What I've read... and take that with a HUGE grain of salt (you know how these forums can be), is that if you lower the gains you could end up with a "hunting" motion. That said.... I was thinking about trying it because what could it hurt?

Have you practiced a "FailSafe" maneuver yet? I set up S1 to have failsafe (GPS-ATTi-Failsafe), but I can't get the nerve to try it.

John, yes from what I've managed to glean from the Internet there are two basic types of FPV systems. The Phantom 2 Vision+ quadcopter uses a WIFI based system that transmits FPV video and flight data that can be picked up by the pilots Smartphone. The other system (that I have) seems to be what people are using on Phantom 2 systems built up with a Zenmuse gimbal and GoPro camera. This uses a 5.8 GHz video and data link that's received by a 5.8 GHz Receiver and Monitor, or a combo Receiver / Monitor, or a set of FPV glasses with a built-in receiver.

that shows how to install all the extras required for FPV on a plain-vanilla Phantom 2.

As far as finding people flying quads near you, I'd check with local hobby shops that carry quads and ask them.

Keith. No I haven't tried any of the "enhanced" control features yet such as CL, HL, or the Failsafe S1 setting that I also enabled. I just finished a software update check and calibration yesterday, and enabled the IOC controls. I'm planning to go out tomorrow and try them all out.

Footage from my Night Flight over my State Capital ...
X350Pro with Gopro Hero 3+ Black Edition with a G-3D Gimbal..

John - As I mentioned above I have a hex-copter that was my first multirotor experience. (The ArduCopter Drone at the mall doesn't count). The fact is, you *will* crash it a few times learning to fly, mostly just breaking props. In the case of my hex, I had a prop fail at 100 ft and the drone landed mostly under control. I lost two props and a motor in the crash landing.

If you get a Phantom, practice flying for 5 to 10 hours without the camera to get used to the remote control.

I will be buying a Phantom soon, I just haven't decided which model.

So I took the Phantom up into the mountains yesterday to try to film some fall color. The weather was a little challenging with dark skies and rain, but I got four flights in (some were abbreviated)

This is my first time to try to actually film something rather than just fly around. I can see that like anything, it will take some practice, but it's fun regardless and this is a most amazing platform to fly.

At the end, the wind was very gusty. The quad itself was working to remain steady, and you absolutely can't see it in the camera motion. That gimbal really is the star.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, here it is:

https://vimeo.com/106875730

That was beautiful footage Keith. I really liked the scene flying upstream over water heading towards the railroad trestle. As John pointed out, low level dolly like video produces some spectacular images. I'm surprised the Colorado Fall colors were mostly Yellows. Here in Ohio we get every color there is in the Red to Green spectrum. But then we have numerous types of trees growing everywhere to produce the variety of colors.

For a blustery day your footage was superb. My planned trip yesterday got rained out. It's supposed to be nice tomorrow, I'll give it another try then. I'm really anxious to test the HL, CL & Failsafe features. I noticed the scene using Course Lock mode where you flew the copter forward, taking video from the side as you flew by. That was a really nice effect. Have you tried your Failsafe setting yet?

Thanks Gary,

I got rained out of two locations, the train being the most disappointing one. You could see the smoke of the locomotive coming back but the weather didn't allow me to wait. I'm going to go back one day and get some footage with the locomotive as the star.

There are some reds here, but not like what you guys get. But I tell you.. the yellows in one location yesterday were so brite and "oversaturated" that it actually would kind of hurt my eyes. It was amazing.

I used the CL and the HL yesterday. I got a lot farther away on one shot and the video blanked out, so I used the HL to get it back and it worked perfectly. The CL was set as you noticed on the river. It was actually harder than I thought. You have to shift your brain (if you've flown much RC) into an entirely different mode, and the challenging thing is to make small corrections. But that will be a powerful tool once we master it! I still haven't tried the Fail safe yet. It seems like a leap of faith, but so far, mine as acted perfectly, so I don't know why I'm so intimidated.

Good luck getting up and getting some good shots.

ETA: Warriorking. Nice night shots. I'm new to the GoPro and haven't shot any night stuff, but I was surprised how well that came out. I need to shoot some stuff in downtown Denver.

This is what happens when you give Cirque du Soleil ten quadcopters:

Interesting choreography using quads. I wonder if we've just watched the beginning of a new employment opportunity: Quad Dance Pilot. Unfortunately here in the States this performance would be construed as a Commercial Application of a hobby aircraft, thus illegal under federal law. When it comes to thinking up s.t.u.p.i.d. government regulations, we have the dumbest regulators money can buy.

