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Anafi Trial - flying with the iPad Mini 4 and holder... and first time out with the ND8

Efliernz

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Hamilton, New Zealand
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www.ascendphotography.co.nz
My tablet holder has room to connect my rc transmitter lanyard - I'm delighted with the balance.

Out for some non-standard film flying today. Trying the ND8, which brought the shutter down to about 1/240. I should have gone further with the ND16 or 32 but I only have 1 battery - until Friday. I intentionally flew faster and yawed much faster than a normal 'film' yaw with the ND8. It's about learning limits...

Here's a (too long) clip around out model club field on a 30 C degree day.

 
I have ND 8, 16, 32 & a variable 32. The 16 is my most used one for shooting at 24 fps. I do like the smoother cinematic look it creates, as compared to filming at 30 fps, where I start to notice the lagging on my screen.

I'm waiting on my DirtyJ gear to arrive so I can use my iPad. The other holder I bought has a really sloppy fit on the stem of the controller, so I don't use it. It's sturdy enough, but poorly thought out in its execution.

I did notice a considerable loss of detail to some sections of this, Pete. Was that just the fast movement? Or possibly the high shutter speed at play? I don't know, that's why I'm asking, sorry. :unsure:

Looks like a nice spot to spend an afternoon though!
 
Alex, as you already experimented flying with filters, I was wondering if using the Freewell kit (just received mine) composed of 4 Polarized ND filters 8/16/32/64 could follow the rule :

- Use the filter with the white index marking at the top (full polarization) as a polarized filter to prevent reflexion and render a ‘bluer’ sky with white muttonish clouds at the desired density to diminish EV down to a speed of 1/50s for shooting at 24fps.
- Use it with the white index marking at the bottom position on the lens, to only have a ‘regular Neutral Density’ filter and not activating the ‘Polarization effect’

I am not sure if it’makes sense (probably missing something), but I’ll make tests that way to check this theory... but I’d be glad having your opinion as I am not experienced with the optic stuff...

(And sorry for my English that I hope understandable)
 
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I have ND 8, 16, 32 & a variable 32. The 16 is my most used one for shooting at 24 fps. I do like the smoother cinematic look it creates, as compared to filming at 30 fps, where I start to notice the lagging on my screen.

I'm waiting on my DirtyJ gear to arrive so I can use my iPad. The other holder I bought has a really sloppy fit on the stem of the controller, so I don't use it. It's sturdy enough, but poorly thought out in its execution.

I did notice a considerable loss of detail to some sections of this, Pete. Was that just the fast movement? Or possibly the high shutter speed at play? I don't know, that's why I'm asking, sorry. :unsure:

Looks like a nice spot to spend an afternoon though!
I’m not happy with this Alex. Shot in 4 K, I’m hoping to reshoot in 2.7 and 1080. It may have been too much speed (11.5m/s over the corn field) and I was pretty low. I was always going to push the limits today - so I can find the video limit. The compression over the corn looked crap! Unfortunately I only have 1 battery until this weekend.

I nearly dropped down between the rows, over the fence (that was in the drain) but I found the pucker-factor and shaking knees was telling me to calm the #f@% down lol
 
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Alex, as you already experimented flying with filters, I was wondering if using the Freewell kit (just received mine) composed of 4 Polarized ND filters 8/16/32/64 could follow the rule :

- Use the filter with the white index marking at the top (full polarization) as a polarized filter to prevent reflexion and render a ‘bluer’ sky with white muttonish clouds at the desired density to diminish EV down to a speed of 1/50s for shooting at 24fps.
- Use it with the white index marking at the bottom position on the lens, to only have a ‘regular Neutral Density’ filter and not activating the ‘Polarization effect’

I am not sure if it’makes sense (probably missing something), but I’ll make tests that way to check this theory... but I’d be glad having your opinion as I am not experienced with the optic stuff...

(And sorry for my English that I hope understandable)
Phil, your English is great! My French, well let's just say sacrebleu! :giggle:

I didn't end up getting a set of Freewells after all, I got the much cheaper Y&C set, I might get the Freewell set later on, if my testing of these shows that they degrade the image too much.

Regarding alignment of the filters with polarizers, try using a container of some sort with some rocks in it, filled with water & see what results work in regard to getting rid of the reflections visible on the waters surface! :D You don't need to be flying, the Anafi can be perfectly still when you try this out, just manipulate the camera angle to be viewing down into it.

Keep in mind that polarizing filters only work properly when at 90 degrees to the suns direction. That kind of makes them pretty useless if you want shots or clips facing other directions, so you will have to time your filming at a water location to work with that. I hope that makes sense, Phil?

I just tried holding my 16 & 32 ND filters over water in a bird bath here to see if they eliminated the reflections at all, but no such luck, regardless of which angle they were rotated around to!

