Real Estate Video Set Up

[SkyHigh 1]

I am planning on doing a real estate shoot for a buddy of mine that works in remodeling so that he can add it to his portfolio. I am not really into photo or video so I am somewhat clueless as to what will work best. I will be flying my Inspire 2 with X5S, I have an Olympus 45mm, that I use for inspections, as well as the standard lens that comes with the sensor.

For this shoot I plan on doing some video through the gate and up the drive, a panoramic and some still shots.

Would the Olympus be better than the original lens for this?
Do I need to try and pick up a filter?
Is there any advantage shooting in RAW for these purposes?
Are there any settings that I need to make sure are changed?
Does anyone have experience with the Autopilot App and would this be helpful shooting the video?

Thank you for any help that is provided!

 

[gruvpix]

I definitely would not use the 45mm on this, as I'm sure you have noticed it is very sensitive and this is compounded when shooting video. It takes someone quite experienced shooting video with the 45 to operate it effectively, and I don't see any aesthetic benefit in using a long lens for a real estate video.
I'd grab an ND filter for sure, it will help with balance and keeping the shutter speed at 1/60 or 1/50 which is what you want.
No need to shoot raw honestly. The H264 files should be just fine. If you want to go overkill you can shoot in ProRes which may prove worthwhile as most editing programs will handle ProRes files a little smoother.
No experience with autopilot, I just fly the old fashioned way. It may be of benefit to try it out.

 

[Dr. Ifly Drones]

I definitely would not use the 45mm on this, as I'm sure you have noticed it is very sensitive and this is compounded when shooting video. It takes someone quite experienced shooting video with the 45 to operate it effectively, and I don't see any aesthetic benefit in using a long lens for a real estate video.
I'd grab an ND filter for sure, it will help with balance and keeping the shutter speed at 1/60 or 1/50 which is what you want.
No need to shoot raw honestly. The H264 files should be just fine. If you want to go overkill you can shoot in ProRes which may prove worthwhile as most editing programs will handle ProRes files a little smoother.
No experience with autopilot, I just fly the old fashioned way. It may be of benefit to try it out.

What gruvpix is dead on. The 15mm OEM lens would be your best bet. For RE shoots you may want to weigh the advantage of mid-day filming vs early or late. While the "golden hours" are great for cinematic shots, mid-day with less shadows has some benefits. H264 is more than enough. Keep your clips or segments of the overall clip short, about 3 seconds on average if you're going to do the post. Smooth and slow is the best way to fly and film. Think about "reveals" and develop a specific flight/film plan. Record as much as possible, you can always delete what you don't like. Look up "Zaw Productions" and look at some of their stuff. I'm sure there's plenty more...

 

[SkyHigh 1]

That is a huge help, thank you both, I will shop for the filter. Could I just use the DJI editor to put it all together or do I need to look at something different?

 

[Dr. Ifly Drones]

That is a huge help, thank you both, I will shop for the filter. Could I just use the DJI editor to put it all together or do I need to look at something different?

I personally wouldn't use the DJI editor. I have Macs and run both iMovie and DaVinci Resolve. The latter you can get for free for any personal computer system but, you need some serious "horsepower" to do video processing.

 

[jkerrins]

I agree. Use wide angle lens and shoot everything. Unless it will be viewed on local PC it's going to show best around 1080p. Slow, smooth, short segments keep people's interest. Dumb down your sticks or experiment with tripod mode. Keep video length short. The power of this medium is lost if you go too long. I usually shoot for a little over one minute. CapeCodHouses

 

[SkyHigh 1]

I agree. Use wide angle lens and shoot everything. Unless it will be viewed on local PC it's going to show best around 1080p. Slow, smooth, short segments keep people's interest. Dumb down your sticks or experiment with tripod mode. Keep video length short. The power of this medium is lost if you go too long. I usually shoot for a little over one minute. CapeCodHouses

I hadn't heard of tripod mode but after some research I think that will be perfect for some of the shots I have planned! Thank You! However, I didn't see anywhere how to select that mode and could not find that option in the DJI App. Do you know how to locate it?

