Being fairly new (less than 10 flying hours total, although I'm only 6 minutes away from crossing that milestone) I still feel a little bit overwhelmed by the various camera settings and modes. I did read the instructions/manual, watched videos, etc. But my main hurdle is that you have to use battery power to actually play with them. So, my question is: is there a way to simply remove the battery, plug USB cable and use the drone in the "tethered" mode, so I'm not actually flying, but can at least take my time to explore all possible settings and some other app features without being concerned of draining the battery?
A full-scale simulator would be good, but the only simulator mode I currently know of allows me to do the most basic things, like take off, use manual controls, land. No researching/testing camera settings, no advanced modes.
Thank you!

The new CAPTCHA crap is the last straw.
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Brett Brandon Posted at 1-14 09:27
I wouldn't worry about draining the battery. Just keep recharging them. I have experimented with many things without flying because just after buying my M2P my house became a NFZ. Can't even start the props in my house. For testing the camera, I would suggest setting the drone outside or in a window looking outside and you can at least play with the camera taking sample pictures.
If you are new to photography, this helps explain what the main three settings do...

Thank you!
Appreciate your detailed and helpful answer!
FWIW, I have been doing (ground) photography for a while (45+ years total, 100% digital for the last 20, it's just the controls and particular modes are still unfamiliar and require getting used to, since they differ considerably from my Canon DSLR lineup.
And it's probably more of a mental block for me with the whole battery consumption, and the amount of time it takes to prep the drone for indoors testing. With the regular camera, it was simply a matter of turning it on.  But with the drone, you have to remove props, remove gimbal guard, find/clean up a place on my ever-cluttered desk to set the drone in, etc. Ugh.
I guess I have to just drain and recharge, heh?

I have run into the same thing in a way, I would like some "drill" time with the controller, and just sit and check things out.  I know, the manual has the settings of the controller, but I want to actually do it to learn, and not go through all the set-up as you noted, and then recharge the battery, even if it would take thousands of recharges, that is still one that I didn't get any flight out of, one way to look at it  By the way, for those that may be reading this, I got a 6 foot lightning/usb cable, so that when I do a calibration, there is enough that I can move the craft easily.  I guess we'll figure something out?

I have to mirror what Bret said.  Dedicate a battery or two to get “comfortable” with the controls and settings. Use the C1/2 buttons to your liking to speed up your changes as well as the thumb wheels.

So what if you drain a battery with the AC not flying.  Heck, just let it hover a few feet above takeoff. Gain altitude to 100ft to play with Sport mode. Lower elevations to play with tripod mode. If it’s super sunny, install a ND filter to lock in the shutter speed and play with the other settings. And most importantly, take your time and have fun learning.

HH1 Posted at 1-14 19:26
I have run into the same thing in a way, I would like some "drill" time with the controller, and just sit and check things out.  I know, the manual has the settings of the controller, but I want to actually do it to learn, and not go through all the set-up as you noted, and then recharge the battery, even if it would take thousands of recharges, that is still one that I didn't get any flight out of, one way to look at it  By the way, for those that may be reading this, I got a 6 foot lightning/usb cable, so that when I do a calibration, there is enough that I can move the craft easily.  I guess we'll figure something out?

Yeah, as I said it's mostly psychological issue for me.
I hate the idea of getting it up in the air just so I can look through settings and see what controls what.
I guess I just need to go through it...

Fraggboy Posted at 1-14 20:29
I have to mirror what Bret said.  Dedicate a battery or two to get “comfortable” with the controls and settings. Use the C1/2 buttons to your liking to speed up your changes as well as the thumb wheels.

So what if you drain a battery with the AC not flying.  Heck, just let it hover a few feet above takeoff. Gain altitude to 100ft to play with Sport mode. Lower elevations to play with tripod mode. If it’s super sunny, install a ND filter to lock in the shutter speed and play with the other settings. And most importantly, take your time and have fun learning.

I hear ya. My biggest pet peeve is that controls (wheels/C-buttons) sometimes change their behaviour depending on what mode you're in camera/flight wise, which usually takes me by surprise, and get confused, frustrated, upset and ultimately abandon the flight mission.

I have used my old mavic pro batteries as a power bank by making a special custom connector to get the juice out of it. As the batteries connectors are like usb c connectable both sides.
Outside ones are intelligent pins outs RX & TX, center is power by GND.
Similarly, we can make a connector to supply power to the Drone.

The new CAPTCHA crap is the last straw.
Im tired of DJIs crap and am removing my posts and will be on my way.

