How to set camera pointing to center subject in 360 fly

bryanchewy said:
quality control said:
bryanchewy said:
I am going to practice this in the AM, but if this is true, you should be able to set a new "IN AIR" home point over the subject (say a single tree) and then fly out and enable home lock and do a full perfect circle around and around the tree all the while using a little input to keep the camera pointed right at the center of your home lock point. The only problem I see is that if you get too low (behind the subject) while you are circling, then you will lose control signal and most likely activate RTH failsafe. But if you set your new homepoint at least as high as the tree, then it should climb to that altitude plus 20 meters then fly to home point. And control signal should be reconnected before the bird reaches the home point. Is my thinking correct guys???

Thats a tough one to answer. Even if you set a new home point, you will still need to fly out 20m from that home point. Is that enough distance to give you a signal regardless of the object as long as you are high enough. I have flown behind say trees with no problem. Its the heavy buildings and bronze statues you need to worry about.

I guess the only way to find out is to try it in an open field with a target (frisbee, hat anything really) in the centre of the field, that way you don't have to worry about obstructions to prove your theory.


I thought the minimum was 10m from home point and then you could use home lock? Is it actually 20m as you wrote?

Might be 20? I am not sure. But 20 meters from the object is pretty far for POI shooting.
 
race3 said:
AllanVB said:
AAC said:
Over this weekend, I'm planning to visit a barn and hoping to take aerial video but no idea how to set the camera full time pointing to the barn in a 360 degree fly.
I guess GPS waypoints fly won't make it because under GPS mode the camera only flips up and down but unable to take video on both sides. I want to set camera pointing to the center in the circle fly. Atti mode under FPV is the only option ? But gale may blast it away or hard to control.
Any advice ?
WATCH THIS... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9t...eature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_1577434411 WORKS GREAT

actually, this is a better link... using home lock, you can cause the drone to circle yourself while always keeping the camera pointed at you... by only pushing left or right:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYYVyRVGE-8

and if you want to rotate around another object, not yourself... you can reset the home point as shown in the video and do the same thing... but remember that will become your new 'return to home' point as well.

I started to watch this clip, but when the guy pointed his TX antenna straight like that, he lost credibility in my eyes.
 
quality control said:
But 20 meters from the object is pretty far for POI shooting.
That's my issue. Home Lock is good for getting the Phantom to orbit the home point. And if you can synchronize a slow yaw with the orbit to keep the camera pointed at the home point (also the POI), it should work. But if the minimum distance is 10 meters, it may not provide the shot you want. I wonder if there is a minimum distance for the POI arc/orbit function on the Walkera TALI H500. Does anyone know?
 
Keep in minde ,if POI would be taller than phantom flying 360 around, soonest it will get between Phantom and radio it might lose signal and FS will engage . Be prepared to take control ,by setting FS hight limit higher than object ;or set Home point to the side of the object (open area) ;and most important to practice regain control from FS mode . Oh and always have a spotter is another safety level.
 
yeah if you are trying to get closer than 30 feet then this solution for POI isn't going to work. But it is better than nothing in my eyes. It would work nicely for flying around a bigger subject. And with a little practice getting the slow pan for the camera to follow the center of the POI isn't that hard. Just make sure to set your "new" home point high enough over the POI so if you lose control signal it won't hit anything coming home. Hopefully DJI will add true POI in the future, but for now I'm using this method.
 
OK guys i just did some tests. Here are my results:

The Course Lock circle is 10m for sure. Anytime the bird is inside that 10m circle it will act as if it is in CL, even if you have it set to HL on S2.

If resetting the home point in the air, it WILL climb 20m higher than that set point altitude. Example: I reset my home point 80 feet away from original and at an altitude of 100 feet. When I did the flips of the S2 switch, the distance changed from 80 feet to 0 feet. I flew away but at same height, flipped S1 into failsafe and it rose to 160 feet then started coming back to the "new" home point(so just like it should...rise 20m over the home point altitude) once there is started to descend. It did rise at a slow 1mph though, which I actually like because if i can regain control at some point, then i can retake the bird back under my control. (if it was a real loss of control situation)

The bad news is that trying to run a circle around a point of interest did not work for me. I had low winds so it could not have been that. 11 sats steady. I also redid my compass dance and it was very stable in the air. I was about 60 feet altitude and about 100 feet away from home point (set on ground before take off). I put S2 in HL and pushed right on the right stick. It started out fine, but the circle started to get bigger as it moved (even if i went really slow or sped it up). By the time i was almost all the way thru my circle my distance was about 200 feet or so from home point. I ran out of batteries so i will try again later today hopefully, but it did not work the way i was hoping it would.

Maybe some one can chime in on what i did wrong, if anything.

Hope this helps some people get some clarification.
 
bryanchewy said:
The bad news is that trying to run a circle around a point of interest did not work for me. I had low winds so it could not have been that. 11 sats steady. I also redid my compass dance and it was very stable in the air. I was about 60 feet altitude and about 100 feet away from home point (set on ground before take off). I put S2 in HL and pushed right on the right stick. It started out fine, but the circle started to get bigger as it moved (even if i went really slow or sped it up). By the time i was almost all the way thru my circle my distance was about 200 feet or so from home point. I ran out of batteries so i will try again later today hopefully, but it did not work the way i was hoping it would.

Maybe some one can chime in on what i did wrong, if anything.

Hope this helps some people get some clarification.

I tried this a few days ago with my P2V which should be the same for this test. I had exactly the same results that bryanchewy described. It was definetly flying in a curve but it was spiraling out. I am guessing if you added just the right amount of down to the right stick as your using it for left or right it would compensate but then it would be almost like just flying it normally - ie up to pilot skill. I also felt you might have to adjust the yaw rate. So not promising but still worth investigating.
 
I just thought I would add this to this topic for fun...
This was taken after finishing up some 3.05 beta testing. We had time left on the battery and Mike was obviously going to fly it off so I challenged him to circle himself keeping the camera pointed at himself. The Phantom is in plain GPS mode with IOC off - so it's pure "stick and rudder" ability on his part, and this was his first attempt - not bad.

Since you will notice he spends most of the time "under to hood" looking at the video he could probably do this around any object. The main lesson is that it should be a skill that we can readily develop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7YVYrs ... ObwC0HUbmg
 
First you need to learn to walk and chew gum.

Second learn pat your head and rub your tummy

The give it a try!
 

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