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Flying sideways and rotating, use camera or drone rotation?

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Hiya,
Just a cinematography question. If I want to fly sideways but keep a point locked in the view do you recommend rotating the drone or rotating the camera?

Best,
Andreas
 
Hiya,
Just a cinematography question. If I want to fly sideways but keep a point locked in the view do you recommend rotating the drone or rotating the camera?

Best,
Andreas
It depends where is the subject relative to the drone. If you fly sideways the drone's attitude can cause the landing gear to get in the camera view. Depending on the speed of flying and the angle of the drone, turning the entire drone might be a safer option to avoid the legs getting potentially into the field of view. Spotlight Pro in follow or free mode gives you both options in very fluid automated fashion. Perfect when shooting video as single operator and you want the camera to follow a subject.
 
Hiya,
Just a cinematography question. If I want to fly sideways but keep a point locked in the view do you recommend rotating the drone or rotating the camera?

Best,
Andreas
Since you have posted in the General section we have no way of knowing:

What aircraft?
What camera?
 
Assuming you're speaking of an Inspire...

Single pilot mode you have no choice.

Double pilot mode it's up to your pilot.

D
 
Sorry guys for not being clear. Inspire 2, X7 camera.
Most of the time I think we will be single pilot, but of course I like to have the option of having 2 people as well.
Thanks!
 
With a drone rotation, you will have mostly "orbiting" curved path. With a camera rotation, you will have the straight "passing by" path. Thry will look differently on your video. So, it depends on your idea.
 
Just a cinematography question. If I want to fly sideways but keep a point locked in the view do you recommend rotating the drone or rotating the camera?
My first inclination to execute the shot you describe would be to use waypoints to define the flight path, then fly the mission in Free Orientation mode so I can rotate the drone's orientation independent of its flight path. I'd keep the subject in the desired point of the frame by rotating the drone manually using yaw control. (And contrary to what @Krakozawr says above, this will not give an orbiting curve shot when the waypoints describe a straight line path). I usually use Litchi instead of Go4 for waypoint missions because I like their implementation of curved flight paths and that you can set the mission speed to 0 and then run the mission forward/backward as if the drone is a cable cam using the right stick. You can do something similar in Go4, but last time I checked it seemed more awkward.

Yes, you can also just rotate the camera (for those who don't know, you can hold down C1 and use the left dial; this rotates the camera left/right instead of tilting it up down), but I find it easier to control the camera rotation to get the desired subject framing using the left stick. I have tuned the response curve on that stick to allow for nice smooth motion.

As @mmarian says above, you can also use SpotLight Pro, and I might try that for a more flexible/real time approach, especially if I don't have time to set up waypoints. But I encounter subject loss and framing control issues with that mode.
 
With a drone rotation, you will have mostly "orbiting" curved path. With a camera rotation, you will have the straight "passing by" path. Thry will look differently on your video. So, it depends on your idea.

You won't see that in dual operator mode, which is why I said "Depends on the mode."

D
 
I almost always yaw the bird. I also usually adjust camera tilt as well (Using the finger wheel) because I will usually ascend or descend some for more visual interest When doing shots like that.

Yes, it’s a lot of things to control all at once and it takes practice, but it’s soooo worth it to me because it saves a TON of time vs having to program waypoints or setup orbit.. I do have years of RC Heli and 3D plane flying experience which helps a ton.

There’s another trick too. I have one of my C buttons set to toggle the finger wheel between controlling camera tilt and camera pan, so I can flip the switch and use the wheel to control camera pan while flying sideways, but only when camera is angled downwards, so as not to get the landing gear in frame (like mmarian said).
 
Course Lock?
I stopped using course lock and switched to waypoints (and of course manual piloting) several years ago. Seems the Course Lock implementation is (or at least was) purely based on maintaining the selected compass heading, with no compensation for drift perpendicular to that heading that might be caused by wind ,turbulence, or minor unintended sideways stick input on the L/R stick as you fly along. At least that was my experience. Has that changed, or have I misunderstood something?
 
