I just kept sending it up the whole time, battery after battery.  If I hadn't of kept playing with the altitude during ActiveTrack, it might have tracked closer!  But I can't help it!

OK Awesome!  You must have some horsepower on the back of your pontoon.  I've only got 115hp, so I don't have enough to really give an exciting ride like shown in your video.

Charles Adams Posted at 2017-8-25 08:04
OK Awesome!  You must have some horsepower on the back of your pontoon.  I've only got 115hp, so I don't have enough to really give an exciting ride like shown in your video.

It's my old man's, it has a 70hp Suzuki 4-stroke on the back, he also swapped out the prop to work better in the RPM range of the motor.  You should just try it, the Suzuki is a strong motor for its rating, but you should be able to pull people up on skis and certainly on a tube, no problem, unless your boat itself is a lot bigger and heavier.

rick bernotas Posted at 2017-8-25 08:19
It's my old man's, it has a 70hp Suzuki 4-stroke on the back, he also swapped out the prop to work better in the RPM range of the motor.  You should just try it, the Suzuki is a strong motor for its rating, but you should be able to pull people up on skis and certainly on a tube, no problem, unless your boat itself is a lot bigger and heavier.

28 ft, it's a big one.  Lots of boat to push.

Nice video.
Maybe a 'bit' long ;)
But interesting how you get it to work.
I must say some movements were a bit less smooth. Like at the turn starting at 4:13, it keeps the boat in the frame, but not too steady.
Was that you making adjustments?

Montfrooij Posted at 2017-8-25 11:36
Nice video.
Maybe a 'bit' long ;)
But interesting how you get it to work.

Yes it's long, but I mostly made it for my dad, so he can watch his boat go up and down the river all winter long :-)

I agree some of the transitions in the ActiveTrack were not as smooth.  This was my first time ActiveTracking the boat when it was pulling something.  I experimented with setting the tracking on both the boat and the tube.  When I would set the tracking on the tube, I noticed that the tracking would not be as smooth.  When it was on the boat, I noticed it would be a bit better.  But I was also messing around with the altitude a lot when I was doing these ActiveTracks--which didn't help either.  So I think it was a combination of things.  I have a bunch of ideas of how to get footage the next time we go out tubing :-)  I will probably use the ActiveTrack Profile mode a lot more, and fly the drone at a lower altitude and closer to the tube.

I am looking forward to seeing more tracking shots
I really like this feature

rick bernotas Posted at 2017-8-25 11:57
Yes it's long, but I mostly made it for my dad, so he can watch his boat go up and down the river all winter long :-)

I agree some of the transitions in the ActiveTrack were not as smooth.  This was my first time ActiveTracking the boat when it was pulling something.  I experimented with setting the tracking on both the boat and the tube.  When I would set the tracking on the tube, I noticed that the tracking would not be as smooth.  When it was on the boat, I noticed it would be a bit better.  But I was also messing around with the altitude a lot when I was doing these ActiveTracks--which didn't help either.  So I think it was a combination of things.  I have a bunch of ideas of how to get footage the next time we go out tubing :-)  I will probably use the ActiveTrack Profile mode a lot more, and fly the drone at a lower altitude and closer to the tube.

Such a good son to do that for your Dad.

Montfrooij Posted at 2017-8-25 13:43
I am looking forward to seeing more tracking shots
I really like this feature

I also really love Activetrack, I really find it revolutionary for amateur videography.  It just amazes me that such technology and video footage can be achieved for such a relatively small amount of money these days.  It's incredible, almost like magic.

FatherXmas Posted at 2017-8-25 14:00
Such a good son to do that for your Dad.

He is a better Dad!  I found so far that one of the best things about the Spark is to show something common to someone close to you, but from a totally different perspective than they have seen it before.  They are always amazed!

oh yea i find it amazing as well that now we can essentially have a camera man in the sky automatically following, and tracking and getting the right angle and keeping pace, and all for $500 new retail.  i find that amazing and im really into tech and follow tech alot.  the tech scene moves way faster and in ways no one can truly predict.  i showed off my spark i used to own to my dad and he was stunned out of his mind how something so small was able to do so much and completely on its own.  

sidenote:  only 70HP?  that prop must be really amazing to wake up and move like that.  either that or 70Hp is a really conservative rating and its chucking out a lot more HP that didn't know about.   i seen lesser pontoons with double that power struggle to wake up like that and move so freely.   

rick bernotas Posted at 2017-8-25 17:05
I also really love Activetrack, I really find it revolutionary for amateur videography.  It just amazes me that such technology and video footage can be achieved for such a relatively small amount of money these days.  It's incredible, almost like magic.

Yes, I can imagine. I am also looking forward to buying a Spark.
Just waiting for the 25fps option so I can use it with my other camera's!

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-8-25 18:06
oh yea i find it amazing as well that now we can essentially have a camera man in the sky automatically following, and tracking and getting the right angle and keeping pace, and all for $500 new retail.  i find that amazing and im really into tech and follow tech alot.  the tech scene moves way faster and in ways no one can truly predict.  i showed off my spark i used to own to my dad and he was stunned out of his mind how something so small was able to do so much and completely on its own.  

sidenote:  only 70HP?  that prop must be really amazing to wake up and move like that.  either that or 70Hp is a really conservative rating and its chucking out a lot more HP that didn't know about.   i seen lesser pontoons with double that power struggle to wake up like that and move so freely.

Yeah, it's 70 hp, a Suzuki 4 stroke.  Look them up, you can get them in slightly higher and lower hp ratings as well.  I'm not an outboard motor guy, but as I understand it its similar to car engine hp ratings...an outboard may have a 300hp rating, but if all of that comes at the wrong rpm range, you'll almost never use it...

I think these suzukis put all of the hp right at the rpm range where you will use it most.  So the hp curve is better than most outboards.  At least my old man raves about them.  He then additionally swapped out the prop the marina put on there, with one that keeps it in the optimal RPM range more frequently.  He said it is the best outboard he has ever had.  You have to get over the fact that you won't have a big giant number on the back of your engine housing... but who cares about that if it pulls better!

Montfrooij Posted at 2017-8-26 00:23
Yes, I can imagine. I am also looking forward to buying a Spark.
Just waiting for the 25fps option so I can use it with my other camera's!

Yeah, it would be nice for some other fps options on the Spark for sure.  I don't need it to do 4k, but having 25 and 60 fps would be great.

For me it is a dealbreaker as I shoot all my footage in 25 or 50 fps. Combining it with 30 fps footage looks awful

Nice one keep it up

Cool vid        

Cool, thanks for sharing!

Now that looks fun. Cool shots. Thanks for sharing.

That looks like great fun.