Can anyone tell me what the "follow" setting on the cam does, I did not notice this on the pervious version.

Follow has been there from the start.   It means it will keep the relative position to the front of the bird and the gimbal compensates for all movement.

Easier to understand when you compare all three:

FPV - Always looking in the same direction as the Inspire and the gimbal doesn't compensate so you see all the yaw, bumps and so on through the camera.

FOLLOW - You can set the yaw/pitch in any direction you want, but the entire gimbal/camera turns with the Inspire.   The gimbal will compensate for any movement so your footage will be smooth and clear, with no bumps, yaw moves etc.     For example if you aim the camera at something, as soon as you turn the Inspire the camera turns with it so the camera is no longer looking in the the original direction.

FREE - If you set the yaw/pitch in a direction, even if you turn the Inspire it will try to keep looking in the original direction.  For example if you turn the camera to face a forest  you can fly towards the forest then turn and fly across, but the camera will always be looking at the forest.    Keep in mind that the gimbal can't just spin and spin so unless you reset it to center once in a while it will probably hit its rotation limit.

Camera Forward - spins the camera to face forward then returns you to whatever mode you were previously in.


Not always possible to completely understand so best to go out and shoot in each mode and you'll instantly get it.

For me I didn't understand the difference between Follow and Free from the description alone.

In fpv you still have some stabilization its when the bird tilts side to side that the camera just moves less  so it looks like your in flight... I watched my fpv flight and it was very stable but looks like your flying and tilting as you turn instead of  flat stable as you turn, fpv mode mostly used with goggles fully immersed ,  or watching the video you made flying up some canyon in fpv  setting could look very impressive with some smooth flying...

Thanks for the info guys, thought it might have been the beginning of a new "feature".  Have a great night, safe flying!

jimhare Posted at 2015-5-7 07:07
Follow has been there from the start.   It means it will keep the relative position to the front of  ...

To clarify, Follow sounds like it's the normal mode.

Free can be used to keep the camera pointed at something regardless of which way the drone flies. For instance, if you point the camera at a flag, you can fly a circle around the flag and the camera will always point at the flag.

Is that right?

roy@netraction. Posted at 2015-5-7 15:18
To clarify, Follow sounds like it's the normal mode.

Free can be used to keep the camera pointed  ...

Hi Roy,

To a point yes, but it's not actually visually tracking anything, just trying to stay in the same direction.   It doesn't take too many turns for it to reach it's maximum rotation and to start spinning with the camera.    I like to reset it to center as often as I can to avoid this.

In effect the gimbal stays on a compass heading regardless if the Inspire is yawing. This setting is essential when using a second controller and operator, that's it's main function really.

if I'm not wrong, on previous versions we had only Follow and FPV  options available as gimbal options at start-up. We work daily in dual operator mode and I had to check ''free'' mode everytime. Now it seems you can select it as standard, for all future flights.

So Free mode doesn't keep the camera pointing at a focal point, it keeps the camera pointing in a specific direction. Right?

Why is this so useful in dual operator mode? This seems a lot more useful for a single operator. In dual operator you have someone whose entire job is keeping the camera aimed in the right direction. In single operator mode it can be hard to fly the drone and keep the camera pointed in the desired direction.

Ive noticed the little yellow box is not there anymore after the firmware update? I wasn't able to initially work out how to use the free mode with the update, any clues?