The best way to do what you want is not smart dronies. It also is not CamerMan (even though that’s what it’s designed for).
By far the best way to orbit the lighthouse is to use TouchFly: POI.
It will give you the smoothest possible camera movements. (CameraMan has some sort of issue where the camera tends to “nod” up and down.)
TouchFly has two modes. One of those modes simply flies your drone to whatever spot you touch on the map. You do NOT want that. You want the POI mode. The “POI” in “TouchFly: POI”stands for
Point
Of
Interest... in your case a lighthouse.
- Open up TouchFly and choose the POI option.
- Touch the lighthouse on the map that appears. The Anafi will immediately lock onto that spot.
- Use the slider on the right to adjust the height. If you want the Anafi to point at the base of the lighthouse, leave this at 0. But if you want the top of the lighthouse in frame, then slide the slider up to whatever height looks good.
At any point you can touch the “video” window to minimize the map and bring back you camera view.
Now you can freely fly the Anafi all around the lighthouse. If you want a perfect circle orbit, just hold left or right on the right stick. If you want to start in close and do a spiral orbit away, just push the right stick to one side while also pulling back.
You can do all sorts of complex maneuvers. You can change your altitude (left stick) and the gimbal will
smoothly tilt up and down to keep the top of the lighthouse centered. You can even fly directly over the lighthouse, and the Anafi will tilt the camera down, and as you pass spin around and start tilting the camera back up, all in a very smooth motion. (This same method works for flying under bridges.)
Parallax effects: Unlike CameraMan, TouchFly: POI will keep the target in the center of the frame even when the camera can’t see it. When you fly behind a tree or building, CameraMan will loose tracking. It may pick it back up again if the original target comes back into view very quickly, but your footage will have herky jerky camera movements. TouchFly: POI stays rock solid and smooth no matter what, allowing you to easily get great parallax effects as trees or building move across the frame.
This is just the beginning. There are all sorts of cool shots you can get with minimal practice and minimal skill flying. For example, boomerang shots are easy to pull off. There is more flexibility too. The smart dronies limit you to a set number of meters. With TouchFly POI you can get the same effects over smaller or BIGGER distances.
Anafi users don’t use TouchFly POI enough. It’s obvious from all the “nodding” Cameraman footage that they don’t even realize it exists.