Sestri Levante - Bella Italia with the Mavic

We spent a week in this wonderful town, authentic Italy, great Hotel "Dei Castelli" and a nice view from the hill down to the harbour! Of course I had my drone with me...

Filmed with:
DJI Mavic Pro + ND16 filter
SJCam SJ7 Star (timelapse, slowmotion, snorkeling)

DJI Mavic: frozen Lake at golden hour

We took the chance to skate this beautiful lake (last time frozen fully in 2009). The Dog (Charlie the Chihuahua) like the imperfect ice for he had more grip.


This is the 2nd part from this location. More RC Car slowmotion this time.

DJI Mavic Pro - more stunning 4k Demo Footage

More stunning demo footage from my new favourite "always in the backpack" drone. Yes, I did COLOR GRADE most scenes to get nicer color / saturation / temperature. Also did increase the speed on some shots (it's better to fly slow and smooth and speed it up in post later).

Thanks to a tip of a commenter I discovered "proxy editing" in Sony Vegas 13. It's just an option to be turned on. What it does: recode all 4k clips you use for preview - so you can edit and preview SMOOTH, for rendering the final video it takes the 4k raw files of course. This way you can cut 4k footage even on older PCs.

►Flight footage filmed with:
DJI Mavic Pro in 4k/25+30 edited and color graded in Sony Vegas 13.
Location: Gloggnitz, Neufeld / Austria (70/30km south of Vienna)

DJI Mavic Pro - Spectacular frozen morning in Austria - an RCSchim XMas Card

Merry Christmas to all - enjoy the holidays! Here's a moving pictures XMas card from Austria. This is the best winter scenery we have here at the moment. Hope to get more snow soon - thanks for your support, thanks to the longtime subscribers and for your feedback guys!

►Music: Invincible 1 - Johannes Bornlöf

Background:
Had to use this opportunity to fly before work when the many days of foggy, cold weather cleared up today. I didnt know how awesome the light / fog scenery would be when I started (actually I just wanted to test fly the Mavic more since it had some lost connections on my last flight). Turned out so nice that I had to post this instantly!

Flight footage filmed with:
DJI Mavic Pro in 4k/30  edited and color graded in Sony Vegas 13.
Location: Gloggnitz / Austria (70km south of Vienna)

DJI Mavic - best Aerial Video shots I've captured so far!

I ordered my DJI Mavic from http://Globe-Flight.de (buy it there to support this great shop!). Got it early Nov and wanted to take my time with it and do nice and smooth shots. I was surprised how easy this is with this tiny, foldable 4k drone.

Flight footage filmed with: DJI Mavic Pro most shots in 4k/25, later scenes at the end in 2.7k/25

I will do a full review also - but there are so many out there yet - I dont think many questions are left to answer :) Comments on what to include in my review are WELCOME!!!

In the meantime you can read my article on the Mavic on this Blog (scroll down).

▼Music▼
August Wilhelmsson - Epic Panorama 02
(what an awesome source of epic score!)

DJI Mavic

DJI did a really good job on marketing this one! Never did I see so many of the big youtubers show you a drone with full excitement. What's left to say? I won't show you all the features again - you've probbably seen most of it yet. Instead I will give you my opinion to it:


I bought this drone, didnt get it from DJI but ordered it via Globe-Flight.de. This is my trusted shop (I ordered my firest FPV set back in 2008 at this shop). I have a lot of drones - the Mavic makes most of them obsolete now! I started with the Tricopter in 2011, got the TBS Discovery with DJI Naza in 2012 (which was my first GPS position hold, return home platform back then!). Later got into AP ships with brushless gimbals (DJI Phantom2, Black Snapper, Xugong). I still fly the Phantom 2 from time to time - but a 2axis gimbal just doesnt look good anymore :) Tried the Inspire1 and the Phantom4 when I had the chance to - but after the first playing around with it I didnt actually buy one (cause I had so many similar drones already).
Now since I skipped P3 and P4 I thought it was time to get this really tiny, backpack friendly, worry free drone. It's ready for flying in 2-3mins and has so many functions built in - a few years ago you would have needed a whole trunk full of expensive FPV gear to yield the same results (if possible at all).

