Night Flights

[RedHotPoker]

Ok, I took off like a bat out of hell late last night. Went night flying and actually loved it. The Phantom lights are really awesome witnessed from way up above. I even did a short three minute video, and it actually turned out pretty good. But I need much more practice before I broadcast my efforts. Turning off those front LED's will certainly make a difference as well.
I'm glad I did it, as now I know what to expect, and look forward to taking it up much higher in the darkness. My recorded height was 136m, so I have a ways to go... There are some cool places I want to go & film soon.
Now that I have a little more confidence in my own pilot skills at night. The Phantom 3, I can COMPLETELY trust. Flying it has been nothing but fantastic. All the praise to DJI. So Awesome.

RedHotPoker

 

[Trumple]

What camera settings do you all use? Particularly shutter speed. I had a go today and all my shots were blurry, which I understand is a limitation of long exposure on something flying in the sky, but I see some of the photos you guys have shot and I'm very curious as to how you managed to get such fantastic shots!

Even with just 3 second exposure, I was seeing underwhelming results

 

[RedHotPoker]

I can check mine and see, but I wasn't taking pictures, only a short vid.

Still picture camera adjustments are something I am still figuring out myself. But there isn't a lot there to play with, compared to my D800.
Take multiple exposures always, and then find the best ones overall.

Somebody should do more Indepth Phantom 3 camera video.
This one is helpful.

RedHotPoker

 

[Robin Slater]

Not allowed to night fly in UK CAA rules :-(

 

[Trumple]

Not allowed to night fly in UK CAA rules :-(

The CAA doesn't mention anything about night flying for UAVs/SUA/SUSA
The only thing it does mention is this:
Article 166.3:

"The person in charge of a small unmanned aircraft must maintain direct, unaided visual contact with the aircraft sufficient to monitor its flight path in relation to other aircraft, persons, vehicles, vessels and structures for the purpose of avoiding collisions. "

https://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1995&pageid=16012

Provided you can see it, there's no problem. By the way, the LED lights count as a visual aid so you must be able to see it well enough with the lights off. And who is the judge of that? You, as the pilot. You can (legally) get some good night shots at dusk! The difficulty is that you're not allowed to fly within 50m of structures or 150m of congested areas (or indeed in most parks, as the byelaws usually ban it)....good luck finding such a place worth taking a photo of at night under such restrictions!

(Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and my info is not to be relied upon...go look it up )

 

[ROOF55NO]

Did not like-for what? Just to see this luminance LED glow? If you do handling like this in Norway, you got into big trouble-SAFELY- issue! Flight safe we told each other, what are you folks doing? I'm not a police officer, only a thinking human being. Other folks who is thinking here?

 

[Chuck Young]

The bird is a camera platform and from what I have seen it can see in the dark. Went flying last night and shot a bunch of stills. Video sucked, may take practice. Suggestions welcome.

Stills not to bad, that also needs practice. First one is seconds before liftoff.

This one shows what tiny bit of ambient lighting in our little town.

.

 

[Mario P.]

Did anyone get any good 4th of July fireworks video pics?

 

[Stuart]

Dunno if I'm allowed night flights in the UK but WILL definitely be givin that a razz, pretty sure it'd look sweet, would be great to hear people saying "did you see that ufo"

 

[Kokopelli]

Night flight is fun if you know the are very well...

 

[JKDSensei]

Nice, but it is this kind of bragging about how high you are flying (500ft). That makes the FAA put more and more restrictions on Hobbyist that obey the laws (400ft). Thanks for ruining it for us. Soon we will be like Canada

If you want to brush up on why certain regulations are in place, here's the AIM that basically outlines most of the regulations regarding light aircraft. Flying too high or at the wrong place could cause serious problems or even fatalities. I don't know of one...yet...but sooner or later there will be a collision and that is when a flurry of new regulations will come out quickly. I've seen people flying several thousand feet up and into clouds. This is highly irresponsible. Stay under 400 feet and in most cases you should be ok (except in approach or departure paths).

VFR (Visual Flight Rules) generally allow light aircraft to fly as low as 500 feet depending on what's below but generally 1000 feet is the minimum in most cases. Please do not be that infamous person who flies into the path of a small plane and takes out a family.

http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/media/aim_basic_4-03-14.pdf

 

[Options]

Just a shorty...

 

[snerd]

If you want to brush up on why certain regulations are in place, here's the AIM that basically outlines most of the regulations regarding light aircraft. Flying too high or at the wrong place could cause serious problems or even fatalities. I don't know of one...yet...but sooner or later there will be a collision and that is when a flurry of new regulations will come out quickly. I've seen people flying several thousand feet up and into clouds. This is highly irresponsible. Stay under 400 feet and in most cases you should be ok (except in approach or departure paths).

VFR (Visual Flight Rules) generally allow light aircraft to fly as low as 500 feet depending on what's below but generally 1000 feet is the minimum in most cases. Please do not be that infamous person who flies into the path of a small plane and takes out a family.

http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/media/aim_basic_4-03-14.pdf

Mostly all sensationalism on your part. No, there are no instances of a small drone like the P3 "bringing down" a bigger aircraft. And "if" a collision ever "might" happen, the result will most likely be the drone being smashed to smithereens, and the bigger craft flying safely on. Hell, they probably won't even know they hit it! Stop fear mongering.

 

[Trumple]

Mostly all sensationalism on your part. No, there are no instances of a small drone like the P3 "bringing down" a bigger aircraft. And "if" a collision ever "might" happen, the result will most likely be the drone being smashed to smithereens, and the bigger craft flying safely on. Hell, they probably won't even know they hit it! Stop fear mongering.

I wouldn't be so sure...birds do take down planes from time to time by destroying engines/props. Also consider that squishy organic birds do not have explosive LiPos in them...

 

[Barry Beeber]

Just did my first night flight last night and will try more it was lots of fun.

Could you tell me what software you used to make your excellent movies of your flights. what operating system. did you have to convert from . mov?

 

[damitjim]

do not have explosive LiPos in them...

So if I throw a LIPO on the road, it'll explode? Wouldn't that make these things flying bombs that could be used by terrorists? Just fly a few up to 1500 feet and perform a CSC and drop them on targets.

 

[kirk2579]

it seems the wind and weather get better around here after 10 -11 pm and I do many flights then. The lights are easier to see, so maintaining visual is very simple.

This is just after sunset and you can see how different the picture is when facing south vs north

 

[Trumple]

So if I throw a LIPO on the road, it'll explode? Wouldn't that make these things flying bombs that could be used by terrorists? Just fly a few up to 1500 feet and perform a CSC and drop them on targets.

If you threw it hard enough it may indeed burst into flames!
As for flying bombs...the terminal velocity of a falling Phantom is likely not great enough to cause that but I will make sure your post is forwarded to the relevant authorities.
I'm kidding of course but yes, just look on YouTube for exploding LiPos. Here's one, probably caused by overcharging:

 

[Thomas Furlong]

Just did my first night flight last night and will try more it was lots of fun.

Nice. What Video editing software did you use?

 

[Ti22]

it seems the wind and weather get better around here after 10 -11 pm and I do many flights then. The lights are easier to see, so maintaining visual is very simple.

This is just after sunset and you can see how different the picture is when facing south vs north

Your P3’s really have much better low light capability than my old junk. Ashamed to say - P1/Hero2, haha…

Is the vignette effect employed or is it something to do with P3 camera?

I see what you mean about the directional lighting. It looks very good once you turned towards a bit more sunset light, the business lighting probably also helped. Thanks for sharing that.