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New Toy and Heat wave.

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Savageduck

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May 26, 2020, 9:12:17 PM5/26/20
to
My new Mavic Air 2 drone arrived just before noon today.

So most of my day has been taken up with battery charging, and firmware updates. I managed to get out for a maiden flight around 14:00 hrs with the temperature hovering at 104F (40C). Needless to say the heat drove me to shorten everything, and the one 4K 30fps 4 minute video I shot was OK until the midpoint when there was what looked like a ripple running through the playback. It looked like an imbedded heatwave.

Then I discovered that each of my 3 batteries had to have the battery firmware updated to match the drone system FW.

Now I am waiting for things to cool down so I can get out for a sunset flight a little longer than my first excursion in the heat.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Bill W

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May 26, 2020, 9:17:25 PM5/26/20
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On May 26, 2020, Savageduck wrote
(in article<0001HW.247DF5E801...@news.giganews.com>):
How long does each battery last?

Savageduck

unread,
May 26, 2020, 9:32:02 PM5/26/20
to
On May 26, 2020, Bill W wrote
(in article<0001HW.247DF72000...@news.eternal-september.org>):
Rated for 34 minutes, but realistically good for 28-30 minutes. I have 3.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Bill Vanek

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May 26, 2020, 10:14:46 PM5/26/20
to
On May 26, 2020, Savageduck wrote
(in article<0001HW.247DFA8B01...@news.giganews.com>):
That’s better than I thought. How much do the batteries cost? How many come
with the drone?

Savageduck

unread,
May 26, 2020, 10:34:33 PM5/26/20
to
On May 26, 2020, Bill Vanek wrote
(in article<0001HW.247E049300...@news.eternal-september.org>):

> On May 26, 2020, Savageduck wrote
> (in article<0001HW.247DFA8B01...@news.giganews.com>):
>
> > On May 26, 2020, Bill W wrote
> > (in article<0001HW.247DF72000...@news.eternal-september.org>):
> >
> > > On May 26, 2020, Savageduck wrote
> > > (in article<0001HW.247DF5E801...@news.giganews.com>):
> > >
> > > > My new Mavic Air 2 drone arrived just before noon today.
> > > >
> > > > So most of my day has been taken up with battery charging, and firmware
> > > > updates. I managed to get out for a maiden flight around 14:00 hrs with the
> > > > temperature hovering at 104F (40C). Needless to say the heat drove me to
> > > > shorten everything, and the one 4K 30fps 4 minute video I shot was OK until
> > > > the midpoint when there was what looked like a ripple running through the
> > > > playback. It looked like an imbedded heatwave.
> > > >
> > > > Then I discovered that each of my 3 batteries had to have the battery
> > > > firmware updated to match the drone system FW.
> > > >
> > > > Now I am waiting for things to cool down so I can get out for a sunset
> > > > flight
> > > > a little longer than my first excursion in the heat.
> > >
> > > How long does each battery last?
> >
> > Rated for 34 minutes, but realistically good for 28-30 minutes. I have 3.
>
> That’s better than I thought. How much do the batteries cost? How many come
> with the drone?

They are about $115 each.

The regular Mavic Air 2, which comes with one battery costs $799. However, if you buy their “Fly More” package for $988 you get 2 extra batteries, extra prop sets, a carry bag, a three battery charging bank, a set of 3 ND filters, and some other stuff. All for an extra $189 which is less than the $230 cost of two batteries.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Savageduck

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May 27, 2020, 1:56:16 AM5/27/20
to
On May 26, 2020, Savageduck wrote
(in article<0001HW.247DF5E801...@news.giganews.com>):

Well it finally cooled down a bit and I tried my hand at what amounted to my first drone flying, and more than a 2 minute iPhone video. I have never flown a drone of any type before, and I am not yet fully familiar with the capability, and features of the camera in the Mavic Air 2. Definately not an example of the smoothest cinematography, but a demonstration of the potential of this drone. So with those caveats here is 5+ minutes of a hot, dry part of California.