What I love about this one:

• very easy to handle
• small, compact, backpack firendly is a joke here - this one get's lost in your backpack :)
• super cam quality (best in this size cat) you can print stills to large format and even can take RAW pics!
  
• great range / video transmission
  You just have a smooth 720p image, without intereference, without the permanent fear of flying blind suddenly. you can switch to 1080p live video - but then the recorded video is also 1080p.
  I even flew it from inside my car to a nice distance (more then enough) without even loosing signal or stuttering video!
• flighttimes - 20mins for sure - which is really more than you need normally!
• very well designed remote controller
  
  
• bright display (ok this is rather depending on your phone - I have the Galaxy S7 which is very bright)
• DJI Go app: great functions!
  
  highlight: it records downlink video in great quality directly on your phone as well (ok that's not new with the mavic). Also records all flight data in a log file! so you can even replay the GPS data and see how you flew, where, what happend, how you moved the sticks... really great log functions (cool for a statistics nerd like me).
• easy to catch with the hand (carefully though!) - landing in grass or dust is not optimal. Having to use a landing pad would also kill some of the ultra portability...
• silent, doesnt draw a lot of attention on you

some problems I found:

• DISCONNECT problem
  this is maybe the biggest issue I had, but maybe they already fixed it (not happend again yet):
  what happend? on a flight, the app went into black/white and said it's disconnected. Restarting the app didnt help. While this happend my Mavic was far away, I was blind. But I could use the remote still. So I pressed the RTH button and luckily it came back reliable!
  things I do now to prevent this:
  - close all apps on the phone before using DJI Go app
  - have it in airplane mode
  - try to run it with as much phone battery as possible
  also got 2 DJI go app updates since then, and on 7.Nov. they published a new mavic firmware - INSTALL this asap!
  
• sometimes cam/gimbal does shake (on sudden change of flight direction - so go smooth!)
  regarding smooth: there are some guidlines out yet, how to finetune the YAW endpoints, YAW expo and also smoothing out the gimbal movements - this all helps to get much smoother shots. Best yet I find it to just fly straight "like on rails or a cable cam" and let this impress your viewers - stunningly smooth and crips clear 4k footage!
• gimbal looks very fragile! It hangs on weak rubber (for vibration dampening) and if not protected with the plastic part for locking the gimbal - the cam shakes a lot - so DONT transport it without this plastic protection!
• obstacle avoidance can get irritated by sunlight or fog as well - if this happens - SWITCH to sport mode and be able to come home thru these invisible obstacles that your drone wants to avoid :)
• in higher winds normal GPS mode is to slow - also switch to Sport mode to fight the headwinds!
  NEVER fly too far away with tailwind - you might underestimate the distance and power needed to come back against a strong wind. This might lead to an unplanned landing far away from you (in worst case you're flying home over the water against wind!)
• GPS / compass error if you want to start from the roof of your car
• DJI Go app: IOS has better language support (german available), Android version has NO german language...

Advice "fly more!":
I bought the "fly more" package - you should too!
When you buy the normal package - you will end up ordering a 2nd maybe 3rd battery soon after (because only one batt is never good).
If you buy 2 batteries seperatly - this is almost the same price than the "fly more" pack!
(and this pack includes also: the car charger, the 4x serial charging hub, the nice carrying case, powerbank adapter, props).

Of course you also should do enough training flights with the drone on safe grounds (large field) before you start taking it with you and fly anywhere (which isnt strictly legal in most countries btw).

Xiaomi Yi 2 Review - watch this before you buy a gopro 4!!!

-> buy here: Cam info/shop

Really a decent cam! Sorry that I couldnt compare it directly to a gopro4 black. Maybe I can do this in a next video later. But it's better than every single actioncam I've tested so far.
I also will make a slowmo videoclip - since this is the first cam I have that can deliver 720p240 (8-10times slowdown).
I will probbably not fly the vortex with it a lot since low and fast in 4k is too much for youtube's codec... (it looks perfect on the raw footage though!).
Sample clips: 
RAW high flying 
RAW Low and Fast over field (hard for codec)
sharpness comparison chart

►Pro's and con's:
+ batterylife!
+ touchscreen: intuitive UI
+ image quality: stunning in 4k, timelapse mode works great, I guess 2hrs with full battery are in range
+ slow motion (1280x720@240fps) looks decent - quite sharp and gives really smooth motion
+ tripod mount integrated directly

+- pricetag (bad if you compare it to other chinese cams, not if you compare to gopro :)
+- gyro stabilizer: doesnt work nice in all conditions, reduces quality of course,...

