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Follow Me question

Mar

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I'm new to droning so bare with me on this subject of follow me.

I just recently bought the drone but alas my phone is not compatible so been flying by eye sight only, new phone should be here next week. Till then I have not been able to test this mode because of that.

So when using Follow Me, I take it one can sets the height and the drone will follow at that height as long as the phone has a barometer. Is that how it works?
 
Another thing that also cross my mind is, is it possible to have it follow you on one side only?
 
Was asking cause lots of trees here but there are sections of the road that would be awesome record like as if a movie was film.
One section is kind of open, trees, trees, trees but open to the sky, no obstickles , would like to keep it flying alng that side. Possible?
 
Was asking cause lots of trees here but there are sections of the road that would be awesome record like as if a movie was film.
One section is kind of open, trees, trees, trees but open to the sky, no obstickles , would like to keep it flying alng that side. Possible?
@Mar, I'm not sure I get you here, sorry. Would the drone have free line of sight to you in the car? If so it could work, if the line of sight disappears, the drone will lose you. Unlike other drones it doesn't lock on to the controller, instead, it identifies the target & remains locked on them. I have a cheap drone that does this, locking onto the controller, so whoever you give the controller to, to put in a backpack, pocket, jacket or however they want to hide it, the drone follows them.

I'll have to check out Follow Me to see if it can be set off to the side. I know Cameraman can, I have tried this out several times on myself & on my dog when she was playing at the park.
 
@Mar, I'm not sure I get you here, sorry. Would the drone have free line of sight to you in the car? If so it could work, if the line of sight disappears, the drone will lose you. Unlike other drones it doesn't lock on to the controller, instead, it identifies the target & remains locked on them. I have a cheap drone that does this, locking onto the controller, so whoever you give the controller to, to put in a backpack, pocket, jacket or however they want to hide it, the drone follows them.

I'll have to check out Follow Me to see if it can be set off to the side. I know Cameraman can, I have tried this out several times on myself & on my dog when she was playing at the park.

That’s not fully correct. If you use the follow me modes, the Anafi will lock on to your phone (Controller not needed if you fly without one) via GPS and barometer (if your phone has one). It use visual targeting but also GPS at the same time. If it loses sight it will still track your GPS position and adjust its height via barometer if you travel up or downwards.
 
That’s not fully correct. If you use the follow me modes, the Anafi will lock on to your phone (Controller not needed if you fly without one) via GPS and barometer (if your phone has one). It use visual targeting but also GPS at the same time. If it loses sight it will still track your GPS position and adjust its height via barometer if you travel up or downwards.
I'm not sure that's actually correct either!

I have had my dog as the target & she has raced out of Anafi's reach, it has hovered for about 30 seconds that I let it, to see what would happen, it didn't turn & lock onto me at all.

I will retest it this morning, by putting the controller down, walking around for a bit, disappearing behind something, then seeing if it locks on to my controller or not.

Using the phone is not anything I have tried, perhaps it behaves differently for that?

In the manual it mentions GPS being necessary for the Anafi & controller before being able to use Follow Me & also other modes. It mentions this, which is my experience when either I or the dog got out of its tracking ability.
When no target is selected, or when the tracking has been ended by the pilot, Anafi’s behavior is similar to that of the Manual flight mode.

A little further down it gives this warning though, which makes me think it doesn't lock on to the controller at all.
To optimize the drone’s tracking, always make sure you remain visible by Anafi: do not let an obstacle obstruct the camera’s view and do not hide in the shadows, or
could lose track of you.

I have noticed that once it recognises you again, if you appear back where it is facing that it locks on to you again, if you haven't stopped it yet!

I'll be back in a few hours with some tests to see what it actually does in regards to locking on to the controller or not when you disappear from sight.
 
If you have locked on to your dog I guess you were not using the follow me function and instead used the „normal“ tracking. From what I remember if you activate the follow me, it also asks you if you want to track yourself or a car.

