Improve The Use of Your Smart Controller

March 08, 2021

Disclaimer: I’ve not been given any products to endorse them or any payment to do this review.

Monitor - Tablet Holder

So you’ve bought a DJI drone and spent over a thousand pounds and you decide the mobile phone screen is just not big enough to see what you're recording or photographing. There are a few ways to go, use a tablet, monitor or DJI Smart Controller by itself or attached to a monitor.

The other thing is there a number of controls to use for flying and moving the gimbal, and you need to make everything smooth looking all at the same time. Some people are really good at this, while others have difficulty because of problems with their hands or disabled in one way or another that make the whole experience difficult.

In my situation, I'm wheelchair bound and have problems with one hand, but I still manage to do a half decent job as many in my position do. Maybe you have problems and have been put off getting a drone, but maybe this blog might help you change your mind.

Buying accessories is a learning situation. A Tutor once told me when I was doing a photography degree that I would buy one tripod, then put that in the cupboard and then buy another and do the same till I found the one that was perfect for my needs, it's very true and the same in this instance with flying drones.

I must have got through at least 4 brackets to hold my tablet. Some were cheap and other expensive, till now I have found the perfect company that has tried different materials to make brackets and found that aluminium is perfect as easy to construct and stand the test of use of time over and again, that’s Thor's Drone World based in Norway.

I’ve had two of their products, one was for the original controller for the DJI Mavic Pro 2 and the other I recently got for the DJI Smart Controller I invested in. The first one I had was the LifThor Sif XXL, which is all plastic and seemed good at the time and then I invested in the PolarPro Flight Deck that is aluminum. Have to say this is a good piece of kit but the connection between the main controller part to the tablet holder was a bit weak to take the weight of my iPad Air, but it did the job.

Lockdown

We have all struggled with lockdown and the impact of the Covid-19 through 2020 and now 2021. In my situation, I have had to shield like many but have been touched by the dreadful pandemic and lost extended family members and friends have had it, but thankfully recovered. I worked out that I had been out 8 times back in 2020 and so far this year as I write this blog, I’ve been out once.

During this time I have tried to keep myself busy with setting up a YouTube channel to interview people within the drone industry as pilots in commercial and hobby. Keeping my gear primed with recharging batteries each month, and looking at what is new and going on.

December last year, I did my A2 CofC certificate as the legislation came in that has made flying or will make flying easier to do, than what we had before. It seems so long ago now we were complaining about having to register as pilots and our drones over 250grams.

The shock of a second lockdown and the loss of over 140,000 with death certificates stating they died of Covid since the beginning is unbelievable and so sad. But also the detriment to mental health is far greater, but with the vaccine now getting to all, is a good send, because according to scientist if this had been 10 years ago, we wouldn't have had the science or technology and life as we know it would be far worse and thank god it has not affected children as we would see numbers double or more.

But there is light at the end of this dark tunnel and we just have to work together for the greater good of the world as it's in our hands now!

So looking around at new things coming out, LifThor has been working hard to design new controller brackets and more.

DJI Smart Controller

Since the release of the controller, I wasn’t convinced it would be a good investment at a price tag of £579, but with research and seeing one in person made sense to invest as it's an all in one controller with screen and quick to set up and use. If there was a downside it would be the following:

5” screen
Price
Map
Android

You may ask why. The screen for me, even though it's good, is a bit small with my eyes, but got used to it and can manage if needed. It’s a lot of money for what it is and hope that when they eventually bring out the C class drone that we can still use this controller and not another new one, as there is not much that they can improve in my view. I wish they had used Google Maps instead of MapBox. I know through research that a lot of companies from car navigation to apps use this map, but I just prefer Google. Android is not my choice as many apps using Android crash at first and take many updates to get sorted, the last thing you want is to be flying and the app crashes and you're left hanging with your drone in the air while it reboots. The Apple version has always been stable right from the start, but I guess it's all about licenses and cost.

With all that said, that battery lasts forever, a great screen like the Crystal Sky, but I’m still fingers and thumbs, but the sticks feel slightly more controllable than the original controller and overall much better feel to it.