- form factor: not gopro sized, own dimensions, only their waterproof housing will fit
- touchscreen: not easy to read in sunlight - and then setting the options is hard...


►Specs:
Ambarella A9SE75 DSP (this is more advanced than what Gopro4 black has, and it is way more efficient - the cam doesnt overheat, battery lasts longer...)
Sony IMX377 12MP 1/2.3" Sensor
Lens F2.8 aperture / 155° wide-angle lens, 7G, f=2.68mm
LCD Screen 2.19", 640*360 resolution touch screen, 330PPI, 250cd/m2 brightness, 30FPS, 160° FOV, 16:9
Weight: 88gr   Size: 65 x 42 x 21 mm
(but not compatible with Gopro cases since it's a bit wider!)

4K 30,25 Ultra Wide 3840x2160
2.5K 30,25 Ultra Wide 2560x1920
1440P 60,50,30,25 Ultra Wide 1920x1440
1080P 120,100,60,50,30,25 Ultra Wide 1920x1080
960P 120,100,60,50 Ultra Wide 1280x960
720P 240,200 Ultra Wide 1280x720
480P 240,200 Ultra Wide 848X480

Phantom 4 Review

Exploring the huge Ruins of Haludovo Hotel in Croatia with my Xugong

We walked thru a nice park in Malinska on our vacation in croatia. We found a few strange looking, very desolate buildinges (apartments).
Since we're both curious about "Lost Places" or "Urban Exploration" we explored the region more and soon found a bigger complex. We had no idea what we found there and my first thoughts were something like a shopping mall (because the entrance or lobby there was huge). Then again it looked like a strange 70ties nightclub - and this is what was the closest guess as I found out later ;-)
It's the Haludovo Palace***** - one of the biggest and most decadent hotels in this region built in the 70ties from Penthouse boss Bob Guccione. Read more details if you're interested in this article below or view it on google earth.

Next day (when we knew a bit more about the hotel and it's history) we had better weather and I took my xugong copter for a flight and we also took more pics. It was a cool time travel to find some old fotos of this hotel and compare it against the devastated ruins there. It's a shame how fast vandalism and childish destruction can change such an interesting place (this is the reason most "Lost Places" are kept as a secret in the Urbex scene).
The basement with it's huge kitchen (more looking like a slaughterhouse) was really scary!

Good article: "INSIDE THE ABANDONED PALACE OF PENTHOUSE MAGAZINE IN CROATIA" http://goo.gl/6Gua89
GPS coords: https://goo.gl/XzRC0V
very interesting: 3 360° panoramas to "visit" the place (like Google Streetview): https://goo.gl/fP6Ysk

DJI Inspire1 indepth Review (App, Firmware, Frequ., Flightlog, german voice / english SUBTITLES!)

►Videoindex / Highlights:
10:27 - Transportmode - Startmode
14:00 - App genau angesehen
21:08 - Cam Steuerung mit Finger auf Touchscreen
23:50 - Flugverbotszonen
26:34 - HDMI Kabel für Dominator HD
27:18 - HDMI OSD Anzeige auf Monitor
28:07 - Latenzmessungen
29:07 - Fazit
31:34 - Firmware Update
34:48 - Naza Danze (Kompass kalibrieren)
36:13 - Frequenz Analyse (2,4 und 5,8GHz)
40:05 - Flightlog - Excel - Nerd Heaven

►Flugzeiten: im Durchschnitt 13min bei 3500mah Verbrauch beim 4500mah 6S Akku
Flighttime around 13min avg with 3500mah usage out of the 4500mah 6S battery

►Max Speed 80km/h

►Weight/Gewicht mit Akku (4500ma): 2936gr

►Preis: 3200€ mit einer Fernbedienung
(z.B. bei Globeflight.de)
Pricetag 3200€ with single remote

►Reichweite? / Range?
Bodentest noch ausständig
1-2km geht sicher, Videolink sehr stabil
In der App per Slider zwischen guter Videoqualität und niedriger Reichweite (10mbit und 700m) und geringer Quali aber hohe Reichweite (4MBit und 3km) wählbar

1-2km no problem - some users get really far (like 6km) which is dangerouse with limited battery time! You can adjust the image quality (vide bitrate) and get better range - app tells 3km Range with lowest quality (which is still really good compared to all other video transmission I've seen so far!

