Flying Spark out of site

[Lastrexking]

Never read so much rubbish in 1 post. Since when does DJI advertise the Spark as a selfie drone? Its simply advertised as a beginners drone.

Really? I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.

Here’s an official dji video with the Spark being used as a selfie drone, and in the family snapshot scenarios I mentioned.

And another

And another

And another

I could go on and on..... but in short, the official DJI videos mostly show the Spark being used as a selfie and family drone. It’s by no means fit for professional use.

 

[lasorey]

They can use it in whatever scenario, but you stated they call it a selfie drone. See the difference?

In every shop i look, they simply sell it as a smart drone, beginners drone, amateur drone. Ive never see them call it a selfie drone. Your the only 1 calling it that

 

[Lastrexking]

They can use it in whatever scenario, but you stated they call it a selfie drone. See the difference?

In every shop i look, they simply sell it as a smart drone, beginners drone, amateur drone. Ive never see them call it a selfie drone. Your the only 1 calling it that

You’re wrong. This is a DJI employee calling it a selfie drone.

Official DJI Spark Owner's Thread - Page 423 - RC Groups

 

[lasorey]

Looking at your post i see “mini drone”. Pretty accurate i would say

 

[lasorey]

You’re wrong. This is a DJI employee calling it a selfie drone.

Official DJI Spark Owner's Thread - Page 423 - RC Groups

Ok, so we have one employee calling it a selfie drone in 1 topic. You Made your point, youre right

 

[lasorey]

Just read how they advertise it in your OWN post. “Most advanced technology etc”

 

[delovelady]

Really? I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.

Here’s an official dji video with the Spark being used as a selfie drone, and in the family snapshot scenarios I mentioned.

And another

And another

And another

I could go on and on..... but in short, the official DJI videos mostly show the Spark being used as a selfie and family drone. It’s by no means fit for professional use.

In all of those, the Spark is used as a selfie drone, it's true. But not exclusively as a selfie drone in any of them. Tracking cars, tracking sports, et cetera... those are not selfies.

 

[MannyCAM2001]

“I use it” are the operative words here. When I first saw the Spark on YouTube, my mind was racing with the camera possibilities. I said “****” can you imagine the awesome camera angles I can get with this little drone. It says stealth all over it too. It will not strike fear into onlookers. Which is what videography is all about, being invisible to the viewer. Not being aware that there was ever a cameraman, ...or camerawoman present.
And this lil guy is so simple to use,
I will have up in the air and down before anyone is aware of it. Smooth cinematic looking shots.... and I may have a ton of fun just flying it.
I own a DJI OSMO, and have shot video both professionally and for fun for years with all kinds of cameras. The Spark to me is a camera platform, just like the Osmo, the VX1000 3-chip and every camera since.
But I gotta say, the last thing I bought this drone for was for selfies.
It’s all in what your intent was on buying the Spark. Is it purely a selfie drone? Yes if you plan on using it for that.
But from all of the youtubers that have posted footage from their “selfie” drone, Ive yet to see an entire video featuring selfies.
And you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between Spark footage and Mavic footage.
So now, Saturday morning, I’m going to take my selfie ipad mini 4, my “selfie remote controller” my selfie Polaroid Cube + and go out get some cool ariel and low level shots.
I may even get a selfie in there somewhere.
All in fun, guys.
Peace out ✌

 

[delovelady]

In all of those, the Spark is used as a selfie drone, it's true. But not exclusively as a selfie drone in any of them. Tracking cars, tracking sports, et cetera... those are not selfies.

I meant to say, those are things most selfie drones can not do. Also, an Inspire 2 can be used as a selfie drone (albeit a cumbersome one!). And I seem to recall Mavic Pro and Mavic Air ads from DJI that show each being used very similarly to the Spark ads. So does that mean DJI is calling them selfie drones too?

 

[ZPFunk]

hi all

I’ve had my spark for about a week and love it so far. Just wish I had more time to mess with it. My question is how many of you make it a point to not fly beyond line of site? I’m not talking about high or far either. For example, where I live I can put my spark 30’ in the air and beyond 100’ or so I wouldn’t be able to see it due to trees and stuff. I’ve been super nervous to fly it more than this in fear of not being able to see it while in the air. How many of you disregsrd the line of site? Is it safe to say that if I did lose site of my Spark that I would just RTH and that would be totally acceptable behavior? I want to flex my wings a bit more but am nervous.

