PeteGould
lvl.4
United States
Offline
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I just noticed that all the way back in March, SkySight said the following in this thread, and never got an answer:
I can't see any reason at all to use "free" mode. In fact, I'm going to start a thread to see what people do with it. Maybe I'm an idiot and just don't use it correctly.
I don't recall seeing that thread, but let me add some insight. I already posted a New User thread about this topic, but I'll discuss it here too.
The normal mode everyone is used to is Follow mode. In Follow mode, the camera rotates with the Inspire. In single-user mode if you want to do a pan, you typically rotate the Inspire in order to do it. The gimbal smooths out the move, but the camera ends up generally following the turn.
This is not always what you want, however. Consider flying the Inspire along a jagged sea coast and wanting the camera to always point inland. You COULD point the Inspire inland and fly sideways, but since you need to use a sideways move and then a forward or backward move to follow the coast, doing it smoothly would be quite a challenge. This is the kind of application where Free mode can be helpful.
Here's how I recently shot something similar. First, in Follow mode, rotate the Inspire to face inland. The camera goes with it. Frame up the shot as you want it to look. Now switch to Free mode and rotate the Inspire to face along the coastline (the Inspire is now facing at right angles to the camera, which is still pointing inland, just as you set it). Start moving the Inspire forward along the coastline, doing slight left and right rotations to follow it, but maintaining the same forward momentum. The camera will maintain its shot inland and will not twist and turn with the Inspire as it follows the serpentine coast. This is likely to give you a much smoother and more visually pleasing motion.
You can also switch from Follow to Free and back again, and that can be helpful sometimes too. Engage Free mode and rotate the Inspire until the camera is at right angles, or facing backward, or pointing it however you want with relation to the aircraft. Now switch back to Follow mode. The camera will once again rotate along with the Inspire, but instead of facing front, it is facing wherever you put it while in Free mode. And it will continue to smooth out the rotational moves so they look good.
The other and more obvious use of Free mode is if you're in a dual-controller configuration, with a separate pilot and camera operator. Switching to Free mode allows the camera operator complete control over the camera, regardless of the moves being made by the aircraft.
Keep in mind that if you are new to this, it is easy to become disoriented when the camera is not facing the same way as the aircraft, and that's potentially dangerous. You can instantly get it pointing straight ahead again using the realignment mode (if you're displaying the camera alignment modes in the app, it's the far-right one - tap it once and the camera will snap to forward-facing). Lots of practice is needed to develop ongoing situational awareness. The map display can also help with this a lot. Start slow, practice a lot, and don't get in over your head. |
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