Evolution of piloting a drone?

[grtday]

OK...I'm a Senior with no dexterity in joysticks or using them.
I am an avid Nikon photographer and a REALTOR. Thought that a drone would be a logical addition to my kit and services.
Since I received my P4 P V 2.0, I have burnt through 3 battery charges and am eager to do more flying. I've been practicing my squares, circles, figure 8's, and landings. I'm doing all this visual on Beginner mode.
I'm breaking this Drone Pilot experience down to 1/3's.
1. Learning the peculiarities of the stick and the Quadcoptor. How To fly, basically and building up confidence not to crash.
2. Learning HOW to shoot video with a drone. Camera techniques, pan shots, locations, etc.
3. Learning how to edit the footage. I'm torn between Final Cut and Premiere Pro, but will cross that steep learning curve soon.
This is one of the most difficult, frustrating, and time-intensive endeavors I have ever begun! I'm all tight and nervous and sweaty with the remote in my hand....BUT, I'm gonna' make it work.
Questions:
1. How much stick time before I take it off beginner?
2. Should I stick with visual or use my iPad Mini?
3. What 107 Pilot school do you experts recommend?
Big thanks to all for letting me join y'all! Fly cheerfully!

 

[WV. Rootman]

Only do things on how you feel about it. You have to feel comfortable about it. We each are different.
Get confident with each type of flying.

 

[gingerbloke]

Fly, fly, fly and keep it simple steps. Suddenly, something 'clicks' and your pilot load reduces, you start to enjoy flying. You can think about photography at this point.
I self-taught on Heli and it felt like I'd never get the hang of it but practice makes perfect.
Enjoy yourself, follow some drone-based Instagram accounts and get inspired.

 

[Meta4]

1. How much stick time before I take it off beginner?
2. Should I stick with visual or use my iPad Mini?

1. ASAP but make sure you are flying in a large open area, well away from trees and buildings.
It's hard to get into trouble when there's nothing to hit.
2. A combination

 

[WWK888]

The more you fly the more comfortable you will get. That being said never forget to double check all your settings and don’t take short cuts. Learn all the features of the drone and make sure you thoroughly understand the Return to Home feature. If you lose video connection or all connection do not panic, trust the drone to do what it should. Pick your flying locations wisely not only for terrain but the public. You may not be welcomed every where you go. Read this forum and learn from other’s mistakes. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, there is a wealth of knowledge here.

 

[happydays]

For me the magic moment came when I was able to stop looking at the phantom and look instead at the screen - therefore flying FPV. It takes a fair bit of confidence in your own abilities, but the rewards are so worth it. Just make sure you're in a big open space when you do if the first time. And lake sure there are no power lines etc around.

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

I am going to suggest a much differentt approach.

Get off beginner mode.


Find an Open Space , place the drone on the ground and begin take off. if you have any errors in take off , shut down and start again.

Make sure you have GPS Satellites

If you are good to fly , take the drone straight up in the air , than bring it down to a hover if front of you.
Make sure it is stable, and not shaking walk around it, look at the lights , see what is happening.

Do this 100 times or so up and down and vary your speed. Move the camera up and down also as you go up
Next when the drone is up in the air about 200 ft press the RTH button for 3 seconds and let it come home to land.

Do no go forward, Do not go backwards, just up and down , than when your comfortable with the hover , reach up and grab a leg and learn to catch the drone .

Learn how to roll your camera up as you are going up in the air to create a cinematic shot.

Learning how to master the RTH button is a must .
Learning how to catch your drone with 1 hand is essential as you dont want it to land on the ground if possible.
You can make some amazing videos going straight up and down.

After about 20 flights , than move forward about 500 ft and use the RTH button to bring you back.
Remember to cancel the RTH button so you can Catch the Drone in the Sky.

Edit in either Adobe /Final and check your 4K frame from the Video it should be clean.
Here is a beautiful shot in 4K of a lightning strike from the drone going straight up just taken from the timeline of the video. So you can have a blast just going up and down for now.



Thats enough for now.

Phantomrain.org
Approved Vendor.

 

[Mimoid]

Remove beginner mode now, it is pointless.

The single biggest risk of losing the drone is doing low-level flights, where you risk flying into objects like trees, buildings, lamp posts etc. Take up the bird higher (like 120 feet). You are pretty safe up there, so you don't have to worry piloting the aircraft and can instead focus on the difficult thing, which is taking pictures.

The Phantom will not fly away by itself. If you stop entering commands with the joystick, it will just hover stationary in midair.

But this of course only applies when you are flying in GPS mode. Try to have as many satallites locked as possible before taking off - at least 6-8, preferrably 10-12. And trust RTH, it is really idiot-proof, I have been using it on all my long-distance flights. I have been flying hundreds of hours in the last couple of years, never lost or crashed a drone.

 

[grtday]

Gosh‍ Yall are great
Just graduated to second phase of Photography. Trying premiere pro today too
****. This is big big fun!

 

[Mike Knowles]

Like anything, you will get better with practice. It is good to be a bit scared as this keeps you on point. Big Field Is A MUST! Get off of Beginner mode and start playing at a good altitude. 100-150 ft is a great place to practice. The more stick time you work the better the muscle memory. Start with watching the drone and thinking about what the stick input will create....Left Stick @ 12 = your expected outcome. After gaining this comfort level, you want to migrate to Just Screen Time. It's always good to have a spotter help keep track. It's also important to learn your screen as to where the data is and what it means. You will get better with each flight!

 

[Bear5oh]

The forums are great for learning and getting tips n tricks from the senior pilots. Like they've repeated, fly fly fly. I have been trying to get in one or two flights a day while I'm able to. My P4A is wicked smart. RTH is easy. Each flight the drone teaches me something new. A new way to shoot, a new feature to try, changing things up so I can capitalize on my gear's ability. The ability to capture images or see things impossible to get to.