You should find the feature next to the speed setting under control mode. If you choose follow me it even shows a special screen where it checks the drone gps, your gps and your barometer (the screen may only appear if any of those are not found yet)
 
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Anafi is not able to focus on the controller. How should it do this?
But it is able to focus on your smartphone via GPS (and barometer as height reference).
 
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Just came into my mind that I saw someone making a video about that he uses the Anafi for his dirtbike tracking because of the gps and barometer feature.

Searched for it and found it again:
 
Interesting! Thanks you two!

I haven’t imported the footage yet, but from trying the various Follow Me modes at the park across the road it never locked on to the controller! It lost me several times as I went underneath some trees or moved around erratically.

I’ll have to see if I can find this follow the controller bit mentioned above when I get back. That’s new to me! But I’ve only had it a couple of weeks now & am still learning more everyday.

Nonetheless, I love this bird to bits. It’s incredible value for your money with all the features it has.
 
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Anafi doesn't follow the controller it follows the device. If the device has a barometer you can use dynamic altitude. Optical tracking with gps is a big advantage over Active Track which sucks IMO. Optical keeps the subject framed and GPS ensures a robust link. You do not need a controller for follow me I often only use my Mini 4. This video was shot with a single battery.

 
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That’s not fully correct. If you use the follow me modes, the Anafi will lock on to your phone (Controller not needed if you fly without one) via GPS and barometer (if your phone has one). It use visual targeting but also GPS at the same time. If it loses sight it will still track your GPS position and adjust its height via barometer if you travel up or downwards.

If you have locked on to your dog I guess you were not using the follow me function and instead used the „normal“ tracking. From what I remember if you activate the follow me, it also asks you if you want to track yourself or a car.

You should find the feature next to the speed setting under control mode. If you choose follow me it even shows a special screen where it checks the drone gps, your gps and your barometer (the screen may only appear if any of those are not found yet)

Anafi doesn't follow the controller it follows the device. If the device has a barometer you can use dynamic altitude. Optical tracking with gps is a big advantage over Active Track which sucks IMO. Optical keeps the subject framed and GPS ensures a robust link. You do not need a controller for follow me I often only use my Mini 4. This video was shot with a single battery.


Thanks again for the follow up comments, I am lost as to where to access this feature though. I can't find it anywhere, in Settings or on the App, regardless of whether I try just using the phone alone or paired through the controller.

I've searched for "Anafi Dynamic Altitude" & can't find anything about activating it either, on the web generally, on Anafi's blog site, their product site, or in the manual. Is it a feature that was part of the older firmware & was stripped out on the latest update? Here's what appears on my app when untethered to the controller, there's no options anywhere to access this Dynamic Altiutude feature there!

I just had a thought, do I need to be actively in the air for this to be accessible? Above say 5 metres in height & 10 metres away from myself? I'll try it in a few hours to see.

IMG_4074.jpg
 
I only tried it out once so will have to actively check that at the end of this day as i can’t remember the details. But as far as I remember the dynamic altitude is just something the drone will use when your phone has a barometer. There is nothing you can switch on or off in this case. From your screenshot I think that must be the correct setting. The three options are just about how it will track you when in this mode. I think one was for a classic follow, while another was for the Anafi trying to stay fixed in front of your (or was it behind?) like it would be on a pole that turns with you at the same angle. If I find a good video that explains it I will post it here.
 
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I only tried it out once so will have to actively check that at the end of this day as i can’t remember the details. But as far as I remember the dynamic altitude is just something the drone will use when your phone has a barometer. There is nothing you can switch on or off in this case. From your screenshot I think that must be the correct setting. The three options are just about how it will track you when in this mode. I think one was for a classic follow, while another was for the Anafi trying to stay fixed in front of your (or was it behind?) like it would be on a pole that turns with you at the same angle. If I find a good video that explains it I will post it here.

From what I can gather about the Follow Me modes, you can still control the zoom, height & direction of the Anafi while in these modes:
  • Track will follow the subject from behind.
  • Lock is similar, but keeps a constant distance while maintaining yaw to help keep the background framed.
  • Dynamic will keep a consistent distance and angle from its subject.
 

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