I am trying to learn to orbit properly, mostly self teaching. But that is not going so well.

What I have been doing is applying opposite yaw and aileron.

I can get the orbit started, seems to go ok for about 5 seconds then quickly either the yaw becomes to great or the aileron starts swinging to wide.

It doesn't seem to take much of any stick movement to do this, in other words I don't think I am being too heavy handed, although I could be.

I have to assume that the videos I have seen of orbits must be running in slow motion as I can't seem to fly it slow enough.

I imagine diffirent sized arcs will require different amount of stick inputs.

I realize this is more about flying skills than the Inspire itself, but I am flying the Inspire.

Can someone give me some guidance or point me to a video that shows how to do it properly?

It takes practice but can be done.   

I've gotten pretty good at orbiting, though it still takes a few tries to get the timing and stick position right.

It's a great technique and I love it for cool shots!
As for tips and tricks, I don't really have any, I think it's just a matter of practice and self-critique.  Eventually it just becomes instinct.

Keep working on it!

Jim

If is too windy will be hard to do it. Without wind and practice you will master it

But if they enable the POI in the firmware soon then you will not need to do it manually.

Hey Rmeltr,

As Jim says above - it's a matter of practice. Just get out and fly, practice and practice again.
There are some UAV's with groundstation apps that offer orbit as an automated function - the I1 isn't there just yet.

I'm in a similar situation, it's huge fun but I'm finding they get a bit jagged sometimes.

few things to do before you can make a perfect orbit:

1. change the stick height on your remote, it can be unscrewed. Set it as high as possible, so you can be smoother.
2. change exp curves to 30.
3. learn to control. When start by either moving sideways left or right , plus you add yaw to maintain focus on one point. You also need to move forward a bit, to compensate the drift. so basically in mode 2 you need to push the right stick to left+up slightly(or right+up) and you need a countermove on the left stick, so when you start your orbit left, compensate the direction to the right.

This is a flight I did yesterday, I tried to make a perfect orbit of a friends house. You can see the stick control here

I practiced in small scale first ...
Picked an object on the ground to orbit around ... and tried making cirkels with a radius to the object of 1-2 meters keeping everything slow and steady ...

Everything is about practice and getting that muscle memory making it able to fly without thinking of what you are doing.
Not having trees and stuff around to worry about also helps ... ;)

When I was flying today I realized that I am starting to rely on the stable GPS mode a bit to much.

Switched it to atti mode and just practiced to hover in the wind for a while.
It´s pretty cool when you notice your fingers are giving stick input on reflex without you having to think about it at all ...

This might be me ... but when I try to fly with precision I find small and fast (jerky) inputs gives me a lot smother ride than when I am trying to be smooth on the sticks which only causes the bird to drift cause my inputs are to big or slow ...  

Its easier to go counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere, than it is to try to go clockwise, because of the magnetite in your brain, So you are going to want to pull the sticks apart,  start with the poi in the middle of screen watch the screen and not the aircraft start your slide and hold it, don't move the right stick, and do all of the controlling to maintain the poi in the middle of your screen , with your left stick, you will probably have to push the right stick a bit forward, but try to hold the right stick as still as possible, maybe half way over on the right stick ,  try to find the right position on the right stick and hold it, and try to keep the poi as close to in the center of the picture as you can with the left stick only

PaulKerry Posted at 2015-7-19 23:15
"... I find small and fast (jerky) inputs gives me a lot smother ride..."

Kind of "tap, tap, tap, n ...

Yes exactly like that ... But to be clear ... Only for precision flying hovering and in thight corners (on a course).

As a camera platform I use smoooooooth stick input! The auto brakes in GPs mode can be a bit irritating when operating close to the center of the sticks though ...
I realize I am not making any scense right now ... Time to go to bed!

I wish I could have my xbox 360 controller rebuilt to control my Inspire ... I really like the way it's set up with sticks and buttons

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I could just pan the camera 90˚ and fly around in a circle. That might be simpler, although that still would need some skill.

Hopefully I can master this before DJI adds it to the firmware. Then I'll get lazy.

jimhare Posted at 2015-7-19 20:08
It takes practice but can be done.   

I've gotten pretty good at orbiting, though it still takes a  ...

Hey JIm
I am curious do you find it easier to orbit clockwise or counter clockwise around a poi

mtnmaddman Posted at 2015-7-20 11:29
Hey JIm
I am curious do you find it easier to orbit clockwise or counter clockwise around a poi

I'm okay at both but I think I'm more comfortable going RIGHT to LEFT for some reason.

But I pretty much do 50/50.

jimhare Posted at 2015-7-20 11:37
I'm okay at both but I think I'm more comfortable going RIGHT to LEFT for some reason.

But I pret ...

Is that clockwise

mtnmaddman Posted at 2015-7-20 11:58
Is that clockwise

Indeed it is!

mtnmaddman Posted at 2015-7-19 23:06
Its easier to go counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere, than it is to try to go clockwise, be ...

What would magnetite deposits in the brain have to do with a hemispherical preference for orbit direction?Coriolis effect maybe, but nothing to do with magnetism?

Farnk666 Posted at 2015-7-20 22:11
What would magnetite deposits in the brain have to do with a hemispherical preference for orbit dir ...

It has to do with the same reason that a toilet flush in the northern hemisphere rotates counter clockwise and in the southern hemisphere the flush rotate will be clockwise,  notice that circle track race tracks, are always counter clockwise,  all model airplane flying field and contests, flight patterns are counter clockwise,  It is easier to make a high speed turn to the left on a bicycle than it is to the right.  Note that Jim Hare, who lives in the southern hemisphere finds it "easier" to orbit clockwise, to the right.  The magnetite in your brain is part of your 3 axis mems system, along with your inner ear, go to the southern hemisphere and something reverses, I guess,  I cant really answer your question scientifically,  Its just the way it is, I think you can look it up.

practice on a paper with two hands at the same time, one hand draw clockwise, the other hand draw counter-clockwise at the same time.

for future practice, left hand draw a square, the right hand draw a circle at the same time.

have fun!

The easiest way that I have found to do with perfect results every time is to fly a box around your subject and use the scroll wheel to move the camera. This will eliminate the orientation issue when you get halfway through your circle. After you get a little practice you can try orbit the conventional way but after trying it this way you may never go back.  Very rarely to I do it the hard way now unless I am using my scroll whee to tilt because I am changing altitude and orbiting all at the same time.

It's all about holding a constant roll in one direction and controlling the yaw in the opposite direction so that the front of the bird is always pointing towards the centre.
Clockwise Circle (Nose In)
ROLL(Left stick)  YAW(Right Stick)
<-O                          O->  (Roll is held slightly left at the speed you require whilst adjusting yaw to the right to keep the nose pointed toward the centre of your circle)
Anti-clockwise Circle (Nose In)
ROLL(Left stick)  YAW(Right Stick)
O->                      <-O  (Roll is held slightly right at the speed you require whilst adjusting yaw to the left to keep the nose pointed toward the centre of your circle)
I practised by orbiting around myself, keeping the nose pointed towards me and following the drone around. (Note- Keep the drone at a distance so as to not hit yourself!)
In video games it's called 'circle-strafing' so perhaps practice on the sim. first?
Hope it helps, keep practising as the other guys mentioned. =)