batteries, A carry case and four spare packs of blades.

All at a £100 discount from the standard price so very well worth looking out for the deal. And yes, I very quickly got myself a landing pad. You can push in down onto long grass to give you a small Oasis to take off and land on, very well worth the small price paid. TBH I have found that if your Mat is blowing around then it's probably too windy to fly !

Happy Droning 😊 

[The Johnster]

I spent a couple of hours out on the patio training myself to launch and retrieve the drone by hand, which means I don't have to worry about the ground or need to buy a mat.  Mats feel like a bit of a faff to me,  I ordered a Flytron Strobon LED light, delivered yesterday, which is very bright, and which should enable me to locate the drone after glancing at the screen.  It is a tiny dot once it's more than about 50 feet away, and while it's not so hard to spot it against the light background of the sky (I can see it in good light, just, at the 380' ceiling I've set myself), any other background is a problem.  The Strobon should make life easier and extend my viable range a bit.

[Brian]

I have never flown anything, except a Balsa wood glider in my very early teens (Im now 76) and that lasted two flights before hitting the ground and breaking up!!  However, I fancied having a go at drone flying and aerial video making, but as a total novice I didn't want to spend lots of pension money on a more up market drone.  Having read a bit about beginners to the word of flying, I took the plunge and ordered a Drxon 8K HD Drone Pro Max plus two spare batteries.  Order placed and £199.99 spent. So, if it crashes or I don't like flying, it is not a huge loss.  The sting in the tail is that the company selling the drone on the www is I have now found out after ordering it, not UK based suppliers! It now looks likely that Import duty and VAT will be added upon its arrival in the UK.   Not sure what that will be? VAT will add 20% but import duty is an unknown to me. 

 

So, my first flurry into drone ownership could become more expensive than first thought!   No idea what the Drxon 8K HD Pro will be like, so I wait with bated breath. 

[The Johnster]

The Drxon is a bit of an unknown quantity, but the features list includes GPS which is IMHO absolutely essential if you are to have any success as a novice.  GPS is vital to steady position holding and hovering, and will aid your control of drone.  Try and find out it’s speed; this affects the stength of wind you can successfully fly in, usually expressed in Beaufort force numbers.  
 

For your first flight, choose an open level area and a calm day, preferably without too many people about.  There’ll be a ‘take off & hover’ setting on the app or the RC; practice with that first.  If you find the drone drifts rather than holding position, there may be a calibration procedure to carry out.  Once you’ve got her steady, which is where the GPS comes in, try moving forwards/backwards & side to side (rh stick), then up/down & turn clockwise/anti-clockwise (lh stick).  Don’t go far.  
 

On subsequent flights, go higher and further, keep it in sight, and try out the features, especially the RTH (return to home).  This needs to have it’s height set to clear any obstacles.  This will build your skill level and confidence.  You can start taking photos and filming, and developing the skills needed for that; smooth zooming and altering camera angle on the fly, literally. 
 

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Edited July 8 by The Johnster

[Ian Smeeton]

How are YOU getting on, @The Johnster.

 

Are you able to show us any results?

 

Regards

 

Ian

Edited July 8 by Ian Smeeton
Sp

[The Johnster]

I are.  Smooth video footage is a skill I have yet to master but I'm improving a bit, and there are a few photos.

 

 

This from yesterday evening, the last photo of Cardiff City Centre before the 20megaton airburst over Church Village wiped it out; no, actually the sunset over the Garth mountain from a viewpoint about 250 feet above the centre of the East Dock with the centre in the mid-background, Millenium Stadium peeking in towards the left, 2x zoom (my Mini 2 SE has 2x zoom for still, 4x for video).  A drone will give you views and viewpoints you have never had or thought of before, and this is a good example.  Cardiff's nothing much in the way of architecture, and doesn't have a brilliant track record when it comes to preserving it's heritage sympathetically, but on an evening like yesterday it can still sneak up behind you and blow your socks off!  Can't fly at the top end of the dock, part of the prison

 

Ok. let's try and upload a video.  It's loading, but will take a while.

 

Nah, uploads but I can't get it to play.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 8 by The Johnster

[Ian Smeeton]

Thanks Johnster.

 

Looks like great fun.

 

I believe that this site won't take video, you have to upload it to YouTube, Vimeo or one of the other video sharing sites, and then link it to here.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[woodenhead]

Upload to YouTube as a private video and then share the link on here so the video is embedded.

 

That's what the rest of us do.

[KeithMacdonald]

14 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Ok. let's try and upload a video.  It's loading, but will take a while.

Nah, uploads but I can't get it to play.

 

Strange, what you loaded is working here.

 

[woodenhead]

Yeah it works for me too actually.

[Ian Smeeton]

And me, now tat I am watching it, instead of taking you at your word @The Johnster, but it does pause to buffer every second or two.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[The Johnster]

Brilliant.  Couldn’t get it to play on this website, though it does fine in ‘photo’ on my Mac and iPhone, so if it’s working for youse guys, well, result!  
 

