DJI Mini 2 - Maiden Voyage
Possibly my most rash purchase ever, but if I don't crash the thing into the Mediterranean Sea, could also bring plenty of entertainment and some angles on where I'm currently based and the surrounding area here on the island of Mallorca.
The drone arrived today and weighing in at a mighty 249g, it's tiny!
The weight of the drone is important with regards to flight regulations, and I have to admit I didn't check any of this before buying it last week. A fellow Hiver informed me that their are rules and after a look here, the DJI Mini 2 means I need to do little, apart from avoid no fly zones. More on that in a bit.
What's in the box? Drone, cables and more cables, a screwdriver for the blades, spare blades, knobs for the controller, and the controller itself, which is rather chunky, especially with your phone attached to the front. I had to take my metal case of my Samsung M31 for it to fit into the spring bracket but I'm not mad about undoing the case (6 screws), again.
Prior to flight, and the other day in fact, I found an application called AirMap. It uses your location and 'live' data to give you an indication of where you can fly or not.
Fortunately, Cala Millor seems to be a good place to own a drone - I couldn't find any restricted airspace for miles. Palma on the other hand (left image below) is not such a good place, and no drone of any size can be flown anywhere close to the capital.
First Flight!
The drone finally finished charging at around 40 minutes before sundown and so I made my way to what I think is the only reasonable sized grass clearing in the area. I knew it wouldn't be the best spot to capture anything amazing, but I was more concerned with getting the hang of flying - which for the basics is actually pretty easy!
The video quality goes up to 4k, but as you can see I didn't find that setting - too busy wondering if my toy was doing to fall out of the sky at any moment. With the first flight safely navigated (autopilot takeoff and landing is really helpful), and an extra hour in the day tomorrow, I'll be a little more brave and find a spot without so many buildings and supermarkets.
Break even on purchase in 50 posts :P
Cheers,
Asher
(Music - Mansionair - Astronaut)
▶️ 3Speak
Nice flight! nice recording :)
the day was a bit grey, wasn't it?
have a !BEER from Recording Box to you. cheers!
Thanks! Not such an exciting first mission, just glad to have the thing still in once piece!
It was a clear day today but I guess a dusk the sky can look greyer - I will try to get out a bit earlier tomorrow :)
!ENGAGE 25
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It is really smooth!
No thanks to the pilot, but yes, very impressed with how easy it is to fly and how stable the camera is. Must remember to change up to 4k tomorrow, and find somewhere a little prettier. 49 to go :)
How far away from you can it be and, did that horse hear it and look or was it just horsing around?
:D
10km apparently, but is supposed to be in sight at all times......
Umm, I scared the horse but edited that part out :(
That looks like so much fun. Makes me want to get one.
I'm really enjoying flying around and looking at this town from a totally new angle. It's a reasonable investment, and feels the risk of that becoming worthless in seconds is high!
https://twitter.com/jlufer/status/1349525040723881984
This is pretty cool. I was surprised how stable the picture was. One question though, when panning left and right it seemed to move-stop-move. Was that you or is that how it is? Also, what is the flight time, recording time and recharge time? Bombarding you here aren't I!
Also, you may like to connect with @ksteem as he seems to know a lot about drones.
I like it though and look forward to more.
Hey there @galenkp, are my ears burning? Lol, Hi @abh12345, looks like I have another co-conspirator to get galenkp in the air! I'm convinced between us we can get him up within the year if we try. To answer the question, and for other noobs, the panning controls on the dji seem over sensitive out of the box. To get that nice "cinematic" feel and smooth video, there are a couple things you can do. 1st, the quick and easy method is to just flip the drone into "tripod" mode. While designed for stable hovering, it slows all the controls and braking sensitivity way down to give those smooth turns and height changes. 2nd, there is also a cinematic mode or cinesmooth mode on some drones, not sure which are available on yours. 3rd, you can also go into manual adjustment on most of these and actually adjust the level of sensitivity on the panning control sticks and bump them down to like 15%, which will make much smoother. All depends on if the mission is nice smooth movie like quality, or if the mission is speed racing around where you want the faster response. One final method is using the DJI "Point of Interest" and other quick shot modes or preset waypoint flights, for some cool, smooth shots. I haven't taken a lot of videos in all these modes yet, but have played with them and it's amazing the smarts they've put into them to make the flying easier. Welcome to the Drone club!
Haha, yeah I went to the drone-go-to guy...Well, the one I know anyway!
