For anyone new to flying don't make the same mistakes I did, which almost cost me my drone! Two big mistakes I made were flying to close to the water. Yes I've read the instructions but I'm not always the shapest knife in the drawer. I wanted the boats as fore ground subject material. At anyrate having set up my waypoint flight I ran it once no problem but on my next attempt having pressed go the drone went to waypoint one and started to lower into position. It looked good until it proceeded down beyond my extremely low 3 meters off the water waypoint setting. It continued down which only gave me seconds to react and press up on the rc. Luckily it rose leaving a undulating ripple on the water surface. Phew it doesn't get any closer than that. Oh what was the second mistake, I suddently realized I was also sittiing on a completly metal park bench. At this point I gave up on the sunrise which only got better and packed things in. Leaving with my tail between my legs and a big lesson learned. I have now watched several flying over water YouTube vids...  

Fantastic video! Well worth the mini heart attack I'm sure.

KLRSKIR Posted at 6-24 02:15
Fantastic video! Well worth the mini heart attack I'm sure.

Thanks KLRSKIR agreed it only just made it worth it with the outcome. When it lifted off the water for a couple secs the controller would not work to turn (possibly the metal bench or combo) so I packed it in and missed the best part... Live and learn eh! Cheers have a great day.

Wow, that an excellent video!  Thanks for sharing!

Stunning video but I don't understand the need to fly it as a waypoint flight, especially if it involves being low over water. Why not fly it under manual control with eyes on the drone when it is low over water ?
What was the problem with sitting on an all metal bench ?

smbishop Posted at 6-24 03:55
Wow, that an excellent video!  Thanks for sharing!

Cheers smbishop, thanks for watching and the great comment.

Wonderful fiery dawn.  I hope that satisfaction with that result overcame your angst at the near-disaster.

Beautiful colour. You need to understand that when flying by points, the error in position and altitude can be several meters when flying again. Therefore, you should not make the route near obstacles or at low altitude.
Did the metal bench create compass errors for you?

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 6-24 04:36
Stunning video but I don't understand the need to fly it as a waypoint flight, especially if it involves being low over water. Why not fly it under manual control with eyes on the drone when it is low over water ?
What was the problem with sitting on an all metal bench ?

Hi Sean, glad you enjoyed it. I used way points because it was farly dark at the time and hard to judge how close I was to the boats and water. In the manual it also talks about not being to close to metal objects, buildings with rebar etc could effect the performance. Presumably this effects the compass?  

Blériot53 Posted at 6-24 04:42
Wonderful fiery dawn.  I hope that satisfaction with that result overcame your angst at the near-disaster.

Blériot53 thanks for your comment. No doubt we will all take chances now and then to get the perfect shot. I know I have with my DLSR before now and agree sometimes the end result is worth it. Once I get a little more familiar with my own skills flying I'm sure the anxiety will be slightly less. Sure wish i had shots right after my run when the sky really lit up. But alas...

Nova_EC Posted at 6-24 04:55
Blériot53 thanks for your comment. No doubt we will all take chances now and then to get the perfect shot. I know I have with my DLSR before now and agree sometimes the end result is worth it. Once I get a little more familiar with my own skills flying I'm sure the anxiety will be slightly less. Sure wish i had shots right after my run when the sky really lit up. But alas...

I'm sure we all have experiences of "the one that got away" when missing opportunities.
Part of the learning curve. At least this one didn't result in disaster.

Serg, I believe the bench quite possibly didn't help any. When I brought the drone in it was completely dry, so had only just touched the surface. But it then would not respond right away to my left stick turn. I turned it off gave a good inspect and back on then realized I was also sitting on a huge all metal bench. Your guess is as good as mine but I would think it didn't help any. I really appreciate your flying pointers. Where I live is right on the Atlantic coast so water will be a huge part of most of my captures. I will be in the mountains next weekend, yes still on the coast, but plan on keeping things much higher up this time. Cheers thanks again.

