Any tips on getting to this pilot skill level?

Dspace · Mar 21, 2018

First off these are definitely not my videos, but they are the type of close in action clips I’d love to be able to achieve some day (at least in my dreams). To me the low altitude high speed close-in action sequences here are amazing, all obviously being done in some pretty serious wind. I Know that both were shot with Phantom 4’s and I can only assume they had to be done fpv with either goggles or a screen, and with some level of planning between the riders and the pilots. Any forum members here with these skills? Any tips on how you train to get to this level? Thanks!

Dspace · Mar 22, 2018

No response, interesting. I guess more of the conservative slow and steady cinematography pilots here. Thought I’d just check

jryser · Mar 22, 2018

I think it’s unreal. Just saw this. I think the only way to get this good is to have a spare!!! Which I do for times when I do this:

Fortunately that crash did ZERO damage!

Dspace · Mar 23, 2018

I know what you’re saying. I always wondered if someone with decent racing drone experience could transition to this type of low altitude action filming without as many crashed birds. As opposed to a flat grassy field, a salt water crash usually means a complete loss in the blink of an eye. Nothing to rebuild or salvage.

Part of me thinks you could train starting at higher altitudes (say 6 meters) on light wind days with no riders involved, then work your way to lower altitudes and higher winds, then finally introduce a rider into the equation. For the most part the drone and rider are moving in the same direction at the same speed. The rider also has some ability to adjust his/her position relative to the drone which helps (I’ve been kiteboarding/windsurfing for many years, though nowhere near the level of the riders in those clips)

I highly doubt any of the automated modes would be even remotely useful for this type of filming. I would also assume they are mostly flying in sport mode with the sensors off.

rlphoto69 · Mar 24, 2018

I think 50% of the skill level no doubt is with the drone pilot , but a lot of it also is within the editing level also. Cropping to make things appear much closer, knowing proper camera setting for slow motion etc. still learning all this myself. Couple of the programs out there like Final Cut Pro and Adobe premier are amazing as to what you can do with your videos. If you have both skills, you're golden. Great videos BTW.

Tridiver · Mar 24, 2018

It's what I'm working on now!!.......Practice, practice, practice! yes it's nerve racking. Low altitude, fast, over water!!

budwiser27 · Mar 24, 2018

Dspace said:
First off these are definitely not my videos, but they are the type of close in action clips I’d love to be able to achieve some day (at least in my dreams). To me the low altitude high speed close-in action sequences here are amazing, all obviously being done in some pretty serious wind. I Know that both were shot with Phantom 4’s and I can only assume they had to be done fpv with either goggles or a screen, and with some level of planning between the riders and the pilots. Any forum members here with these skills? Any tips on how you train to get to this level? Thanks!

If you want to learn some tips try here He gives good tips on flying and editing Phantom Filmschool

Journey · Mar 24, 2018

(1) Start playing video games at 6-years of age. (2) Make a ton of $$ for replacement drones or (3) find a sponsor or rich girl to marry that will support your effort. If your like me; too old, no $$ or rich wife, get a Tello and pretend.

Dspace · Mar 24, 2018

rlphoto69 said:
I think 50% of the skill level no doubt is with the drone pilot , but a lot of it also is within the editing level also. Cropping to make things appear much closer, knowing proper camera setting for slow motion etc. still learning all this myself. Couple of the programs out there like Final Cut Pro and Adobe premier are amazing as to what you can do with your videos. If you have both skills, you're golden. Great videos BTW.

Ok, good tips on some film school help, some sugar moma support, and cropping. I definitely agree that cropping some decent 4K footage makes the shot feel closer without much resolution loss. Been there done that, though on a pretty crude level so far. I suspect these clips are with P4P’s running mostly at 4K-60fps, but who knows

Even with cropping thrown in, those are some pretty low (angle) altitude shots. On the plus side they are mostly at a constant speed, flight direction and camera angle. To me FPV altitude stick control at say 3-5 meters altitude is the biggest pee-your-pants training objective

FWIW I flew a Mavic for the last year but didn’t feel it was up to this level of flight speed in those types of cross winds, despite it’s great “wind stability”. To me the P4P would simply have higher speed capability in those winds, and a better ability to crop without significant image quality loss.