John, if you liked the Cirque du Soleil video, you'll really like this. If there was any questions about the maneuvering ability of quad-copters this should put them all to rest. I truly didn't believe this type of acrobatics was possible.

Gary - if it's indoors it isn't in the National Airspace and the FAA doesn't care at all.

This is from the FAA ploicy letter regarding the application for a COA [Certificate of Authorization] for UAS operations. (N 8900.227, 7/30/13):
(a)
In general, specific authorization to conduct UAS operations in the NAS outside of active Restricted and Warning Areas designated for aviation use, or approved Prohibited Areas, must be requested by the proponent. Airspace inside buildings or structures is not considered to be part of the NAS and is not regulated. (Refer to the current edition of Order JO 7400.8, Air Traffic Organization Policy.)
(b)
This notice and the processes prescribed do not apply to hobbyists and amateur model aircraft users when operating unmanned systems for sport and recreation. Those individuals should seek policy under the current edition of advisory circular (AC) 91-57, Model Aircraft Operating Standards. AC 91-57 is not to be used as a basis of approval for operation of any other aircraft, including by Federal, State, and local governments, commercial entities, or law enforcement.

One enterprising entrepreneur has come up with a process to circumvent the rules against commercial use of a UAS. He ties a string to it.

From the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Roadmap for Integration of Civil
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS):

"Unmanned Aircraft (UA): A device used or intended to be used for flight in the air that has no onboard pilot. This device excludes missiles, weapons, or exploding warheads, but includes all classes of airplanes, helicopters, airships, and powered-lift aircraft without an onboard pilot. UA do not include traditional balloons (see 14 CFR Part 101), rockets, tethered aircraft and un-powered gliders."

Thanks Steve. I recently joined the AMA and followed their suggestion to submit a comment to the FAA on the Interpretive Rule governing model aircraft. For what it's worth I spoke my piece.

The video I linked above was indoors at a tech conference. The quads used in the demonstration were modified to fly within a fixed grid using led emitters mounted around the demonstration area to define the grid boundaries, and light sensors on the quads to pickup positioning information. GPS was not involved.

Through custom software they were able to have the quads balance a rod standing vertically while flying all around. They also were ably to bounce a ball back to the presenter when thrown in their general direction. And most amazingly they were able to fly and maneuver even after the presenter clipped the props off two opposing rotors.

Gary,

Did you get to go out flying yesterday?

Keith

Keith,

Yes I did. I drove to the park about 2:00 PM. and used up two batteries flying the Phantom around trying out the different control settings. I got back late and didn't unpack everything till this morning so I haven't had a chance to review the video; but here's what I found.

1. The Home Lock setting worked perfect. I flew the quad out about 100M, switched to HL, pulled back on right joystick and came right back at me.

2. Flew the quad out about 100M, switched the S1 switch to the bottom position --that I had programmed to be Failsafe Mode-- and nothing happened. I flipped it back to GPS setting and regained control. If the bottom ATTI mode was indeed calibrated to be a Failsafe setting, then I'm not sure what's needed to initiate the action.

3. I tested the Auto Return To Home. I flew out to about 100M, then turned off the remote. The quad hovered there for a few seconds trying to figure out if it had lost its control signal, then it flew straight up to maybe 100 Feet, then flew towards me. It landed itself, and shut off. It came down about 6 feet from where it took off. Not bad for another mildly gusty day. I did notice that once I switched off the remote and it started its Failsafe Return To Home programming, switching the remote back on did not allow me to regain control. It was determined to finish its RTH programming.

4. CL. This is one feature that didn't seem to be working. I tried several times to put the Phantom into Course Lock mode. Each time it veered off in a different direction than what I was expecting. I must be doing something wrong. I'll have to research some Youtube videos to see where I messed up. Do you have any suggestions I can try?

Calibrate your compass again.

Gary,

Nice.

I don't have any ideas about the S1 switch, other than to indeed make sure the lower position is FS in the DJI assistant software. But you know it(FailSafe) works, because when you switched the transmitter off, it did EXACTLY what it's supposed to do. Congrats. Since I haven't done this yet (darn work!) to regain control, you are supposed to switch to ATTi mode, which will allow you to again control the quad, then after that, if you want to go back in to GPS, it should work fine. Again, I haven't verified this.

