So I did something extremely stupid yesterday by flying my Spark with its camera cover on for about a minute.  After realizing what I had done, I took the cover off and testing things out.  At first, it seemed a little screwy but is now behaving more normal again with one potential exception: it now appears my camera won't go all the way up (see attached image).  Isn't it supposed to be able to go all the way up and down?  So far I've:

• tried RC calibration
• re-formatted the micro SD card
  

No change.  Does this idiot newbie need to send his Spark into DJI for repair?



Camera Range (Photo)

Thanks - that's what I was afraid of. I've filled out the form and will ship off once I receive the shipping label.  

I don't think the gimbal goes much higher than what you show in the picture using manual control with the left dial on the RC (left index finger).  If you are taking a Pano it will go higher, but normal control only brings the camera up to level flight which I think is about what you're showing in the pic.  Take a Pano and see if it goes up a little higher.

The gimbal range is 0 to -90 degrees.  You can shift that by plus or minus 10 degrees using the gimbal adjustment.  In the full up gimbal correction you should see about 1/5 ground and 4/5 sky.  Put your Spark on a level surface where you can see the horizon (or approximation) and do the gimbal adjust...full up should be 1/5 ground, 4/5 sky and full down should be 1/5 sky and 4/5 ground.

I think you also get a little more up gimbal when in Tripod Mode...not sure on that.

Not being able to raise the gimbal past level is normal, but also a pain when taking vids/pics of rising terrain/mountains.  You have to climb to max altitude sometimes to get the shot you want.

I think the tick marks above the blue dot on the gimbal scale are the upper limit of gimbal travel in Pano Mode or Tripod Mode.

I just checked my Spark and I have the exact same up limit as your pic. The blue dot is the normal upper limit...it turns white as you lower the gimbal.  

I left the gimbal cover on once just starting up the Spark.  It does a small gimbal movement at startup and if the movement is blocked you should get a Gimbal Overload message.  This normally goes away if you power off and back up...assuming no gimbal damage has occurred.  

Hey Mr. Peterson, you just did a small mistake. Don't blame yourself. You just forgot about it.

If you feel better, sending it back to DJI, I would certainly do so and have peace of mind like you said.

But I don't think you did any damage to the Gimbal, as that tilting limit is normal, it does go up more. Don't worry too much.

Rustic17 Posted at 2018-7-6 17:47
I just checked my Spark and I have the exact same up limit as your pic. The blue dot is the normal upper limit...it turns white as you lower the gimbal.  

I left the gimbal cover on once just starting up the Spark.  It does a small gimbal movement at startup and if the movement is blocked you should get a Gimbal Overload message.  This normally goes away if you power off and back up...assuming no gimbal damage has occurred.

OK, so maybe it's not damaged then?  I don't get any error/warning messages.  Of course, I panicked after realizing what I had done and couldn't remember if, prior to the incident, it could go all the way up.

Thanks for confirming.  Appreciate it!

DMX_MT Posted at 2018-7-6 23:51
Hey Mr. Peterson, you just did a small mistake. Don't blame yourself. You just forgot about it.

If you feel better, sending it back to DJI, I would certainly do so and have peace of mind like you said.

Appreciate it - will def be paying more attention in the future. Thanks!

sbpeterson72 Posted at 2018-7-6 15:32
[view_image]

Fly the Spark somewhere, "park" it in the air, switch in tripod mode and check how high you can move the gimbal up then.
In tripod, you can move it to the upper areas with the wheel but probably even with the finger on the display.
All the things, the gimbal is only doing in Pano modes for the top row pictures.
After shot a Pano and you know if there is something missing.
If it works: fine
If it "times out": problem

It's not damaged. The tick marks above the your top position correspond to the gimbal position when the Spark is tilted forwards (i.e. traveling forward at speed). You can confirm by holding the Spark and tilting it; the camera will still move to maintain the horizontal position.

S-e-ven Posted at 2018-7-7 10:37
Fly the Spark somewhere, "park" it in the air, switch in tripod mode and check how high you can move the gimbal up then.
In tripod, you can move it to the upper areas with the wheel but probably even with the finger on the display.
All the things, the gimbal is only doing in Pano modes for the top row pictures.

I'll give that a try later today - thanks so much for the tip.  

sbpeterson72 Posted at 2018-7-7 11:12
I'll give that a try later today - thanks so much for the tip.

Your welcome.
Just one more thing:
Don't use the 3x3 Pano
That is not always using the upper position of the gimbal, because it takes the actual cam position as middle.
The 3 vertical I think is doing 0° as middle, but the 7x3 horizontal and the Sphere Panos are always and certainly using the 0° Position as middle and going to the highest possible gimbal position for the top row of the pictures.
Best to test would be a Sphere. If the 46 pictures Pano works, your gimbal works!

sbpeterson72,
Its not broken at all. It does not go all the way up.
You cool man!

Gimbal has no problem it cant go any further up

Is this broken ?
[img][/img]

sbpeterson72 Posted at 7-6 15:32
[view_image]

agree with others here... without pulling mine out that looks about horizon level (bad pic) and the last 3 bars that you have circled is when the drone commands it goes up for taking pano...

check again in flight in a hover and see if it gets to the horizon.. likely ok..

It is not broken. Gimball doenst go further then that for the Spark. Other dji drones can go higher

djinoob_12345 Posted at 11-12 04:23
Is this broken ?
[view_image][/img]

Hi, thanks for the inquiry. Did you aircraft experience any collision or incident? Is there any error message on the DJI GO 4 app? If your drone experiences an incident then you could send it into our facility for further evaluation of your aircraft.  Please see the link below. Thank you for the support.

www.dji.com/support

DJI Tony Posted at 11-12 16:18
Hi, thanks for the inquiry. Did you aircraft experience any collision or incident? Is there any error message on the DJI GO 4 app? If your drone experiences an incident then you could send it into our facility for further evaluation of your aircraft.  Please see the link below. Thank you for the support.

www.dji.com/support

Yes I crashed it recently, no error messages about the gimbal.

Hi all, please note the controllable range of Pitch axis is -85° to 0°, only in Tripod mode, the controllable range Pitch axis would be -85° to 15°, that is why the blue dot on the gimbal scale will not go all the way up, please don't worry.

djinoob_12345 Posted at 11-12 22:11
Yes I crashed it recently, no error messages about the gimbal.

Hi there, if the drone has been crashed, the performance cannot be fully guaranteed, it is recommended to send in the drone for a thorough evaluation, thanks for your understanding.