Thanks all
Richie

Richie, it is safe to say that if one properly grasps the user manuals, and has a solid understanding of how the features they intend to use on their spark are meant to function they'd be one step safer.

To help insure a safe flight, before taking off make sure of a few things, proper GPS connection for spark, Compass/Imu are Calibrated, and that you take off from a clearing without overhead obstructions.

Then in your settings make sure your RTH height is safely above any obstacles and within legal limits for your area.

When you do take off, keep the spark close by and Verify that the home point has been updated and matches your take off location on the map.

If you did all of that, and your location is looking good on the map, then the sparks return to home should definitely probably work.

There are so many factors that come into play when piloting a drone that relies on wifi and gps, so theres no absolute answer unless the person telling you also flys at the same place you fly at. That along with subtle differences in manufacturing as well as dirty sensors, weather conditions and other variables can throw curve balls at you.

To sum up the rant, if you do your preflight checks, and make sure your homepoint is correct your spark is designed to return to that location. As someone who has done a few range tests and lost connection with my spark, mine did always return home and usually within a foot or two of where it took off.

If you dont need to be standing under the trees while filming, try flying over them at an angle from a clearing, then you can maintain LOS, im sure you may have thought of that though.

 

[cozzykim]

Richie, it is safe to say that if one properly grasps the user manuals, and has a solid understanding of how the features they intend to use on their spark are meant to function they'd be one step safer.

To help insure a safe flight, before taking off make sure of a few things, proper GPS connection for spark, Compass/Imu are Calibrated, and that you take off from a clearing without overhead obstructions.

Then in your settings make sure your RTH height is safely above any obstacles and within legal limits for your area.

When you do take off, keep the spark close by and Verify that the home point has been updated and matches your take off location on the map.

If you did all of that, and your location is looking good on the map, then the sparks return to home should definitely probably work.

There are so many factors that come into play when piloting a drone that relies on wifi and gps, so theres no absolute answer unless the person telling you also flys at the same place you fly at. That along with subtle differences in manufacturing as well as dirty sensors, weather conditions and other variables can throw curve balls at you.

To sum up the rant, if you do your preflight checks, and make sure your homepoint is correct your spark is designed to return to that location. As someone who has done a few range tests and lost connection with my spark, mine did always return home and usually within a foot or two of where it took off.

If you dont need to be standing under the trees while filming, try flying over them at an angle from a clearing, then you can maintain LOS, im sure you may have thought of that though.

Good post

 

[Sr Drone]

I’ve had my spark for about a week and love it so far. Just wish I had more time to mess with it. My question is how many of you make it a point to not fly beyond line of site? I’m not talking about high or far either. For example, where I live I can put my spark 30’ in the air and beyond 100’ or so I wouldn’t be able to see it due to trees and stuff. I’ve been super nervous to fly it more than this in fear of not being able to see it while in the air. How many of you disregsrd the line of site? Is it safe to say that if I did lose site of my Spark that I would just RTH and that would be totally acceptable behavior? I want to flex my wings a bit more but am nervous.

I get a lot of disconnects if I fly behind a large tree or building etc. Risky to fly beyond line of sight.

 

[Rafa7]

Nice video @kentlim26
The parrot was a great shot.

 

[Fairwind]

Videos like this are downright stunning and I have never seen a selfie drone do things like this or even have close to the capability to do so. Then videos like this are all over youtube.

Also why people say only 1080p? That is full HD and until 4K came around that is top quality. Look at the parrot bebop 2 power that's 1080 also. The mavic air was very recently released at end of January. I think spark is a solid advanced mini drone with really good selfie capabilities. It was designed to do what the larger drones do all in a compact portable size. If you have a mavic pro platinum then I can see using spark as selfie. Its all about how someone chooses to use it. A friend of mine sold his phantom 4 for a spark when it first came out. He has yet to take a selfie pic. His pics are all high altitude quality landscape photos. A true selfie drone is things such as the Elfie or GoolRC T47. Last I have never seen a selfie drone that's able to withstand darn near 24mph winds at over 5000ft away and 400ft high. Videos like this are on youtube also.

