I got out with the Mi drone on Sunday (second flight!) to film a little bit of video at sunrise and get a better feel for both the drone and the camera. I’ll add more thoughts to my blog later, but the video is below.

[video]https://youtu.be/ob-KX3mio1k[/video]

And a couple of photos of the drone itself.

Fantastic!

Nice views, although the whole fade-in fade-out thing was annoying me before the title appeared let alone through the whole video – wouldn’t it be better just to speed some sections up?

Nice that. You’re well good on the piano.

Nice.

Would have been good to mix in a few closer non-drone shots. Maybe drive over with a camera on the roof of your car pointing up at the structure?

Wow! Looks very good! Presumably you set the WB to a fixed setting, rather than leaving it in auto as mentioned in your previous thread?

You must be confident in it’s abilities to fly it that far over the water…!

Nice one, just needs baggy jumpers and a beige 911 complete with Saga Noren and Martin chuntering away in a Hull accent…

Excellent. I’m still too scared to fly my P3 over a river, let alone anything larger.

Thanks all!

Nice views, although the whole fade-in fade-out thing was annoying me before the title appeared let alone through the whole video – wouldn’t it be better just to speed some sections up?

Yeah probably, I kind of think the same watching it back. I was really just out to get a feel for the drone / camera still though tbh, rather than flying with any real purpose or plan and the fades cover up the fact that some of the shots finish / start quite close together which looked annoying. It’s not an editing style I’d normally go for. Also, some bits were sped up, quite a lot!

Would have been good to mix in a few closer non-drone shots. Maybe drive over with a camera on the roof of your car pointing up at the structure?

I always wanted to drive over with a camera with the roof down on my MX5 but never quite managed it. I agree though, some closer shots of the structure would be great (I have quite a few stills of it). I may expand and re-edit at some point.

Wow! Looks very good! Presumably you set the WB to a fixed setting, rather than leaving it in auto as mentioned in your previous thread?

You must be confident in it’s abilities to fly it that far over the water…!

Completely forgot to reset the WB, but it seemed to like the early morning light better.

It does inspire confidence tbh, but I’m also a bit daft like that sometimes. Plus from 120m up if it drops at least if it’s over water it’s not going to hit anything!

Also, if anyone’s interested I’ve just added a blog on my thoughts after the second flight.

Xiaomi Mi Drone second flight.

That’s rather smart.

Looking at the pic of the drone on your car roof, how do you manage with the control cable being so short?

Do you have some sort of extension for when you want to fly it more than 1ft away from yourself?

😉

V nice lunchtime viewing – needed a quick fly under or over or would that have attracted unwanted attention!?

V nice lunchtime viewing – needed a quick fly under or over or would that have attracted unwanted attention!?

would that have attracted unwanted attention!?

Probably not a good idea to fly illegally then put it on YouTube!

Even Casey Neistat seems to have figured that out 😆

I have missed something..? It’s a bridge (sunset/sunrise, can’t decide), some annoying fades and lift worthy piano music.

I’m probably being overly judgmental, sorry

I would love to fly over and around the bridge but that would be too illegal even for my cheeky ways. There are a lot of restrictions (most of which are quite sensible) on where you can fly a drone and that would definitely be breaking a few.

It was sunrise, and I take your point nickc – at the moment I’m really just filming to learn the capabilities of the drone and the camera so what I’m posting is just a collection of shots that may or may not look nice. I’m also always learning with editing which is why I like to add titles and that. Once I’ve got the hang of it a bit more I have plans for some more complete videos. Some of which may involve bicycles.

I like it.

It blows me away that videos like that are within reach of many. Not everyone can do it, of course, but it doesn’t take a full crew and helicopters.

Where’s the photo of you taking a photo of the drone taking a photo of …

Best I can do 😉

Took it out again this morning to try out some of the automated stuff – the waypoint mode is actually really cool and I can see myself using it a fair bit. Blog updated soon…

I can’t believe you can get a flying video camera for £400.
I remember shooting onto VHS; one holding the camera, the other holding the cassette recorder.

Very cool video.

It’s crazy right? I mean you’re not going to be shooting the next Planet Earth with it but it’s so far and above even DV cameras from ten years ago it’s incredible. I can’t even watch the footage in 4K yet!

Nice views, although the whole fade-in fade-out thing was annoying me before the title appeared let alone through the whole video – wouldn’t it be better just to speed some sections up?

I agree. The transitions at the start were a bit overpowering, like a PowerPoint that you just want to end… sorry!

Other than that – very atmospheric and nicely done.

No apology needed, and criticism noted (and agreed with).

Flew it half a kilometer out to sea this morning, glanced down at the screen to check the video and couldn’t pick it up in the sky again. Nearly pooed myself but fortunately the video feed was good and I got it back fine.

Moral of the story – NEVER TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE DRONE.

Are you allowed to put a flashing light on it?

It has one. Two in fact. But with the sun behind it at 500m they’re not much use. Should be handy for night flying though.

Uploaded a new video today from Friday morning. Laid off the transitions and long shots a bit this time! Blog to follow.

[video]https://youtu.be/Q5ZCVpnJ73c[/video]

I like that, looks unbelievable for the price, so much so I think I might get one just for the hell of it.

Aye I think that’s the way to look at it. It’s not got all the cool features of something like a Mavic, and it’s pretty big BUT the footage is pretty amazing for the price and it’s great to fly.

If you’re anywhere local you’re welcome to have a look at mine.

Nice video. I got my grubby mitts on a Mavic Pro last week, had a few niggles with it but thats down to the sheer volume of setting up i think and getting a full understanding of menus and how they work. Not had many flights due to fairly high winds which is gutting as it has been beautiful blue sky weather this last week. As i am a novice i’m just taking my time with the flights and not pushing it too far until i get my head round its capabilities.. It has to be said the footage is pretty unreal. 4k and photos are outstanding.

Like you say, never take your eyes off the drone. Mine decided to disconnect from the controller while out at sea, not too far but enough for panic mode to engage 🙂

I looked at the Mavic, they look amazing but I just couldn’t justify (get past the boss) the cost. I’m not sure about the Mavic but the Xiaomi handles winds a lot better than you might expect – a bit of wobble will creep into your footage, and batteries won’t last as long but keep it low and close and you can get away with quite a lot.

Mine’s not disconnected yet, I’m building up the courage to turn off the controller (whilst it’s close with lots of space!) and see if the RTH works properly.

Added a new blog re the video above and Waypoints mode to http://www.cleanslateimages.co.uk/ if anyone is interested 🙂