<https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-8XFHcrH/0/4bc77bdd/1920/i-8XFHcrH-1920.mp4>

--
Regards,
Savageduck

newshound

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May 27, 2020, 7:34:54 AM5/27/20
to
Pretty stable, then! Was there any wind?

David_B

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May 27, 2020, 8:22:14 AM5/27/20
to
I thought, for an almost first attempt, that the result is excellent. :-)

I'm sorely tempted to get a drone myself. My main concern is complying
with the laws concerning the operating of such an aircraft.

Savageduck

unread,
May 27, 2020, 9:46:50 AM5/27/20
to
On May 27, 2020, newshound wrote
(in article<O72dnSl6t-XHzVPD...@brightview.co.uk>):
The wind was stronger for my earlier attempt in the heat. For the footage in the above link it was about 5 MPH with 12 MPH gusts.

The stability of the MA2 is remarkable even with a ham-handed klutz such as yours truly at the controls. There is a fair amount of automation which helps along with good GPS, and positional software. All I need now is some more practice.

I have my FAA registration ($5), and at this point I am flying under the recreational UAS exclusion, which is fine with me as I can’t see myself doing any commercial work. This is just for fun.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

RichA

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May 27, 2020, 11:19:45 AM5/27/20
to
Truly impressive how controlled these things can be.

ray carter

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May 27, 2020, 11:22:43 AM5/27/20
to
Only 104? What's the problem.

Savageduck

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May 27, 2020, 12:37:32 PM5/27/20
to
On May 27, 2020, ray carter wrote
(in article <hj7etu...@mid.individual.net>):
Old fart in the Sun, and 104F doesn’t do too well when there is a house with working AC a couple of 100 yds away.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Savageduck

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May 27, 2020, 4:32:22 PM5/27/20
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On May 27, 2020, Savageduck wrote
(in article<0001HW.247EA6BF01...@news.giganews.com>):
I am starting to get the hang of things.

For this footage this morning I pushed the range out to 5,400 ft, just over a mile from my place to the lake, and I managed to be a little smoother with the handling.

The temp was 86F / 30C, wind 4 mph with 8 mph gusts.

<https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-VcdhFnV/0/9baefc7d/1920/i-VcdhFnV-1920.mp4>

--
Regards,
Savageduck

David_B

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May 27, 2020, 5:52:48 PM5/27/20
to
Is the lack of swimming pools due to a lack of fresh water supply in the
area?

Flying skills improving! ;-)


Bill W

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May 27, 2020, 7:58:34 PM5/27/20
to
On May 27, 2020, Savageduck wrote
(in article<0001HW.247F05CC01...@news.giganews.com>):
I noticed that when you rotate/pan, the image looks blurred or OoF, but when
stationary or moving forward and back, it is very sharp. I wonder if there is
a setting to fix the panning issue. How high was the drone for this footage?
Have you tried any stills yet?

Savageduck

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May 27, 2020, 8:32:48 PM5/27/20
to
On May 27, 2020, Bill W wrote
(in article<0001HW.247F362700...@news.eternal-september.org>):
For the rotation/pan I think it might be me being a bit ham-handed with the controlled sensitivity, so the fix is probably in me improving my skills, and/or understanding of the entire system. Hell! It gives me something to do, and get outdoors.

I starter out at about 80 ft, then climbed to about 200 ft out to the lake, dropped down to 14 ft at my turn-around point above the water, but then started to lose connection between the drone, and controller (warnings on my display). That was probably due to the downward angle from my position to where the drone was. So I climbed back up to 360 ft for the return trip, all in full control. The FAA Max permissible altitude above ground is 400 ft.

No deliberate stills yet. However, I have shot a couple of selfies with the drone sitting on the dining room table facing me while I worked on the set up. Those were 48MP RAW(DNG)+JPEG and had surprisingly good IQ for such a small sensor.

Aerial stills tomorrow.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

John McWilliams

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May 27, 2020, 9:53:26 PM5/27/20
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Holy moly! That is some impressive package!

