Best way to get smooth shots onsite for the first time?

With The Birds · Oct 22, 2016

David Cooke said:
I've had many of the same issues too when I got my phantom 4.... to get really smooth transitions and flybys you need to
1. Lengthen the joysticks for finer control
2. Detune the control inputs so the greatest increase is nearer the end of travel ( under controller menu)
3. Set gimbal speed around 30%
4. Use course lock a lot
5. Practice the pan, tilt and timing of the shot more than once .... before you turn the camera on
6. Don't turn the camera off till well after you think you got it right. Most say at least 10 sec
I'm still learning litchi so dji go does quite well for me ... so far I'm only using litchi for preplanned routes

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

Why not just let he camera record for the whole flight?

Unless your trying to save edit suite time paying for someone to do your post production practice runs prior to committing to recoding a take make little sense.

I'd rather have excess footage to play with in the edit. Having to think about stopping and starting recording while focussing on your stick movements and gimble pitch adds complexity. Not to mention how easy it is to forget to record.

David Cooke · Oct 22, 2016

I tend to shoot 4K on those special shots so i find it just takes too much memory to upload to my computer and the I have to go load gigabytes and search for the shot instead of just dealing with the 1-2 gigs I want. When you do 10-12 shots in 20 min it's just easier. I use 32gig chips

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theTastyCat · Oct 22, 2016

Great tips - thank you!

matti · Oct 23, 2016

With The Birds said:
Why not just let he camera record for the whole flight?

With long recordings the 4GB split (and AFAIK a few missed frames) might then occur in an unwanted spot.

(FAT32 file system limits file size max 4GB. exFAT allows larger files but unfortunately the Phantom still splits the videos at 4GB.)

With The Birds · Oct 23, 2016

matti said:
With long recordings the 4GB split (and AFAIK a few missed frames) might then occur in an unwanted spot.

(FAT32 file system limits file size max 4GB. exFAT allows larger files but unfortunately the Phantom still splits the videos at 4GB.)

Correct. I'd rather a few dropped frames than no recording at all, started late, finished early or jerky flying while dicking around with the record button.

treeboy · Oct 23, 2016

David Cooke said:
I've had many of the same issues too when I got my phantom 4.... to get really smooth transitions and flybys you need to
1. Lengthen the joysticks for finer control
2. Detune the control inputs so the greatest increase is nearer the end of travel ( under controller menu)
3. Set gimbal speed around 30%
4. Use course lock a lot
5. Practice the pan, tilt and timing of the shot more than once .... before you turn the camera on
6. Don't turn the camera off till well after you think you got it right. Most say at least 10 sec
I'm still learning litchi so dji go does quite well for me ... so far I'm only using litchi for preplanned routes

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

When you say lengthen joystick do you mean physically?

42FrankZ · Oct 23, 2016

treeboy said:
When you say lengthen joystick do you mean physically?

Aye.. the unscrew on top to move then the bottom screws back up to tighten.

They only get so much longer.

treeboy · Oct 23, 2016

42FrankZ said:
Aye.. the unscrew on top to move then the bottom screws back up to tighten.

They only get so much longer.

Excellent! I learn something new everyday, thanks!

42FrankZ · Oct 23, 2016

treeboy said:
Excellent! I learn something new everyday, thanks!

You can also replace the knobs with after market ones. Suppose I should have mentioned that too...

treeboy · Oct 23, 2016

42FrankZ said:
You can also replace the knobs with after market ones. Suppose I should have mentioned that too...

Yeah, I knew there were aftermarket ones but I didn't realize the sticks did the screw up thing.

Mako79 · Oct 23, 2016

David Cooke said:
I've had many of the same issues too when I got my phantom 4.... to get really smooth transitions and flybys you need to

2. Detune the control inputs so the greatest increase is nearer the end of travel ( under controller menu)

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

+1
If you are flying manual, decrease the expo setting to 0.2 on yaw settings.
If you have Litchi - use FOCUS mode. If its a moving target, use Litchi Focus with a Leashed device.