So your DJI Mavic has simply arrived. Congratulations. So what do it’s essential to know straight out of the field?
It’s actually small.
Okay, so that you already know this – it’s in your own home, in spite of everything. But we had been nonetheless greatly surprised at how small this drone is. The level right here is that this: regardless of the DJI Mavic’s spectacular and durable construct high quality, it’s nonetheless weak if you go away it mendacity round and take it with you in your travels.
It’s all too simple to depart your Mavic within the nook whereas it’s updating. Don’t take the chance – Keep it someplace secure and when it’s out, hold it someplace it may well’t be stepped on. Sure, your DJI Care will most likely cowl the harm, nevertheless it’s not a very rock n’ roll motive to ship it in for repairs.
Taking your DJI Mavic on the go? Sure, the man within the demonstration was snug sufficient to whip it out of his pocket. But for many pilots that’s not likely going to be an choice. You’ve spent a lot of cash in your new drone, so type out some sort of case for carrying it on the go, even when it’s simply an tailored SLR case or a well-padded rucksack.
Take the gimbal cowl and restraint off earlier than you activate the facility.
You’ll know by now that the Mavic comes with a gimbal cowl and restraint to guard the digital camera throughout transit. That’s nice, however the issue is that it’s all too simple to neglect to take away these earlier than you flip the facility on. This is especially unhealthy with reference to the gimbal restraint. When the drone activates, the digital camera does some auto-calibration, which includes a collection of actions in all totally different instructions. If this cowl is on, your digital camera goes to be preventing towards the restraint, and also you would possibly trigger some self-inflicted harm.
Don’t take the chance. Remove the quilt, the restraint and unfold the wings earlier than you flip in your Mavic.
Prepare for updates.
Got a huge day of flying deliberate? The night time earlier than, and even within the morning earlier than you allow, swap in your Mavic (whereas following level 2) and test for updates. This can take a whereas relying in your web connection. So go away a while and do it proper. The very last thing you need is for firmware updates to put in incorrectly or in no way.
Don’t neglect to focus.
The Mavic depends on you utilizing its ‘tap to focus’ management by way of the DJI Go app. If you don’t faucet to focus, you would properly find yourself with blurry footage and wasted time within the air.
You’re most prone to this taking place unknowingly when utilizing your Mavic with a small-ish smartphone. It would possibly look nice in your tiny display screen, however in actuality it might be properly out of focus. So keep watch over your focus, and take into account flying with a pill or giant monitor as an alternative to provide the absolute best view of what your drone is seeing.
Get to grips with the autonomous flight modes earlier than utilizing them for actual.
The Mavic comes with a variety of new flight modes that will likely be a first for a lot of pilots. Tripod mode, for instance, reduces the utmost pace of the drone and lowers the sensitivity of your controls. ActiveTrack, which tracks a shifting object and follows it whereas avoiding obstacles, additionally takes some getting used to.
Your finest guess is to seek out a huge open house and observe these totally different flight modes earlier than utilizing them in real-world filming situations.
Suss out the digital camera settings.
There has been loads of hypothesis suggesting that DJI’s smallest drone so far has been shipped with a second-rate digital camera. It’s true that the efficiency of the Mavic’s digital camera isn’t pretty much as good because the more moderen fashions within the Phantom vary. But a lot of the points pilots are having are as a results of poor standardized settings straight out of the field.
So join your DJI Mavic to the app, mess around with the (many) settings and discover a setup that works finest for you and the circumstances you’re flying in.
We’ll write up a piece on this in additional element at a later date.
Resist the temptation to fly your Mavic inside straight out of the field.
You’ve most likely seen a bunch of movies that includes excited pilots flying their DJI Mavic inside straight out of the field. This isn’t one thing we’d suggest.
The Mavic is actually able to indoor flight. It’s received a variety of sensors to assist it keep rooted to the spot. But something can occur on that first flight, significantly should you haven’t taken the time to undergo the settings or calibrations but.
You would possibly, for instance, lose connection earlier than you’ve gone by way of the return to dwelling settings. If you’re flying indoors and lose connection for no matter motive, returning to dwelling at an altitude of 100ft goes to be a painful expertise, for you and your new drone.
Calibrate, calibrate, calibrate.
Every time you flip in your Mavic and connect with it by way of the DJI Go app, you’ll be proven a flight standing checklist. This is successfully a well being test to ensure you don’t take off earlier than you’re prepared. It’s a good concept to calibrate your controller, the gimbal and the Mavic’s inner compass on a common basis- particularly if the standing is registering as ‘poor’.
You may also configure the buttons in your controller to make controlling your Mavic simpler. So experiment with totally different setups to make sure your filming is as easy and seamless as doable.