Professional Drone Footage

Hurricane

Hurricane

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A friend at Sant Carles has been playing with drones for a few years.
Our marina webcam is "down" at the moment so he posted a video of the marina for berth holders back in the UK.
This drone is a league different from the Phantom leisure drones we are using.

Like the video or not - you can be critical but IMO, comparing like for like, the image quality seems quite a lot better than the Phantom.
Personally, I think he has done too much panning - but the job of the video was to cover all the boats so lots of panning might be a better way of achieving this.

I believe that his on board camera is 8K resolution but you can see from the video that isn't the only improvement.
Look at the detail in the highlights (I always get the whites in the boats "washing out").
It seems to me to be more about better aperture and lens etc.
BTW - there seems to be a new Phantom now (Phantom 4Pro) - with a better camera - I'm not sure which way to go - Phantom or Mavic.

Anyway - see it for yourself - here's the video - available on Youtube in several different resolutions.



and here is the raw link into youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwLInYUDh4k
 
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Yup looks a great camera. As you say the P4 struggles with whites, and photographing white boats in the summer sun shows up that flaw more than you want. I don't know about the p4 pro's camera - I guess there are online reviews.

I couldn't bear to watch that video for 6 minutes - I stopped after a minute. These things need editing. You cant just do a jerky 6 minute flight and put the whole thing raw onto you tube!
 
Just got my mavic last week and not disappointed by the build quality or size. Not flown it yet but it feels like a better product than my previous p's.
Crucially it's tiny and will be far easier to deploy and transport, coupled with the new remote and firmware...the cameras going to be the deal breaker for most, (not me I'm easily pleased but my boy has already dissed the thing).

Shame we aren't in Portugal right now so can't really test the thing properly in the drizzle, wind and darkeness in which we find ourselves at the mo.

Agree re the panning and general camera work don't really do the guy justice, but I don't want to sound mean and perhaps it's a work in progress. With an 8k camera perhaps get the thing up to full sight of the marina and then do all the panning in software; plenty of res to play with and far better IM very HO.

What was the drone model btw?
 
here's some mavic footage taken the other night by a bloke in Guernsey of the West coast of the island. Low light conditions though.

 
Hurricane said:
It would be interesting to hear how good the new P4 camera is.
Click to expand...

Sadly I won't have anything to compare it to as it's my first drone, but understand for my budget (£1k ish) the Phantoms sing & dance pretty well. Just hope I don't get it stuck in a tree or drop it in the drink.

Happy to pop up a quick test vid once the postie turn up.
 
wellf100 said:
here's some mavic footage taken the other night by a bloke in Guernsey of the West coast of the island. Low light conditions though.

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that video

I said above that I'm not sure to stick with a Phantom and have a better camera or go with the Mavic.
But my tendency at the moment is to the Mavic - being much more portable - the Phantom is a bit of a PIA to cart around everywhere.
My thoughts at the moment are the same as my SLR cameras - that is I know whatever I buy isn't ever going to be the best but it will produce a standard the is "good enough"
With my SLRs, I've never bought the £2000 semi/professional cameras and gone for the £500 to £1000 range knowing that I will get a good but not perfect result.
I'm now coming round to the same thoughts with drones.
So, maybe it will be the Mavic - on the basis that it should be much easier to cart around, set up and use.
 
Will do but work is keeping us in Cornwall through January :(
It's a big step change Hurricane, in terms of size, build and general faff reduction; I'd recommend the change based on your comments in #8.
The other thing to bear in mind for boaters it how easy hand launch and recovery is going to be far easier and if you've seen minute 3:08 of this you'll understand why that's important to me!
 
:D:D

Nigelpickin said:
Will do but work is keeping us in Cornwall through January :(
It's a big step change Hurricane, in terms of size, build and general faff reduction; I'd recommend the change based on your comments in #8.
The other thing to bear in mind for boaters it how easy hand launch and recovery is going to be far easier and if you've seen minute 3:08 of this you'll understand why that's important to me!
Click to expand...