How close to the drone do you have to be to control it/get realtime
video? I presume something less than its five mile capability!


Savageduck

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May 27, 2020, 10:36:29 PM5/27/20
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On May 27, 2020, John McWilliams wrote
(in article <ran5ih$rp0$1...@dont-email.me>):
I ran it out to 5,400 feet this morning, just over a mile. I have seen some YouTube range tests where they went out as far as 4 miles before returning to home, and maintained a video feed. That is impressive, and I doubt that I would really like to take that risk. ...yet.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

croy

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May 28, 2020, 12:05:15 AM5/28/20
to
On Tue, 26 May 2020 22:56:07 -0700, Savageduck <savageduck1@{REMOVESPAM}me.com> wrote:

>Well it finally cooled down a bit and I tried my hand at what amounted to my first drone flying, and more than a 2 minute iPhone video. I have never flown a drone of any type before, and I am not yet fully familiar with the capability, and features of the camera in the Mavic Air 2. Definately not an example of the smoothest cinematography, but a demonstration of the potential of this drone. So with those caveats here is 5+ minutes of a hot, dry part of California.
>
><https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-8XFHcrH/0/4bc77bdd/1920/i-8XFHcrH-1920.mp4>

I'm not a droner at all, but I am very impressed with your video.

Is that Folsom Lake?

--
croy

Savageduck

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May 28, 2020, 12:11:52 AM5/28/20
to
On May 27, 2020, croy wrote
(in article<91eucf5prvddrl24h...@4ax.com>):
Lake Nacimiento, about 13 miles west of Paso Robles, CA.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Alfred Molon

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May 28, 2020, 2:48:53 PM5/28/20
to
In article
<0001HW.247ECEC401...@news.giganews.com>,
savageduck1@{REMOVESPAM}me.com says...
You live in an oven. We had 16�C today in Munich and just 5�C in
the morning.
--
Alfred Molon

Olympus 4/3 and micro 4/3 cameras forum at
https://groups.io/g/myolympus
https://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site

Savageduck

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May 28, 2020, 5:10:05 PM5/28/20
to
On May 28, 2020, Alfred Molon wrote
(in article<MPG.393a0c49b...@news.supernews.com>):

> In article
> <0001HW.247ECEC401...@news.giganews.com>,
> savageduck1@{REMOVESPAM}me.com says...
> >
> >
> > Old fart in the Sun, and 104F doesn�t do too well when there is a house with working AC a couple of 100 yds away.
>
> You live in an oven. We had 16�C today in Munich and just 5�C in
> the morning.

Yesterday (Wednesday) at about 15:00 hours it was 109F (42.7C). At 06:00 it was 71F (22.2C). It is a little cooler right now at 93F (33.8C).

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Bill W

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May 28, 2020, 6:27:24 PM5/28/20
to
On May 28, 2020, Savageduck wrote
(in article<0001HW.2480602401...@news.giganews.com>):
Shessh. Did you move into Las Vegas after I moved out?


Savageduck

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May 28, 2020, 6:59:06 PM5/28/20
to
On May 28, 2020, Bill W wrote
(in article<0001HW.2480724800...@news.eternal-september.org>):
I am still out here West of Paso Robles, CA where it get pretty hot in the summer. To cool down all it takes is a 40 minute drive to the coast where it is 61-65F.

Here is this morning’s training flight shot at 4K 30fps. The haze in the air is smoke from a fire over at Camp Roberts about 3 miles to the East. You can get some idea of just how dry things are, and the potential for a bad fire season. Definitely not needed on top of the C-19 stuff:

<https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-kSKTKMd/0/5d305f39/1920/i-kSKTKMd-1920.mp4>

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Bill W

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May 28, 2020, 7:27:30 PM5/28/20
to
On May 28, 2020, Savageduck wrote
(in article<0001HW.248079B201...@news.giganews.com>):
Yeah, that does look a little dicey. Good luck.

croy

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May 28, 2020, 8:41:18 PM5/28/20
to
On Thu, 28 May 2020 20:48:49 +0200, Alfred Molon <alfred...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>You live in an oven.