Providian623 · Mar 24, 2018

As with any skill level increase, practice, practice, experiment, practice ........

WetDog · Mar 24, 2018

There are a couple of shots that are technically hard - the slo mo flip sequence is shot close enough that you really need to be able to handle the bird - and the camera. But as been mentioned here it's really a couple of things - practice and more practice, post processing and a good photography eye. Which you get by practice. Same as post processing.

The crashing into the water concern is, I think, overblown. Yes, you'll lose the drone but think - great radio reception, no trees, telephone poles wires or other interesting impediments. I fly either from the water or over the water about 90% of the time now. Practice.

DronerDave · Mar 24, 2018

rlphoto69 said:
I think 50% of the skill level no doubt is with the drone pilot , but a lot of it also is within the editing level also. Cropping to make things appear much closer, knowing proper camera setting for slow motion etc. still learning all this myself. Couple of the programs out there like Final Cut Pro and Adobe premier are amazing as to what you can do with your videos. If you have both skills, you're golden. Great videos BTW.

110 % is the drone pilot .

Russ43Phantom · Mar 24, 2018

WOW !!! Impressive footage. As with still and video photography, I wonder how many out-takes are needed to compile these amazing videos. The windsurfing video was most impressive due to the high winds. I am doing a documentary film about a couple who have sailed together for over 40 years. Practicing on a large, slower sailboat might be a good start. You can fly higher and at a greater distance, but you still need to gain skills at locking onto and following your subject that is moving across water and, generally, relatively far away.

JamesT1950 · Mar 24, 2018

Practice, practice, practice!

Dspace · Mar 25, 2018

I really do appreciate the general practice, practice, practice advice. Was Just kinda hoping for some personal real world experiences.

(I live on a barrier island and do almost all my Mavic flying hand launching/landing from a 24’ center console when it’s not sitting on the boat lift in the back yard, but all in lighter wind. Teeny baby steps compared to what these pilots are doing).

FWIW, the few comments I got from the pilots in those videos was that I need to be working with a Phantom 4. The Mavic falls a bit short at these wind speeds and rider speeds, and even the P4 gets pushed to the limits. Hence the reason I showed up here being a nusance

One post processing thing I did notice that no one seemed to mention is speeding up the playback in some of the clips to make the riders look like they’re going a wee bit faster than they really are. Not by a lot, and not every sequence, but enough to fool you. Not too hard to spot if you’ve been hanging around windsurfing/kiteboarding long enough

Paul Wingfield · Mar 25, 2018

Dspace said:
First off these are definitely not my videos, but they are the type of close in action clips I’d love to be able to achieve some day (at least in my dreams). To me the low altitude high speed close-in action sequences here are amazing, all obviously being done in some pretty serious wind. I Know that both were shot with Phantom 4’s and I can only assume they had to be done fpv with either goggles or a screen, and with some level of planning between the riders and the pilots. Any forum members here with these skills? Any tips on how you train to get to this level? Thanks!

Maybe you could try to train by filming another drone in an area where it will be safe.
You could take turns in being the chaser but you will need to be able to distinguish the drones from a distance by having them in different skin colours.

Dspace · Mar 25, 2018

Paul Wingfield said:
Maybe you could try to train by filming another drone in an area where it will be safe.
You could take turns in being the chaser but you will need to be able to distinguish the drones from a distance by having them in different skin colours.

I don’t have any drone flying friends plus I think a drone would make a hard to see target unless your extremely close. We do have some decent chunks of mostly level empty beach with allowable access (I’d have to double check). I think I would start with low altitude straight line FPV without anything to follow, then add in windier conditions, then move the whole show over to water, and lastly add in a rider to follow. We like to kite on the leeward side of these little marshy islands making for some pretty flat water even when the wind is cranking (pic). Probably a bit easier to start with compared to a half mile off shore in 4 ft open water swell!

!