LifThor SC Pro for DJI Smart Controller

Since my first encounter with Lifthor, I've subscribed to their website and was pleased to see one day this aluminium all-in-one bracket for the Smart Controller. It’s solid machined wrap around makes it easy to fix to the controller and makes use of the screw holes on the front side of the controller. The ability to add a tablet holder, which they also do, and is sturdy and easy to fit any size tablet and you can also add a monitor and they add a HDMI - HDMI lead in with the bracket and all the tools you need.

Now regarding cost, you have to take into account what you paid for the controller. If you were in the market for a bracket to make life easier to have the controller on a camera strap or some other form, you would want something that was solid and going to look after you Smart controller and not fall apart within a few months. So what price would you spend to protect it? £20, £40, £80? Well this bracket will cost you just over £64 plus tax since we have left the EU! So it's mid priced and in my view worth every penny as it's going to last, can’t break and could be fitted to a tripod or some other piece of gear that I will talk about later. Lifthor also gives a 2 year warranty on all its products, something you don’t see much with gear like this!

I originally bought this to fit my iPad Air using their bracket, but hit a dilemma in that I needed the Smart Controller, which is Android to talk to iPad Air that is IOS. so with a bit of research I found an app that works via WiFi to mirror the controller screen onto the iPad called ApowerMirror.

You have to have the Android version on the Smart controller that you download from the Google app store and put onto a micro SD card and then install it on there, then download the Apple version of the app onto the tablet, then open both up on each device and it does the job. It’s just a work around and even if you have an Android tablet you can do the same thing.

Going another direction, you could invest in a dedicated monitor like the Lilliput 7” 4K monitor which cost around £140 through Amazon. It’s much lighter than the iPad and has a brighter screen. Soon as you connect with the HDMI lead supplied by LifThor, it mirrors the Smart Controller screen.

The reason I did this was because the Smart controller screen is just a tad too small for my eyes and this worked for me to compose my images and flight, if you don’t have this problem, then great, but we all don’t have 20/20 vision, especially when we get older.

Lifthor do brackets for all sorts of controllers and is worth taking a look at their website as I feel they have thought outside of the box and want to produce good quality accessories that will last and be effective in what they are designed for.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better!

I’ve mentioned my disability and the problems that I have making those smooth transitions in flight with my drone, and would be great is having something stable to hold the Smart controller while I concentrate on flying and panning.

So LifThor have come to my rescue once again with their new ‘StrapThor Pro Body Tripod’. I know it's a mouth full but bare with me on this one.

This is a chest strap that allows you to connect the LifThor brackets to a chest plate that is adjustable in all sorts of ways, but it does more. It means that you can’t drop your expensive controller maybe while you're changing batteries, or having to move from one position to another. For me it gives me that platform, which means I can control my drone with procision and makes my flying better and easier. It’s such a simple idea but one that maybe many have been waiting for. Even if you’re a commercial pilot and working long periods of time and have to change batteries often, your hands are free and you don’t have to put down the controller, and if you do you can get the quick release that connects the bracket to the chest strap!

I’ve not seen anything like this on the market and LifThor has hit the nail on the head with this piece of kit and adds to the quality of their other products as they will all work with this chest strap.

No more neck ache from wearing a camera strap, no more juggling between putting the controller down safely while you change batteries.

Again with LifThor, everything is made from high grade materials and supplied with the tools to make adjustments. As for the price you have to think about how much you spent on your drone equipment in the first place and how best to protect it firstly and secondly its usability. The cost is £93.21 plus tax and I know that might seem a lot but think of it this way, you wont need to buy it again and if DJI keep to the Smart Controller when they bring out the next generation drone, you won't have to buy another bracket, but if you do, yo know LifThor will have it covered!

Having the right tools for the job, is always something we look to improve upon, so we can make the best images or video. There are two things to a drone, flying and capturing and in most cases you have to do both at the same time. This is why it takes practice to enhance our skills, and accessories just make that slightly more achievable to reach new goals, a better workspace to create more than we thought we could.

Watch The Videos For A Real View of The Gear

So I’ve explained the gear, now watch the videos to see the Smart Controller Bracket in detail and the other video is coming soon covering the StrapThor Pro Body Tripod.

