Dark_Knight Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Im not sure if there’s a thread pertaining to this subject or not. If so just link me below. I recently picked up a DJI Mavic Air as an addition to my arsenal for freelance work. Not completely familiar with it yet, but curious if anyone else has dabbled with production quality drones? Tips-Tricks-Ideas would be greatly appreciated. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misteraven Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 @6PenniesDon’t you have one of these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6Pennies Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 16 hours ago, misteraven said: @6PenniesDon’t you have one of these? I've got as Phantom 4 that has been giving me low quality video since the last firmware update. My brother-in-law has had it in his possession for the past 6 months. Thing is it's so bulky to take out on hikes and treks that i'm not so inclined to take it. Been focusing on working with my Fuji XT2, but have plans to take the drone to Page, AZ in a few weeks.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diggity Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 @Dark_KnightPro tip, if you catch it out of the air, it has to be level otherwise it will try to balance itself and you could end up getting chewed up by the blades. Yes those blades break skin and it is a bit dangerous. Source - I was helping someone who was worried about landing it so close to the water, grabbed it out of the air, it would t turn off. Now I got a few battle scars on my arm. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnomeToys Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 I have an unfinished drone laying around. Dude got halfway done building the thing from parts with some missing and gave it to me. First flight control board had a calibration issue I didn't fix until later, and the RC unit had a disconnected wire to the roll axis that wasn't visible on a quick look (lack of receiver signal on that channel seemed intended thanks to unreadable manuals). Could still get it to lift off the ground before flipping over, which was probably a good sign considering an entire control axis was missing. Second control board works fine but needs a bunch of $0.10 wires and an I2C multiplexer for the peripherals + PPM encoder for the radio receiver. PixHawks are common enough that all the additional parts are floating around amazon & such for maybe $30 total. Managed to bump the remote while the power was still hooked up and slice my finger open pretty good. The blade shattered on impact with my finger because they can't take much more stress than they get from the torque & down force. Would have needed stitches if my finger was in the way when it was going full speed, probably. Anyway, ideally this whole thing needs somebody who knows / cares more about drones than I do and has a more modern RC setup already. The RC I have here is working for testing but battery connection isn't good enough to trust for flight, especially if it gets anywhere near as fast as it should. Just judging from liftoff speeds vs. throttle level I'm guessing it will. The top speeds it should manage (45-55 sideways) are a problem. It really needs sonar / lidar for power line & animal avoidance and a high res POV camera to fly that fast. Throwing a gimbal on it and getting it closer to the full carry weight of 5-6lb should cut the speed down quite a bit, but at the top speeds with minimal weights it really needs some level of computer control & better navigation from the handheld. I'm considering giving this stuff away at this point if there's anyone really interested in finishing the build. Let me know and I'll put some pictures up. None of my friends locally has time for it (I'll never make time for it either) and I got the more expensive stuff for free so I'd rather see somebody else making use of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightmareOnElmStreet Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misteraven Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 5 minutes ago, NightmareOnElmStreet said: Just a heads up that to link to an image, just hit the "Insert other media button", then "Insert image from URL". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_casek Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 16 minutes ago, where said: I gather you finally got that sex doll, congrats Lol. Cinematography/videography, my dude. I learned about cameras because I fly drones, then moved to ground based filming and set myself up with a nice mirrorless camera, gimbal, field monitor, multiple lenses, etc. Even bought a nice editing rig and monitor a few months ago to complete the circle. I love talking about that ^ more than I love talking about politics. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Knight Posted November 28, 2020 Author Share Posted November 28, 2020 9 minutes ago, lord_casek said: Lol. Cinematography/videography, my dude. I learned about cameras because I fly drones, then moved to ground based filming and set myself up with a nice mirrorless camera, gimbal, field monitor, multiple lenses, etc. Even bought a nice editing rig and monitor a few months ago to complete the circle. I love talking about that ^ more than I love talking about politics. we should have a drone thread. I fly drones too. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
where Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 Flying drones is cooler than droning about politics. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Knight Posted November 28, 2020 Author Share Posted November 28, 2020 Obama loved to fly drones too 1 2 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_casek Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 12 minutes ago, Dark_Knight said: we should have a drone thread. I fly drones too. We should definitely do this! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_habiT Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 49 minutes ago, Dark_Knight said: we should have a drone thread. I fly drones too. I, also, fly drones..... have an FPV "racing" drone using old 4s tech batteries. Have rebuilt it several times because it breaks when you plow the ground with it. @lord_casek 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_casek Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 1 minute ago, Dirty_habiT said: I, also, fly drones..... have an FPV "racing" drone using old 4s tech batteries. Have rebuilt it several times because it breaks when you plow the ground with it. @lord_casek I can totally see you flying FPV! I fly a Mavic Air currently. Have owned Phantom 2, 3, 4, Mavic Pro and before that some cheap Syma drones You just said the exact reason I never got into FPV. Constant repairs. I already spend enough on other gear and have enough trouble keeping it in my head as is. Do you fly whoops or the bigger racing drones? One thing I could see getting into is Cinewhoops. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
where Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 What do yous suggest for an entry level drone? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Knight Posted November 28, 2020 Author Share Posted November 28, 2020 I have a mavic air as well. They have a new one out. I think it’s a great intro drone. I take serious risks with it bc the price if crashing isn’t too outrageous. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_habiT Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 @where - it depends on what your goal w/ the drone is because there are a few different kinds as we've already a kinda hinted around. Casek is into photography which means his drones likely can do fancy things like alt. holding and fixing on certain targets to stay focused on/follow/film/etc. Lot's of "smart" features. "Woop" drones are little things you can fly indoors. You can get "FPV" woop drones as well. They are about the size of your palm and boast flight times of ~8m last I checked. Also depends on how good of a pilot you are aka how good at hauling ass you are. FPV drones are the kind where you use a set of goggles that have screens inside. The camera on the drone is transmitting the video back to your goggles using a radio signal. You are flying the drone as if you are "sitting inside of it" essentially. You can get drones that use LTE/4G cell networks to communicate as well, and fly those w/ FPV. My suggestion for entry level is to buy: a set of "fat shark" goggles.... on ebay used because you can get them cheap. a balance charger, this doesn't have to be super expensive or feature rich. a few extra batteries for whatever drone you choose. a tiny whoop drone. a decent radio (mine's a Turnigy Evolution I think). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Knight Posted November 28, 2020 Author Share Posted November 28, 2020 1B534014-5ED3-4838-8940-153DBD9EC343.MP4 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Knight Posted November 28, 2020 Author Share Posted November 28, 2020 ^footage from my mavic air 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_habiT Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 Oh, I forgot to mention above but meant to.... FPV drones will let you do any level of stupid shit. There are no training wheels or safe guards. They're basically dangerous af and can hurt you really badly. They haul a lot of ass and if they hit things at full speed they're basically like a very high speed brick.... think in the ~45mph range. If you want to buy one you can, or you can build one if you're good w/ soldering + electronics. My suggestion is to mess w/ a tiny whoop first and fly indoors, maybe get an FPV one so that you can try that out. Once you can do that comfortably you can probably try flying something bigger in some fields. Will post pictures of mine in next post. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_habiT Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KILZ FILLZ Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
where Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 What about bootleg mavics? Amazon has a mavic clone for cheap, decent reviews but take that wit a grain of salt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_habiT Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 10 minutes ago, where said: What about bootleg mavics? Amazon has a mavic clone for cheap, decent reviews but take that wit a grain of salt Those may be ok, but the question ALWAYS for me with this kind of stuff is.... what app and who owns/wrote the app are you trying to get me to install on my phone that basically has access to everything about my personal life. Super wary of using any apps. Not to suggest they're all bad, but when you start getting into alibaba knock off shit then you start playing with malware fire. Just my opinion. If you want something like DJI, save your money and buy the DJI either new or second hand. It's got the name it's earned for a reason and that's because they've "figured it out" about how to make a high quality mass consumable photo drone. As I mentioned before about FPV racing drones having no training wheels..... the DJI Mavics will do very nice things for you like obstacle avoidance, keep you from flying outside of radio range, fly back to home if it loses radio connection or battery starts getting too low to return in time, etc..... all kinds of "nice to haves". You have to pay for that though because they are quality drones. What I have is a hacked together POS that is scary and fast and you can run it into your cars or friends or self.... at high speed, and the blades on the rotors move at like a million RPM AND they're sharp af.... they will split you right open no problem. So all of that is important to keep in mind, they are definitely not for flying indoors, in fact I won't even connect mine to a battery indoors if the propellers are attached to the motors..... because if it "decides" to do anything other what I expect it do while inside.... it will be a disaster. I want to get a photo drone for doing awesome videos like @Dark_Knightposted above. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_casek Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 (edited) 58 minutes ago, where said: What do yous suggest for an entry level drone? Mavic Mini 2. You can find the Mini 1 and Spark for super cheap right now since they've got all their new line out. Check Facebook Marketplace. Edited November 29, 2020 by lord_casek 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_casek Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 41 minutes ago, Dark_Knight said: 1B534014-5ED3-4838-8940-153DBD9EC343.MP4 Buttery smooth gimbal movement to reveal, bruh! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Knight Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 (edited) Here’s a video of a bad crash I had. Still don’t know what happened, but I lost control of the drone. I’m assuming it was some sort of magnetic interference. Luckily I found it the next day in the rat infested brush along side the cuyahoga. All four props were broken. 4C17F44B-698C-49D8-879D-A51E505DDF04.MOV Edited November 29, 2020 by Dark_Knight 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Knight Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 I have to dig up some more of my footage. This is inspiring to fly again. It’s been awhile. Gotta get resolve again. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
where Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 36 minutes ago, lord_casek said: Mavic Mini 2. You can find the Mini 1 and Spark for super cheap right now since they've got all their new line out. Check Facebook Marketplace. I don’t DO facebook but thanks 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
where Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 33 minutes ago, Dark_Knight said: Here’s a video of a bad crash I had. Still don’t know what happened, but I lost control of the drone. I’m assuming it was some sort of magnetic interference. Luckily I found it the next day in the rat infested brush along side the cuyahoga. All four props were broken. 4C17F44B-698C-49D8-879D-A51E505DDF04.MOV 11.97 MB · 0 downloads That was cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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