►Zeitverzögerung beim Video:
Echtzeit - App-Bildschirm: 250ms
Echtzeit - HDMI Bild nur 80ms? (zumindest ist HDMI und App ca. 170ms auseinander)
(hier aber leider nicht besonders genaue Stoppuhr und Messung)
Jedenfalls im normalen Betrieb nicht störend, beim fliegen nahe an Objekten evtl. etwas ungewohnt - Vorsicht!

Lag: looks like Lightbridge to HDMI is quite fast (only 80ms? not really sure about my measurements) add some 170ms more if you use the app (measured the Android app on GalaxyS3)

►Camera
Resolution 12.0MP
FOV (Field of View) 94°
CMOS Sony EXMOR 1/2.3”
Lens f/2.8 (20mm equivalent)
Burst shooting (BURST: 3/5/7 frames,AEB: 3 or 5 bracketed frames at 0.7EV Bias)
Time lapse
HD Video Recording Modes
UHD (4K):4096x2160p24/25,3840x2160p24/25/30
FHD:1920x1080p24/25/30/48/50/60
HD: 1280x720p24/25/30/48/50/60
Max Bitrate of Video Storage 60Mbps

►Transportkoffer aus Kunststoff, 556 × 490 × 240 mm

►Dominator HD HDMI Kabel
und dieser Adapter
Oder ihr findet ein Kabel:
MINI Hdmi auf Micro HDMI (ich fand keines)

►Flightlog
auf Android: "SmartPhone"\Phone\DJI\dji.pilot\FlightRecord
auf iOS: über iTunes auf die DJI Pilot App und hier die Dateien runterladen
die Files dann hier hochladen: http://thecutter.net/djiconverter
dann erhält man lesbare Files wie im Video (ganz am Ende) beschrieben!

You get a really impressive ammount of in flight data in the flightlog. Get it from android from \phone\DJI\DJI Pilot\FlightRecord
or from iOS using iTunes and seach for data on this app.
Convert it using the link above and you get a KML file for google earth with the track and CSV files (for excel) with many parameters.

GoPro3 Black Edition - Hands on review, comparision to GP2 and GoPro app walktrough

Die neue GoPro3 Black Edition kann wirklich Einiges! Achtung - beim Upgrade von einer GoPro2 sollte man nicht an der falschen Stelle sparen und die Gopro 3 Silver oder White nehmen - hier sind die Unterschiede dann nicht besonders groß (die Silver entspr. der GoPro2 + dem neuen Gehäuse + WiFi). Also eine GoPro 3 Silver wird nicht viel besser sein als die alte Gopro2!
Es ist schon beeindruckend, wie klein das Ding ist! Die neuen Auflösungen und Modi lassen das Filmer-Herz höher schlagen. Mein momentaner Favorit: 1080p60 (also volles HD in super flüssig). Hier kann man dann noch mit 50% Speed flüssige Zeitlupen machen. Für Zeitlupen ist natürlich noch 848x480 mit 240 Bildern/Sek interssant - hier kann man die Zeit schon auf 10% verlangsamen! Oder alternativ die 720p120 Bilder - also recht gute Auflösung - und mit 120 Bildern kommt man auf 20% runter. Vorteil bei 720p120: hier ist auch die Auswahl "Wide / Medium / Narrow" des Bildausschnittes möglich!
Mehr Erfahrungen mit der Cam gibts dann sobald ich auch damit geflogen bin!