Visit via link: Thor’s Drone World

Drone tools to help you get that Sunrise - Sunset perfect shot

September 23, 2020

Introduction

I've been a photographer for over 12 years now and landscape photography is a great love of mine. For many years I used a camera on a tripod, but then a couple of years ago I got into fly drones for the purpose of doing landscape photography from a totally different composition from the air, and like all my work, I let the images speak for themselves.

Elements to the sun

With the sunset you have what is commonly called the golden hour before the sun actually sets, the times each year can vary, but it is still called the golden hour. This is the point the sun is redder and larger in some months than it is during the midday. The colours can vary and give this glow effect and the landscape shadows can bring things like the trees with long shadows and colour not seen at midday. As the sun touches the horizon the colours change yet again and can produce magenta colours. But then after the sun has disappeared from the horizon it can take on another form and reflect the bottom of the cloud formations.

The sunrise is similar to a golden hour but kind of in reverse of the sunset, but either when photographing can mean you need to adjust your shutter speed or aperture to let in more light as it begins to get darker or ends darker.

Timing

We all know that at different seasons of the year the sun rises and falls either later or earlier, and knowing when the golden hour is about to begin is so important to you as the photographer to be onsite before this all happens, and that's where some really handy apps which can be useful so that your not late and miss these great views of the sun but also let you know where the sun will set on the location you have chosen to visit, or to help you work out where best to set up.

Here are some the best apps to try out

Taking a shot of a sunset with a clear sky can only work once, so having some cloud cover or mist to make the image more appealing, means you need to know what the weather is going to be like that evening or tomorrow morning.

Dark Sky App

This app offers what they call hyperlocal information, with down to the minute forecast and notifications.

On the day it offers the following information plus a seven day forecast:

Temperature
Feel-Like
Precip Prob
Precip Rate
Wind
Wind Gust
Humidity
Dew Point
UV Index
Cloud Cover
Pressure

Now some of the information might not be relevant but a lot of it is to help you decide whether to go out or not.

The App is available in iOS and Android and a paid version without adverts can be got.

PhotoPills App

This is a real photographer app with a lot of useful tools that maybe some of you might find useful. But to make a point that this app can tell you what time the sun is to rise and set and from what direction. It also uses AR so you can hold your phone up to see the direction and change of position during the period so you can decide if you want to change location to get another image from a different point.

It's available on iOS and Android but costs £9.99, but you do get a lot of useful stuff that you will find useful.

TPE (The Photographer’s Ephemeris)

This app has been around for a long time and one I started out with. Like PhotoPills, it shows you the information on the sun rise and set and use AR and you can also save points of interest or add a date with a reminder.

It's available on iOS and Android but a little bit more pricey on iOS but only £2.69 on Android.

Having the tools to research sites of interest like Google Earth, can give you a birds eye view of a location, and then the app NAT’s to research if there are any flight restrictions, and record your flight with them. The other apps help you decide on a date to go with and allows you to work out your journey time to get to the location before the events begin.

This image wouldn't of been possible without the research and apps to give me the times of the event and the weather conditions to be able to capture this with bags of time to set up and be ready and relaxed at the same time, and theses are my choice of apps to use, there might be others like them, but only you can work out what works for you.

Update - Drone Photography

November 10, 2018

Into today’s world, technology moves so fast that by the time you’ve got use to your new piece of tech kit, something else has come along to replace it as soon as.

When I got my first DJI drone, the Mavic Air, which has a F2.8 aperture giving 12MP RAW and JPWG images, and 4K video with 30-120 FPS. I thought it was great.

But within two months DJI brought out the DJI Mavic Pro 2, with its 1” Hasselblad gimbal camera giving 20MB RAW and JPEG images with an f-stop from F2.8/F11 and 4K video with 30-120 FPS.

The drone is larger and does make a difference in being able to see in the sky, but apart from the battery use time, which is around 30 minutes and longer than the Mavic Air, its the camera for me that makes all the difference and why I invested in the Mavic Pro 2.

The Gimbal Camera

When you look at the image of the Mavic Pro 2, the camera looks small and uninspiring, but it actually has all the features of an SLR camera.