In many parts of California, we have to wear insulators on our feet when we go outside ;-)

--
croy

Ken Hart

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May 28, 2020, 8:48:19 PM5/28/20
to
Very nice. Good sharp video, smooth pans. Color and detail looks good
here on my non-calibrated, used mainly for business purposes monitor. So
my opinion is marginal!

What is all that open land? When I see that much rolling hills, I expect
to see cattle. Or at least cow patties!

FWIW, and obviously not your fault, Firefox (Linux) continuously
buffered and never played the video. Chromium played a few seconds,
buffered a few seconds, played a few seconds. But then again, I've got
several live streams running on a no-frills DSL link.

--
Ken Hart
kwh...@frontier.com

Savageduck

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May 28, 2020, 9:26:03 PM5/28/20
to
On May 28, 2020, Ken Hart wrote
(in article <rapm4d$1phl$1...@gioia.aioe.org>):

> On 5/28/20 6:58 PM, Savageduck wrote:
> > On May 28, 2020, Bill W wrote
> > (in article<0001HW.2480724800...@news.eternal-september.org>):
> >
> > > On May 28, 2020, Savageduck wrote
> > > (in article<0001HW.2480602401...@news.giganews.com>):
> > >
> > > > On May 28, 2020, Alfred Molon wrote
> > > > (in article<MPG.393a0c49b...@news.supernews.com>):
> > > >
> > > > > In article
> > > > > <0001HW.247ECEC401...@news.giganews.com>,
> > > > > savageduck1@{REMOVESPAM}me.com says...
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Old fart in the Sun, and 104F doesn�t do too well when there is a house
> > > > > > with working AC a couple of 100 yds away.
> > > > >
> > > > > You live in an oven. We had 16�C today in Munich and just 5�C in
> > > > > the morning.
> > > >
> > > > Yesterday (Wednesday) at about 15:00 hours it was 109F (42.7C). At 06:00 it
> > > > was 71F (22.2C). It is a little cooler right now at 93F (33.8C).
> > >
> > > Shessh. Did you move into Las Vegas after I moved out?
> >
> > I am still out here West of Paso Robles, CA where it get pretty hot in the summer. To cool down all it takes is a 40 minute drive to the coast where it is 61-65F.
> >
> > Here is this morning’s training flight shot at 4K 30fps. The haze in the air is smoke from a fire over at Camp Roberts about 3 miles to the East. You can get some idea of just how dry things are, and the potential for a bad fire season. Definitely not needed on top of the C-19 stuff:
> >
> > <https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-kSKTKMd/0/5d305f39/1920/i-kSKTKMd-1920.mp4>
>
> Very nice. Good sharp video, smooth pans. Color and detail looks good
> here on my non-calibrated, used mainly for business purposes monitor. So
> my opinion is marginal!

That is OK, my drone/video skills are barely 3 days old.
>
>
> What is all that open land? When I see that much rolling hills, I expect
> to see cattle. Or at least cow patties!

The some of the ranches around have cattle, but around here once the winter grass starts to dry out we get a pretty big flock of sheep through here. That feeds the sheep, and mows the grass before the fire season.

<https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-ZhLtrh7/0/33210a7d/5K/i-ZhLtrh7-5K.jpg>

<https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-HqgPhTP/0/2d49a628/5K/i-HqgPhTP-5K.jpg>

>
>
> FWIW, and obviously not your fault, Firefox (Linux) continuously
> buffered and never played the video. Chromium played a few seconds,
> buffered a few seconds, played a few seconds. But then again, I've got
> several live streams running on a no-frills DSL link.

