General Drone Test Trailer

Moto Mengy

Motovlogger from PA, USA
Mar 23, 2020
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Nice!

I've experimented with my drone filming myself riding a bit. I'll place the drone somewhere stationary and ride into and out of frame, but it really requires either two people or an expensive tracking drone to really make nice use of a drone for riding motorcycle.

I'm just going to use my drone for scenic shots while I'm off the bike. :cool:
 
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YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
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Nice!

I've experimented with my drone filming myself riding a bit. I'll place the drone somewhere stationary and ride into and out of frame, but it really requires either two people or an expensive tracking drone to really make nice use of a drone for riding motorcycle.

I'm just going to use my drone for scenic shots while I'm off the bike. :cool:
Hi Moto Mengy,

Yes, when there is only one person available that makes sense. My brother owns a couple drones and he is a pretty good pilot, so he did all the flight work and camera operation. I got to just ride around on the bike, which was the easy part. :)

Thanks for your comment,

YBG
 

Dewey316

Dewey|Rides
Oct 1, 2020
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Great job on both the footage and edit. I haven't used mine for on-bike yet, i have just used it to get scenic views. I hope to do some on bike stuff with it them summer, when I can get to some more wide open stuff, to many trees here for me to trust it trying to track without me flying it.
 
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YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
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Great job on both the footage and edit. I haven't used mine for on-bike yet, i have just used it to get scenic views. I hope to do some on bike stuff with it them summer, when I can get to some more wide open stuff, to many trees here for me to trust it trying to track without me flying it.
Thanks Dewey! It really helps to have a dedicated pilot/camera operator too. I was pretty lucky that my Brother wanted to test out his new DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone. So all I had to do was ride the bike and then edit the footage later. Lots of editing too because I kept riding by his car where he was flying the drone, which looks pretty funny on camera. So I had to get creative with the editing to clip out all the parts where I was riding past him. The drone shoots in 4k too which is awesome so you can change the pan of where the shot is in the frame which gives you even more flexibility when editing.
 

Drakhen99

The Forrest Gump of Motovloggers
Aug 31, 2020
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I have thought about riding to a few spots I know, throwing the drone up in the air, and having it track me, but I too, am afraid it would run into something. I could always just have it hover over one corner or another, but having a pilot is a way better idea!

Good job on the video, man!

-John
 
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Theodor

Don't wannabe
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Pilot has some skill and sense of the machine. How did you coordinate the shots? Did you have live communication, or did you just wing it, with some general idea in mind?
 
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YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
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2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
Great looking footage and job at editing! Really want to get a high end one, but I need together back to practicing my pilot skills.

- Wolf
Thanks Wolf!

Yes, my brother is the Pilot, and I think he is quite good. He kept complaining he sucked. I was like...I don't know what you are talking about. I thought it turned out really nice. I actually want to try some more simple pans and over the head shots, and some simple line shots next time. When making the video with the Drone, he was trying to do all kinds of crazy shots like flying by and rotating the camera at the same time, I was like how can you fly and then control the camera at the same time? I would think you would need 3 or 4 hands to do that.
 

YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
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I ride a
2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
I have thought about riding to a few spots I know, throwing the drone up in the air, and having it track me, but I too, am afraid it would run into something. I could always just have it hover over one corner or another, but having a pilot is a way better idea!

Good job on the video, man!

-John
Thanks John!

Yes, we are also scared of running into things. Hence how much wide open space you see in the video.

YBG
 

YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
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I ride a
2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
Pilot has some skill and sense of the machine. How did you coordinate the shots? Did you have live communication, or did you just wing it, with some general idea in mind?
Winged it, as far as pilot controls go, this is his second or third drone. But idea wise we kind of white boarded it a little bit before hand, so it was cool to have a general game plan going into it. We tried messing with the follow me features and the automated stuff but could not get it to work. He was like, "We don't need anything like that anyway..we have two people." I was like..."You are correct." Ha ha.

But it would be cool someday to figure out the automated stuff if I find myself on my own making some drone footage.

Oh! And I think I understand your question better now too, after re-reading it. We were pretty close together so if we needed to talk in person we could, but I also had my Cardo bluetooth call going while we were recording and he had me on speakerphone in his car, so that was helpful. We also used thumbs up and thumbs down signals for when to start riding before doing the phone call.
 
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Drakhen99

The Forrest Gump of Motovloggers
Aug 31, 2020
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Thanks Wolf!

Yes, my brother is the Pilot, and I think he is quite good. He kept complaining he sucked. I was like...I don't know what you are talking about. I thought it turned out really nice. I actually want to try some more simple pans and over the head shots, and some simple line shots next time. When making the video with the Drone, he was trying to do all kinds of crazy shots like flying by and rotating the camera at the same time, I was like how can you fly and then control the camera at the same time? I would think you would need 3 or 4 hands to do that.

I've been able to fly my drone and change the camera angle at the same time, but it's difficult, and the DJI Spark doesn't have a real smooth wheel for tilting the camera. I bet there's a way to map the settings so it's easier, but I haven't mucked around with it much.

-John
 
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YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
Aug 14, 2020
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I ride a
2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
I've been able to fly my drone and change the camera angle at the same time, but it's difficult, and the DJI Spark doesn't have a real smooth wheel for tilting the camera. I bet there's a way to map the settings so it's easier, but I haven't mucked around with it much.

-John
How long can the Spark fly for? That is the compact model, correct?
 
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Drakhen99

The Forrest Gump of Motovloggers
Aug 31, 2020
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I ride a
2019 Harley Street Glide Special, 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic (bobber), 1979 Kawasaki KZ650SR
How long can the Spark fly for? That is the compact model, correct?

I am not sure where it falls in the lineup, but generally I get 10-12, maybe 14 minutes on a ride. I start heading back to home base when the battery gets to 35% or so.

-John
 
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Moto Mengy

Motovlogger from PA, USA
Mar 23, 2020
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I've been able to fly my drone and change the camera angle at the same time, but it's difficult, and the DJI Spark doesn't have a real smooth wheel for tilting the camera. I bet there's a way to map the settings so it's easier, but I haven't mucked around with it much.

I've found moving the camera around while flying very easy on my DJI Mini 2.

It has three flight modes: Sport, Standard, and Cinematic. You can adjust pitch and speeds and such for all axis in all three modes, so I have Sport set up for speed and Cinematic for slow gradual moves and pans. Works pretty great for me, but I still need to practice more often and get more experience with it.
 
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Drakhen99

The Forrest Gump of Motovloggers
Aug 31, 2020
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I should just practice more with my drone... I go weeks without getting it up in the air, and then promptly forget how it works, so the first flight is me getting used to the controls again. After that, I'm good... until the next time I fly it.

-John
 
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YBGuy

Yellow Backpack Guy
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2005 RC51, and a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR
I should just practice more with my drone... I go weeks without getting it up in the air, and then promptly forget how it works, so the first flight is me getting used to the controls again. After that, I'm good... until the next time I fly it.

-John
Yah, sounds like a good reason to have a couple batteries on standby. One to practice filming and one for the production filming.
 
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Drakhen99

The Forrest Gump of Motovloggers
Aug 31, 2020
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I ride a
2019 Harley Street Glide Special, 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic (bobber), 1979 Kawasaki KZ650SR
Yah, sounds like a good reason to have a couple batteries on standby. One to practice filming and one for the production filming.

I have 4 that came with my drone [bought it used], and a 3-bay charger. So an hour or so before I want to fly, I charge at least 3 of them up.

2 is 1 and 1 is none, right?

-John
 
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