Can you start a video recording in Gesture mode without a phone attached? Is using gesture mode without a phone only good for photographic Selfies (dronies)?

Following this question!!

Yes, gesture mode only allows photos to be taken.  Page 25 of Spark Manual.  Nothing would prevent you from switching out of gesture mode to wifi control of the Spark on your iPhone.  Then videos could be taken.  Spark could hover in the same place it was in gesture mode.  That's how I'm going to use it from my boat while fishing.  Placing into and out of gesture mode if Spark maintains a good signal this way.

That is disappointed. Sounds like wasted time to get your phone out and connect to wifi then hit record. Would be nice to activate video mode without a phone to save battery (which could equal more flight time). Could this feature be implemented in the future?

Twachi Posted at 2017-5-30 18:56
That is disappointed. Sounds like wasted time to get your phone out and connect to wifi then hit record. Would be nice to activate video mode without a phone to save battery (which could equal more flight time). Could this feature be implemented in the future?

Agree...would also like video mode to activate with some hand gestures.  

Maybe an, "action" mode like in the movies when they flick down that clapperboard.  You could do that with your left hand touching your right elbow, with your right arm perpendicular to the ground, with your right arm making that gesture, moving it to your left elbow, ending with your arms parallel to the ground.  

Action!  

Just a thought...

Gesture mode recording absolutely needs to happen. What an annoying thing to be missing.

Actually, it would be nice to switch from using the framing gesture to take a photo to taking a video. I don't think it would be that hard to implement through a software update.

What would you be videoing, your hand or yourself, you would soon get sick of the sight of your own head and hand.

would love video with gesture, but I think they need to get stills right first.  

1. Photos can only be taken when in follow mode.  This means all selfies from gesture commands, will be from the same angle (further back and higher up).   I want to be able to take photos from the position I leave the spark after palm-moving it into place.

2.  I want to then be able to take shallow focus photos from said position.

3. I still haven't been able to get follow-me gesture to work consistently.  Looking at youtube influencer vids, I seem to be waving my hands too fast or something.  I tried the back-up "Y" position and it still didn't work though.  So far I've only successfully activated follow-me and beckon once.  I feel like old chief from Fargo S3 atm,   you see me right?

4. I still haven't been able to get the frame-fingers to work, but I realize it's because I've been doing it from palm-follow position, which doesn't work.  It only looks for the frame fingers when in follow-me position (high and back).

I'm going to keep trying every day until I can figure out this gesture thing.

Strange that you can start active track with gesture but not video recording. Really hope they fix it in a FW update.

I agree, this needs to be addressed, that function would be extremely useful for biking and sports...it is honestly the only thing keeping me from buying the drone right now.

Can any of the techy guys chime in with any reasoning behind recording not being included in gesture control? I don't understand it. Seems like such a basic functions. Hopefully a firmware update would fix that....

Well, they added the photo frame hand gesture from any mode (not just in follow mode), which I tested and it works great. Definitely an improvement.

I'm sure video recording via gesture will come at some point. They'll need to learn to recognize a gesture to start recording and one to stop (or use the same for both). After that I'm sure people will want to trigger all the QuickShot and other intelligent flight modes via gesture as well. More computer vision!

Also waiting for a gesture to start/stop recording with my spark in follow mode!

I wonder if the original gesture to set it in follow mode was also to activate video recording, which would make sense, this way the palm gesture would have been used to position the spark for a selfie but the follow me to record video.
They could still implement this. Just use palm control and the photo gesture for selfies and the wave to send it away to follow and record video. Kinda makes sense yes?

fans327beb55 Posted at 2017-6-20 07:40
I wonder if the original gesture to set it in follow mode was also to activate video recording, which would make sense, this way the palm gesture would have been used to position the spark for a selfie but the follow me to record video.
They could still implement this. Just use palm control and the photo gesture for selfies and the wave to send it away to follow and record video. Kinda makes sense yes?

when i ordered the drone i assumed that you could do exactly that, now i'm thinking about sending it back and i didn't even open the box yet. its kind of like false advertising when you think about it.

Yeah, I'm still waiting for my flymore kit but after reading about the issues some folk are having with the spark so far, not saving photos to the sd card and not being able to activate video recording without getting my phone out, connection issues and video lag is kind of putting me off and I'm now questioning if I should cancel my order.


Just noticed my username is showing as fans327beb55 in my previous post, does this update automatically to my real username?

Malakai_UK Posted at 2017-6-20 07:57
Yeah, I'm still waiting for my flymore kit but after reading about the issues some folk are having with the spark so far, not saving photos to the sd card and not being able to activate video recording without getting my phone out, connection issues and video lag is kind of putting me off and I'm now questioning if I should cancel my order.

it updates automatically for new posts but stays the same for old ones for some reason.