It's amazing what they put into this really tiny little cam! Watch out if you plan to upgrade from Gopro2 to the Gopro3: don't try to save money by just getting the silver edition (or even white). Gopro3 Silver isn't much better than GoPro2! (it's just the new body and Wifi)! I'm impressed by the new options and level of quality GP3BE delivers:

• less weight is always good for FPV
• new resolutions like my new fav: 1080p60 frames (full HD and super smooth 60fps! This lets you slow down to half the speed and still have 30fps)
• Slowmo at 240 Frams (with reduced 848x480 pixels) this lets you capture events ten times slower than normal Speed! Impressive (watch sample down below) or you can choose 720p120 - higher resolution but only 5 times slower than normal. But: 720p120 lets you also choose "Wide/Medium/Narrow" field of view!

More infos as soon as I flew it on my Discovery!

Infos:

I bought this cam at www.Globe-Flight.de  (great shop - reliable and fast!)
Link to Gelpad (Vibration dampening)
To enable GoPro app support you have to do a firmware update of your GoPro3
and here you get the GoPro app

View also this GoPro 3 Slowmo testvid:

Cularis bei Gut Aiderbichl

Happy New Year - Prosit 2012

Was passt besser zu Silvester und diesem Fpv Blog hier als eine Rakete mit Gopros bestückt oder einem ungarischem Team das versucht, mit einem Wetterballon auf 30km Höhe zu steigen, und dann den Höhenrekord im FPV Flug brechen (weiter unten).

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What would fit better here on this blog for New Years Eve than this rocket going into space with gopros attached, or the story of the hungarians below who try to reach stratosphere with an weatherballoon and then glide down with an FunJet Ultra with FPV systems on board (and some well thought equipment onboard!).

Stratosphere Project
Hier auf FPVLab.com wird das Projekt genau beschrieben, wir sind gespannt, wann die Mission gestartet wird!

Tricopter Ausgrabungen und Kunst in der Landschaft

Im Sommer wurde ich gebeten, bei den Ausgrabungen in Gasteil (Prigglitz) ein paar Luftaufnahmen zu machen. Nach diesen Flügen blieb ich noch bei "Kunst in der Landschaft" stehen und flog ein paar Runden.



Back in summer they asked me to fly at an archeological site to film it. Not a huge location - but interesting (to fly at). After this I made a stop at the art site nearby - they have interesting objects placed on their field...

GoPro HD Hero 2 - Testpics

Brandaktuell vom Testflug heute - der Oktokopter trug zuerst die "alte" GoProHD1 hoch, und ein paar Minuten danach schon die neue - damit gab es gleiche Lichtbedingungen (und gleicher 720p60 mode):

Links GoPro HD1 - Rechts die neue GoPro HD2:


Just back from the testflight on the field with the Oktokopter I want to show you these 2 sisngle frames from the old (left) and the new HD Hero cam. Both were shot at 720p60 modes! The flights were only seperated by minutes - so same light conditions...
So I'd say "Yes - the new one looks better" ;-)

GoPro Hero2 - Erste Tests / first review

Hallo brave Leser - laut Counter wird der Blog hier täglich ca. 60-100 mal besucht - danke! Nur weiter so!

Nach den guten Kritiken zu der neuen GoPro Hero2 musste ich zuschlagen. Die GoPro Hero HD war ja schon toll, dass die neue in allem doppelt so gut sein soll, klingt ja schon fast gelogen. Ich konnte bis jetzt noch nicht alles teste, nur soviel:
Sie ist viel Lichtstärker, die Videos/Bilder wirken wesentlich schärfer, und es gibt ein paar neue, sinnvolle Modi - generell ist das Menü besser geworden.
Man kann nun z.B. auch bei 1080p30 den Betrachtungswinkel ändern (vorher hatte 1080p einen kleineren Winkel wie z.B. 720p30/60).

Video hab ich leider noch keines Online, Standbilder von einem ersten Testflug mit dem Tricopter gibts hier (die Bilder wurden nur leicht Farbkorrigiert sonst nicht bearbeitet):



Weiters hab ich mich auf den Slowmotion Modus gefreut: hier hat man zwar nur 848x480 Bildgröße, dafür aber 120 Bilder / sek. Dadurch kann man von 120 auf 24 Bilder die Zeit 5mal so langsam ablaufen lassen (20% Speed). Das ist dann noch immer flüssig, und schaut impossant aus. Auf YouTube gibts hier schon von Jetlag2222 tolle Zeitlupenvideos:
Slow Ride
GoPro HD2 has zoom?
GoPro HD2 Slow Motion Testing
GoPro HD2 Slow Motion Testing #2

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Hello readers - according to my counter my blog is visited daily about 60-100 times - thank you! Keep it up!

