My first ever in flight video

[iceman17]

I made this video about a month or so ago and was afraid to post it in here because of all the mistakes in it like panning to fast , tilting down and back up to fast and the gimbal roll screw was loose so there was a lot of movement from the gimbal itself. Tonight I figured what the heck so here goes, I am still learning to fly and filming was the last thing on my mind, fact is I was thrilled that everything came down with out any problems. I used the You Tube video smoothing feature and now I see that I should have left it out as it really reduces the sharpness of the video.

 

[ProPilotWannaBe]

Congrats on a successful first flight video.
Yes, any smoothing feature, whether it be Youtube's, PremierPro, or any video editing, it will degrade the video to some extent, maybe minimally in some cases versus others. Youtube's is especially degrading.
If your video needs smoothing, consider a) looking at your mount and seeing if you can isolate the camera more from the copter vibes, b) add a neutral density filter to your GoPro on sunny days.
Keep up the fun!

 

[iceman17]

Thanks for the comments and tips, im really enjoying the 550 and Phantom. When I get better I hope to film the equipment at harvest time.

 

[PeteDee]

Video is perfectly fine and what a great flying site, very envious.

Pete

 

[RobertsUp]

I enjoyed your video. I could see that you had great fun flying it around all different ways and then afterward seeing what the camera recorded.

I predict my own first video will not look any better but worse. My first build will just have a GoPro slapped on it with a jello reducing cable mount. Gimbals and such are way off next year in my quad flying future.

I could see that you were having fun. I'm wanting to have fun too.

FPV is so far into the future for me that I stopped learning about it for the time being.

Your location at your farm was ideal for creating your video.

Rob

 

[iceman17]

Thanks for the kind words Pete and Rob. This year sure has been a wet one for us in Alberta. When I have time to practise my flying it rains and when I have work to do it's sunny, go figure.

 

[Burntpixel]

I made this video about a month or so ago and was afraid to post it in here because of all the mistakes in it like panning to fast , tilting down and back up to fast and the gimbal roll screw was loose so there was a lot of movement from the gimbal itself. Tonight I figured what the heck so here goes, I am still learning to fly and filming was the last thing on my mind, fact is I was thrilled that everything came down with out any problems. I used the You Tube video smoothing feature and now I see that I should have left it out as it really reduces the sharpness of the video.

Nice first outing. Amazing how green everything is compared to the video you shared in the dead of winter! Think about flying SLOWLY and SMOOTHLY. Leave the camera level. The tilting down of the GoPro which has a fisheye lens makes everything distorted and unnatural looking. Try to fly parallel to your subject matter with the camera lens perpendicular and level to the subject.

Just because you have an aerial vehicle does not mean you have to fly way above the subject. As the GoPro has such a wide angle lens,you can fly say 20 feet off the ground and 5 feet from your subject matter and the visual perspective looks as though you are rather high and many feet away from the subject.

Lets say you are going to film a combine in the field. Fly parallel to the combine with the lens aimed at the cab. Fly level with the cab. We call this a "Dollie" move in my industry. Fly in front of the combine,flying backwards with the camera facing the cab once again and level too or slightly higher than the cab. Do a level 360 degree flight around the combine with the camera level and just a bit higher than the cab. Then fly above the combine with the camera pointing straight down. Cut those 4 angles together and you will have a unique harvest perspective many have never seen.

It really takes some good flying to do a proper tilt down camera maneuver. Avoiding the horizon tends to negate the distorted image inherent with the GoPro. I never use the actual footage I get while tilting down as it looks so bad. I use the tilt function to get the lens pointing straight down or directly forward,then use the footage from those perspectives.

 

[iceman17]

Nice first outing. Amazing how green everything is compared to the video you shared in the dead of winter! Think about flying SLOWLY and SMOOTHLY. Leave the camera level. The tilting down of the GoPro which has a fisheye lens makes everything distorted and unnatural looking. Try to fly parallel to your subject matter with the camera lens perpendicular and level to the subject.

Just because you have an aerial vehicle does not mean you have to fly way above the subject. As the GoPro has such a wide angle lens,you can fly say 20 feet off the ground and 5 feet from your subject matter and the visual perspective looks as though you are rather high and many feet away from the subject.

Lets say you are going to film a combine in the field. Fly parallel to the combine with the lens aimed at the cab. Fly level with the cab. We call this a "Dollie" move in my industry. Fly in front of the combine,flying backwards with the camera facing the cab once again and level too or slightly higher than the cab. Do a level 360 degree flight around the combine with the camera level and just a bit higher than the cab. Then fly above the combine with the camera pointing straight down. Cut those 4 angles together and you will have a unique harvest perspective many have never seen.

It really takes some good flying to do a proper tilt down camera maneuver. Avoiding the horizon tends to negate the distorted image inherent with the GoPro. I never use the actual footage I get while tilting down as it looks so bad. I use the tilt function to get the lens pointing straight down or directly forward,then use the footage from those perspectives.

Thanks Burntpixel that is some really good advise for me to keep in mind. I like the way you described how to film the combine as I could see how it might look in my mind, I also seen the 550 ending up inside the combine lol. Now if we could only get some good dry weather so I can get more practise time in. Thanks again and yes it sure is greener than my other video from last winter a lot warmer as well.

 

[Wildgeezer]

Very nice videos and great flying site.