 

[JakeB826]

Those house videos are nice jkerrins, I can't imagine the price tag on them but what a sweet place to live.

 

[The_Learning_Curve]

Whatever you do, do NOT touch the rudder stick when filming. It NEVER looks good IMO when someone tries to use rudder to pan the camera.

Do not use RAW unless you have the experience with editing to make the large video files worth it.

Honestly, i'd go with a wider lens, IMO the 15mm is useable but not ideal. Most of the time it's hard to get an unobstructed full frame shot of the house due to having to be so far away with the 15mm. I love the 12mm, but I'd like to get a 10mm. The field of view the x3 (inspire 1) has, I think it's 92 degrees is perfect IMO. You definitely don't want a fisheye, but I would definitely try to get as close to a 90 degree field of view as possible. Record in 4K or more and crop as needed.

On that note, it's great to have some cropping room, so shoot a little zoomed out from where you want it so you can fix the occasional "crooked horizon" or adjust your framing of the shot if it's a little to off to look right.

3rd party apps make it a lot easier to get smooth shots with the inspire 1. The inspire 2 I believe has all the same features 3rd party apps brought to the inspire 1. Use them!

As others noted, keep it slow and smooth. Use ATTI mode to prevent the aircraft from braking and let it do a nice slow drift.. flip to GPS mode the moment you start feeling uncomfortable for whatever reason. Use the breeze to your advantage, don't try to fight it much low and/or close to the house.

Break it down into steps and make sure that you don't forget anything. High shots to show the surroundings, 50' or less focused on the house and yard (full frame), down low, then some connecting shots and creative shots. Do this on all 4 sides so you'll have plenty to choose from. Fly down the driveway, low pass through the yard flying directly at the house, through the gate, most of your time will be spent down low trying to get decent shots through obstacles. Take your time, bring plenty of batteries and memory cards.

I could talk about shooting and getting shots all day. But I'm shutting up before I giveaway all my secrets lol

Flying is really just half of it. No matter how good you fly and shoot, a bad edit will destroy your work!

I found a passion in the editing side of things. Be careful, you're only a couple of YouTube videos away from discovering the beautiful intricacies of filming and editing. Also a headache lol

 

[SkyHigh 1]

Whatever you do, do NOT touch the rudder stick when filming. It NEVER looks good IMO when someone tries to use rudder to pan the camera.

Do not use RAW unless you have the experience with editing to make the large video files worth it.

Honestly, i'd go with a wider lens, IMO the 15mm is useable but not ideal. Most of the time it's hard to get an unobstructed full frame shot of the house due to having to be so far away with the 15mm. I love the 12mm, but I'd like to get a 10mm. The field of view the x3 (inspire 1) has, I think it's 92 degrees is perfect IMO. You definitely don't want a fisheye, but I would definitely try to get as close to a 90 degree field of view as possible. Record in 4K or more and crop as needed.

On that note, it's great to have some cropping room, so shoot a little zoomed out from where you want it so you can fix the occasional "crooked horizon" or adjust your framing of the shot if it's a little to off to look right.

3rd party apps make it a lot easier to get smooth shots with the inspire 1. The inspire 2 I believe has all the same features 3rd party apps brought to the inspire 1. Use them!

As others noted, keep it slow and smooth. Use ATTI mode to prevent the aircraft from braking and let it do a nice slow drift.. flip to GPS mode the moment you start feeling uncomfortable for whatever reason. Use the breeze to your advantage, don't try to fight it much low and/or close to the house.

Break it down into steps and make sure that you don't forget anything. High shots to show the surroundings, 50' or less focused on the house and yard (full frame), down low, then some connecting shots and creative shots. Do this on all 4 sides so you'll have plenty to choose from. Fly down the driveway, low pass through the yard flying directly at the house, through the gate, most of your time will be spent down low trying to get decent shots through obstacles. Take your time, bring plenty of batteries and memory cards.

I could talk about shooting and getting shots all day. But I'm shutting up before I giveaway all my secrets lol

Flying is really just half of it. No matter how good you fly and shoot, a bad edit will destroy your work!