After the good reviews of the new GoPro Hero2 I had to get one. The GoPro Hero HD 1 was already pretty good - so I couldn't believe the new one should be twice as good. I didn't test all features yet, but:
It is much better in low light, the videos / pictures look much sharper, and there are a few new useful modes - generally, the menu has improved.
You can now e.g. also change the viewing angle at 1080p30 (1080p had a smaller angle than the 720p30/60 mode).

I have no video online yet but to see the quality I have still images from the first test flight with the Tricopter here (the images were only color corrected and not otherwise modified):

Furthermore, I like the slow motion mode: here you have only 848x480 image size, but 120 frames / sec. So you can slow down from 120 to 24 frames thats 5 times slower (20% speed). That is still smooth playback but has the awesome slowmo look. Jetlag2222 has done a lot of cool vids already - check the links above.

Promotional Video for "Pferdewelt Reichenau"

Ende Oktober konnten wir herrliches Wetter dazu ausnutzen, ein Flugvideo für die schöne Pferdewelt-Reichenau zu machen. Nicht nur zum Reiten ist das ein tolles Gelände - auch der Tricopter hat sich gefreut, als er über die vielen Hindernisse mit Leichtigkeit hinwegflog :-)

End of October we were able to take advantage of great weather to make a video for the beautiful Ranch in Reichenau. Not only for riding it is a great site - also the Tricopter was pleased when he flew over the many obstacles with ease :-) Stay tuned for a special "Making-Of" this flight with many nice external shots of the tricopter!

Großglockner/Kitzsteinhorn - Cularis soaring at the highest peak of the austrian alps

Großartiges Wetter und eine Tolle Start-/Landebahn haben hier einen Traum wahr werden lassen. Natürlich wäre es noch genialer gewesen, per FPV bis zum Gipfel rüber zu segeln...

Great weather and a nice "airport" made this possible. It would have even been greater to do an fpv flight over the glacier to the peak...

Update: hier noch das Video vom Kitzsteinhorn - nächster Tag - gleich tolles Wetter (0 Wind, nur Sonne)

FPV Action: MaxiSwift meets Lex' EGE (Air to Air) - Flycamone HD 720 Test

Hier bin ich mit dem MaxiSwift hinter Andi her. Premiere: die FlycamOneHD 720 flog hier mit. Grundsätzlich hab ich diese als Alternative zur GoPro gekauft. Die neue FCO hat nur 60g, und ist recht Aerodynamisch (was man von der GoPro nicht behaupten kann).
Die 55° Perspektive der Standardlinse sind schrecklich für Luftaufnahmen. Fotos gehen ja noch - aber Videos werden ziemlich verwackelt. Zum Glück gibts hier Wechsellinsen! Ich werd mir noch eine 170° bestellen, diese kann man dann mittels Zoom wieder etwas entschärfen (angeblich ohne Qualitätsverlust).

Here I chased Andis Easyglider with my MaxiSwift. I also had the FlycamOneHD 720 on for the first time. It's basicly an good alternative to the heavier gopro. The FCO has less drag also - which makes it easy to mount on even the smallest planes. The standard lens however is terrible for FPV video! It's narrow 55° field of view makes the vids very shakey! Pics are ok. Fortunately they have an changeable lens with 170° (133° should follow). With the zoom feature, one can compensate the fishey without loosing quality they say.

Okto Wintershooting - Schloss Gloggnitz

Endlich hat das Wetter mal gepasst, und trotz guter Schneelage und tiefwinterlicher Stimmung, war's nicht zu kalt für ein paar Aufnahmen. Der Okto ist somit wirklich eine praktische Plattform - schnell hergerichtet - und damit kann man natürlich fast überall fliegen und Luftaufnahmen machen.
Eine schnelle Demonstration des Okto und wofür ich ihn gekauft hab:

A quick demo of my new okto and what I got it for.
Finaly the weather was nice and even it was deepest winter here - it was not too cold to take some shots. The okto is a great platform for aerial photos - and it's prepared really quick.