The only recovery where we had a problem was at sea.
SWMBO's job was to catch the drone whilst I landed it.
We throttled the boat down and thought we had popped her into neutral.
In fact, we had put one of the engines astern and not noticed.
Couldn't for the life of me understand why the drone kept moving away from the boat - I'd never had any problem landing it before.
We were out of sight of land and as most will know you have no sense of direction.
So we spent about five minutes concentrating on the drone - not realising that the boat was doing circles under us!!!
 
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Hurricane said:
A friend at Sant Carles has been playing with drones for a few years.
Our marina webcam is "down" at the moment so he posted a video of the marina for berth holders back in the UK.
This drone is a league different from the Phantom leisure drones we are using.

Like the video or not - you can be critical but IMO, comparing like for like, the image quality seems quite a lot better than the Phantom.
Personally, I think he has done too much panning - but the job of the video was to cover all the boats so lots of panning might be a better way of achieving this.

I believe that his on board camera is 8K resolution but you can see from the video that isn't the only improvement.
Look at the detail in the highlights (I always get the whites in the boats "washing out").
It seems to me to be more about better aperture and lens etc.
BTW - there seems to be a new Phantom now (Phantom 4Pro) - with a better camera - I'm not sure which way to go - Phantom or Mavic.

Anyway - see it for yourself - here's the video - available on Youtube in several different resolutions.



and here is the raw link into youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwLInYUDh4k
Click to expand...
n

I was not aware they were shipping 8K cameras but unless I am mistaken the rate limiting factor is the device you view the material on. So for the most part 4K is way more than sufficient for most people (especially if viewing on phone or tablet) and the DJI Pro and the Mavic can shoot at the res if you so wish.

The USP of the Mavic is the small form factor - you can put it, when folded, into a pocket (if it is a large and baggy pocket) and you can get it ready for deployment relatively quickly- whereas the DJI Pro ( or similar models) needs a rucksack/backpack and need to be assembled (props) before deployment. The upshot of all of that is the Mavic is much more likely to get used and capture footage. You could argue that good enough quality footage is much better than higher definition footage that is not actually taken.

The video posted is though, a triumph of resolution over smooth methodical panning over the jetties. It is very jerky and seemingly random. Some boat owners, on the periphery of the shots are held in suspense as to if the video will ever capture a full (reassuring) shot of their expensive toy. I stopped the video half way through.
 
Hurricane said:
Look at the detail in the highlights (I always get the whites in the boats "washing out").
It seems to me to be more about better aperture and lens etc.
BTW - there seems to be a new Phantom now (Phantom 4Pro) - with a better camera - I'm not sure which way to go - Phantom or Mavic.
Click to expand...

I thought I'd comment as I recently went through this exact dilemma.

I recently spent a week training to pass the exams required for the CAA Permission For Aerial Work, so that I can use a drone commercially. (And it really is astonishing the hoops you need to jump through to do this, considering a seven year old can get an identical drone for Christmas, stand next to you and do everything you can with zero training or knowledge, provided he's not being paid. I digress...).

I expect 99% of my use will be filming and photographing boats. I agonised over Mavic vs Phantom 4 since the Mavic seems to do virtually everything the P4 can and has massive portability advantages. And as the saying has it, the best camera in the world is the one you have with you.

In the end I went for the P4 because it seems to me that you're going to have to hand launch and land, and the 'legs' of the P4 must make that easier and safer (putting you further away from the rotors).

I decided not to tempt fate, so didn't order until I'd completed and passed the course. On the way home from the last day of the course, having passed, I stopped at Jessops and ordered a P4.

Three days later they had it, and the next day (before I'd collected it) the P4 Pro was launched. So I cancelled the P4 and ordered the P4 Pro even though it's almost twice the money because I think it's a game changer.