I am not able to address things Linux as I have an all Apple household.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

nospam

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May 28, 2020, 9:40:09 PM5/28/20
to
In article <0001HW.24809C2301...@news.giganews.com>,
Savageduck <savageduck1@{REMOVESPAM}me.com> wrote:

> > FWIW, and obviously not your fault, Firefox (Linux) continuously
> > buffered and never played the video. Chromium played a few seconds,
> > buffered a few seconds, played a few seconds. But then again, I've got
> > several live streams running on a no-frills DSL link.
>
> I am not able to address things Linux as I have an all Apple household.

the problem he describes is due to overloading his limited dsl link,
not the operating systems used.

Savageduck

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May 28, 2020, 9:49:22 PM5/28/20
to
On May 28, 2020, nospam wrote
(in article<280520202140067182%nos...@nospam.invalid>):
...er, OK.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Whisky-dave

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May 28, 2020, 9:55:48 PM5/28/20
to
On Friday, 29 May 2020 02:26:03 UTC+1, Savageduck wrote:
> On May 28, 2020, Ken Hart wrote

> That is OK, my drone/video skills are barely 3 days old.
> >
> >
> > What is all that open land? When I see that much rolling hills, I expect
> > to see cattle. Or at least cow patties!
>
> The some of the ranches around have cattle, but around here once the winter grass starts to dry out we get a pretty big flock of sheep through here. That feeds the sheep, and mows the grass before the fire season.
>
> <https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-ZhLtrh7/0/33210a7d/5K/i-ZhLtrh7-5K.jpg>
>
> <https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-HqgPhTP/0/2d49a628/5K/i-HqgPhTP-5K.jpg>
>
> >
> >
> > FWIW, and obviously not your fault, Firefox (Linux) continuously
> > buffered and never played the video. Chromium played a few seconds,
> > buffered a few seconds, played a few seconds. But then again, I've got
> > several live streams running on a no-frills DSL link.
>
> I am not able to address things Linux as I have an all Apple household.


No problem on my iMac in firefox :-)

Pretty impressive and didn't seem to scare the sheep with it's noise the only cheap ones I've seen/heard are really loud.

Can you get it to 'imprint' altitude and NSEW direction on videos or stills.

Can you program a route and leave it to do it, like a search pattern in star trek :-)

can it say follow you in your car at X distance and altitude, that could be fun filming yourself doing doughnuts or whatever if you're so inclined that is.

> Regards,
> Savageduck

Savageduck

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May 28, 2020, 10:20:00 PM5/28/20
to
On May 28, 2020, Whisky-dave wrote
(in article<667bffe7-8ad7-45f6...@googlegroups.com>):

> On Friday, 29 May 2020 02:26:03 UTC+1, Savageduck wrote:
> > On May 28, 2020, Ken Hart wrote
>
> > That is OK, my drone/video skills are barely 3 days old.
> > >
> > >
> > > What is all that open land? When I see that much rolling hills, I expect
> > > to see cattle. Or at least cow patties!
> >
> > The some of the ranches around have cattle, but around here once the winter grass starts to dry out we get a pretty big flock of sheep through here. That feeds the sheep, and mows the grass before the fire season.
> >
> > <https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-ZhLtrh7/0/33210a7d/5K/i-ZhLtrh7-5K.jpg>
> >
> > <https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-HqgPhTP/0/2d49a628/5K/i-HqgPhTP-5K.jpg>
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > FWIW, and obviously not your fault, Firefox (Linux) continuously
> > > buffered and never played the video. Chromium played a few seconds,
> > > buffered a few seconds, played a few seconds. But then again, I've got
> > > several live streams running on a no-frills DSL link.
> >
> > I am not able to address things Linux as I have an all Apple household.
>
> No problem on my iMac in firefox :-)

Perhaps, but I have never explored Linux, and I am probably not going to. My Mac does all I need it to do.
>
> Pretty impressive and didn't seem to scare the sheep with it's noise the only cheap ones I've seen/heard are really loud.

Well the sheep have been gone for a while so they were not there for these flights. This Mavic Air 2 is surprisingly quiet. Once it is about 20-25 ft. above me it is difficult to hear.
>
> Can you get it to 'imprint' altitude and NSEW direction on videos or stills.