I'm not even a drone-noob yet...I'm a drone-wannabe! I'll get there though and your end of the year prediction could be right on the money! 😉
I like that you can bust out a few tips like this. I guess I was asking the questions in respect of a potential purchase as I'd want to make sure I got the most suitable that matched my budget but here you are with some nice fixes which hopefully work. I think this is something I could get into and considering my other hobbies it would probably compliment them quite well I'd say.
I'm going to ride along with Asher's journey and I think I'll prove your end of year prediction right. We'll see.
!ENGAGE 50
The more you watch the more you'll want! I haven't had mine out in awhile, but have been thinking of getting up to the mountains one of these days with the snow on them now for some shots.
I have no doubt...I want now as it is! Lol.
Some mountain shots would be good. I would do the same. I'm not sure exactly what I would shoot, maybe not much video, more images. I like the way shots from above look. I go to some cool places so I think it would be good to have a drone. Eventually I'll get one and I think it'll be this year or next. Just have to convince the minister of finance.
ENGAGEtokens.Hi there!
I think @galenkp should stop being a tightarse and switch a few Saturday night curries for one of these :)
Thanks for the tripod mode tip, I will look for that one next time I'm up in the sky. I did find 'cine' mode, and that has helped somewhat.
This sounds quite advanced but certainly could be an option. I'm sure i'll build up the confidence to try this and the modes that autopilot the drone.
So far so good, I'm pretty happy with it so far, cheers!
Give up a curry, a few curries? Asher me boy that's crazy talk! 🙂
I agree @galenkp is holding out here and needs to pony up and join us. You're right, the advanced settings take more effort and while good if you're filming slow cine type content all the time, I don't like the hassle of switching back and forth, cause most of my other flying just for enjoyment or still shots and not published videos. That's where I like just flipping in and out of tripod mode.
The other thing you will want is a set of "ND filters" These are simply a set of filters that snap over the lens. They serve to darken the view up a bit for the camera, and will give MUCH better pictures when shooting in bright, sunny, days or snow. They usually come in a set of 3 or 4 different strengths, but I generally just put the middle one on and it works well. Even the super light one will protect your real lens from getting scratched in the event it rubs some tree branches or tall grass.
I also bought some extended landing legs for my Mavic2 Pro, which is nice for landing in grass or sand. They fold up for storage without having to take them on and off from Polar Pro.
Enjoy!
Loving it :)
That was me, in the wrong mode :)
31 mins, hours depending on memory card, 2 hours from flat I reckon, $70 for extra batteries.
Cheers, I see he's popped by :)
I really like the look of this thing and despite the relatively short flight time the $70 for an extra battery, which is probably $150 here, seems ok. I looked it up last night and they're just under $1000 to buy here...Pretty steep but I reckon I'd get hooked pretty quickly if I got one. (Should I say when I get one?)
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Very good first attempt. I actually liked that stop start panning effect even if it wasn't deliberate. Like the spinny bit at the end as well where you turned it round to face you. That's quite a coat you're wearing there. Wasn't expecting that! 😁
Thank you :)
Not deliberate, seemed a bit too fast for me. The spinny bit was the editing software, i was just pressing all the options at that point!
Yeah, it's cold, 4 layers!
Wow! This is hot and that video looks very good and stable.
I have been looking into the drone thing for a long time and even posted some guys flying drones.
But sadly I cannot afford the one that I want and the cheaper ones are only rip offs that don't work well.
We have similar buidings at the sea front here and also mountains and farms, so a drone will work its magic here.
Maybe one day 😁
I doubt that you will crash it!
I'm really impressed with the stability of the camera. Just think, you could get closer to the birds :)
At 450 euros, it's a fair investment for sure - I hope that it will slowly pay its way here. Cheers!
Oh yeah, I would love to get one indeed Ash, but in our monopoly money 450 Euro's is ZAR 8277:37 which is a lot of bucks.
Yes we need more drone footage!!! And what a bout a drone group?
I love mine.
Yeah there is no community for drones - it might just be us!
Actually talking of that there is a couple more people that love drones...
I'm so jealous!!! Nice flight! I think you did well and except for the horse that had a WTF look on his face, I would say it was perfect.
Congratulations Asher, I think that you'll have a lot of fun flying this around. The app is cool, letting you know of the good areas to fly around. Legally.
!BEER for the video, going to try out 3speak (new here on this platform) to share some aerial adventures I had in Cornwall this year.
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