I stopped using course lock and switched to waypoints (and of course manual piloting) several years ago. Seems the Course Lock implementation is (or at least was) purely based on maintaining the selected compass heading, with no compensation for drift perpendicular to that heading that might be caused by wind ,turbulence, or minor unintended sideways stick input on the L/R stick as you fly along. At least that was my experience. Has that changed, or have I misunderstood something?
I truly enjoyed reading all the contributions taking on the subject from various angles (pun intended?) but if you fly sideway and you want to maintain straight trajectory it is very difficult to do when you start rotating the craft. The best solution and the one which renders the smoothest subject following footage when flying sideway is Spotlight Pro in Free mode. It is not perfect but it is very good as long as the subject does not get obscured by trees etc or is hard to distinguish against background or too small in the frame. But for most "normal" situation I find it to be the best solution
 
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I truly enjoyed reading all the contributions taking on the subject from various angles (pun intended?) but if you fly sideway and you want to maintain straight trajectory it is very difficult to do when you start rotating the craft. The best solution and the one which renders the smoothest subject following footage when flying sideway is Spotlight Pro in Free mode. It is not perfect but it is very good as long as the subject does not get obscured by trees etc or is hard to distinguish against background or too small in the frame. But for most "normal" situation I find it to be the best solution
If I may add one more angle to the discussion I have an unusual process I use for this that I think solves all the various issues mentioned.

I set a waypoint mission to fly the drone for me but then put the master controller down and grab the slave controller. This allows me to get the same precision camera movement a dedicated camera operator gets with only one operator. I like camera pan and camera tilt to be mapped to the right joystick which gives me a free hand to full focus.

Doing it this way I don’t have to rely on Spotlight tracking my subject correctly and personally I just find it too difficult to articulate to another pilot precisely what I want so I find this to be better than even having a human co-pilot.

The downside is of course having to switch back and forth between controllers but I usually set up a table, or in a crunch the trunk of my SUV, and keep both controllers near by.
 
If I may add one more angle to the discussion I have an unusual process I use for this that I think solves all the various issues mentioned.

I set a waypoint mission to fly the drone for me but then put the master controller down and grab the slave controller. This allows me to get the same precision camera movement a dedicated camera operator gets with only one operator. I like camera pan and camera tilt to be mapped to the right joystick which gives me a free hand to full focus.

Doing it this way I don’t have to rely on Spotlight tracking my subject correctly and personally I just find it too difficult to articulate to another pilot precisely what I want so I find this to be better than even having a human co-pilot.

The downside is of course having to switch back and forth between controllers but I usually set up a table, or in a crunch the trunk of my SUV, and keep both controllers near by.
Or if the flight path is straight you can simply Tap fly
 
If I may add one more angle to the discussion I have an unusual process I use for this that I think solves all the various issues mentioned.

I set a waypoint mission to fly the drone for me but then put the master controller down and grab the slave controller. This allows me to get the same precision camera movement a dedicated camera operator gets with only one operator. I like camera pan and camera tilt to be mapped to the right joystick which gives me a free hand to full focus.

Doing it this way I don’t have to rely on Spotlight tracking my subject correctly and personally I just find it too difficult to articulate to another pilot precisely what I want so I find this to be better than even having a human co-pilot.

The downside is of course having to switch back and forth between controllers but I usually set up a table, or in a crunch the trunk of my SUV, and keep both controllers near by.
You know you can tap and hold the screen then move your finger around to control the camera? You don't need a 2nd controller.
 
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You know you can tap and hold the screen then move your finger around to control the camera? You don't need a 2nd controller.
I do know that but sometimes I forget. I haven’t been able to use that function to successfully get usable footage so far because it is so difficult to get slow dynamic movement with it but maybe it’s worth some practice . Thanks for the idea.

Idk for me using the joystick on the remote to control the gimbal with all the available sensitivity and smooth track settings al my disposal is pretty hard to beat.
 
You can fly a curved path toward your subject (POI) that does neither requires the drone to be rotated nor requires the camera to be moved - unless you want to change the camera pitch angle. That path is a logarithmic-spiral curve which has a characteristic "constant" tangent angle for the camera. That means that as the drone flies the curved path, the camera yaw angle can remain constant along the entire curved path and still keep the target in the picture - without moving the camera. Search "gently curved, convergent, non-traditional drone flight paths". An example image is provided for clarification.
 

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