New Pilot Experience - 29th of August
Recap!
On Thursday night, 6-8PM, DJI store hosted their Fifth New Pilot Experience across all stores. We had a range of pilots this week, some even bringing their bosses to show them the power of drones!
The two hour course took pilots, with varying levels of experience, through some of the basics to the more intermediate skills. Some of the topics that were covered included pre/post flight checklists as well as photography/videography settings. Whilst flying the drone may be the easy, utilizing the quick-shot features may not be. There are so many variables at play when it comes to using the quick-shot features such as the camera settings, the speed, the smoothness of the gimbal and more! Our presenters were able to share their knowledge and experiences with drone photography. One of our staff members created a quick video that demonstrated the use case of all the different quick shot modes offered on the Mavic 2 Zoom, the dolly zoom being the highlight!
Furthermore, the workshop also had many questions asked and answered, boosting everyone's confidence when using the drone. We encourage people to ask as many questions as possible. Each week, we try and add those questions into the course to ensure that it is fresh and relevant! We highly recommend you to sign-up if you haven't already as it is definitely worth it! Click here to sign up!
Feedback from the evening!
"The presenters were extremely energetic and showed passion and love for drones and their job. They made even the most boring parts sound super fascinating. I feel so much more confident about flying my drone. Lucky summer is just around the corner!"
— Justin
Question of the week!
What is the best manual settings when shooting videos?
This is probably one of the most asked questions in the drone community. As mentioned before, once the art of the flying is mastered, the video portion is next to master. Our presenters will be going through this each week if you want a demo in real life, if not, I will try to explain this as succinct as possible.
Shutter speed is the speed at which the "shutter" opens to capture a photo/frame. This shutter limits the amount of light that enters the sensor at the specified speed. This can also determine what type of video you want. Shooting at a very quick shutter speed means less light and action will be in the photo, however this can result in choppy videos that can be unusable. A slower shutter speed means more light enters the sensor and more motion is captured, however this can create unwanted motion blur.
A simple rule to go off is to set your shutter speed to "1/(two times your frame rate)". This means, if you are shooting a video in 30 FPS, you will want to set your shutter speed to 1/60. This will dramatically improve the smoothness of the video and give that cinematic feel.
Aperture is only adjustable on the Mavic 2 Pro, Phantom 4 Pro and Inspire 2. This controls the amount of light enters into the lens and is responsible for depth of field, basically to what extent is the image in focus. The higher the aperture, the less light enters the sensor but more things are in focus. Same goes the other way, the lower the aperture, the more light enters the sensor but less of the image is in focus.
ISO. I suggest shooting at the lowest ISO possible as ISO determines how sensitive the sensor is to light. If the sensitivity is increased, artificial artifacts are introduced into the image as noise/grain and can ruin an image especially at night where blacks turn into purples. Shooting at the lowest ISO possible is a great start.
You will need to set your settings up before you start recording as you cannot change the settings whilst recording. Finding a balance is necessary to give you the best video. Plan your filming route and then adjust the settings before you fly off. We want to aim to hit that sweet spot, which is +-0.0 EV. That means that the video is exposed "correctly". try to change the settings around the shutter speed rule, the 180 degree rule. You might find at some point, no matter what you change, the video will still be extremely bright and unusable. This is where ND, neutral density, filters come into play as well as Polarising filters.
We will talk more about ND filters next week!
Further Comments
The Thursday was also the launch of another DJI sales period (which are limited) were our customers could save up to 20% on their desired products. Some of these products were showcased during the drone workshop as an interval. The OSMO Action and the OSMO Pocket were major highlights as both these products are transforming the way people generate content and share content. The Pocket having amazing stability allows you to share videos without the stress of it being shaky or unwatchable. Having a 4K resolution is also beneficial when it comes to video editing as you are able to crop in. As most media is consumed on mobile devices these days, FULL HD is normally enough as anything beyond that is hard to tell the details (apart from the observed sharpness). The Pocket is currently on sale for $70 off at the price of $529 and the Action now comes with a free battery at the same retail price of $499. These prices cannot stay forever and will end on the 4th of September.
Don't miss out on this FREE (only for a limited time) event!
If you have any questions regarding the NPE or this article, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@d1store.com.au.