two person operation

[F3honda4me]

Anyone used this feature at all yet, with one person flying the other controlling the camera? Just wondering how it worked for you, and any catches or caveats to note?

 

[Dr. Ifly Drones]

I've used two person ops many times, in fact, with my S1000 with Canon 5DM3 it's about the only way you can fly a job. Big key is communications before, during and after flying. You need to have a "story board" understanding of your sortie and choreography it well in advance. No such thing as just asking someone to keep the camera on this subject. Some would likely argue that for outcomes, the person operating the camera has the most important role.

 

[Advexure]

Most definitely, @Dr. Ifly Drones makes some great points. The second cam on the Inspire 2 makes dual operation much easier as your pilot obviously always has a forward view of the copter's flight path while the cam op can 100% focus on camera movements and framing. Prior to the Inspire 2, dual operation was much more difficult on an Inspire as the pilot was bound simply to flying line of sight as it is near impossible to fly an aircraft safely while solely relying on the video output from a camera that is focusing on a subject in every which way other than the drone's flight path. Yes, this most definitely can be done but when you've flying in tight areas and loose your orientation with the copter you face the likely possible outcome of bumping into things.

Communication is key. It definitely takes a bit of practice with dual operation flight time to get the rhythm and feel for things before you'll feel comfortable to execute a shot in a one take environment. Cam op is definitely the key man.

 

[Dr. Ifly Drones]

Maybe the more important question is how often do you need dual ops? I've done a variety of work and can say if you have a partner whom you fly well with then you use it almost all the time, you just get better, smoother shots. For your standard "3-5 sec" clip single ops is almost always doable. If you get video gigs that require lead/follow shots from a specific angle, speed, lighting, etc you will have to have 2nd op. If what you plan to do is aerial photography, orthography, ag, inspections, etc you will almost certainly never need 2nd ops.

 

[F3honda4me]

Sorry should have clarified, this is mostly from a hobbyist standpoint, possibly commercial down the road, with all operation with my wife. She has the eye, I'm the guy flying.

 

[Dr. Ifly Drones]

Sorry should have clarified, this is mostly from a hobbyist standpoint, possibly commercial down the road, with all operation with my wife. She has the eye, I'm the guy flying.

I guess either congrats or condolences are in order

 

[F3honda4me]

A bit of both I'm sure

 

[Dr Jon]

Adding my 5 cents worth, I love the auto rotate on the drone when gimbal reaches maximum. I found with other drones that when filming this did cause issues with two man operation. But now the camera man doesn't even notice the I2 has spun around 360 degrees. From the flying view its very strange as the FPV suddenly goes wild as it spins 360 and you think its going to crash. It happened to me twice now before i realised what was happening and was able to see the drone do its spin. Bet its eve worst if your using a FPV headset?

 

[F3honda4me]

Yea I saw the test video posted on rcg that showed it. Pretty wild!