So I've just got round to pulling my video together from my first few flights.

In short, I think it is quite poor.  Some great imaging alright and I thought it was OK as I was shooting.  But having looked at it afterwards, I would have liked to shoot some more, but as I bought Sparkie just a the end of my holiday, I had no more time.

It is only now as I am trying to edit my footage into a bit of a film, I can see some of my flaws and mistakes,  I think that even if I had of had more time, I may well have gotten some better footage, but without trying to edit it, I think it still would have been limited.

So I think by editing your footage, it will give you an advantage as you go out flying for your next project.  It's not just about learning to use the drone, but also about learning about how to capture better footage.  What do others think?

I'm still not happy with my edit, I'm nearly finished and think that I will just wrap up what I have as I plan to use it playing on a monitor at a party, mixed in with some still photographs, but really and truely, I think I might be better off spliting it into 2 videos for uploading to YouTube etc

I agree, this hobby is very much like most skills, the more you do it, the better you will get at it.  You learn to see what you did well and what you didn't do well each time you use it so that the next time you can do more of what did well and less of what you didn't do well.  

I think one of the things you will find is that smoothness on the sticks is your best friend when capturing video!  I think you will also find that yaw movements (left/right pans) are not your friend while recording with the Spark.  The great thing is that flying is fun, so you get to have lots of fun while you are practicing to get better! Enjoy and I wish you many happy and safe flights ahead!

thanks KlooGee
yea, I need to get a remote !

Yaw movemenr?  as in just spinning around 360 or actually just moving left/right?

Stevieob Posted at 2018-4-17 04:41
thanks KlooGee
yea, I need to get a remote !

Yes, yaw is the rotating movement.  And yes, if you don't have an RC, I would very much agree.  I personally find it very hard to control without the RC.  Makes it very difficult to be smooth and deliberate with movements.

I'm finding that flying the Spark and getting good footage are two completely different skills. I'm fairly good at flying it as I've had a fair amount of practice with cheap, dumb quads, but I don't have a good eye yet for what will make good footage or photos. I think that the more I fly it the better I'll get at making the most of the Spark's footage, but I'm a long way off, yet. I'm finding at the moment that taking photos is a lot more forgiving of piloting mistakes, as I find it easier to compose a photo than get smooth flying video. I tried doing what I thought at the time was a smooth pull back through some trees just above the ground, but when I looked on the computer it was all over the place. Practice, practice, practice, I suppose.

definately.
i'm looking forward to the summer.... well thats if we ever get a summer in ireland this year... weather is shockingly bad this year
a bit of sunshine and a spin out to the park would be the job

JimFandango Posted at 2018-4-17 05:22
I'm finding that flying the Spark and getting good footage are two completely different skills. I'm fairly good at flying it as I've had a fair amount of practice with cheap, dumb quads, but I don't have a good eye yet for what will make good footage or photos. I think that the more I fly it the better I'll get at making the most of the Spark's footage, but I'm a long way off, yet. I'm finding at the moment that taking photos is a lot more forgiving of piloting mistakes, as I find it easier to compose a photo than get smooth flying video. I tried doing what I thought at the time was a smooth pull back through some trees just above the ground, but when I looked on the computer it was all over the place. Practice, practice, practice, I suppose.

I very much agree with this!  Composition is a huge part of the art of photography and videography!  I'm a very technically minded person, so I like to understand how and why things work the way they work.  So I'm very good at this part of this hobby.  However, I'm fairly challenged at the artistic side of things so my composition usually leaves a bit to be desired.  I'm also not nearly as good on the sticks as I would like to be.  As you said:  practice, practice, practice....