First tests with the Mavic Pro

[scubaman]

Hi,

As I mentioned in another thread, I’ve also bought a Mavic Pro and have now had a couple of changes to try it out. First impressions are positive, the portability is a huge benefit. Folded up it’s so tiny, it easily travels in my Musto man purse which is very convenient.

Flying it is easy enough although so far I’ve only done the basic stuff and haven’t yet tried out the advanced features.

Image quality appears great, although I totally messed up the settings on my latest clips massively over exposing them, so don’t make any judgement on quality based on the clip below. It would seem to make a decent job also in the dark. The lasts shots were taken in relatively dark conditions and you can see that the image softens but is still okayish, imho. The light weight would appear to mean that is is tossed around slightly by the wing but that could also be my bad flying .

Testing/learning continues...



Edit: shots were taken both in Helsinki and the island of Suomenlinna just outside the city where we spent the last weekend. We had glorious weather, such a big change to the blizzard we had two weeks earlier.

 

[MAFWeiss]

I have just bought one too and, never had flown a drone before, I am slowly getting to grips with its complex and truly amazing technology. What I can say is that my first impressions are that it is mightily impressive bit of kit, well made, and extremely compact and portable. I will be back out on Artemisia in just over a weeks time, and hopefully will be able to post some impressive footage of the Amalfi coast and the Neapolitan islands thereafter!

My first videos were over exposed too. It's worth searching You Tube for info on best camera (and gimbal) settings as info gleaned from them has been very useful and made a big difference to improving the footage. Regarding wind, having tried several flights by the Essex coast, it seems to cope very well in a breeze.

 

[Hurricane]

I have just bought one too and, never had flown a drone before, I am slowly getting to grips with its complex and truly amazing technology. What I can say is that my first impressions are that it is mightily impressive bit of kit, well made, and extremely compact and portable. I will be back out on Artemisia in just over a weeks time, and hopefully will be able to post some impressive footage of the Amalfi coast and the Neapolitan islands thereafter!

My first videos were over exposed too. It's worth searching You Tube for info on best camera (and gimbal) settings as info gleaned from them has been very useful and made a big difference to improving the footage. Regarding wind, having tried several flights by the Essex coast, it seems to cope very well in a breeze.

Before you leave, I suggest that you fly it from land first and learn how to launch/recover it from your hand or from your helper's hands.
Unlike its predecessors, the Mavic doesn't have those landing skids that are useful for catching it.

The procedure that I have adopted for catching the Mavic is very simple.
I fly it down close to me - hold the remote controller in my left hand (finger on the left stick).
Then I quickly reach out to the drone with my hand cupped - and grab the belly of the Mavic.
It instantly realises that something is wrong and tries to fly away - I liken it to "growling".
In the same instant, I move the stick completely down as though I am going to land it.
Keep holding the Mavic - It takes about 4 seconds of "growling" and then it simply switches its motors off.
Easy to do but it is best to practice it on land before going to sea and then wondering how you are going to land it.

Take off can be the same in reverse but you need one hand to hold the drone and another two to start the motors - I have done it by holding the remote against my chest.
But, generally, taking off is easier anyway so most flat surfaces on the boat might be good for take off.
With a Mavic landing on a boat though, I would always catch it.

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Does anyone make a reasonably priced waterproof drone? Preferably with a hook on top for retrieval by boat hook! ... ... I'd buy one of those.

 

[MAFWeiss]

But, generally, taking off is easier anyway so most flat surfaces on the boat might be good for take off. With a Mavic landing on a boat though, I would always catch it.

hmmm...not sure about the catching by hand. I was thinking that the large sunbed on the bow was space enough to land it safely.

 

[Hurricane]

hmmm...not sure about the catching by hand. I was thinking that the large sunbed on the bow was space enough to land it safely.

No, definitely try catching by hand.
There are lots of Youtube tips on how to hand launch and catch the Mavic but I think this one best describes the way I do it.
Note that this video has two catching methods - I don't use the second one - the first method works best for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNaM0VdHez4
A lot of videos suggest that you need disable the forward sensors prior to landing.
I always turn the drone round and bring it in backwards - 2 reasons - the stick orientation is more intuitive - and the forward sensors don't need disabling.

But, definitely learn how to do this before flying the Mavic from the boat - it only needs to catch one of the props on the deck or surface and it could lurch overboard.

 

[henryf]

Lovely video.

I think you might be being a bit hard on yourself re: the colour.

Henry

 

[scubaman]

Thanks Henry! Yes, i did play around with the exposure and colours in the editor to try out different things. Learning continues .

Regarding landing the thing; the precision landing feature should use the downward camera to capture the launch site and then compare this to the downward scenery when landing. I haven't really tested this yet but in theory, a towel with a suitable pattern on the foredeck cushion could be useful as a launch/landing site.

Catching by hand is of course always a good option as well.