Asking for clarification on ST16 camera controls

[HarveyC]

Attached is a screenshot from page 19 of the manual that Yuneec had online 2-3 weeks ago which DC had saved and uploaded here. I'm preparing to fly my replacement a bit if winds cooperate but reading up some more again and this leaves me somewhat confused. I've added labels of S1 S2 and K1 to correspond with the instructions in this screenshot (FYI - there is nothing to the right of K1 even though the diagram shows a circle there).

S1 has 3 positions with no label for the middle position but A (Angle Mode) in the upper position and V (Velocity) in the lower position. Is there any difference between the middle and upper position? Would you typically use it in the lower position so that you can make smoother adjustments?

S2 has 3 positions with no label for the middle position but F (Follow Mode) for the upper position and P (presumably Pan Mode) for the lower position while the manual states the middle position is in the Follow Pan Controllable Mode. The manual states in F the pan will adjust according to the aircraft's movement but what is it pointing at? Does this start from when you take off? In the middle position it states it also adjusts based on the aircraft's movements but, presumably, you can adjust it. In the P position, if I understand correctly, panning is adjusted entirely manually with K1. How do you envision using the middle and F positions?

My dear friend Simon: can you please do a video on this for me???

Thanks!

 

[Cogito]

My limited experience:

S1 Tilt Mode: upper and middle positions are the same as far as I can tell. This is the tilt position I use, it’s super easy, if slider is all the way up, the gimbal is looking straight at the horizon. If slider is down, it’s looking straight down. At a 30 deg. angle, it’s at 30 degrees. Wherever you put it, that’s where the camera is and it smoothly gets there.

S2 Pan Mode: All the way up “F” is “Follow Mode.” Use this and you’re basically flying a P4, Use the **** yaw (left stick) to pan the camera. It’s smooth and works well. I, personally don’t really like the pan knob K4, in single user mode I find it easier to use Follow Mode. If you’re using Curved Cable Cam leave the pan in Follow Mode and when you create your waypoints it will also save your camera tilt position and copter yaw position, giving you a reproducible shot each time you play back the CCC. What I use the S2 down position (Global Pan Mode) for is if after I’ve created a CCC route, I have the heli fly the route and now my right controller stick is strictly for camera operating, up pushes camera up, right stick pushes camera right. Right stick no longer flies the ****, but it’s flying along the invisible cable so you don’t need it for that.

That’s what I’ve learned so far, I may be incorrect, I’m looking forward to seeing others fill out our knowledge.

 

[Tolgademir]

For s1 , top and middle positions are the same , tilt angle follows the slider, speed of the movement is preset. In Bottom position the slider adjusts the movement direction and the speed it moves.
For example if your camera is horizontal and you want to tilt to vertical;
In s1 up/middle position you push the slider down and camera tilts down accordingly.
In s1 down position, you can do the same thing by moving the slider past the middle position and the camera will start tilting down, the more you move the slider away from the center the faster the camera will tilt. If you want to make a really slow tilting shot , you have to use s1 down. Basically s1 down gives you control.over the angle of tilt and the speed of tilt. That is the main difference. One thing I noticed, in s1 up the camera will not go above horizontal, but in s1 down, you can actually make it to look a little more towards the sky.

S2 up position will pan the camera forward facing regardless of where it was panned before. K1 doesn't work in s2 up position. You can only use left stick yaw control to pan the camera. S2 up is very useful , after you do a pan shot and you are back to flying the craft. You just flip s2 to up and camera is pointed to where the craft is pointed.

S2 middle position , k1 works to pan left or right. The more you turn k1, the faster it pans. It will continue to turn until k1 is in the middle position. The pan position is set relative to the craft. If it is pointing towards the back of the craft it will stay pointing towards the back. Effectively you can pan the camera with k1 or left stick yaw control.

S2 down position is global position, you can only pan the camera with k1. The camera pans automatically to point in the same direction regardless of your left stick yaw inputs. For example camera is pointed north and k1 is in the middle position. You can do pirouettes and the camera will automatically pan and keep its north heading.

I hope this helps

 

[HarveyC]

Thanks a lot and welcome to the forum!

 

[NoCoOutdoorGuys]

Ouch. My head hurt after reading this! I hope its easier to grasp with the controller and H in front of me or I m doomed.

 

[horizontal]

I was thinking the exact same thing! One can't be imbibing wine like Simon does at the kitchen table and get all that down pat.

 

[HarveyC]

It does get a bit confusing but I think if we brush up and figure out which modes will fit our particular needs we'll be using those modes and not switching during flight much.

Since I can pan my camera 360 I haven't used the yaw control and rotated the drone much but did play with that some today to improve my skills (or challenge myself) and I was a bit confused because it was over 1,000' away and my S2 control was down and the display did not change since, as Tolgademir wrote, the camera continued pointing at the same subject even though the drone rotated around. I had to look at my controller for the green arrow to tell which way the drone was facing.