Panning and Yawing as you film. How did you get good at it?

jimerb · Dec 21, 2015

Can anyone share their skills to get smooth interesting pans and yaw movements while you film?

How do you keep your movements from being jerky on video?

Can you reference any good tutorials?

My filming while flying needs work.

480sparky · Dec 21, 2015

Change the speed of the respective controls.

I've changed my yaw to .30 and the gimbal speed to 50.

Damocleez · Dec 22, 2015

Your gimbal controls in the app have three settings that you can play with, so you can setup in advance what you would like to try and see what works for you. but do lower the Yaw to as low as you are comfortable with (as "Sparky") suggested. You can also adjust the Transmitter's stick height manually to increase or decrease the angle of stick movement necessary as well.

Damocleez · Dec 22, 2015

You should also practice, practice and practice even more to get comfortable with your hand/eye movement and stick coordination. Also keep in mind there is a slight delay between what you input and what you see on your screen as the gimbal catches up to your movement. I learned by hovering a clear field and used couple of light poles for reference points so I could easily mark my pan, traverse or rotation on video to time my start, speed and stop of my practice shot to learn the feel of what I wanted to achieve.

RichWest · Dec 22, 2015

Keeping safety in mind when flying...

I use the FPV view and center my target object in the frame. Looking at the bird will take you off course.

Stick(s) control is the key, smooth. Just start slow, find an object your comfortable with and just practice...everyday or morning...practice what ever you're trying to duplicate.

Whatever they call it now, Alt. Hold, is the buttery way to fly a pan or sweeping yaw. Again, keep mindful of the objects around your flight, altitude is your friend. And safety. And practice.

Good luck!

gegetrane · Dec 22, 2015

I recently put a small cardboard piece (2x2 in.) with a hole in the middle over each of my RC sticks. Now I get super steady moves holding the cardboard tight to the top of the RC instead of holding the stick.

Mako79 · Dec 22, 2015

480sparky said:
Change the speed of the respective controls.

I've changed my yaw to .30 and the gimbal speed to 50.

Firmware 1.4 and onwards allows Yaw expo to be min value of 0.2 for better sensitivity.

If you have DJI GO app, try using course lock, POI.
If you have Litchi, try focus modes in conjunction with the Litchi Magic Leash.
If you are a tester, try Vertical studio's beta object detection for real time follow me.

Finally, keep it simple stupid. Sometimes the most effective shots are just simple. Eg, flying fwd and simply panning up. Or just hovering in 1 place.

shockwave199 · Dec 22, 2015

Try a combination of roll and yaw, slowly. A directional turn doesn't have to be only yaw and just yawning is best kept to a minimum.

4wd · Dec 22, 2015

Rest your hand more on the controller and apply gentle pressure to the stick rather than literally hold it.
I've never felt any need to adjust the sensitivity.

Justin Miller · Apr 24, 2016

Why don't you get a 3rd party app? Not to dismiss the value of stick control because it's important but with an app I can pull off shots that I think are impossible for a human using RC sticks to do.

maher · Apr 25, 2016

You can also try to get your sticks longer by extending them with washers or gluing some tubes over them. The same small shift at the end of a longer stick will provide a smaller effect on your aircraft movements.

mnewxcv · Apr 25, 2016

I will try this next time I fly. Will try the 0.3 yaw sensitivity and also give litchi a whirl.

tcope · Apr 25, 2016

I'd recommend extending the sticks as maher mentioned. It's easy, quick and you can screw them back down very quickly. It really makes a difference.

N017RW · Apr 25, 2016

Before modifying the sticks try extending them.
If you loosen the 'crown' or top section you can then turn the lower section and extend them then re-tighten the crown.

FrequentFlyer · Apr 25, 2016

Justin Miller said:
Why don't you get a 3rd party app? Not to dismiss the value of stick control because it's important but with an app I can pull off shots that I think are impossible for a human using RC sticks to do.

Something like AIRNEST for example?

3rd Party apps are great but it always is best to learn and practice manual skills. Flying in Atti mode is good practice and also adds to the smoothness of video shots.

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

tcope · Apr 25, 2016

I'm working on a video showing the real-word capabilities of Vertical Studio (Litchi is adding the same abilities) but Phantom 3 tracking is _very_ nice. One example is that tracking does not need to be of a moving object. It can be a building or anything else. You can then simply focus on flying the Phantom around and it will maintain a smooth focus on that object. I should have it done in a day or two.

Justin Miller · Apr 25, 2016

FrequentFlyer said:
Something like AIRNEST for example?
3rd Party apps are great but it always is best to learn and practice manual skills. Flying in Atti mode is good practice and also adds to the smoothness of video shots.
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

Of course! I didn't mention our app because I am obviously Biased, and I agree with you that being good at the sticks is vital, it can save your butt when you get in a jam! Before I built my first drone years ago I learned to deal with the sticks by learning to fly on a $99 MQX that had no stabilization. Flying a phantom is butter in comparison.

Malakai · Apr 25, 2016

I re-designed a damper based on the popular one that goes over your controller. its designed to fit the phantom 3 controller perfectly and works amazingly well.

the idea being the rubber band gives a little extra tension on the thumb stick.
I captured this pan using them

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

Not A Speck Of Cereal · Apr 26, 2016

Malakai said:
I re-designed a damper based on the popular one that goes over your controller. its designed to fit the phantom 3 controller perfectly and works amazingly well.

Malakai, that looks intriguing. Care to share how you created it, where the round part comes from?

John Locke · Apr 26, 2016

N017RW said:
Before modifying the sticks try extending them.
If you loosen the 'crown' or top section you can then turn the lower section and extend them then re-tighten the crown.

Yes, this helps a little. Also I found these slip on rubber-type knobs help too. I tried the rubber band dampeners, but didn't like the added restriction. It also impaired CSC motor startups at times. Slowing down the yaw and pan rates as others have suggested is essential to get butter smooth POIs.

Practice is key. When I was learning I would take an extra folding chair to my favorite flying field and set it out about 100' away to use as a target. I practiced POIs endlessly until I got the hang of navigating to circle the chair, keeping it in the center of the screen, and maintaining a constant distance from the chair. Another good skill to develop is flying by the chair, flying a straight line but always keeping the chair centered in the screen, yawing the craft around then flying backward, Do this in P mode, not course lock. Using course lock is the easy way to do that maneuver, but learning it in P mode is a worthy skill to learn. It makes you think.

Record all of these exercises and review the video on a big screen computer, or TV. You'll notice things when viewing in HD and learn from each review.

If you learn how to master these tricks you'll be better prepared to record much smoother video. Some of the software solutions for POIs and waypoint navigation is very helpful, but having the skillset to do things manually is good to know. You'll be a better pilot too.