Mavic Pro advice for beginners-Part I

Scan Mavic forums to discover thread like “I have been waiting for the right time to get into drone photography and video. I pulled the trigger on the Mavic Pro with the extra batteries and stuff. It will arrive soon. Needless to say I am excited and a little nervous.

I wanted to reach out and ask for beginner advice. Anything a total noob might benefit from. I have exactly zero experience flying these thing.”

With so many new pilots coming in, we wanted to offer you some beginner advice that we collected from a wide array of sources to get started the Mavic Pro.

#”Learning on an expensive drone could be costly. Best advice that I can give you is to find a deserted wide open field with no obstacles. The reason I say deserted is because if there are people around they will come and check out your drone and want to talk. That’s fine and dany, but not when you’re learning. First few flights should be on calm days and don’t bother taking pics or filming. Just learn the basics of flying first. ”

#“Make sure you keep a long way from anything. If I learned anything from flying RC planes and helis (now drones) for years is that given 60 yards of clear air and six inches of tree the RC will try to occupy the same space as the tree EVERY DAMN TIME.

Be VERY aware of orientation if you are flying by looking at the Mavic Pro, if its facing you and you push the right stick away from you it will fly towards you (in most modes) also left and right will be reversed. It is surprisingly difficult to get your head around this at first.”

#”RTFM at least 3 times

Review all the sUAS (drone) info at the US FAA website: www.faa.gov/uas. That’s assuming you are in the USA.

Take it slow and easy. Do not get close to anything but the ground for Takeoff and Landing.”

#“RTH is the cause of a lot of crashes but mostly with drones that don’t have obstacle avoidance. The pilot hits RTH and the building in the way takes it out. The Mavic Pro should be good that way. Trees are still tricky though, especially bare ones. You can help it a lot by setting the RTH altitude higher than anything around.

I just got a Phantom 3 Standard which does not have avoidance so I’ve been pretty cautious. First couple of flights were up, a little distance and then back down/home.  I’ve got about 15 flights (er, 15 flight sessions) now and I am a lot more confident but still pretty cautious. Just take it slow. You sound thoughtful – I think that’s about 75% of a good pilot right there.”

For more beginner advice please stay tuned to us and we will update soon.

The post Mavic Pro advice for beginners-Part I appeared first on Drone Inner.

Mavic Pro: giving my travel photography and adventure videos a big-budget

Drones are incredible tools for capturing images & video in a totally different perspective. With the new DJI Mavic Pro, we finally have a drone that’s easy to travel with too!

To enjoy your trip with the Mavic, here are some tips and tricks to fly it.

DJI Mavic Tips & Tricks

Press Record!

As stupid as this sounds, when I first started flying drones, I’d forget to start recording video. Maybe it was because I was so excited to fly the thing, or because I was mesmerized by the beautiful scenes it was showing me. Remember to hit record and capture that beauty!

Full Screen View

The tiny Mavic Pro controller is pretty slick, displaying flight details like speed, altitude, distance, and battery level. This allows you to switch your phone into full-screen mode (swipe up for IOS), removing the information overlay so you can concentrate on framing your shots.

Slow & Steady Movements

Racing around at 40mph in sport mode is fun as hell, but doesn’t make for great video footage. The best drone videos are smooth and steady. Small input changes can have a big effect — you don’t need to jam down on the control sticks full throttle. Plus, you can always speed things up later with editing software too.

Return To Home

It took me a while to realize the benefits of this feature. Why engage return to home when I can fly back myself? Well, the software is much more efficient than humans are. It takes the shortest path back, flying at optimal speed, saving you precious battery power. If you really want to land yourself, you can cancel it at the last minute and take control.

Catch Landing

If I’m attempting to fly from uneven ground (rocks, tall grass, sand) I’ll generally launch the Mavic from my camera backpack, and catch-land it in my hand. However I do not recommend catch-landing a drone until you have a LOT of experience flying in all kinds of situations/weather. It can be dangerous if it goes wrong.

Recovering After A Crash

Everyone crashes their drone eventually. Everyone. I’ve crashed 2 times now. If you do crash your drone, the best way to get it back is using the GPS information stored on the DJI GO App. Click on the map, zoom into where the last signal was sent from, then head over and start searching. It’s crazy how accurate it is.