The variable ND filter, which is up to 64 does eliminate the surface reflections though! Which makes sense when you consider the fact that variable ND filters are just 2 polarizers stuck together!

When the large ColorChecker card arrives, I will do some thorough testing with a whole range of things & share my findings here. Unfortunately, it is taking much longer to arrrive, as the company I bought from have shut for a couple of weeks due to Chinese New Year & mine didn't get sent before they left! :cautious:
 
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I’m not happy with this Alex. Shot in 4 K, I’m hoping to reshoot in 2.7 and 1080. It may have been too much speed (11.5m/s over the corn field) and I was pretty low. I was always going to push the limits today - so I can find the video limit. The compression over the corn looked crap! Unfortunately I only have 1 battery until this weekend.

I nearly dropped down between the rows, over the fence (that was in the drain) but I found the pucker-factor and shaking knees was telling me to calm the #f@% down lol
You were scooting along there pretty fast & low! The perspective looked great, but that would take balls of steel to fly that fast & low, I think. I'll stick with my sedentary snails pace for a while yet. :giggle:

It gets pretty nerve-wracking at times, that's for sure!
 
You were scooting along there pretty fast & low! The perspective looked great, but that would take balls of steel to fly that fast & low, I think. I'll stick with my sedentary snails pace for a while yet. :giggle:

It gets pretty nerve-wracking at times, that's for sure!

Out today trialling the ND32 in similar conditions to Wednesday's video (ND8). Much much better results - but it's simple. Don't go faster than necessary! The ND32 brought the shutter to about 1/100 (from about 1/2000) but I set the ISO to 100. I left the AWB to auto - but with shadows coming over, there isn't an easy answer to this one I suspect.

Getting happier! Looks better on the 65" tv than the pc/youtube of course

 
Out today trialling the ND32 in similar conditions to Wednesday's video (ND8). Much much better results - but it's simple. Don't go faster than necessary! The ND32 brought the shutter to about 1/100 (from about 1/2000) but I set the ISO to 100. I left the AWB to auto - but with shadows coming over, there isn't an easy answer to this one I suspect.

Getting happier! Looks better on the 65" tv than the pc/youtube of course

Do you have a link for the filters you got please? Also a question about the Anafi and your iPad mini. I have a lot of lag in the video feed when using a 7 inch Samsung galaxy Tab Active, is the video feed on your iPad mini steady? And what model are you using please?
Thanks
 
I sourced mine through Aliexpress (since we have no in-country suppliers at less than twice the cost):

Buy Products Online from China Wholesalers at Aliexpress.com

I used the Sunnylife ones. Turn on the Anafi, let it do the camera movement calibration - then pust the filter on. Don'y try calibrating with the filter on as it often fails.
 
I sourced mine through Aliexpress (since we have no in-country suppliers at less than twice the cost):

Buy Products Online from China Wholesalers at Aliexpress.com

I used the Sunnylife ones. Turn on the Anafi, let it do the camera movement calibration - then pust the filter on. Don'y try calibrating with the filter on as it often fails.

Thanks. Please do you suffer any video feed lag while flying with the iPad Mini 4? my Samsung galaxy tab suffers heavy lag to the point I can't even use it and I just switch to using my Oneplus 6 phone instead. Is your iPad mini 4 a regular wifi model or is it a wifi+LTE model?
 
Thanks. Please do you suffer any video feed lag while flying with the iPad Mini 4? my Samsung galaxy tab suffers heavy lag to the point I can't even use it and I just switch to using my Oneplus 6 phone instead. Is your iPad mini 4 a regular wifi model or is it a wifi+LTE model?

I have no lag with the Ipad Mini 4. It is the wifi+LTE model 16G. Wisj I'd bought the bigger-capacity one lol so I could screen video-capture but there's not much spare memory left.

Be aware: The Cellular capable iPad mini 4 supports A-GPS, whereas the Wi-Fi only model does not. That matters to us!!!

I don't have an active SIM installed and you don't need one... but you do need the LTE version to get GPS. There are work-arounds with pairing off an iPhone but it's best to operate everything in Airplane-mode to avoid interference.
 
I have no lag with the Ipad Mini 4. It is the wifi+LTE model 16G. Wisj I'd bought the bigger-capacity one lol so I could screen video-capture but there's not much spare memory left.

Be aware: The Cellular capable iPad mini 4 supports A-GPS, whereas the Wi-Fi only model does not. That matters to us!!!

I don't have an active SIM installed and you don't need one... but you do need the LTE version to get GPS. There are work-arounds with pairing off an iPhone but it's best to operate everything in Airplane-mode to avoid interference.

Thanks so much. This really helps my decision. I was looking at the wifi 128gb model and the 128gb wifi+LTE model. So based off your answer I'll go for the LTE model as I had been worried about GPS suport. Thanks so much once again, you've been most helpful
 
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