I have not found a way to do that with a direct recording yet. However, I am sure I could tap into the iPhone, or iPad screen recording capability to record all the controller details.
>
> Can you program a route and leave it to do it, like a search pattern in star trek :-)

There are several tracking functions including following a waypoint flight path.
>
> can it say follow you in your car at X distance and altitude, that could be fun filming yourself doing doughnuts or whatever if you're so inclined that is.

It can, not that that sort of thing is on my agenda, but others have done vehicle tracking with this and other drones.
>
>
> > Regards,
> > Savageduck

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Alan Browne

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May 29, 2020, 4:20:03 PM5/29/20
to
On 2020-05-26 21:12, Savageduck wrote:
> My new Mavic Air 2 drone arrived just before noon today.
>
> So most of my day has been taken up with battery charging, and firmware updates. I managed to get out for a maiden flight around 14:00 hrs with the temperature hovering at 104F (40C). Needless to say the heat drove me to shorten everything, and the one 4K 30fps 4 minute video I shot was OK until the midpoint when there was what looked like a ripple running through the playback. It looked like an imbedded heatwave.
>
> Then I discovered that each of my 3 batteries had to have the battery firmware updated to match the drone system FW.
>
> Now I am waiting for things to cool down so I can get out for a sunset flight a little longer than my first excursion in the heat.

Congrats!

Alan Browne

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May 29, 2020, 4:31:17 PM5/29/20
to
On 2020-05-27 22:36, Savageduck wrote:
> On May 27, 2020, John McWilliams wrote
> (in article <ran5ih$rp0$1...@dont-email.me>):
>
>> On 5/26/20 PDT 7:34 PM, Savageduck wrote:
>>> On May 26, 2020, Bill Vanek wrote
>>>> That’s better than I thought. How much do the batteries cost? How many come
>>>> with the drone?
>>>
>>> They are about $115 each.
>>>
>>> The regular Mavic Air 2, which comes with one battery costs $799. However, if you buy their “Fly More” package for $988 you get 2 extra batteries, extra prop sets, a carry bag, a three battery charging bank, a set of 3 ND filters, and some other stuff. All for an extra $189 which is less than the $230 cost of two batteries.
>> Holy moly! That is some impressive package!
>>
>> How close to the drone do you have to be to control it/get realtime
>> video? I presume something less than its five mile capability!
>
> I ran it out to 5,400 feet this morning, just over a mile. I have seen some YouTube range tests where they went out as far as 4 miles before returning to home, and maintained a video feed. That is impressive, and I doubt that I would really like to take that risk. ...yet.

Legally you have to maintain visual contact with it. 200 - 300 m is
about as far as I can see my Mavic Pro (depends on light, background,
etc.) and about double that for the Phantom 4 Pro. 500m is the farthest
you're allowed to go in Canada.

Some people have flown some very long distances and back with the MP2.

Savageduck

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May 29, 2020, 4:54:17 PM5/29/20
to
On May 29, 2020, Alan Browne wrote
(in article <kieAG.168985$2e3.1...@fx35.iad>):
Agreed! Once I have it off the ground it is tough to find when it is 200-300 m out.

On my dusk training flight yesterday I had to turn on the bottom LED landing light to be able to find it.

As far as range goes I must confess to pushing things beyond my 4 day experience really permits. ;-)
>
>
> Some people have flown some very long distances and back with the MP2.

I have seen a few insane range tests, which I don’t feel are worth risking.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Savageduck

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May 29, 2020, 6:12:20 PM5/29/20
to
On May 29, 2020, Alan Browne wrote
(in article <kieAG.168985$2e3.1...@fx35.iad>):

BTW: Things got a tad scary on my training flight this morning, but it gave the obstacle avoidance a good workout. That saved me a retrieval hike.

I used iMovie to adjust the file size so it would fit the 3GB SmugMug file Max.