I found a passion in the editing side of things. Be careful, you're only a couple of YouTube videos away from discovering the beautiful intricacies of filming and editing. Also a headache lol

Haha, thank you so much for the info.. I will definitely take all of those points to heart, may be a little to much of a sissy to go atti in this situation but I see the advantages to get a smooth shot.

I can also see myself getting sucked into the editing side as well.

 

[octoruss]

Whatever you do, do NOT touch the rudder stick when filming. It NEVER looks good IMO when someone tries to use rudder to pan the camera.

Do not use RAW unless you have the experience with editing to make the large video files worth it.

Honestly, i'd go with a wider lens, IMO the 15mm is useable but not ideal. Most of the time it's hard to get an unobstructed full frame shot of the house due to having to be so far away with the 15mm. I love the 12mm, but I'd like to get a 10mm. The field of view the x3 (inspire 1) has, I think it's 92 degrees is perfect IMO. You definitely don't want a fisheye, but I would definitely try to get as close to a 90 degree field of view as possible. Record in 4K or more and crop as needed.

On that note, it's great to have some cropping room, so shoot a little zoomed out from where you want it so you can fix the occasional "crooked horizon" or adjust your framing of the shot if it's a little to off to look right.

3rd party apps make it a lot easier to get smooth shots with the inspire 1. The inspire 2 I believe has all the same features 3rd party apps brought to the inspire 1. Use them!

As others noted, keep it slow and smooth. Use ATTI mode to prevent the aircraft from braking and let it do a nice slow drift.. flip to GPS mode the moment you start feeling uncomfortable for whatever reason. Use the breeze to your advantage, don't try to fight it much low and/or close to the house.

Break it down into steps and make sure that you don't forget anything. High shots to show the surroundings, 50' or less focused on the house and yard (full frame), down low, then some connecting shots and creative shots. Do this on all 4 sides so you'll have plenty to choose from. Fly down the driveway, low pass through the yard flying directly at the house, through the gate, most of your time will be spent down low trying to get decent shots through obstacles. Take your time, bring plenty of batteries and memory cards.

I could talk about shooting and getting shots all day. But I'm shutting up before I giveaway all my secrets lol

Flying is really just half of it. No matter how good you fly and shoot, a bad edit will destroy your work!

I found a passion in the editing side of things. Be careful, you're only a couple of YouTube videos away from discovering the beautiful intricacies of filming and editing. Also a headache lol

Excellent advice, thank you!!

 

[Donnie Frank]

I am planning on doing a real estate shoot for a buddy of mine that works in remodeling so that he can add it to his portfolio. I am not really into photo or video so I am somewhat clueless as to what will work best. I will be flying my Inspire 2 with X5S, I have an Olympus 45mm, that I use for inspections, as well as the standard lens that comes with the sensor.

For this shoot I plan on doing some video through the gate and up the drive, a panoramic and some still shots.

Would the Olympus be better than the original lens for this?

Stick with the OEM lens. You don't need a tight FOV for real estate.

Do I need to try and pick up a filter?

ND-4 for video. Clear lens for photo. Be cognoscente of the Sun's position in the sky. You'll want the front of the house well lit. "Golden hour" happens earlier than you would think. This time of year, 6:30 is about right. If the house faces North, you're screwed. If the house DOES face North, shoot on a cloudy day, set WB to 4500K and shoot in "Vivid" mode. You're basically screwed but you try to work with the lighting you have.

Is there any advantage shooting in RAW for these purposes?

Real estate agents generally don't want to process photos. So shoot in "Normal" mode unless it's overcast (read above caveat). Deliver .jpg's. I like to shoot bracketed photos so the client gets 3 exposures per photo to choose from. They seem to like this.

Also:

Sharpness: 0.
Brightness: 0.
Contrast: 0.

ISO: 100

I like an Exposure Value (E.V.) of -0.3. Set your aperture to 5.6. Adjust shutter to get your E.V.

If it's sunny, WB = 5200K (some say 5700K, but I find that setting to be too warm).

Are there any settings that I need to make sure are changed?

Just use the above settings and you'll be good. OR....you can go full auto mode...which I never do. I just don't trust it.

