After the "wind assisted fly away" incident, I ended up going through the insurance ...I am with coverdrone in the UK.

I have to say I was impressed with their service, I reported it on the Wednesday after the unsuccesful search of the area on the Tuesday. Even with the 4 day break for Easter the claim was paid by the following Tuesday, I just had to send in copies of my Ops Manual, License and Report of Incident.

Only downsides were that I underinsured the drone for £600, rather than £750 which was the cost of replacement from their supplier Heliguy, plus there was a £250 excess so I only got £350, something at least I guess. ps: the £250 would of been £500 if I had not had a license.

In the end I opted for the Mavic Pro 2 Zoom plus 2 spare batteries, charging hub and some ND Filters so I paid the shortfall of £950.

I am down in London at the moment running in the London Marathon this Sunday, so last night I took the opportunity to take the Zoom to Greenwich Park as the sky was lovely ...boy was I anxious about it. Despite the relatively low wind registeering at around 5-8 mph, my heart was in my mouth for the duration of the 3 batteries.

I had watched a lot of videos during the day and am pleased I got the zoom. Hyperlapse is great, Dolly Zoom is great plus I also think that having the zoom function may prove to be useful in with the new 5km no fly zones, so if we are on the boundary of something that needs to be photographed on a commercial job.

Have to say the machine felt extremely solid and there were no issues, its certainly quieter

After what happened to the MA, I will probably steer clear of enclosed environments at higher altitude now ...but just out of interest does anyone know if the MZ holds better in the wind because of its substancially heavier weight vs the MA ?

Heres the my favourite pic from last nights flight.
....onto Sunday, if DJI or anybody on here can spare a few dollars or pounds quid for my charity “Scope” it’s very much appreciated. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/phil-webster3

#londonmarathon2019

Hi, good day Kestrel Scot. Thank you for sharing this interesting information with us. Also, this photo that you've taken using your drone was amazing. Have a safe and happy flying always!

Great shot and sorry for your fly away, but like you said at least you got something.

Heres a couple of alternatives and the original photo rather than a screenshot

[img]201904/26/133818fbuj06f5u4u6fuo6.jpg[/img

does anyone know if there is there a way of reducing the blown out sun without darkening the photo overall ? ...I am currently using lightroom

Nice shots.

Kestrel Scot Posted at 4-26 13:40
does anyone know if there is there a way of reducing the blown out sun without darkening the photo overall ? ...I am currently using lightroom

Yes.  But it is tricky.  You'll need to create a luminosity mask for the sun, then selectively reduce several levels of light from this mask.  This can be done easily and automated with some free tools/actions. I know these are available for Photoshop, don't know about Lightroom, but this is a common issue/need.  This technique only makes 'good' improvement...the next step would be to add some blur to the sun to distract from the blowout effect.

Kestrel Scot Posted at 4-26 13:40
does anyone know if there is there a way of reducing the blown out sun without darkening the photo overall ? ...I am currently using lightroom

I'd like to add.  The picture looks great as-is (to me).  There is a ton of blow-out there for sure...BUT for me with the highlights you already have in the picture (looks like some HDR), the sun blow with it's rays that you can clearly see in detail, give the overall shot a sort of 'Utopian' feeling, almost other-worldly.  With this being said, I think it is perfect as-is    If you try to mask this / fix this i fear it will take away from your composition, not improve it! Good work, Love London.

Great photos Phil, good luck in the London Marathon....