White Balance
ISO100-12800
Shutter speed 8-1/8000s
Single shot
Burst shot 3/5 frames
Auto exposure bracketing (AEB) 3/5 bracketed frames t 0.7EV Bias

Screenshot live feed and camera controls

It’s unbelievable that such a small camera is packed with all these features, yet the control is done by the app on a phone or tablet connected to the drone controller and works wirelessly. You can do some clever shots like stitching images together, HDR, long exposure, bracketing, just to name a few. It’s like having a real camera in your hands, but being able to photograph from up to 400ft high off the ground and choosing your composition from 360 degree angle, the camera sits on 3-axis gimbal and allows you to move up and down, but now also left to right. DJI believe the drone can work in a stable position in winds up to 22mph.

As a photographer, the drone gives you new possibilities on how you photograph the landscape, but also structures by being able to be above and pointing the camera directly down on the subject. Also it allows you to access places which you can’t reach be foot or by chair. The camera comes with a 10-BIT Dlog-M Colour Profile that gives amazing colour to your images right out of the drone, the images are sharp and crisp, giving 20MB RAW or JPEG and gives you a whole lot of image to work with when it comes to post editing, but the image quality is really good out of the camera. It even comes with histogram and over exposure warnings.

4K Video

The DJI Mavic Pro 2 comes with a number of features like ‘tripod mode’ that makes your drone move more slowly, giving that smooth and more accurate movement, great if you flooring a person. Also Hyperlaps video, something that in the passed you needed special equipment and a large camera being able to process so many images taken within a space of time. Now you can be above your subject and have incredible steady footage. The 4K video is smooth and with the use ND filters, you can make professional looking footage that only the most expensive of equipment has been able to do in the past.

This small but powerful drone, gives new life to photography and videography and is a great addition to your kit, which is compact easy to setup within minutes.

Test Flight

I’ve always worked in manual mode, so I set the f-stop to f5.6, ISO 100 and 24fps. The first thing I noticed was how much faster this drone flies, you can get up to a speed of 20mph, which is quicker than the Mavic Air and allows you to get to your point of interest in a shorter time and saves of the battery, so you have more time to film or photograph your subject.

When you take your thumb off the joystick, it comes to a halt really quickly. Being able to see your drone at all times, is part of the regulations and in this test I went out about 800ft, and I have to say I had no problem looking at the drone, then looking at my screen, then back to the drone. This was half the maximum distance, and I'm sure if I gone the max, I would still be able to see the drone clearly.

With the Mavic Pro 2, you have the ability to move the camera up and down, but also left and right by touching the screen on the device app with your finger. You can move the position at max but you can see the front leg of the drone, which is a shame it doesn’t stop before that, but you can edit this out or just be more responsive to correct the camera away from the leg.

The controller comes with buttons which you can customise, but one allows the camera to look directly 90 degrees downwards, clicking again returns it back to its original position, this is really useful and a time saver as the camera moves slowly so not to seem jittery in footage.

Things like I’ve mentioned, saves a lot of time in trying to do it yourself, this means more time in the air and not wasting valuable battery time.

Final Thoughts

Yes the drone is over £1,000, but DJI is at the forefront of hobby and professional drones. They pack so many great features that it literally can fly itself if programmed to. Its safety features means you're not going to crash very easily. It’s been widely reported that it doesn’t use the full 1” sensor but it still is an amazing camera and great quality of images and video.

You can always if you want to find fault with things, but for the most part, I love this drone and I know its going to add to my workflow and allow me to create interesting images and video that I couldn’t do with my DSLR without having special equipment, but I'm not going to get the great views from ground as I can from the sky with some of my photography. I don't see myself making movies that involve people, as I got this purely for landscape photography. There are limitations as you I can’t use it within a city and unless it's an open area. Rules and regulations are tight and may get tighter, but I'm sure that they wont effect the kind of use that I have in mind for the drone.

I’ve posted a number of videos on my website already, which was done with the Mavic Air, and to me they look amazing and this new drone is just going to add more time in the air, a real camera control and a bunch of advance features that I'm sure in time will get to use at some point.

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