Tankman

And the upgrades from the Air to the Air 2 is not minor by a long shot! Quick Summary: Larger Sensor - 48MP 4K at 60fps 1080p at 240fps 34 minute flight time! 10km range! (We will be restricted to 6km in SA) OcuSyn 2 - 2.4Ghz and 5.8Ghz New and improved tracking modes - Active Track 8K Hyperlapse HDR - Video, photo and Panoramics Estimated Prices: R24 000 - Flymore Combo R19 000 - Drone & Remote I loved the Mavic Mini as a first drone to begin with... but I just found my next upgrade!!

Cabin fever is getting to meeeee...!

Shot, thanks Bud!

That is Nadine Rieder from Germany, sponsored by Rotwild bikes. We got news that the Epic was being cannened on the Friday night, so Nadine and myself thought to rather keep ourselves busy than to sit and sulk too much. Got her into one of the local XC races at Rheebokskloof last minute on Saturday! She kicked ass, took the lead from the gun and had about a 5min gap at in the end. Fun day... not knowing at the time that was my last shoot... for a while to come it seems, especially with sport events.

Last photoshoot, over a month ago...

That was Good...

Couple of Highlights

Blouberg rockpools? Wide angle lens? Love it!

Shot, thanks man, thats in Mosselbay, at Die Punt

Pretty impressed that I was able to get a photo like this with the little guy!

Seriously... I kept thinking... where the hell did that come from! But it goes to show, put a tree in the middle of nowhere and a drone will find it!

Eggxactly!! I didnt even know there was trees around there!!

Quick example Tracking is too far away. By the time I saw the tree, it was too late, I let go of the controls immidatley and hoped that I would be able to maneuver back out of there but ja ....

Haha... exactly why I did it already! You are forced to have a beer, when you are strapped off, you are on the outside deck of Tidals!! There is no way of getting around that! (Its now called something Blue, Big Blue, I think...)

After doing a lot more flying recently... A quick update on my findings with this little drone so far. Keep in mind that this is my first drone ever so comparing it to others is not possible. This is a great drone to start with. Price is good, value for money is good. Video and photos is also good. Its light and easy to travel with. Quick to get into the air. Things that I notice that starts getting tricky... following riders that is bombing down single track, is not that easy, auto follow would be great with obstacle avoidance sensors, event better. It is quite difficult to follow a fast moving subject at a very close distance, maybe I am just to scared that I will bump into them and keep my distance. Following from far away is easy but that does not look great in the video and you cant crop in enough, even when shot in 2k. Not sure if 4k would give you a little more reach to get closer when cropping in. When tracking riders, you cant see trees, branches or any obstacles approaching from the sides or behind you. I've hit a couple of branches while tracking riders, by the time you see the obstacle it is usually too late. Obstacle Avoidance sensors, yes please. Maybe I am getting too technical but I can definitely see some uses for a higher frame rate and 4k. Slow mo and digital cropping without loosing quality. I upload to youtube at 1080p anyway but there are some advantages to shooting in 4k. Signal interference can be an issue at times, other times it works great. Recently while tracking some surfers, I kept getting signal interference and I was only 100m out and about 2m above the water. Problem is when that happens, the display on the phone is interrupted, not ideal while flying over the water and all of a sudden, you can no longer see what you are doing or where you are!! Great little drone, easy to learn, easy to fly. I hear there is talks of the Mavic Air 2 coming out soon! Hmmmm....

Yup, start talking 1000km's plus and I can see Frail's ears stand up!

Frail does stuff like this before breakfast.

Quick summary of the day:

I saw that pileup! Hectic stuff!! I was trying to catch up to the Elite bunch, (on the motorbike), sitting behind the comm car, waiting for a safe time to pass and then just chaos! Bikes flying all over the road!!

I did the Zipline in Mosselbay yesterday... Here is some drone and gopro footage!

Not upset, voicing some irritations! ???? I cover a lot of events throughout the year, so feel free to hit me up if you need shots. But I have offered this to Ride and many other publications before, either my shots are too crap or business is too good for them to realize the opportunity in me already being at the events, not having to send their own photographer around the country. Anyhow...

The 2.4Ghz is a lower frequency so should work better when there are obstacles in the way, buildings, trees whatever. Problem with 2.4 is the interference and bandwidth with everyone else that is on 2.4 with their wifi and phones. In wifi congested areas 5.8 will work better. I haven't tested the the differences in range but flying on 5.8 in urban areas has eliminated a lot of signal interference. Been too bang to fly more than a 1km out on any of those two frequencies! But out of the sticks with no wifi around, 2.4 hasnt given me issues.

Yea I know, traveling from Pretoria sure would have felt like traveling from the other side of the country to get to Hoedspruit. SABC was never mentioned, not even sure they knew they were going to be there. The budget thing... they had R1.3M surplus on the last public statement, there's that. That's the thing, everyone wants coverage and live feeds and photos and what not, but no one is willing to pay for it. If you want free, you get free... but then everyone should stop complaining about the lack of coverage. Sometimes, when the event organizers are full of budget stories, I work directly with the the pro teams, much easier and they get dedicated coverage.

Lekka Vid! I had the same idea with a dedicated drone phone but my old Samsung J7 doesnt work with the Fly app it seems. I like flying in tricky spots and a phone rebooting can be catastrophic! My track record: Building 1 - Drone 0 With the newest 1.004 version software I have had my phone reboot once during 6 flights. Also had the drone drop down, touch the sand (luckily I was hovering over the beach at the time, not the ocean!! :eek:) and take off again. Not sure what the hell happened there. I didnt touch the controls at all, I saw it going down and I could have bought it back up but I wanted to see what was going on in the little drones mind, since I saw it was safe to just let it be. If you want to force the drone into FCC mode for the 5.8Ghz frequency, here is what you need to do, will give you much better reception around your home: Download Fake GPS from Google app store. Turn off GPS on your phone Open Fake GPS and drop a pin in the US somewhere open (not in a city), press play. Start the remote - very important DO NOT have the phone connected to the remote! Start the drone Wait for the drone and remote to connect Now plug in your phone into the remote Start the Fly App and press three dots on the camera setting. You might get a message that the drone is changing settings to a different country Check your Transmission Settings - Should have changed from 2.4ghz to 5.8ghz. If you want to stay in FCC mode reverse the process so that you can connect in FCC mode next time. Disconnect your phone First Then Switch off the Drone and Remote. Next time Drone + Remote on, wait for connection, connect phone.... voila!!

Oh and sell the photos to whom, the 3 people that actually attended?! :lol: