Drones... do you have one, which one and why???

[The Chairman]

Sorry, Pete.

Most people get their threads hijacked... mine's getting geekjacked! Thanks! I'm learning a lot.

 

[Caveeagle]

Most people get their threads hijacked... mine's getting geekjacked! Thanks! I'm learning a lot.

Sorry Pete.. Say the word, and I can divert..

Kind of like diving, I have always been builder and tinkerer. You need something to do when you can fly, or dive. I also place a high value in know how things work.

Its kind of amazing how good the "store bought" systems are. Amazing pics like Pete showed and be had with modest effort and without taking out a 2nd mortgage.

 

[The Chairman]

These are from our recent 2017 Anthony's Key ScubaBoard Invasion. I still need a lot of practice to get smooth. I loved how the fly up from the ferry to the restaurant made a fantasic reveal, but I need to get rid of the jerkiness. I've got a few ideas, and would enjoy reading any advice you might have to achieve this. Enjoy:​

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[Caveeagle]

Nice job! Seems like your quad had some nice tight flight stabilization built in.

I think the best way to make your turns seem more fluid is to dial back the stability controls a tad, and do a little more piloting. That's risky until manual controls become more reflexive.

A common recommendation I have heard is to get a cheap little indoor "toy" quad-copter. The cotrols are essentially the same and can be had for <$50. I have a little Estes proto-x. You can get a lot of stick time quickly and practice maneuvering around with little risk to life,limb, or wallet.

 

[The Chairman]

Nice job! Seems like your quad had some nice tight flight stabilization built in.

The Mav Pros are great in that respect. I'm going to devote 30 minutes a day to improve my skills. I think if I did the fly up, paused the recording, flipped it to tripod mode, which slows the controls down, start the recording and then fly it in. Maybe do it a couple times to figure it out and keep the best recording. Having the ferry/skiff swing out before the ascent was a bit of serendipity.

 

[JohnnyC]

Put it in Cinematic. Sort of between normal and Tripod, less jerky, but not painfully slow. Also, take some time to adjust the gimbal rate until it tilts at a more comfortable rate. Really most of it is getting the settings where you are comfortable with them.

 

[The Chairman]

I don't know that my drone has a "cinematic" mode. I'll look this afternoon.

 

[JohnnyC]

I don't know that my drone has a "cinematic" mode. I'll look this afternoon.

You may need to update the app? I also hear they may be bringing some of the Spark modes to the Mavic as well. Not that I'd probably ever use them, but it's cool that they're still adding features.

 

[The Chairman]

I've got the latest app I believe. Like I said, I'll have to take a look and see if it's one of those modes.

 

[Saboteur]

Does anyone use use or have seen in use underwater drones? I was reading about one called the ibubble. Looks like it would be fun.