Brett Brandon Posted at 1-15 00:31
For photos, I found it helpful to use the 5D switch (just left of the right controller stick) to adjust shutter and aperture. I have my shutter on the up/down and the aperture on the left/right. I shoot in manual and leave the iso at 100. That way I have full control of exposure right from the controller without having to dig through the app menu.
Under camera settings there is a histogram you can turn on. I have "Overexposed" turned on as it puts black and white bars on the display where the photo is getting blown out. I find it more useful than the histogram to get the most without blowing anything out.
I also turn on "Peaking Threshold". This gives you red dots on the display to indicate what parts are in focus. I use something similar with my CamRanger for my dslr.

All good info, thanks!
I already use some of those, but I need to use more.
I know my dlsrs like the back of my hand, but it was the aforementioned lack of time and difficulty to practice that led me to not knowing the settings on the device. I didn't even know you can pan in the app. Panning with the wheel would be interesting. Right now I have to pan with the craft itself, which seems to be ok, at least legs won't get in the way, and the movement is smooth enough.

ajrulez Posted at 1-14 23:11
I have used my old mavic pro batteries as a power bank by making a special custom connector to get the juice out of it. As the batteries connectors are like usb c connectable both sides.
Outside ones are intelligent pins outs RX & TX, center is power by GND.
Similarly, we can make a connector to supply power to the Drone.

I'm not good at tinkering. But if there was a USB powered gizmo with a 6 ft cable that would power the drone and cost less than $25, I'd buy it in a heartbeat...

Sorry, you won't be successful tethering with a power lead.   The current draw on the drone motors is massive.  That is why the flight time is so short.  The cable needed to deliver that amount of current would be too heavy to fly with.  It is done with some devices sold for Phantoms and others.  They run in the thousands to purchase.  They use high voltage, to send the current  up a smaller cable, then down convert it back to normal at the drone.
As advised, just plan for training with batteries.  It will go better than you think.

flightlogicRV9 Posted at 1-15 11:18
Sorry, you won't be successful tethering with a power lead.   The current draw on the drone motors is massive.  That is why the flight time is so short.  The cable needed to deliver that amount of current would be too heavy to fly with.  It is done with some devices sold for Phantoms and others.  They run in the thousands to purchase.  They use high voltage, to send the current  up a smaller cable, then down convert it back to normal at the drone.
As advised, just plan for training with batteries.  It will go better than you think.

That makes sense.
I'm still surprised how come someone didn't figure out how to put a transformer and a small logic board into a battery case. I don't want to fly with it while attached, just have it powered on, so the entire software pipeline is working.

Yes the drone consumes around 4A from those 12V batteries.

The new CAPTCHA crap is the last straw.
Im tired of DJIs crap and am removing my posts and will be on my way.

The new CAPTCHA crap is the last straw.
Im tired of DJIs crap and am removing my posts and will be on my way.

ajrulez Posted at 1-15 11:39
Yes the drone consumes around 4A from those 12V batteries.

That's a lot of juice!!

Brett Brandon Posted at 1-15 12:38
I would guess that is peak amperage. Just sitting using the camera without the motors running is only going to use a small fraction of that. The motors draw the most amperage.

and that's what I would be looking for. Not flying, just turned on with camera and maybe SD card access.

Brett Brandon Posted at 1-15 12:34
I think I heard about the camera panning on youtube. All you do to pan is touch and hold on the screen. Then dragging left/right up/down moves the camera. I find the way it works kind of a pita and it is virtually impossible to pan without affecting the tilt. I also pan the whole drone as well as resetting the camera is a bit of a pita as well.
Using goggles you are able to pan and tilt by moving your head. I haven't had a chance to try any goggles but that would make framing a shot a breeze and very cool for video work...

Oh, that's how you do it? I did it by accident, and could not figure out how to get it back, now I get it.
And yes, controlling the gimbal with the head movements when using the goggles is a blast, it's very smooth and intuitive in both modes (gimbal tilt/pan, or gimbal tilt and drone pan/rotate)

The new CAPTCHA crap is the last straw.
Im tired of DJIs crap and am removing my posts and will be on my way.

Brett Brandon Posted at 1-15 17:39
I just noticed the goggles in your icons. Didn't know you had them. I won't be able to afford the DJI ones for some time. Been thinking about using cheap vr goggles with an app to check it out.

Fair warning: cheap ones may only work on a short distance and do not offer the same amount of control. Can be a negative experience. I had that before, better not have any.