<https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-NrS8zPB/0/ba28467b/1920/i-NrS8zPB-1920.mp4>

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Alan Browne

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May 29, 2020, 8:41:20 PM5/29/20
to
Very nice. Been there.

TIP: Tilt the camera down a tad so the horizon is higher in the image.
I usually have the horizon in the top 10 - 20% of the frame.

Alfred Molon

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May 30, 2020, 4:53:13 AM5/30/20
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In article <5fm0dfpmii8b2prgj...@4ax.com>,
cr...@spam.invalid.net says...
> In many parts of California, we have to wear insulators on our feet when we go outside ;-)

I once travelled to the Iranian desert in August. You had to
find a shelter (some A/C hotel or restaurant) between noon and
2pm, but no feet insulators were needed.

Alan Browne

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May 30, 2020, 8:00:28 PM5/30/20
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On 2020-05-27 19:58, Bill W wrote:
> On May 27, 2020, Savageduck wrote

>>
>> <https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-VcdhFnV/0/9baefc7d/1920/i-VcdhFnV-1920.mp
>> 4>
>
> I noticed that when you rotate/pan, the image looks blurred or OoF, but when
> stationary or moving forward and back, it is very sharp. I wonder if there is
> a setting to fix the panning issue. How high was the drone for this footage?
> Have you tried any stills yet?

I suspect that 'duck has not:

- put on ND filters
- set the shutter speed to about 2x the frame rate.

ie: 1/60th s shutter speed for 30 fps. That's why the ND filter is needed.

This will smooth things out considerably and remove that blurred look.

Alan Browne

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May 30, 2020, 8:07:29 PM5/30/20
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On 2020-05-27 07:34, newshound wrote:
> On 27/05/2020 06:56, Savageduck wrote:
>> On May 26, 2020, Savageduck wrote
>> (in article<0001HW.247DF5E801...@news.giganews.com>):
>>
>> Well it finally cooled down a bit and I tried my hand at what amounted
>> to my first drone flying, and more than a 2 minute iPhone video. I
>> have never flown a drone of any type before, and I am not yet fully
>> familiar with the capability, and features of the camera in the Mavic
>> Air 2. Definately not an example of the smoothest cinematography, but
>> a demonstration of the potential of this drone. So with those caveats
>> here is 5+ minutes of a hot, dry part of California.
>>
>> <https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-8XFHcrH/0/4bc77bdd/1920/i-8XFHcrH-1920.mp4>
>>
>>
>
> Pretty stable, then! Was there any wind?

These drones are remarkably stable in very stiff gusty wind. Between
accelerometers, gyros, altimeter (2 ea.) and GPS/GLONASS they can hold
position and height very tightly.

In effect the user doesn't control the drone at all. It's on autopilot
100% of the time. The user merely pushes the autopilot around. It does
all of the work.

Bill W

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May 30, 2020, 8:22:31 PM5/30/20
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On May 30, 2020, Alan Browne wrote
(in article <ssCAG.215968$872....@fx38.iad>):
I don’t think either of us does much video, so we might have both learned
something here.

RichA

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May 30, 2020, 9:53:50 PM5/30/20
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On Tuesday, 26 May 2020 21:12:17 UTC-4, Savageduck wrote:
> My new Mavic Air 2 drone arrived just before noon today.
>
> So most of my day has been taken up with battery charging, and firmware updates. I managed to get out for a maiden flight around 14:00 hrs with the temperature hovering at 104F (40C). Needless to say the heat drove me to shorten everything, and the one 4K 30fps 4 minute video I shot was OK until the midpoint when there was what looked like a ripple running through the playback. It looked like an imbedded heatwave.
>
> Then I discovered that each of my 3 batteries had to have the battery firmware updated to match the drone system FW.
>
> Now I am waiting for things to cool down so I can get out for a sunset flight a little longer than my first excursion in the heat.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Savageduck

Should fly it over rioter's heads and drop napalm on them.

