Phantom 4 Battery Use Scenario

[KevMo Photog]

Hey KevMo - thanks for the feedback. I agree/disagree with the time of day but I do agree the lighting was poor for the ones I filmed. The sun was up and the light on other areas of the course was soft and absolutely perfect. My trip out there today was 100% just to practice. My plan is to go back same time in the AM and film the parts of the course where the lighting is perfect, and the darker areas of the course probably late in the afternoon or early evening.

Are there specific settings you could recommend I read up on? Thinking back to these two holes I don't recall any major elevation changes. It was fairly flat.

Thanks again!

Just saying to try and avoid time where holes have not light on them at all if you can. You'll be going at all angles as far as sun goes too. This was great practice for sure! And it def takes practice especially if your gonna fly it manual which I think you'll love once you get the hang of greasing in the yaw!
I would recommend YouTubing Litchi and go through several clips of tutorials on it. Some guys use Google Maps to program their flight and then open that up in Litchi somehow. I always programmed mine directly on my Air 2 pad in Lithci itself. I'm guessing that you have a camera command problem in your programmed flight. And yes, your hole that you showed was pretty flat so Object Avoidance wouldn't have been causing your jerk down the fairway because you were up in altitude enough. I'm just not sure man.

 

[InforGuy]

Yeah, makes complete sense. May have to play around with different times of the day. I just looked again at the mission and see every waypoint was set to cruising speed which was 21 MPH. Wondering if I were to slow that way down if it would help.

Anyways, back to the Google machine! Thanks again.

 

[KevMo Photog]

Yeah, makes complete sense. May have to play around with different times of the day. I just looked again at the mission and see every waypoint was set to cruising speed which was 21 MPH. Wondering if I were to slow that way down if it would help.

Anyways, back to the Google machine! Thanks again.

21mph is pretty quick but it really depends on how fast you want the ground to move though. As you get lower the speed starts to really ramp up as far as perspective goes. I think around 30ft is a good altitude for most holes unless it is a unique hole. And I think I set my speed to around 14-15mph when I used Lichti. And I did use it for prob 11-12 holes out of the 18. Btw, you are using ND filters to dial in your shutter speed to match your frame rate right?

 

[InforGuy]

Nope, haven't gotten the ND filters yet but they are on my list..In addition to more batteries and SD cards.

This is what I am looking to pick up. These folks are local to me: PolarPro DJI Phantom 3 and 4 Filters

 

[KevMo Photog]

Nope, haven't gotten the ND filters yet but they are on my list..In addition to more batteries and SD cards.

This is what I am looking to pick up. These folks are local to me: PolarPro DJI Phantom 3 and 4 Filters

Love their filters. I bought the gold cinema series as all I ever use is an 8,16 or a 32. And when it's late I go with no filter at all. You want to try and choose the ND filter that lets you set your shutter speed at twice your frame rate your shooting your video at. So if your shooting at 30fps then you want shutter to be close to 60th of a sec. This is the magical formula to video looking very smooth and cinematic.

 

[InforGuy]

I'm shooting UHD at 30fps but I think the other camera settings (ISO, SS) were on Auto and I think SS was much higher. So it sounds like having more control of these settings along with using an appropriate filter may be the secret sauce. I am going to cruise down to that shop and pick them up tomorrow and will try to get back out late in the afternoon, early evening to play a bit more. Thanks!

 

[hotashes]

Wish I had half a clue on this current topic lol


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[InforGuy]

Welcome hotashes. I'm learning on the fly myself! Stick around - KevMo has some great advice.

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[hotashes]

In here for a while, especially after my first ever investment into a drone is a p4. I'm picking up as much info as possible and liking the idea of mods on range/penetration so will need as much battery as possible lol


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[KevMo Photog]

Welcome hotashes. I'm learning on the fly myself! Stick around - KevMo has some great advice.

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I sure appreciate that InforGuy! I love to help people out if I can. And yes, it is super important to get your shutter slowed down to almost exactly double your frame rate that your shooting at. And you will have to always shoot on manual to accomplish this btw. It's always gonna choose a higher shutter speed if your in Auto! If you don't slow your shutter down the footage looks more jittery like a scary movie blood spatter kind of thing. Also, I would also set your color mode in your app to NONE! D-log and cinelike are not quite as good straight out of the camera. None looks pretty darn good without any color grading in Premier Pro or whatever video editor your using.

 

[InforGuy]

Hey KevMo - quick question. Do you primarily use the ND filters or do you use polarizing filters as well?

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[KevMo Photog]

Hey KevMo - quick question. Do you primarily use the ND filters or do you use polarizing filters as well?

Sent from my SM-G928V using PhantomPilots mobile app

I never use a polarizing filter ever. It has to be rotated just right to work. However there might be some that are not like that. But a polarizer is gonna make highlights change on some objects while your making your shot which could bug you. I only use ND on my stuff now. I do want to experiment with gradated ND filters though. Thats where the top half of filter has Most ND and then it gradually goes to no ND about half way down your lens. So you can really affect the sky and not the ground. Get some really diff effects! These are available I'm sure but not sure if Polar Pro has them yet.

 

[InforGuy]

Gotcha. Good to know. So it sounds like it may have been a good thing I drove an hour down to that place and they were closed today. That 6 pack of filters may have been overkill. I just stopped in at Best Buy and picked up a set of Polar Pro filters - CP (Circularized Polarizer), ND4, and ND8. Do you think this may suffice for most scenarios or would I be better off picking up a 16 and 32 as well? I imagine the bulk of my shooting will be in softer light early AM and late day. Possibly mid day as well but will try to avoid unless it's cloudy. No plans to fly over water.

 

[KevMo Photog]

Gotcha. Good to know. So it sounds like it may have been a good thing I drove an hour down to that place and they were closed today. That 6 pack of filters may have been overkill. I just stopped in at Best Buy and picked up a set of Polar Pro filters - CP (Circularized Polarizer), ND4, and ND8. Do you think this may suffice for most scenarios or would I be better off picking up a 16 and 32 as well? I imagine the bulk of my shooting will be in softer light early AM and late day. Possibly mid day as well but will try to avoid unless it's cloudy. No plans to fly over water.

The 16 is the one I use most of the time on a normal sunny day. That gives me pretty much a camera setting of 100 ISO, Aperture is fixed at F 2.8 And then your shutter speed should be right around 50th to 80th of a second. Which is right at double your frame rate you should be shooting at. I would just set your frame rate on 24fps unless you intend to do some really quick action that you want to slow down in post. But for normal cinematic look 24fps is perfect. So you want a shutter speed while shooting video of 50th of a second or really close to that. 60th will work fine as will 30 or 40th of a second. You just want to stay close that formula of double your frame rate.

 

[InforGuy]

Thanks. With that said, would I be OK with going with the same 16, 32, 64 set that you have or should I also hang on to the CP, ND4, ND8 I bought today. To give you an idea, I more than likely will only be shooting early AM and late afternoon/early evening when the light softens. Occasionally on cloudy days. I don't see myself doing anything on a blinding sunny day or over water, but I guess I'd rather be prepared.

Thanks again for all of your advice. I seem to have hijacked my own thread and it has gone in many directions. I'll make this the last post and if/when I have more questions, I'll start a new one. Let me know where to send the bill!