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Fun with your Drone

M

mjr

Guest
Afternoon!

Finally got my drone kit sorted out today with the arrival of the camera, first shoot just testing, it's not enough to be in the air, these things need work to get a decent composition in good light, none of which are in this shot! Quite impressed though.

 
M

mjr

Guest
Morning

Day 2 with the drone and it's quite the steep learning curve. Went out at 5am with a view to capturing the amazing foggy mornings we have here at this time of the year but none to be seen, the sun came up and it was glorious light but the drone decided it needed a full update which took 20 minutes, used half a set of batteries and was exactly the amount of time it took for the light to disappear! Crap. Anyway, finally got 15 mins of flying in before the weather turned and it started to rain.

I am really trying to get some sort of graphic interpretation of the scene by flying, it will take some practice for sure but I took a selfie over this bridge, I really like the symmetry and the lines, also flew over the edge of the lake to practice shooting straight down.



 

jotloob

Subscriber Member
Mat , love the second shot .:thumbs: I tink these totally vertical shots show lovely geometric forms .
What camera and lens was used ? ? ?
 
M

mjr

Guest
Thanks Jürgen

Yes, I really like the shapes from directly above, still very much feeling my way though, image quality will come as I get used to controlling the drone and the camera although amazed how well it stays in place.

Drone is a DJI Inspire 2 with the X5S camera, these shots with the standard DJI/Panasonic I think 15mm but I have an Olympus 45mm which arrived this morning so will be trying that too. Unfortunately it's raining heavily and forecast for the next 4 days so will have to wait, always happens when you have a new toy to play with!

Cheers

Mat
 

jotloob

Subscriber Member
Mat

I think , I should have better asked for the sensor format . Ok. I searched the net and found it . Very interesting
gear and rather expensive , but not as expensive as a HASSELBLAD H6D and the drone which can carry that weight .
Waiting for your next shots , when the rain has gone . Good luck .
 
M

mjr

Guest
Yes, it's pretty expensive, I have resisted the temptation to get one before because I haven't liked the built in cameras, I am offering still photography more than anything to my clients and this is the first camera that can actually hold up to a decent sized print in my opinion. M4/3rds sensor and changeable lenses means I can stitch or shoot wide angles and have some flexibility, it's a very stable machine and extremely quick too. The risks with a H6D on a drone are just too high for me, insurance and licensing are expensive here and the bigger drone moves in to a whole new category for registration requiring special courses and stuff, just too much money, amazing though I'm sure!

If the rain ever stops I will hopefully learn to use it properly!

Mat
 

docmoore

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Mat

Perfect drone ... mechanical shutter and RAW capture ... even in video. I assume that with time you will up the battery count ... 6 at a minimum.

Expect to see a lot of updates from DJI ... about every other time I fly they have one awaiting me. May be worth getting on the night before to
see if you need to update so that you can maximize the morning light ... and recharge batteries.

I think the interchangeable lens capabilities of the X5 are great ... and would highly recommend a series of ND filters so that you can control aperture
for video ... not as important for stills.

Recommend using the DJI flight instruction manual ... find a good sized field and practice figure of eights, square patterns forward and back towards obstacles,
in all directions. Also remember to set return to home at a decent altitude to ensure clearance as it will come straight back.

Best not to hover too close to the ground on landing ... stay our of ground effect. Just approach to 2 meters then bring it down without a lot of delay so that
it does not surprise you with an aerobatic maneuver at ground level.

The Inspire 2 is a bit big for me ... but would love to have the camera and if I were doing any commercial work I would need it.

Keep the pictures coming ... love it.

Bob
 
M

mjr

Guest
Hi Bob

Yes, it's a great drone! Battery count will be 8 by Monday, the 6 extras were sent yesterday so very much looking forward to some serious time in the air!

I have a set of ND filters and step up rings, helps with balancing lenses as well which is a bonus.

Yes, practicing is taken care of, I have a great area and have plenty of experience with smaller drones but they were just for messing about, different controlling the camera when things get a little more serious and happy clients and paid invoices are involved, luckily the I2 is absolutely rock solid in the air.

Weather is completely rubbish here but looking forward to some more air time, will update when I have something worth looking at!

Have a nice weekend.

Mat
 

docmoore

Subscriber and Workshop Member
May not always be doable but the DJI controller allows for a companion controller to control the camera. Takes a bit of the workload down to manageable levels.

And may I say I am so jealous ... my Phantom 4 Pro is minor league compared to the I2.

Bob
 
M

mjr

Guest
Morning

How are you processing stills Bob? Or are you just shooting video? The weather finally broke yesterday evening but the wind came on strong so decided to wait, set the alarm for 4am and saw it was calm and no rain so went out for sunrise.



I have only taken around 50 shots so far so just starting to understand the files a bit, this was a complete torture test but I don't mind the blown out highlights, the transitions aren't horrendous and on balance, I needed some detail in the trees. I tried this in Capture 1, no profiles but possible to get it looking ok, I noticed too that the files are bigger, seems LR is cropping off the edges, there is actually a reasonable amount still in the edges and corners.

Mat
 

stngoldberg

Well-known member
Hi Mat,
I have seen your excellent work on this site, so the drone photography part will come easily to you.
On my phantom 4 drone the maximum shutter speed seems to be 1/2,000/second so I reduce my ISO to avoid blown out areas.
The DYI drones are amazingly stable in the air; I am impressed how low a shutter speed can be without motion blur.
During the early stages of drone piloting, there is a lot going on; but in my case once my confidence as a pilot progressed I noticed that the histogram on the screen was my best friend.
Stanley
 
M

mjr

Guest
I'm pretty much ready for work now, 8 batteries, the Crystalsky monitor arrived this morning so everything I need, unfortunately it's raining heavily again!!

Here's a quick pre-dawn shot for a local hotel, not a shot in the shortlist, just a lining up shot but even so, I really like the colour and quality for ISO200 and only 1/20 shutter speed.

 
M

mjr

Guest
We've had a huge storm here, massive clouds today and lots of rain, took advantage of a break in the rain and took the drone up. I know this looks a bit extreme but I have actually toned the sky down a bit, looked completely unreal!

 
M

mjr

Guest
Afternoon!

It's time for some experimenting, got the handling sorted out now so need to actually do something creative with the thing.

This is the very first attempt at doing something I have seen before done really well, this is really not very good but the idea is great! Involves taking a series of shots from road level all the way up to shooting straight down, then buggering about in photoshop for much longer than I did with this shot and you end up with a slightly mind bending view! I need a much better location and to spend much more time on processing but I think there's some potential. Anyone else experimenting and got ideas?


 
Last edited by a moderator:

Shashin

Well-known member
...got ideas?
A river instead of a road? I've seen the road or railroad done many times. If someone could let you into a really large supermarket with real high ceilings, that might be neat. Perhaps an aircraft hanger with an airliner? Or do you have access to a really big boat?
 
M

mjr

Guest
Thanks Will

I've got the perfect bit of river for the job, will try this weekend, not quite ready for inside shots just yet!

Cheers

Mat
 
M

mjr

Guest
Another advantage to this drone is nor being restricted to interesting skies or weather, even on crappy dull days like today, it's good to search out some interesting shapes and objects shooting straight down. Quite like this which I only spotted due to the sky being rubbish.

 
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