Savageduck

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May 30, 2020, 11:48:54 PM5/30/20
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On May 30, 2020, Alan Browne wrote
(in article <ssCAG.215968$872....@fx38.iad>):

I have yet to dabble with the filters. They included a set of 3, an ND16, ND64, and ND256. So two are really only good for long exposures. They want you to buy the more useful set of an ND4, ND8, and ND32.

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Whisky-dave

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May 31, 2020, 9:45:40 PM5/31/20
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Cheers, I noticed in the demo they had it in front of a bike, was wondering whether that implied it could be done or whether someone else was controlling it.

I doubt you have any whales nearby you can fly over, I wonder if you could
so fish or shoals of them in clean rivers.
They don't seem to have a polarizing filter, probably difficult to have one
as they'd be no way of rotating it.

Savageduck

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May 31, 2020, 11:12:26 PM5/31/20
to
On May 31, 2020, Whisky-dave wrote
(in article<d42dc687-ccd4-443c...@googlegroups.com>):
There are several tracking modes which make the drone autonomous for the entire track program. Select your target, and tracking from behind, parallel, or circle the target while tracking.

See what this guy does:<https://youtu.be/zleTBf4At8s>
>
> I doubt you have any whales nearby you can fly over, I wonder if you could
> so fish or shoals of them in clean rivers.

We have California Grey whales which migrate up and down our coast, sometimes quite close inshore.

I might be able to get fish at our lake.
>
> They don't seem to have a polarizing filter, probably difficult to have one
> as they'd be no way of rotating it.

Actually they do have CPLs, and ND filters with CPL.

<https://www.freewellgear.com/mavic-air-2/693-dji-mavic-air-2-filters-standard-day-4pack.html>
>
>
> > >
> > >
> > > > Regards,
> > > > Savageduck
> >
> > --
> > Regards,
> > Savageduck

--
Regards,
Savageduck

Alan Browne

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Jun 2, 2020, 7:52:42 PM6/2/20
to
On 2020-05-28 21:55, Whisky-dave wrote:
> On Friday, 29 May 2020 02:26:03 UTC+1, Savageduck wrote:
>> On May 28, 2020, Ken Hart wrote
>
>> That is OK, my drone/video skills are barely 3 days old.
>>>
>>>
>>> What is all that open land? When I see that much rolling hills, I expect
>>> to see cattle. Or at least cow patties!
>>
>> The some of the ranches around have cattle, but around here once the winter grass starts to dry out we get a pretty big flock of sheep through here. That feeds the sheep, and mows the grass before the fire season.
>>
>> <https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-ZhLtrh7/0/33210a7d/5K/i-ZhLtrh7-5K.jpg>
>>
>> <https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-HqgPhTP/0/2d49a628/5K/i-HqgPhTP-5K.jpg>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> FWIW, and obviously not your fault, Firefox (Linux) continuously
>>> buffered and never played the video. Chromium played a few seconds,
>>> buffered a few seconds, played a few seconds. But then again, I've got
>>> several live streams running on a no-frills DSL link.
>>
>> I am not able to address things Linux as I have an all Apple household.
>
>
> No problem on my iMac in firefox :-)
>
> Pretty impressive and didn't seem to scare the sheep with it's noise the only cheap ones I've seen/heard are really loud.

I've flown within 5 metres of deer and they just look at it curiously
and then ignore it. It's not in their catalog of dangerous things.

>
> Can you get it to 'imprint' altitude and NSEW direction on videos or stills.

You can do that various ways - but better to post process to a non
imprinted and imprinted versions.

>
> Can you program a route and leave it to do it, like a search pattern in star trek :-)

There are 3rd party apps to do various things like that. DJI's app
allows a repeated course.

>
> can it say follow you in your car at X distance and altitude, that could be fun filming yourself doing doughnuts or whatever if you're so inclined that is.

It will use video tracking to follow a car (or person or person on bike...).

I've even had one drone following another (this is a little unstable and
could result in collision in some conditions even if they start well
appart).
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