The big deal is that it has a 'proper' camera. By that I mean it has a mechanical shutter and adjustable aperture. Also the sensor is much bigger, it's a one inch sensor. Since stills photography is important to me, I think this will improve image quality dramatically. This is why.

My phone takes pretty good photos, but I have a little Sony RX100 camera which is a very highly rated pocket camera. The difference in photos, particularly dynamic range, is huge. The camera in a norma P4 is not dissimilar to a phone camera, and it works very well. However the spec of the P4P camera is very similar to the RX100 (one inch sensor in both). In fact apparently Sony make the sensor for the P4P, and many people believe that it is the RX100 sensor. The idea of a 'flying RX100' I find very exciting!

I appreciate that this is a lot less relevant if you only use it for video (as most do of course), although video footage ought to improve also. I think stills photography is where the big gains will be however. (Incidentally, I'm lead to believe that you can take stills whilst actually filming! I'm not sure whether that's just grabbing a frame from the video however).

The other 'game changer' is that if you opt for the 'Plus' version, it had a permanently attached screen on the controller. It's actually a little smaller than using something like an iPad, however it is extremely bright - reckoned to be double the brightness of a conventional tablet. I reckon that on the water on a bright sunny day, that's going to be very useful.

I still really rate the Mavic and the normal P4. And the Mavic in particular has huge portability advantages of course. But I'm hoping the P4 Professional Plus is going to be worth the cost and the wait (ordered it over a month ago!)

My only concern is that it's my first drone, and the consequences of getting it wrong over water could be very expensive and very permanent! Any take off and landing tips gratefully received..!
 
I believe the latest DJIs you are able to set in an auto hover height. So as long as you are stationery on dry land set it to 2m and walk over to it, catch it and power off. That's if you do not want to do a conventional landing.
 
I won't be, I'll be on a boat (hence no room to land conventionally).

My thinking is, set to hover in GPS mode (so it stays still) a little over head height, downwind of the boat. Stand on the fore deck, ask the skipper to let the boat drift down toward it and as it comes overhead, lower and catch it.

But that's just a theory, whether it works best (or indeed at all) in practice is another matter!

But very interested to hear how people actually using them on boats manage this aspect.
 
Thanks Nick
That is a very interesting post.
Particularly the bit about your CAA training.

I agree 100% but it still doesn't help me with my decision.
A Mavic with the better camera would be a no brainer.

I will probably be upgrading before the end of May - daughter's wedding and she suggested that I bring the drone.
She isn't getting married in the UK so a more portable drone is more likely.

On the subject of still photos.
I believe that vibration is an issue but the camera quality is bigger (IMO)
It would seem to me that the solution would be electronic stabilisation on top of gimbals.
I only have a P3 with the 2.7K camera at the moment.
I've tried capturing in RAW and post processing - big improvement but still not the quality that you would be looking for.

I know we have discussed "catching the drone" on this thread but I don't think catching is as much of an issue as you think.
it is relatively easy to hover over someone whilst they reach up and grab the legs/skids.
I even landed it on the fore deck once when I was on the boat on my own.
For me, the big issue is a "fly away" - for example, if it looses contact with the remote control, it's inbuilt logic is to fly back to where it took off from - absolutely useless if that is 2 miles behind you.
Having said that, it has never happened to me and I'm told that you CAN regain control quite easily!!
 
NormanB said:
I was not aware they were shipping 8K cameras but unless I am mistaken the rate limiting factor is the device you view the material on. So for the most part 4K is way more than sufficient for most people (especially if viewing on phone or tablet) and the DJI Pro and the Mavic can shoot at the res if you so wish.
Click to expand...

Actually, there is a "hidden advantage" of having a high resolution video clip and that is in the post processing.
The video editor software that I'm currently using has an easy method of cropping a clip so if (for example) you are targeting 1080p with a 4K captured video, you can effectively "zoom in" and re-frame your subject later.
 
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