It’s Blackwier, Cardiff, featuring the wier, ‘bouncing bridge’ and zoomed distance shots of Glamorgan County Cricket ground, the Millenium Stadium & City Centre, and the spire of Llandaff Cathederal.  Oh, and a couple of large trout in one of the camera-pointing-directly-downwards bit. Which I didn’t notice until reviewing the footage earlier this evo…
 

As you can see, there’s still a lot of practice needed before I get the hang of smooth changes of direction and heading in three dimensions in conjunction with simultaneous positioning of the gimbal and zooming in and out, the basis of the professional shots one sees on movie and tv work, but those guys didn’t get it right first time either.  It’ll be second nature eventually but many years of fairly successful landscape photography is standing me in good stead.  
 

Video is a new world altogether for me though (apart from some steam work with the iPhone), and I’m studying professional shots to see what works and why (they’re not hard to find, pretty much every tv production uses drone work these days if only in segue scene-setting link shots).  A big difference between me and the professionals is editing of course; you don’t see their rough bits!  Plenty of editing software out there to investigate, but all in good time, Padawan, all in good time!

Edited July 9 by The Johnster

[The Johnster]

In more general terms, my flying and filming skills are improving as is my confidence.  I’m loving it!  

[The Johnster]

No fly today, or tomorrow, bit too breezy to relax with it (it's rated for force 5 Beaufort but I don't like to push it and, following the Blackwier adventure last week when the drone told me I was flying in excessive wind and to land immediately, got away with it below about 100' so now I've set Beafort 4 as the limit on the forecast apps). But good on Friday according to forecasts, if cloudy and dull, so maybe practice over the rec with the 'quick shot' modes, pre-programmed manoevres.  There's 'rocket', straight up and back down with the camera facing the pilot, 'dronie', same thing but at an angle of 45 degrees, 'spiral', around an object or the pilot, and 'boomerang', out and back in a loop with heading fixed on object/pilot, a cheat to get impressive professional-looking footage.  Saturday looks set to be calm and sunny, so I'm going up Caerphilly Mountain on the bus for the late avo views and the best steak sarnies in Wales in the car park cafe.

 

Got to say, I'm really pleased with how this thing is progressing.  The original brief was to do something that got me out a bit and stopped me becoming a bit isolated in the flat; box ticked, in spades!  I am having to make myself aware of the weather and the tides to plan sorties (who read a lot of Biggles when he was younger, then?), which puts me in more of a connection with the natural world anyway, and find myself planning all sorts of trips, a little restricted because of my reliance on public transport.  Caerphilly Mountain is 888' ASL, and 400' above that will take me legally to 1288, enough for clear vantage over the nearby mountains and good views up to the Pen y Fan and the Bannau Brycheiniog escarpment; if it's reasonably clear I should be able to make out the Black Mountains and Glasfynydd, maybe even up as far as the Malverns, down-channel to Ilfracombe, certainly Exmoor.  My world, which had become a lot smaller in my dotage when my knees gave out and my hill-walking and coastal path days ended except for short-range and easy stuff, and since I had to sell the car, has got quite a bit bigger again! 

 

The drone is behaving itself and doing exactly what it says on the tin, and my skills are improving.  It warns me if I'm asking too much of it and will return home automatically if it is unsure of sufficient battery to be able to do so or if signal is lost, keeping me out of trouble from crashing or flying where I shouldna.  My main worries are bird-strike or the drone picking up atmospheriv moisture, which is likely to not do the internals any good, but the drone forecasts include figures for this, and 'ma' (no idea), which is to do with solar radiation activity, something else apparently capable of not only interfering with the RC signal but in extreme cases of frying the drone's electronics. It isn't particularly aerodynamic, and power loss would result in it flying like a brick.  Not much left if it hits the ground even from 20' or so even if it doesn't hurt anyone, and nothing if it goes into water.  Such birds as I've so far encountered don't seem much interested, which suits me fine...

 

For someone of my quiddities, the ability to simply stop what I am doing and hover, at 400' and half a mile away if I have to, while I consider the next move is a massive boon.  After what can only be described as a false start, and once it became blindingly obvious that a drone without GPS was dangerously useless and a waste of time and money, I am now well under way!  Obviously it's a summer game (summer, what's that then?) but the low light and more open views of winter can be taken advantage of as well.  Will need to wrap warm though; it's not a particularly active pastime.

 

Advice to anyone starting out; don't buy on impulse. you won't learn anything from it, absolutely 100% ensure your drone has GPS even if it has no other features, join an online club (Grey Arrows seems to meet my needs) where you can get advice and suggestions.  Learn the regulations, they are not onerous, mostly common sense and not being a dick, and abide by them.  Learn how to use the 'where to fly' and weather apps.  I'm having a great time with it!  Plenty to do in badweather down-time in terms of research and maintenance/battery charging, and librarianship of photos and footage, and I've got a layout to look after as well...