Time to admit it

Didn't you wonder why you weren't seeing anything prior to flight?

You would think, huh. Actually, it was my first night flight, and could barely see anything outside anyway. But still, no excuse. I wasn't thinking the 'experiment' through quite enough . . . :eek:
 
I just shot the first half of Ka Boom Town's big fireworks show in Dallas, but forgot to turn on the video camera. What a dope! I feel better now :)


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
After loosing the footage of a nice (and unrepeatable) flight due to have probably inadvertedly tapped on the iPad video button, I have written whith red thick pen a post-it which now sits between RTH and ON buttons. It says: "CAUTION! revise frequently the recording button on the screen!


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Left an SD at home and then the ipad once . . now I use a checklist. Here's a pdf you can use to make your own. It is a little over the top for casual use but contains everything you need for commercial ops in Canada.
 

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I used a Sharpie to write the word 'camera' on my radio. Also, 'turn off apps'. Or, you can make a more complete check list like real pilots do for every time they set foot into a flight deck.
 
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Who here has flown a fantastic flight only to realize later you....forgot to turn the camera on?
More likely not to turn it OFF before shutdown--gives you the "file corrupted" message. Not being able to view video even more frustrating than forgetting to record it. BTW, there is a donateware app that recovers files from your SD card for Windows: PhotoRec from CGSecurity--http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec. A little tricky, but it works.
 
I do have it set to start recording when connection breaks so at least I get something to remind me that I forgot to start recording during takeoff.
 
Who here has flown a fantastic flight only to realize later you....forgot to turn the camera on?
Man O man, been there, done that sort of. Charged everything up, turned on camera, had 11 sattelites, then realised I forgot my clothes.
 
Litchi does it for you, that and the pre planned way points that will let you fly out of sight is why I bought the Litchi app.
 
Over three months ago I got up at 4 am, drove for over an hour in the dark, ascended on foot up a steep and rocky hiking trail (I climbed 2000 feet), reached the summit before sunrise, and thought I had recorded some awesome sunrise shots with the Phantom 4. As I walked back down the trail I was elated, looking forward to viewing my amazing shots on a big screen when I got home. When I returned home, imagine my absolute horror when I discovered very little was recorded on the SD card! (I did get two short clips but they were nothing compared to what would have come later).

And yes I've also driven nearly 2 hours and discovered I'd left the SD card at home.

A third time I used SD cards that weren't fast enough for 4K video after walking about 11 miles. When I got home I discovered that most of the footage was corrupted.

So yes, I've definitely committed some of the most stupid errors which I've never done since, so I've definitely learned the hard way!
 
It would be nice perhaps if DJI could install a flashing icon message "turn the camera on idiot" visible while your flying about admiring your view . Yesterday I pretended to take video of our office complex, perfect day for it. Crap.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
Litchi has an 'automatic recording' setting. I wonder where he got that idea from?
 
When I used Litchi for the first time, I didn't realize that if I use curved paths, all actions on the route will be disabled. My first action after reaching waypoint 1 was to turn camera on automatically and switch off when it completes the round. But nothing worked and I got a blank SF card. Lesson learned.
 
Twice in the past week I had strangers approach me and ask me to get some footage of them. In both cases I remembered to hit the record button, but the problem was it was already running so I ended up turning off the camera. Fortunately the second time, a flight circling a boat with a family celebrating mom's 50th birthday, I realized what happened and was able to re-shoot.
 
Ughhh. This morning I was flying at the beach and just when i was coming in as the battery was getting low, I see Dolphins. I come in, run back to the car grab another battery and get back up in the air. For whatever reason, the app (but not the controller) was disconnecting from the drone. After killing the app, reconnecting the tablet, etc. I'm anxious to find the dolphins. I spot them and spend the next 15 minutes following them around only to realize I didn't hit record. By the time I notice, battery low again. I hit record and get maybe one or peaks of a dolphin on my way in.

Between the excitement, running for the battery, and the app problems I blew the flight checks. Annoyed at myself, but still a good day flying.
 

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