Hi there,

i haven't ever owned or flown a drone before. ME = NEWBIE

I pre-ordered the Mavic (the "Fly more" combo) to use it as a "sky-bound tripod" for aerial stills - i'm doing landscape photography mostly, but just from ground-level up to now.
The "Tripod mode" in the Mavic just got me "hooked". I'd guess that lots of landscape photographers (like myself) can't wait to get a Mavic in their hands, and a lot of those have either VERY LITTLE or NO experience AT ALL in flying drones. I don't. When mine arrives, i'll only fly it in Tripod Mode first, just to be safe...


So, what's the purpose of this thread?

- collect information (links to videos and other stuff) for photographers that are new to flying drones

- how to fly SAFELY and LEGALLY in the country you want to fly in (so, no, not what Casey N. does...)

(in Germany you need a special insurance to fly a drone, in Sweden it now seems you can not fly at all.
I would *love* to take the Mavic to Morocco next spring, but apparently they changed the rules so i'll
better leave it at home... they'd take it away from me at the airport and i may never see it again.)

- how to get the best aerial shots (camera settings, ISO etc.) from your experience (with P4's or the like should be fine - same sensor albeit different FOV).

Back on topic (for the photographers):

Training:
- download + install the DJI Go app
(it's sad you can not enter the Simulator until you have a real drone connected - or did i miss something?)

- get the "Freerider FPV" App and practice!
yeah, i know, it's not like the "real thing". But... it's probably as close to the "real thing" as you can get in the mean time ;)

- get a 5$ kite and practice!

Actually, this is worth more attention:
Get a 5$ kite, find a free field and practice!


Why? Because...
- if you're flying a kite UPWARDS, and you pull LEFT, the kite will go LEFT
- if you fly the kite DOWNWARDS, and you pull LEFT, the kite will go RIGHT

That's about the same thing as flying a Copter (up to / away from you).

(yeah i know - flying a kite vs. a multicopter is not the exact same thing, but learning how to fly a kite that way is much cheaper ;) )

cheers, Frank

Also... Go buy one of those cheapie $20 drones that you can fly indoors and bone up on the controls... If you can fly a cheap drone well, odds are you'll fly your DJI like a pro.

no, i'm not gonna pick up one of these drones... just to dangerous for me as a noob ;)


As a drone "starter", i will have to rely on the "safety features" built in to this drone.

...and that's fine with me. Although i'm new to flying drones, i'm not new to "flying stuff" like kites, generally.

A (big enough) kite will chop someone's whole arm off in no time if you fly it unsafely
(and/or don't know what you're doing).

that's basically what i'm getting at:
- know your gear
- know the riscs
- if in ANY doubt, just DON'T FLY!

cheers, Frank

Correct, the simulator needs the aircraft to be powered on to use the simulator as it needs the data from the flight controller to operate.
I know if it were me and I had never flown a drone before, before I spent $1,000 of my hard earned money I would certainly but a inexpensive $50 one first to practice on.

The most important thing since you've never flown one is to read the manual cover to cover a few times so you know all the features and functions and fully understand and use them. But just as important, you fully know the aircraft limitations. There's also a bunch of tutorial videos in the GO app as well.

General guidelines for a noob pilot.

Go somewhere where there are no people, trees or long grass. You want somewhere big and flat to practice taking off and landing in as small a space as possible. We use a low profile floor mat approx 1 m by 0.5 m to take off and land from. It is always advisable to have an experienced pilot with you that can bail you out if something goes wrong.

The safety features of the drone are more convenience features. They aren't there to make the craft more accessible. They are there so you can focus on your footage. They are not there to replace the skill of the pilot. Before you do anything you should be able to takeoff, hover, land and direct the craft with line of sight. If you're relying solely on the video feed and something goes wrong you will most likely crash in your attempt to bring it back to control.

Once you're comfortable with the basics of piloting. Range test your craft. You should do this for ANY aircraft whether you purchased it off the shelf or built it yourself. Don't assume it will perform exactly as stated on the spec sheet. It rarely ever does. (Sometimes it performs even better, but that is even more rare). When you range test, go somewhere open with vehicle access. If something happens you may need to get to your craft in a hurry.

Don't assume because it worked perfectly last flight it will again the next flight. Even a light crash or harder than normal landing can knock something loose.

Bring everything you think you might need with you. Put together a toolbox/backpack, whatever with all the tools needed to fly.

Go to the optometrist and buy a large bottle of lens cleaner and a handful of the microfibre cleaning cloths. Clean your lens ALL the time. Footage from a dirty lens is awful. Don't spray the lens cleaner directly on the craft. Spray it onto the cloth then wipe it. If you have mud or grit on the lens, use one of the more open weave microfibre cloths to get that off first. Wipe gently to avoid scratching the coating. If you fly near the ocean clean the lens at the end, and even wipe down the whole aircraft. Salt water destroys optical coatings very quickly.

Look after your batteries. If you aren't going to fly for a while, put your batteries in storage mode. Not sure if it's possible with DJI smart batteries. Basically it's lowering the cell voltage to around 3.7 volts per cell, or 11.1V total for a #s battery. Our batteries are still going strong after 4+ years of flying.

If I think of any more tips I'll add them.

Frank I. Posted at 2016-10-24 17:54
no, i'm not gonna pick up one of these drones... just to dangerous for me as a noob ;)

You're kidding right?

Knowing how to fly a little drone without all the safety features should be paramount before you start flying around something that actually has the capability to hurt someone. The safety features on DJI drones are amazing, but not 100% fool proof, as we've seen in many videos. Say you lost GPS control, or your app crashed, or your tablet battery dies... you'll be glad you learned how to fly a drone with line-of-sight only in what's effectively "ATTI" mode, which is what your drone will switch to if anything goes wrong...

Also, there are $20 drones that fit into the palm of your hand (company called Cheerson makes a line of them, although there's a ton of varieties and manufacturers out there) that you can fly around in your living room. You can crash those into almost anything without worry of damage to yourself or the drone. Also, they are fun to zip around inside on rainy days and high winds when you wouldn't want to take your flying camera outside, but still crave some flying practice.

Lastly, before I get off my soapbox, as a community we need to prove ourselves are responsible drone operators... There are a lot of people out there who don't understand the hobby and look at the yahoos buzzing over crowds, flying irresponsibly, etc and cast a judgement on us as a whole.. that's bad because it could lead to stricter laws, and possibly require everyone to actually have formal training in order to legally fly... The more responsible we can appear and BE, the less hassle we will have to endure when trying to get some sweet shots.

Hi there,

@VoxUltrasonic: i think you're getting me a bit wrong. I'm trying to prepare myself as good as i can, meaning:
- i guess i've watched just about any "how to fly a drone" video i could find on the net
- i'm reading the manual (the big one, not the Quick Start) up and down and sideways
- i have spent quite some hours with FPV Freerider (not in FP-view, obviously!), also purchased the full version so there's some tricky terrains to practice in
- i know about ATTI mode, in Freerider it's the only mode available. Actually it's even worse then with the DJIs because it not only drifts in the wind all the time but you also have to control and correct the altitude with the throttle all the time. And it's only line-of-sight - which is the only allowed way to fly here in Germany anyway.
- when i get the Mavic, the first couple of flights i will keep it in tripod mode ONLY until i get a feel for it. There's a big empty meadow around my house (i live out in the green) - no obstacles, no buildings, and no other people. Not even cows currently ;)
- first few times i won't be flying alone but accompanied by a collegue who has years of drone flying experience (he's building them himself, his current one is a real monster that can lift 5kg of camera gear)

So, believe me, i'm trying to be as responsible as i possibly can!

OTOH i understand what you're saying completely - let's face it, the Mavic will be the first drone for a LOT of folks. No surprise since DJI advertises it by how easy it is to fly. And yes, certainly there will be some idiots among those noobs that will do stupid things with it... we can only hope it's a very small percentage!


@disguy2k: thanks a lot, lots of useful tips there - keep them coming, much appreciated!
(well, except for the range test - as said, it's only line-of-sight here, so no realistic chance to do that given the spec'd range of the Mavic...)

cheers, Frank

In addition to the good suggestions above, here are a few good sources of info.

1. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCULVibcmK8-TOoDBjevhAvQ
2.

There's a lot of good material on YouTube (and junk, too) so all depends on how much saturation you want before you get your Mavic.
For the beginner/intermediate, Tom's tutorials are great - he covers flying, photography, the hardware, etc. Very comprehensive.

The Mavic has a ton of features - don't try to learn them all at once. Practice on developing one skill at a time. Have fun and be safe.

Even if you're going to primarily use the GPS mode primarily, you want to practice controlling the UAV from the drone's perspective. It can take new pilots a little time to think of directions relative to the drone, especially when not watching the live view or the view is not helpful with orientation. You want this to be natural and intuitive so when things go wrong (they will) you do it instinctively.

yeah, i've seen this and it's indeed very helpful.

Some other good ones i found are from "Quadcopter 101" with some basic training moves:

...and one just about flying turns:


Also, the Flite Test team has a very good tutorial here:


...and i also found this one nice because it actually shows someone flying for the very first time (with an instructor):


The thing you wrote about orientation is certainly true, that's kind of what i was referring to about flying kites.

A normal (2-line) kite has no brakes. Unless you pull or push one of the lines it will just go straight in the direction it's pointing at until it either flies out of the wind or it hits the ground. As long as it flies up, all is "natural", but when it flies down it freaks beginners out what line to pull on to turn the kite where they want it to, because suddenly everything is mirrored. You just have to keep on practicing to get to the point where you don't have to THINK about where to pull depending on the kite's heading, but just DO it intuitively.

Only once you get to that point, kite flying becomes real fun and you will stop crashing it into the ground...
i expect that to be similar with drones, so i know i'll have to practice that a lot, too.

cheers, Frank
EDIT: wow, i didn't realize the vids would be embedded automatically when you just post a link.
@Mods: if there's a problem with that, then feel free to delete.

https://youtu.be/WgJbVrO3dBI