Nova_EC Posted at 6-24 04:45
Hi Sean, glad you enjoyed it. I used way points because it was farly dark at the time and hard to judge how close I was to the boats and water. In the manual it also talks about not being to close to metal objects, buildings with rebar etc could effect the performance. Presumably this effects the compass?

There's nothing at all wrong with flying over water.
Using waypoints to fly close to obstacles is always risky and should be avoided.
The water surface is a big obstacle.
Don't do that.

In the manual it also talks about not being to close to metal objects, buildings with rebar etc could effect the performance. Presumably this effects the compass?  
First .. forget about "metal".
Steel or iron is what you need to be concerned about, not brass, copper, aluminium, zinc etc, etc.
Second .. what you are close to makes no difference.
What's close to the drone when you power up can make a difference.

Absolutely amazing sunrise shot.    Another lesson learned from a near miss serves as a good reminder for all of us.  

Labroides Posted at 6-24 05:07
There's nothing at all wrong with flying over water.
Using waypoints to fly close to obstacles is always risky and should be avoided.
The water surface is a big obstacle.

Labroides the water surface is a big obstacle and don't think I will forget it going forward lol. For sure I will take some close to the surface shots again at some point but I won't be using anything but manual mode and a little more experience if I do.
Appreciate your pointers thank you helping me out.

DowntownRDB Posted at 6-24 05:26
Absolutely amazing sunrise shot.    Another lesson learned form a near miss serves as a good reminder for all of us.

Cheers Downtown, glad to have your voice in here. Thanks for the great comment

Nova_EC Posted at 6-24 04:45
Hi Sean, glad you enjoyed it. I used way points because it was farly dark at the time and hard to judge how close I was to the boats and water. In the manual it also talks about not being to close to metal objects, buildings with rebar etc could effect the performance. Presumably this effects the compass?

Only magnetic metals/materials will affect the compass and generally only when the drone is switched on whilst in close proximity to them but don't deliberately fly close to a large mass of steel etc. during a flight.
I haven't used waypoints but what I have read seems to suggest that DJI drones do not necessarily travel between waypoints in straight lines and then perform sharp turns, rather it seems to suggest that they tend to fly along curves which are calculated so that the drone passes through each waypoint enroute.
A recent post with a similar problem to your's seems to have suggested that this applies to height as well.
It may also be that the drone will not respond to manual inputs from the controller whilst executing a waypoint flight but you'd need to check whether or not that is correct.
I think manual flight low over water is best manualky and best done eyes-on the drone, that's what I do and have done.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 6-24 05:39
Only magnetic metals will affect the compass and generally only when the drone is switched on whilst in close proximity to them but don't deliberately fly close to a large mass of steel etc. during a flight.
I haven't used waypoints but what I have read seems to suggest that DJI drones do not necessarily travel between waypoints in straight lines and then perform sharp turns, rather it seems to suggest that they tend to fly along curves which are calculated so that the drone passes through each waypoint enroute.
A recent post with a similar problem to your's seems to have suggested that this applies to height as well.

proximity
Agreed Sean definitely using manual going forward in close proximity situations. I did that in my recent Lighthouse video where I got the lighthouse reflection in the water on a small pond, but literally had to be just above the surface. It worked well and I had good eyes on the process. Thanks again for the input   
PS: your probably right on the bench not being metal/steel, more likely aluminum now that I think of it.

Nova_EC Posted at 6-24 05:32
Cheers Downtown, glad to have your voice in here. Thanks for the great comment

You're welcome Nova_EC.  I hope you have a great week.

Nova_EC Posted at 6-24 06:05
Agreed Sean definitely using manual going forward in close contact situations. I did that in my recent Lighthouse video where I got the lighthouse reflection in the water on a small pond, but literally had to be just above the surface. It worked well and I had good eyes on the process. Thanks again for the input   
PS: your probably right on the bench not being metal/steel, more likely aluminum now that I think of it.