The gesture control was a hook to get me a little more interested in it but after a few flights with the Spark so far I don't even use it anymore. I would rather have the additional control over the drone using the phone or actually waiting for my flymore combo to come in and use the radio controller.

It takes about 30 seconds to get the phone out and connected to the Spark. I haven't had an issue with the app crashing in flight, all my videos and pictures have saved to the SD card. I'm perfectly happy with it so far.

I bought a base Spark via Apple because I wanted it quicker and the initial plan was to return it when the combo shiped from DJI, but at this point I will probably just keep it as a spare.

42green Posted at 2017-6-20 09:01
The gesture control was a hook to get me a little more interested in it but after a few flights with the Spark so far I don't even use it anymore. I would rather have the additional control over the drone using the phone or actually waiting for my flymore combo to come in and use the radio controller.

It takes about 30 seconds to get the phone out and connected to the Spark. I haven't had an issue with the app crashing in flight, all my videos and pictures have saved to the SD card. I'm perfectly happy with it so far.

do you use ios or android?

Thor1 Posted at 2017-6-20 09:09
do you use ios or android?

Android, Samsung Galaxy S8+

Twachi Posted at 2017-5-30 18:56
That is disappointed. Sounds like wasted time to get your phone out and connect to wifi then hit record. Would be nice to activate video mode without a phone to save battery (which could equal more flight time). Could this feature be implemented in the future?

Yeah a waste of time to take your phone out of your pocket. Much easier to stand in the open waving your hands about the place,

You will find pressing record button more reliable easier and you will get much more accurate video.

fans327beb55 Posted at 2017-6-20 07:40
I wonder if the original gesture to set it in follow mode was also to activate video recording, which would make sense, this way the palm gesture would have been used to position the spark for a selfie but the follow me to record video.
They could still implement this. Just use palm control and the photo gesture for selfies and the wave to send it away to follow and record video. Kinda makes sense yes?

their own promotional video shows photo gesture direct from palm control (first scene). apparently you can't actually do this? wtf

My guess would be that they are using the video camera for gesture tracking. This the same reason the photo selfies are low/video resolution (1440x1080) instead of full 12MP photos. This is complete speculation on my part, but I imagine in the future, that once you make the selfie hand gesture, the drone has about 3 seconds before it takes the photo. During that time, it could drop gesture tracking and switch to the full res camera. I also imagine, as long as it was hovering, it could take video. The issue would be if you moved, then the drone would no longer be following for because the camera for tracking was busy capturing video.

It would also need to be able to reaquire tracking once the photo was done so you could land it in your palm and that might be a problem. Having said that, I think those problems are surmountable with software and firmware updates.

I don't think many folks are moving around in between shots once the drone is positioned and I would prefer for it to lose the tracking, take high res shots and then I have to walk back up to the drone and have it reacquire my palm only (by holding it up in front of the drone) for a palm landing.

fans429241bd Posted at 2017-6-20 12:12
My guess would be that they are using the video camera for gesture tracking. This the same reason the photo selfies are low/video resolution (1440x1080) instead of full 12MP photos. This is complete speculation on my part, but I imagine in the future, that once you make the selfie hand gesture, the drone has about 3 seconds before it takes the photo. During that time, it could drop gesture tracking and switch to the full res camera. I also imagine, as long as it was hovering, it could take video. The issue would be if you moved, then the drone would no longer be following for because the camera for tracking was busy capturing video.

It would also need to be able to reaquire tracking once the photo was done so you could land it in your palm and that might be a problem. Having said that, I think those problems are surmountable with software and firmware updates.

What do you mean they are 1440x1080? Why are the selfies not captured at the full 12mp as advertised? Surely thats false advertising? The more I'm reading from you guys who have them the more I'm considering cancelling mine.

Can confirm, palm launch photos are 1440x1080 and it looks like garbage.  Its a major oversight and if not addressed shortly then the drone is going back. The full purpose was to have a quick way to launch and snap a group photo without having to mess with a controller or phone.  Its a cool drone but this is false advertising and not acceptable since it is advertised as a selfie drone.

Here is a selfie hand gesture pic I took. This is full res. DJI has confirmed in other places on the forum that is the res. I actually agree with you about the false advertising. I'm just hoping they can fix it. You can take full-res selfies with the Phone controller, but obviously that defeats the purpose of gesture control.

I was under the impression in Gesture Mode that “Away and Follow” does the video recording?