Facebook Live

Did you know you can broadcast live video from your Mavic Pro to Facebook & YouTube? The video feed comes from the drone, while the audio comes from your phone. This lets you tell a story, or describe what you’re seeing, as you fly the drone live. It’s possible with a strong 3G signal, but wifi and 4G connections work best.

With the DJI Mavic Pro, you can fit all your camera gear into a single airplane carry-on bag. It’s also far easier to bring your drone hiking in the mountains, snowboarding, on a boat, or on other kinds of adventures.

Not only is it much smaller and lighter than earlier drones, it’s still just as fast, stable, and easy to fly too.

The convenience of the Mavic’s super portable design means I’m more likely to take my drone with me — giving my travel photography and adventure videos a big-budget WOW factor that was previously only possible from an actual helicopter.

While traveling with a drone is probably overkill for most people, if you make your living with photography or video (or want to eventually), nothing can compete with the DJI Mavic Pro for its combination of power & portability.

( Source )

The post Mavic Pro: giving my travel photography and adventure videos a big-budget appeared first on Drone Inner.

How to fly Mavic Pro?

Sure, there are small drones out there. And more powerful ones too. Unfortunately you couldn’t have the best of both worlds — until the new DJI Mavic Pro came along.

The Mavic has all the features of the original DJI Phantom 4, but is half the size and weight.

Now more and more people have received the Mavic Pro,how to fly it? Here we’ll offer you some tips and tricks to help you enjoy your flight time/experience.

The Mavic Pro is surprisingly easy to fly. It feels a lot like a video game. If you let go of the controls, the drone simply hovers in one place.

But drones are complicated machines too — you need to be aware of your surroundings in multiple dimensions, something most of us aren’t used to.

Before you do anything, make sure to watch all of the Mavic tutorial videos here. Then, practice flying the drone simulator on the DJI GO app.

When you finally think you’re ready, I recommend practicing with the Mavic Pro in a wide open field until you get the hang of how it handles. Then practice some more.

The Mavic has a beginner mode that forces the drone to fly a bit slower, and limits height and distance. Use this mode while you’re learning.

Unfolding and preparing the Mavic Pro for flight takes less than 2 minutes. First I start the DJI GO App on my phone, connect the phone to the remote controller, turn on the remote controller, then power on the drone.

The Mavic will attempt to lock on to GPS satellites, which keeps it stable during flight.

Before you fly in a new location, remember to calibrate the compass (aka do the “drone dance”). It’s an easy process that takes less than 20 seconds.

One of the drawbacks to the DJI Mavic’s compact design is that it has much less ground clearance than the Phantom 4, meaning the belly of the drone is closer to the ground.

This can be a problem if you want to launch or land in tall grass. So try to find a wide, flat base to launch it from.

If you run low on battery power or lose your connection, the Mavic Pro will automatically “return to home” using GPS.

Cameras on the bottom of the Mavic take a photo of the launch site, helping it land in the same exact spot once you’re finished. Pretty impressive technology!

When the Mavic was first released, there were a bunch of videos saying the image was fuzzy. This is because the camera wasn’t in focus — users didn’t realize they needed to touch the screen and focus the camera first.

However this issue has been resolved, as the latest software update gives the Mavic an autofocus mode, which you can turn on or off depending on your preference.

Both video footage & still photos from the Mavic Pro are crisp and clean, sharp enough for most video applications, especially on the web.

If you want to make high-end movies, drones like the new DJI Phantom 4 Pro and DJI Inspire 2 boast larger camera sensors which can pick up more detail in lower light. The caveat is these drones aren’t nearly as portable as the Mavic Pro.

Battery life for the DJI Mavic is solid, averaging 21 minutes on a typical flight (that’s with 15% battery remaining). I travel with 3 batteries to maximize my flight time in each location.

It takes about 60 minutes to re-charge a battery, about 2 hours to re-charge the controller.

DJI recommends deep-discharging (cycling) your intelligent flight battery after every 20 re-charges, to maximize battery life. You can view how many cycles a battery has gone through in the DJI GO App.

At last have fun.

( Source )

The post How to fly Mavic Pro? appeared first on Drone Inner.