Flying and filming.. how to...

[Photo]

When you fly and video or still record, let's say around a building, block, field or several different objects do you then usually set the cam to always point fwd, S2 up, and turn the H to the object OR do you let the H hoover and turn the cam to the object. Or both?
Or S2 down to lock on the object? Any tips welcome. I want to find the smartest / easiest way to keep the flight time down = save "battery juice". And of courese to learn from you video pro's out there.

 

[Ty Pilot]

If I am shooting stills like for real estate, I will generally leave the camera in the forward position and Yaw the entire aircraft to pan the camera and then use the tilt for elevation. I do this because a lot of times I am in confined spaces or near trees and when flying into position with LOS then glancing at the screen to check the composition and at times; doing this back and forth several times to get the shot - I want the camera aligned with the nose of the aircraft so I can fly forward away from objects. If the camera is being used in any of the 360 degres and you forget this it could cause a foul up if you don't keep up with the nose of the aircraft.

On the other hand, video is a different animal all together. When shooting video I would do anything that yields the smoothest and most seamless shot. Personally I do not like continuous pans but there are times when the pan knob used in conjunction with the aircraft movement that give really good shots especially when the panning keeps the subject in frame like in an orbit or even a straight pass or slide.

 

[AeroJ]

Excellent advice above, especially about the travelling camera pans, which are arguably the best thing about the H. Here's a video that is almost all that.

When you are hovering however, the gimbal will always move more smoothly and consistently than you can yaw the craft, so I almost always do that when getting my stationary panoramic spins.

 

[PatR]

I’m very much in agreement with Typilot’s methods as they work very well all the time.

I also agree with AeroJ but have an addition. Smooth pans CAN be obtained using yaw when shooting video but to obtain them you should be letting the aircraft fly a line by itself using cruise control. Doing that also permits a dual opposing pan using aircraft yaw and gimbal pan. It does require some practice though.

The basics provided in the two previous posts will always lay great foundations but ultimately your creative intent will cause you to modify things as needed to obtain the results you look for.

 

[Photo]

Thanx all of you, great and useful info. Do you ever use the "S2 down to lock on the object"?

 

[Ty Pilot]

Yes. I have found for instance, if you want to do a straight run; putting the gimbal switch all the way down into global pan mode has one very nice benefit, it allows rudder corrections with out the possibility of that slight gimbal movement that can occur when yawing as the gimbal slightly aligns to the nose of the aircraft.