Uuuum "close proximity" might be better wording than close contact, lol.
"contact" tends to results in crashes, whoops.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 6-24 06:54
Uuuum "close proximity" might be better wording than close contact, lol.
"contact" tends to results in crashes, whoops.

Good point! I stand corrected, even though I'm sitting ;)  Cheers mate

Superb video

A J Posted at 6-24 09:22
Superb video

Thanks Aj much appreciated

Nova_EC Posted at 6-24 09:34
Thanks Aj much appreciated

You're welcome mate

Nova_EC Posted at 6-24 07:06
Good point! I stand corrected, even though I'm sitting ;)  Cheers mate

PS you can edit posts.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 6-24 11:00
PS you can edit posts.

I tried editing a couple posts now but have no access to a save option after. Any idea what I am missing Sean.

Nova_EC Posted at 6-24 11:48
I tried editing a couple posts now but have no access to a save option after. Any idea what I am missing Sean.

Ahh the save button becomes invisible at times but it's still there, below "additional options", just click around that area.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 6-24 12:50
Ahh the save button becomes invisible at times but it's still there, below "additional options", just click around that area.

Perfect   Thanks again!

Really nicely captured! Those colors are stunning.

Fortunately the footage looks superb!

Amazing video

I wonder - if the downward sensors were disabled, will the drone be behaving like that?

I'm asking this because I'm taking my M4P to the beach in a few weeks and I dont know If I should turn off the downward sensors, even If I dont plan to be too close to the water, vertically...

_SoP_ Posted at 6-24 22:35
Really nicely captured! Those colors are stunning.

Hi SoP, thanks for the great comment. Cheers

Montfrooij Posted at 6-24 23:04
Fortunately the footage looks superb!

Cheers Mont, yes I was at least lucky with my one run through. Have a great day.

Dale 68 Posted at 6-25 00:04
Amazing video

Thank you Dale, much appreciated

Nova_EC Posted at 6-25 02:38
Cheers Mont, yes I was at least lucky with my one run through. Have a great day.

You're welcome!
You too!

djiuser_zgZSSEwjvIDd Posted at 6-25 01:37
I wonder - if the downward sensors were disabled, will the drone be behaving like that?

I'm asking this because I'm taking my M4P to the beach in a few weeks and I dont know If I should turn off the downward sensors, even If I dont plan to be too close to the water, vertically...

djiuser_zgZSSEwjvIDd , I don't know if disabling the downward sensors would be a good idea. I think manual mode is the way to go with in VLOS. This was my first time trying way points so close to the water and I now realize your way points can run several meters off your setting. As a new pilot I did not take this into account or I would have never tried running it this way. Also I think it might have warned me that due to the low light the sensors were off. ( I could be wrong but think it told me that)  so I was relying strictly on the program.

Nova_EC Posted at 6-25 02:48
djiuser_zgZSSEwjvIDd , I don't know if disabling the downward sensors would be a good idea. I think manual mode is the way to go with in VLOS. This was my first time trying way points so close to the water and I now realize your way points can run several meters off your setting. As a new pilot I did not take this into account or I would have never tried running it this way. Also I think it might have warned me that due to the low light the sensors were off. ( I could be wrong but think it told me that)  so I was relying strictly on the program.

I too think switching the downward looking sensors off would be a bad idea in this flight. Is it possible ?
The downward looking sensors have two separate 'sensings',.
1) there is a visible light sensing, which is responsible for position holding but only when the light and surface are appropriate. It sees what is below the drone and uses that to hold position.
2) there is IR sensing ( with emitter ) that measures height and can govern descent rates and landing protection.

I would have thought that the drone would warn you about low light levels effecting OA and 1) but it may be that only one warning is issued and that would probably have been at the start of the flight.

There are plenty of posts where the drones try to land in the water if being too close above it.
All of them point out that the downward sensors can start to confuse (because of reflections) and the drone will start to land.

That's why I pointed out that maybe disabling just the downward sensors would be an OK idea if flying above water.
You can always enable them when you go above land or when trying to land.

Stunning footage.