According to the FAQ video it says when you wave your hands it flies upward and back. When the front LEDs show up green (that’s when it locks on you) and it will begin following you. Otherwise what the hell is the point of “following”? There’s no point to wave the Spark away to “follow” you if you’re not already recording.

If this is not the case, I certainly hope to see this changed and video recording implemented.

bcharleson Posted at 2017-6-20 16:12
I was under the impression in Gesture Mode that “Away and Follow” does the video recording?

According to the FAQ video it says when you wave your hands it flies upward and back. When the front LEDs show up green (that’s when it locks on you) and it will begin following you. Otherwise what the hell is the point of “following”? There’s no point to wave the Spark away to “follow” you if you’re not already recording.

Aside from this, if the Gesture “Away and Follow” does not video record you, what is the workaround? To select yourself in the DJI GO app and record then put your phone in your pocket?

I'm going to guess that the gesture to follow me will initiate follow and record video and this will be enabled in a later FW update.
Well, my fingers are crossed they do. When im out on my bike i want to be able to pull my spark out, hand launch it, wave at it and ride off and have it follow me while recording without having to even think about getting my phone out.

Wow - my excitement of owning a Spark has just turned into major disappointment! So not only is it impossible to record with gesture mode, the selfies (the only other reason to use gesture mode if recording isn't supported) is only at a resolution equivalent to a 1990's smartphone.  I'd like to think DJI will respond to users in this thread but i'm guessing they probably won't.

DJI - are you going to support full 12M selfies from gesture mode, and follow-me record? If not, i'll have no alternative but to return my drone :-(

DJI has confirmed that taking videos in gesture mode is in the works.  You can get more details in this thread.

fans1594a4a4 Posted at 2017-6-17 14:32
Well, they added the photo frame hand gesture from any mode (not just in follow mode), which I tested and it works great. Definitely an improvement.

I'm sure video recording via gesture will come at some point. They'll need to learn to recognize a gesture to start recording and one to stop (or use the same for both). After that I'm sure people will want to trigger all the QuickShot and other intelligent flight modes via gesture as well. More computer vision!

Selfie gesture without follow me mode is working great for you? I can only get it to activate 1 out of 10 tries. What's the trick?

People STOP this Panic :] as i did start a Topic about this i did check this and the results are:

http://forum.dji.com/thread-101503-1-1.html

From what i have tested i can clearly state this :
The Manual is written badly , misleading.
The low res Photos are only that you get instantly thru the App to Phone
The Activetrack videos and photo Selfie from gesture are in FULL res on the SDCard
Only the Shallow focus and Pano are in lower res because they are MADE in the App .

Magnil Posted at 2017-6-1 11:58
Strange that you can start active track with gesture but not video recording. Really hope they fix it in a FW update.

How do you do that - start ActiveTrack with a gesture? I'm not seeing it in the user guide

Ken-W Posted at 2017-6-28 02:26
How do you do that - start ActiveTrack with a gesture? I'm not seeing it in the user guide

Its activtracking you, when you wave it in gesture mode, it's going up and away 2 meters , you can than move and its tracking you for a good picture, you can frame yourself than for a better scene or something.

Szwedu Posted at 2017-6-28 02:40
Its activtracking you, when you wave it in gesture mode, it's going up and away 2 meters , you can than move and its tracking you for a good picture, you can frame yourself than for a better scene or something.

That's not really ActiveTrack. Similar, but behaves differently. While in gesture mode, the Spark cannot shoot video as far as I know. ActiveTrack is a feature where you select a subject and then toggle recording on/off

I agree with the idea of the palm control wave activating video and then waving your arms would bring it back in and stop recording. That would be great.  

Szwedu, the link you provided above now has users saying gesture mode photos are only 2M. This is my experience. I'm going to have to start an RMA process with DJI. I only wanted the Spark for gesture mode (as I already own a P4).

I find it ridiculous that Spark won't record video in gesture mode. It seems a huge wasted opportunity and an extremely poor design decision. Hope they correct this massive flaw soon.
In my personal opinion videos are a bigger part of drones then taking pictures, and having it record video while in active track (which work REALLY well with some tweaks imho) makes much more sense then pictures. Shooting video, launched within seconds without a remote or phone would be the #1 USP for the Spark. And I think most people believed that it could do that. We're seeing a lot of returns and an abrupt stop in sales in the last week (since the combo became available here) because people are disappointed. And i can wholeheartedly understand. After finding out it won't work (yet) with my Goggles and that i cannot record video in gesture control (which boggles my mind) I am actually quite disappointed myself with this otherwise awesome little drone.