Hi everyone, I've put together a new video and it's about Hafod Estate in mid-Wales. The Estate is now managed by the National Trust, so flying the drone inside was not allowed, so I suppose this video is a bit of an experiment in using the Mini 3 Pro as a handheld camera.
I must say I found the whole filming experience very frustrating! I ended up doing 5 visits to the estate and suffered the dreaded "settings reset" nightmare which rendered a lot of footage unusable. It's also the first time I've used Final Cut Pro's new 'Color Conform' and improved white balance and I must say these features make it much easier to convert D-Cinelike to HDR! Might be of interest to some of you...

Lovely places. Good sound design. Ah, National Trust, so no drone flying - shame. How did you do the map/path animation?

Depp Posted at 6-13 21:36
Lovely places. Good sound design. Ah, National Trust, so no drone flying - shame. How did you do the map/path animation?

Hi, thanks for watching. Yes the no drone rule is a pain! Made me wish I'd never started filming this one because not being able to fly feels so limiting.

I use Apple's 'Motion' program for the animations. I stitch together a large background map from satellite photos, then import into Motion. I then add the text and trail layers and finally add a camera to achieve the zooming and tracking. The 'drawing' of the trail is done by key framing a setting called 'last point offset' on the Bézier curve.

So many beautiful walks around that area. Beautifully shown here. I'm reminded by the name Hafod, of our first holiday in Wales many years ago. A little B&B on the outskirts of Betwys-y-Coed, called Hafod-y-Coed, from which we could walk to Swallow Falls, and the ugly house, or up the hills to Llyn Elsi, and further down toi Ffos Anoddun. Happy days.  Great job on the editing.  I too have used a drone as a H/h camera on a couple of occasions. Now the advent of the Pocket2 is a useful alternative.

Blériot53 Posted at 6-13 22:14
So many beautiful walks around that area. Beautifully shown here. I'm reminded by the name Hafod, of our first holiday in Wales many years ago. A little B&B on the outskirts of Betwys-y-Coed, called Hafod-y-Coed, from which we could walk to Swallow Falls, and the ugly house, or up the hills to Llyn Elsi, and further down toi Ffos Anoddun. Happy days.  Great job on the editing.  I too have used a drone as a H/h camera on a couple of occasions. Now the advent of the Pocket2 is a useful alternative.

So many beautiful walks is very true! Lots for me to film

I hadn't considered the Pocket 2. I like the fact that I can switch off sharpening and noise reduction with the Mini 3 Pro - is this possible with the Pocket 2? Then again, I will soon be broke if I buy any more gear!

With the Pocket2 in PRO mode, you can set normal or d-cinelike,  exposure and white balance, also switch from single to auto focus.  Record HDR video.  It's a versatile litte beast.  I like to set it on a tripod mount and use DJI Mimo from my phone via bluetooth to adjust controls, move the gimbal and zoom in or out.  Much steadier than holding it in my shaky old fist.

Blériot53 Posted at 6-13 22:35
With the Pocket2 in PRO mode, you can set normal or d-cinelike,  exposure and white balance, also switch from single to auto focus.  Record HDR video.  It's a versatile litte beast.  I like to set it on a tripod mount and use DJI Mimo from my phone via bluetooth to adjust controls, move the gimbal and zoom in or out.  Much steadier than holding it in my shaky old fist.

I will have a look - I bought the Osmo Mobile 6 a while ago intending to use my iPhone, but I just don't like the over sharpened look of Apple's video processing and they won't allow developers to turn it off. So... Osmo is now just an ornament on my shelf

James Dunbar Posted at 6-13 22:42
I will have a look - I bought the Osmo Mobile 6 a while ago intending to use my iPhone, but I just don't like the over sharpened look of Apple's video processing and they won't allow developers to turn it off. So... Osmo is now just an ornament on my shelf

Maybe part-ex it against a Pocket 2 - offset the cost a little

Blériot53 Posted at 6-13 23:03
Maybe part-ex it against a Pocket 2 - offset the cost a little

To be honest, I think I am going to avoid hand held filming from now on! It was so frustrating and I just adore the versatility of flying - the only limitation is the wind gusts around here. No wonder we have so many wind turbines

James Dunbar Posted at 6-13 23:11
To be honest, I think I am going to avoid hand held filming from now on! It was so frustrating and I just adore the versatility of flying - the only limitation is the wind gusts around here. No wonder we have so many wind turbines

Well I'm all in favour of renewable energy too
I love my Mini3Pro (and my Mavic2Z)

Blériot53 Posted at 6-13 23:23
Well I'm all in favour of renewable energy too
I love my Mini3Pro (and my Mavic2Z)

If you like wind farms, there's a couple of nice shots of Cefn Croes wind farm towards the end of my Pen Y Garn video

James Dunbar Posted at 6-13 23:52
If you like wind farms, there's a couple of nice shots of Cefn Croes wind farm towards the end of my Pen Y Garn video

I'll take a look

And here's one of mine  

James Dunbar Posted at 6-13 23:52
If you like wind farms, there's a couple of nice shots of Cefn Croes wind farm towards the end of my Pen Y Garn video

I've already subbed your YT channel by the way

Blériot53 Posted at 6-14 00:03
I've already subbed your YT channel by the way

Thank you - and likewise. You got very close to that non functioning turbine - I must say I was terrified it would suddenly start rotating!

James Dunbar Posted at 6-14 00:05
Thank you - and likewise. You got very close to that non functioning turbine - I must say I was terrified it would suddenly start rotating!

It was a tense moment
That was the old Phantom 4 I had at the time.

Blériot53 Posted at 6-14 00:14
It was a tense moment
That was the old Phantom 4 I had at the time.

I can imagine!

James Dunbar Posted at 6-14 00:18
I can imagine!

I spent a good few minutes lining it up and getting as close as I could, then it was stick fully forward and off we go!  I forgot to engage sport mode as well, so it seemd to take an age

Awesome work.  

DAFlys Posted at 6-14 01:06
Awesome work.

Thanks very much!

James Dunbar Posted at 6-14 01:18
Thanks very much!

You're very welcome.

Still a very very nice video!

Beautiful location.  Great job on the video.  

Montfrooij Posted at 6-14 02:06
Still a very very nice video!

Thanks very much!

DowntownRDB Posted at 6-14 02:44
Beautiful location.  Great job on the video.

It’s very beautiful - a bit dry when I was filming. Normally the waterfalls are absolutely gushing. Thanks for nice feedback.

James Dunbar Posted at 6-14 03:06
Thanks very much!

You're welcome!

James Dunbar Posted at 6-13 21:45
Hi, thanks for watching. Yes the no drone rule is a pain! Made me wish I'd never started filming this one because not being able to fly feels so limiting.

I use Apple's 'Motion' program for the animations. I stitch together a large background map from satellite photos, then import into Motion. I then add the text and trail layers and finally add a camera to achieve the zooming and tracking. The 'drawing' of the trail is done by key framing a setting called 'last point offset' on the Bézier curve.

Thanks, maybe I'll try that one day.

James Dunbar Posted at 6-14 03:08
It’s very beautiful - a bit dry when I was filming. Normally the waterfalls are absolutely gushing. Thanks for nice feedback.

You're very welcome James.  Looking forward to seeing your next posting.