Does anyone have experience with the Autopilot App and would this be helpful shooting the video?

I have lots of experience with Autopilot and it honestly won't help you in this situation. You can do a POI via the Go App or the GS Pro App. I just use the Go App.

Thank you for any help that is provided!

I'll leave you with this. A common newbie aerial real estate mistake is to fly too high. Most agents do NOT want the roof in the shot. So I often shoot the structure as low as 20' AGL.

The POI shot (which serves to show the surrounding neighborhood assets) depends. I just did a shoot on a property with a golf course a few blocks away. The seller wanted to highlight this (actually, at my suggestion). So I did a POI @ 150' AGL so one could see the golf course in the background. You'll want to be high enough to show things like schools or parks or other desirable things in the neighborhood. Usually the agent will specify which features they want highlighted. General rule of thumb: Shoot as low as possible. I rarely shoot over 150' AGL, and most POI shots are just above the highest tree and/or utility.

Google Earth the property. See what assets that they may not consider. I make suggestions, like the Golf Course above. The owner or agent hadn't even thought about that. But I brought it to their attention and shot accordingly, which left them with the illusion I knew what I was doing....<;^)

I honestly don't do much real estate these days. Here's one of my earlier works highlighting a pad site (no structure). Shot with the ol' Phantom 1! HA!

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Good luck!

 

[PilotSmith]

What FPS are you using

 

[vfrailing]

I am reading everyone's replies with interest and admiration. I am doing both stills and video, ground and aerial, and putting together RE virtual tours. I would be interested in getting some feedback on my blending of the different modes. Here is an example from a house I just shot Friday, of a house I definitely can't afford....
3149 Mansfield Ln, Virginia Beach VA 23457, USA - Virtual Tour
I have more video, but I just like the fidelity I get from my stills, so it is 80% stills.
Thanks for any input.

 

[Donnie Frank]

I am reading everyone's replies with interest and admiration. I am doing both stills and video, ground and aerial, and putting together RE virtual tours. I would be interested in getting some feedback on my blending of the different modes. Here is an example from a house I just shot Friday, of a house I definitely can't afford....
3149 Mansfield Ln, Virginia Beach VA 23457, USA - Virtual Tour
I have more video, but I just like the fidelity I get from my stills, so it is 80% stills.
Thanks for any input.

Overall, your composition looks good. That's 90% the battle. But I think you kind of dropped the ball in post. I would back off the saturation on some (not all) of the stills. Some of them look almost animated. The texture of your stills should match your video. Conversely, I would slightly sharpen and kick up the contrast on the video. I know it's a brown field with brown trees and a brownish house, but a little sharpening and some saturation would liven that video up. You have these stills that pop out and almost look like a drawing, and this video that is flat and colorless. There's a happy medium for both.

The hard part is collecting good footage and stills, which you've done. Now you just need to show some restraint and discretion in post. Your goal should be consistency.

Good luck!

 

[jackbisson]

I am planning on doing a real estate shoot for a buddy of mine that works in remodeling so that he can add it to his portfolio. I am not really into photo or video so I am somewhat clueless as to what will work best. I will be flying my Inspire 2 with X5S, I have an Olympus 45mm, that I use for inspections, as well as the standard lens that comes with the sensor.

For this shoot I plan on doing some video through the gate and up the drive, a panoramic and some still shots.

Would the Olympus be better than the original lens for this?
Do I need to try and pick up a filter?
Is there any advantage shooting in RAW for these purposes?
Are there any settings that I need to make sure are changed?
Does anyone have experience with the Autopilot App and would this be helpful shooting the video?

Thank you for any help that is provided!

I think the Olympus 25mm for Real Estate is a great choice. The combo of the DJI and the 25mm can give you a zoom / or punch in that looks great. Also, if you use ProRes you will get more dynamic range, color range, and less noise in low light. The h264 is very sharp and looks great, but you have to try ProRes and see the difference for yourself. Here is a video I did with very low light and I took the ProRes version over the h264.

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[relemtonaushim]

I'm also a beginner and having the same questions thank you for the thread I kind of having some ideas. Thanks a lot pal.