Time for all you #dji o3 air unit owners to update your firmware!

What's new?

New recording modes for Goggles 2, more camera settings, 10bit D-Cinelike mode, bug fixes, and more.

https://forum.dji.com/thread-279806-1-1.html

#djifpv #fpv #drone #drones #fpvdrone

The Hero10 Black Bones is GoPro’s Answer to the DJI FPV Drone

#equipment #news #5k #dji #djifpv #dronecamera #drones #fpvdrone #fpvdrones #gopro #goprohero10black #goprohero10blackbones

Aircraft Live Video Feeds has just started streaming on their #owncast server! Check them out at:
https://stream.inman.info.

Welcome to our aircraft/UAV streaming page!

#streaming #owncast #DJI #FPV #DJIFPV #FPVVideo

What it is Like to Fly a Drone Near a Volcano… And Then Crash It

If you watched the news or were connected to the internet the first week of June, chances are good that you have seen a video of a drone crashing into an erupting volcano. Well, that drone was mine and it got completely disintegrated. In my latest video, I share what it is like to fly a drone around a volcano and what you have to look out for.

First of all, as fellow camera nerds, let's get the gear question out of the way: on this trip to the volcano, I hiked out with both the DJI Mavic 2 Pro and my newest acquisition: the DJI FPV drone. The reason why I decided to take both drones is that they serve very different purposes for us filmmakers.

The Mavic 2 Pro with its one-inch sensor, variable aperture, and incredibly stable flight characteristics allowed me to film slow pans and tilts even in low light conditions. The DJI FPV, on the other hand, has a far inferior camera but its maneuverability gives it not only a unique flight experience but also a look that only FPV drones can provide. After some grading magic in post-production, you can still get some decent images out of it. I also shot on the ground with a RED Komodo and a Canon R6.

No matter what drone you are flying with there are few things you need to keep in mind when flying a drone around an active volcano.

First of all: turbulence. As a volcano erupts, hot gasses are emitted and the air above the lava stream is heated up to extremely high temperatures. This hot air mixed with colder Atlantic winds common in Iceland can cause significant turbulence that is near impossible to predict. This includes air pockets of less dense air where your drone could suddenly drop or updrafts that just push it around.

These thermal drafts are particularly felt when flying FPV drones in manual mode, without any GPS support or stabilization. If you don’t pay attention for just a moment it could very well be the last flight… like it was in my case. For a more detailed description of the crash itself, skip to 4:19 in the video above.

If you master the winds another phenomenon unique to some volcanic eruptions can hit you… and your drone: raining rocks. As some of the lava mixes with the air during the eruption, very light rocks are formed and catapulted into the air, and carried hundreds of meters away from the crater. Depending on the size, these may not destroy the drone itself but could damage the propellers or camera lens.

Lastly, timing is everything. For the best results, you will need to combine the weather conditions (Iceland has some crazy winds even without the volcanic updrafts), the right sunlight (golden and blue hour work best, of course), or the volcanic eruption itself. I gave myself four days to capture this volcano -- which was erupting like a geyser every seven to 10 minutes -- to ensure I would be able to film it in various conditions and from different angles. There were certainly many times when I couldn’t fly the drones due to extreme winds, that’s when I focussed on capturing this spectacle with my RED Komodo.

During my trip, I filmed a staggering amount of footage, much of which I will release on my channel over the next weeks and months. So make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and tag along behind the scenes on my Instagram.

About the author: Joey Helms is a Chicago-based Creative Director and Video Director best known for crashing a drone into an erupting volcano. His work focuses on the documentary style as he tells stories from around the globe. He is running a semi-successful YouTube channel where he shares his work and tutorials for those who want to take the next step in their filmmaking journey and use cinema gear.

#editorial #features #news #crash #djifpv #dronecrash #eruption #firstpersonview #fpv #fpvdrone #iceland #icelandvolcano #icelandvolcanoeruption #joeyhelms #volcano

Watch in First-Person as a DJI Drone is Swallowed by a Volcano

Photographer and filmmaker Joey Helms ventured to Iceland in order to capture footage of the volcanic eruption there. During a pass over the mouth of the volcano, his DJI FPV was swallowed by lava and lost forever.

As noted by Helms, first-person view drones -- or FPV for short -- are very much prone to crashes. Part of DJI's pitch for its aptly-named FPV drone was that it was not only durable but would be supported with easily replaceable parts to address any crashes that would assuredly happen to even the most seasoned pilot as evidenced during PetaPixel 's own review of the DJI FPV drone. When a drone can fly at up to 87 miles per hour while also taking tight turns and performing aerial stunts, crashes are pretty much unavoidable.

"FPV drones are notorious for crashing, it is part of the hobby," Helms says. "So in an effort to get a unique vantage point and perspective into the crater, we flew this remarkably capable drone as close to the lava river and caldera as possible. One of them turned out to be its very last flight. At least the goggles record a great 1080p image allowing us to actually capture the last seconds the drone saw."

Helms says that thanks to the goggles' separate recording functionality, he was able to share this unique footage of his drone's final seconds. When asked if the intent was to lose the drone or if it was just an unfortunate lava spurt that sealed its fate, Helms was coy.

"I will leave that judgment to each individual viewer," he says. "It has already led to interesting debates and even conspiracy theories. I call it 'CGI-gate' as some claim it is a computer animation."

Helms does say that he did indeed lose his drone to the mouth of the volcano and also admits that he's relatively new to first-person vies drone flights.

"I have gotten into FPV specifically with the DJI FPV and spent hours and hours in the simulator. I thought I would never be able to fly this beast fully manually (acro). But after hours of training and test flights, I am pretty happy with my abilities now," he tells PetaPixel.

To prove it, Helms provided the following video that shows multiple other angles and shots that were clearly captured with the DJI FPV.

"I am actually not an entirely terrible drone pilot," he laughs.

This is not the first drone to suffer damage from flying too close to the molten lava and is the second time a DJI drone filmed its own demise. Some drones only suffered damage and were not entirely lost. Earlier this year, a drone nearly melted while hovering over the mouth of the volcano while another DJI FPV was struck out of the sky by a chunk of flying debris.

For more from Joey Helms, make sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel.

#equipment #news #crash #djifpv #dronecrash #eruption #firstpersonview #fpv #fpvdrone #iceland #icelandvolcano #icelandvolcanoeruption #joeyhelms #volcano