Less than a week old Spark has been updated through multiple firmwares now.  I can hold my palm up to it and it struggles to lock on, but does, halfheartedly.  With the new update, it hovers right in my face now, good "flight safety enhancement," DJI!  Anyway, that's all I can do with it.  I wave at it till the battery dies and it will not fly off.  I wave at it from the 2" it's hovering in my face.  I move back ten feet and wave at it.  I wave at it while I'm walking back to it.  I change hands and wave at it.  I wave slowly.  I wave furiously.

I still struggle to use the gestures as well.  However I must say...  Yesterday (after ALL the updates), while I and one child did not succeed with the gestures, one girl did have a decent amount of success.  I really suspect that color of clothing and environment have a lot to do with it.  Hard for me to set up and test, though.

Hold you palm steady until lights go green. Don't rush and stay 3 ft away or so. When green wave hand positively left to right, not too far.
Main point is don't rush. Steady is the way.
Any quick moves will just confuse it.

fans9ea9c44f Posted at 2017-8-22 10:36
Hold you palm steady until lights go green. Don't rush and stay 3 ft away or so. When green wave hand positively left to right, not too far.
Main point is don't rush. Steady is the way.
Any quick moves will just confuse it.

I agree with the don't rush point.  Secondly, wait for the solid green light which means your spark has locked onto your hand.  wave slowly and it will react to your palm movement.  if things don't work with your right hand, switch to your left one as it's worked for me.

patience and don't rush is the way I get mine to work.

Charles Adams Posted at 2017-8-22 08:53
I still struggle to use the gestures as well.  However I must say...  Yesterday (after ALL the updates), while I and one child did not succeed with the gestures, one girl did have a decent amount of success.  I really suspect that color of clothing and environment have a lot to do with it.  Hard for me to set up and test, though.

It says in manual or tutorial (don't remember where) that you need alot of contrast and in not too bright enviromwnt for it to work properly.

Monochrome Posted at 2017-8-22 11:14
It says in manual or tutorial (don't remember where) that you need alot of contrast and in not too bright enviromwnt for it to work properly.

I may have to buy "spark" wardrobe

Just curious, but when do you use gesture control?
Is it not much more practical to just control it via a controller?
Maybe for taking selfies?

Montfrooij Posted at 2017-8-22 11:22
Just curious, but when do you use gesture control?
Is it not much more practical to just control it via a controller?
Maybe for taking selfies?

If you bought a car that was advertised to have 5 tires and you only got 4, that'd be ok, to, wouldn't it?  I mean, how often do you need the spare tire?  

I agree. You don't need it in a way, but for quick selfies it is slick and only takes a few seconds.
Not sure I'd use it on the end of a pier, butI'd like to!

Finally got it to work after stumbling across DJI's tutorial posts where they showed the guy waving his whole arm side to side and they made a point of saying to not just wave your wrist.  Everyone I had seen trying it on Youtube had been doing it wrong.  Now I can get it to work pretty reliably.

Hmm ... glad for you. Just curious about the one who ok with the car without spare tire. Really?

For some reason I really have trouble making the Spark take selfies.  I exaggerate the elbow movements outward and it still doesn't work for me reliably.  I tried first making sure the palm is recognized, then try the selfie move and it doesn't trigger reliably.

Suggestions?

Madwand Posted at 2017-8-22 13:08
If you bought a car that was advertised to have 5 tires and you only got 4, that'd be ok, to, wouldn't it?  I mean, how often do you need the spare tire?

I'm not saying they should not make it work. Of course they should.  I'm just curious when you use it in practice.  
I am thinking about buying a Spark and looking into the possibilities (and impossibilities) and I wonder if I would use this feature.

It should work and I think it will, since it's a flagship feature. But it's also new for rc aircraft, and groundbreaking.
It's much better after FW upgrade, tracking is very good , now moving away if you approach it, and very fast to escape from. That's where it still needs work. If you run underneath it, it loses you which is fair enough. But I have not been able to re connect by gestures. It will land on flat battery, but at the end of a pier?
Can connect with rc quite quickly to retrieve, but will be great when/f DJI can sort that one.
Generally then much improved, but I have not yet succeeded with gesture for video. We all must gesture dfferently! I find the stills photo gesture 100% good!

PS I really must get video gesture to work. Running under it at the end of a pier needs capturing

Good to hear it works for you!

SteveW25561 Posted at 2017-8-22 22:02
For some reason I really have trouble making the Spark take selfies.  I exaggerate the elbow movements outward and it still doesn't work for me reliably.  I tried first making sure the palm is recognized, then try the selfie move and it doesn't trigger reliably.

Suggestions?

Do it like this @1:00:

making sure the lights are the correct color.
EDIT:  Wonder why DJI removed their own video???

Good video. Right technique. As an aside, you may not need to, but after swithcing ac on , if you wait afew secs the rear lights should flash 6 times quickly. This indicates home point is set and I find comforting.

I use gesture control all the time.  Makes for a quick set up to take a picture or even show off its ninja powers.  It's not perfect, but with patience I can usually get what I need.

Yes, the drone mainly recognizes the movements of the whole arm, and many of the users don't do a right post so they can not use Gesture Mode successfully. Glad to hear about that you can use Gesture Mode finally. Enjoy your flight.

For some reason, DJI removed this excellent video, while leaving up videos showing people doing it wrong.  So for the record, with your arm extended outward and palm up, move your entire arm from side to side, not your wrist or elbow.