How is altitude determined for flight?

[Rgamby]

I have a waterfall near me I'd like to video. The lookout I'd launch from is at about 200 ft above the floor of the valley on the side of the next mountain and the top of the falls is around 500 ft. If I flew my P3 standard from the lookout would it fly true when it entered the valley or would out get to the lip and drop down and have to increase altitude to get back to the 200 ft before flying off to the waterfall (for that matter, if I'm at the top of a 5000 ft mountain and I want the drone to do a POI circle
50 ft up from me on the peak and do a 20 ft diameter circle which takes it off the mountain, when it went out over the ledge would it drop because now it would be 5,0250 ft up?)?

I do underwater video too and even if I go over a 3,000 ft drop off, it didn't matter as it's the difference to the surface, not how deep the water goes below you. But I'm unsure how surface flying is affected by flying over/around hills and valleys.

Any insights greatly appreciated,
Randall

 

[msinger]

The Phantom records 0 ft at the home point. If you take off to the altitude of 10 ft and fly over a cliff, the Phantom will still think it's 10 ft in the air. It will never automatically increase/decrease the altitude. Only you can do that on the sticks.

 

[Rgamby]

Cool. I had visions of having my phantom 20 ft above me on top of a mountain and having it fly beyond the edge and seeing it drop like a down elevator......