CL. The one thing I'd say, without seeing it, is that it takes a "snapshot" of the grid it's going to be flying based on the nose position when it aligns (or lifts off). That is the direction of travel when you push the stick up. So next time, if you push the stick forward, and it is heading a way you don't expect, yaw the airplane that direction then try again. The grid pattern should work fine. If it aligns when you lift off (it sets the home position then indicated by the series of flashing green lights) that would be nice, because you could re-set the home position airborne, and thus re-set your CL directions. I don't know if it does that yet, but it's on my list of things to test fly. It'd be really helpful to set that course airborne. I just set mine pointing it the way I want to orient it on the ground before I power up, but it's not perfectly accurate.

It doesn't sound like a compass calibration issue, but I always calibrate mine before I fly. The indications I've read of a bad compass Cal are it either drifts one consistent way when you are in GPS mode. I.E. you try to fly straight forward, and it has a slight angle to the left, followed by a corresponding angle to the right when flying backward. Or in a hover, it will slowly "wander off", but is fully controllable. Yours in the HL and FS modes was very accurate, so that's why I say it sounded good.

Thanks. You've given me the confidence to try the FS mode when I get some time to fly. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon. The company I bought the FPS stuff sent me the wrong monitor and I sent it back, but they've been "pokey" about getting me the replacement, so I probably won't be filming, so this weekend will be a good time to test fly.


Cheers,

Keith

PS. Heh.... the Camel's nose is under the tent.

I've already decided to ask forgiveness instead of permission.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/25/faa-drones-movie-making/16164439/

I can't tell you how many commercials I've seen where you can clearly see a drone's shadow on the ground.

If everyone who wanted to fly for compensation applied for a waiver, the FAA would be buried in thousands of applications.

The key to not hearing from the FAA is to not attract attention to your business. I am guessing but the FAA is probably using Google Alert to find websites where photographers are promoting drone photography or videography. Also, avoid local newspaper mentions since the local papers are also on the web. Also, don't crash. If it gets reported in the newspaper's website, you could hear from the FAA.

I got my camera/gimbal guard from one of the ebay sellers - just type in gimbal guard in the search.

MT.

I can't tell you how many commercials I've seen where you can clearly see a drone's shadow on the ground.

Never saw a shadow ... but drone footage is pretty obvious.

Haven't noticed it on commercials, but I have seen it on TV shows.

Gary,

I got to do a test flight today and got a few things for you.

When you switch S1 to the bottom position, you have to give it something like 8 or 10 seconds, and it feels like a long time before it goes into FailSafe and starts to respond. So make sure you give it long enough. I did the FailSafe and it worked amazingly well. Also, to re-gain control, all you have to do is move S1 out of GPS and you have full control back. I switched to ATT then back to GPS and it went right back into GPS very easily.

Also, I got it airborne and the Course Lock was locked into the nose position when it captured the Home Position (multiple blinking of the green lights when it lifts off). So I flew one square in CL then I re-positioned the nose to another orientation, and re-set the Home Position by flipping S2 from the top to the center position six times. The green lights would blink rapidly several times, then the course in the course lock was reset (you have to remember this is your new home position). This will be very helpful as you can get airborne and find the axis you want to fly in the shoot and set the course for that shot. Then reset it for the next one.

Give it a shot and let me know how it works.

Keith

Sorry for the delay getting back to you guys. I've been busy working on adding a feature request to Timeline Tools. Once I jump into my programming mode I loose track of all Time, Space and Everything.

MT. A few days after I asked where you got your Phantom 2 camera guard I found one on-line at a store called UAV Bits. I placed my order Saturday and received the package Tuesday. Let's hope this helps should the need arise. I've been protecting my GoPro's lens with a GoPro Lens Cover that came with the camera.

Steve Mann. Your advice is sound. The less that's known about undocumented commercial UAVquad flights the less likely they'll be noticed by the wrong people. As they say in the virus protection world - security through obscurity.

Keith. Thanks for the feedback on your latest flights. From your description how the S1 switch Failsafe setting behaved. It sounds like what I experienced when I forced Failsafe mode by turning off the remote. I probably just didn't wait as long as you did to let the Phantom switch to FS mode and execute a RTH. I had assumed that since I was forcing the mode through a switch setting, instead of a signal loss, the response would have been immediate; much like the other S1 & S2 settings.

Your summary of Course Lock nailed my problem. I watched so many videos, and read too many articles about flying techniques before my last outing, I must have stored the Course Lock info in a bad sector in my brain. I had it screwed up in my head that whatever direction I was pointed would become the New Course setting when I switched into CL mode. That explains why the Phantom would veer off from where I had intended to fly. It was simply going back to its Take-Off heading. I was aware of the multiple S2 switch toggles to change CL direction in flight, but that detail became lost due to a cranial read error. Man, getting old really sucks. ........... Man, getting old really sucks.