 

[ZPFunk]

Semantics. The spark is marketed as a "Selfie Drone" and if you've ever been limited to using it with just a mobile device (sans controller) it would be hard to argue with the advertising, as comfort levels with range are very low, and fuctionality is limited.

However, hypothetically speaking once you add the controller in to the mix it becomes a Super Selfie Drone. The controller gives it that extra boost so you can be extra sure you dont miss any of those awesome selfie moments that could only be captured from 1.2 miles away. Still waiting on that telephoto zoom lens for the spark to drop, cant wait for those long range selfies, my instagram is about to be awesome.

The spark without the controller is best treated as a selfie drone, though if youre a risk taker, you might push the line.

One could be forgiven for mistakenly believing The spark with the controller is a selfie drone, the way brass knuckles are paperweights.

Luckily we dont have to deal with the legal side of branding and DJI took care of all that mess. So i'll just continue to enjoy my selfie drone.

Also i keep getting this darn paperweight stuck on my hand and last time when i made a fist to try and squeeze it loose, i accidentally swung my balled up hand and punched someone in the face. I would get rid of them after that, but theyre just so good at keeping my papers from flying away.

(jk [emoji14])

 

[ZPFunk]

 

[Spark 317]

...hypothetically speaking once you add the controller in to the mix it becomes a Super Selfie Drone.

I chuckled when I read that with a comic book vision of....

New to the world, the Spark was working quietly as a mild manor selfie drone capturing the faces of many. Then one day a miraculous thing happened, the remote controller was paired and now we have, TA DA, Super Selfie Spark ! Able to photograph tall buildings, speeding trains, and yes, selfies from quite a distance. YEAH !

 

[Ophidia Snaketongue]

I think the Spark is no doubt an excellent, if not the best, selfie drone in existence, but it's also capable of much more than one would expect from a drone of its size. Ultimately, I'm not sure there really is a suitable term for it. Mini-drone or selfie drone suggests one of those cheap-but-usable $100-$200 drones. It's not really at the level of a prosumer drone, either. The best simple description I can think for it would be a compact full feature drone. I bought it for its hybrid abilities- small enough to be easy to transport on a plane, capable of some fairly serious flights, but friendly and fun to use with my nieces.

Anyway, getting back to OP's question, I always fly my drone within VLOS. No only is it required by the UK drone code, but it's best practice. I also keep a mental map in my mnd of which way the drone is facing compared to me, with the aim that if RTH or my tablet ever failed, I'd still be able to manually fly my drone back to me. I've had a couple of saved flyaways during my various flights. One was when I accidentally borked up compass calibration (first time I'd ever done it, just wanted to see if I could), and the second time was when a sudden gust caused the dreaded yaw error. Due to the fact I know not only precisely where my drone was, but also which way it was facing, I was able to fly it back on sticks.

I did once completely lose VLOS on my drone. I was flying it pretty far away so it was a little dot in the sky...and I sneezed. . Not a clue where it was when I looked back up!

 

[mimixtz]

I always have in mind to maintain LOS, with nothing between rc and spark. But not VLOS. I admit.

Since there was a lot of funny to read things written about spark in this thread, let me add my part:
Spark can "only do 1080/30fps" videos.
This is a con for spark by many "reviewers" and others.
Now I have a few questions which I'm not able to answer to myself:
Does 50% of people know that this is full HD?
Is 50% of people aware that at least 80% of TVs and monitors and other devices where people are watching videos are not able to show 4k picture? So where is the benefit to have 4k video then?
I've seen many aerial/action videos done by various 1080p/30fps cameras (or they at least were set like that despite being able to do more): for my eyes and eyes of all other I know videos from spark 1080 camera are simply the best.
There are a lot of videos on youtube people admitting that spark videos looks unbelivable for 1080p/30fps. That spark videos looks better than a lot of 4k camera video.
I believe there are other things important besides resolution and frames per second. But those 2 are great for marketing. ;-)

 

[ZPFunk]

I chuckled when I read that with a comic book vision of....

New to the world, the Spark was working quietly as a mild manor selfie drone capturing the faces of many. Then one day a miraculous thing happened, the remote controller was paired and now we have, TA DA, Super Selfie Spark ! Able to photograph tall buildings, speeding trains, and yes, selfies from quite a distance. YEAH !

Haha, Basically