Welcome to our Community
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Feel free to sign up today.
Sign up

Up-and-Down wobble, especially on smart shots, I don't recall this with previous Anafi

dmbrody

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 29, 2018
Messages
163
Reaction score
94
I took a break from the Anafi last fall and only recently have I started playing around with it again.

I don't recall so much up-and-down wobble in the footage I captured with my first Anafi. It's almost as if this new Anafi is 'nodding' its head in agreement with what I've decided to film. I've gone back to review some of the original unedited footage I shot, and sure enough its not nearly as severe as what I'm experiencing now.

A lot of that old footage was shot in high winds way beyond the recommended spec for the Anafi. I remember being blown away (no pun intended) by how well it performed in those conditions. It allowed me to film in locations and on days when my Mavics could not be operated safely.

Now that the Anafi has an onscreen histogram, I'd like to get it back into the rotation. I really do prefer it. However, the vertical axis wobble could be a deal killer for me.

QUESTION:
Based on my searches, it seems this issue is not isolated to me alone. There have even been some suggestions that it is new behavior that crept in during some software updates. Can anyone confirm this? I suppose it makes sense as I am seeing this behavior mostly on smart shots/modes like Cameraman, or while doing orbits during Follow Me. It is almost as if the Anafi thinks the follow target is jumping up and down 15 feet in the air... if that make sense to anyone.

Edit: I have access to the original Anafi I used last year. I will test it out to see if it is a hardware issue on my new Anafi. In the meantime, I would still appreciate any insights you guys might have.
 
Did u perform a gimbal calibration before taking to the air....
Yes indeed. First thing I did was a drone calibration, followed by a gimbal calibration, and finally I even tried a camera calibration against my better judgement (since I don’t have a tilted horizon).

Nonetheless, it can’t hurt to try again. I’ll give it a whirl now.

I’m also going to see if there is a difference in behavior if I launch by hand versus on a solid flat surface.
 
Same problem to a tee here , a nodding up and down up and down and it makes the filming almost worthless. Seems some one from support needs to jump in on this one with some ideals or a firmware fix.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dmbrody
Same problem to a tee here , a nodding up and down up and down and it makes the filming almost worthless. Seems some one from support needs to jump in on this one with some ideals or a firmware fix.
I did some testing today. First of all, doing yet another gimbal calibration (per @davyg above) on an absolutely perfectly level surface did seem to help... a tiny bit.

What I found is that the nodding only occurs in follow modes (including Camerman or any mode where you draw an outline around a target on screen). More specifically it is most noticeable when you orbit or follow from the side. Orbit seems to be the worst.

It does not occur in manual flight, or when doing an orbit using TapFly: POI. I did not test a Flight Plan orbit because I assume that would work the same as tapfly poi.

So, for me anyway, it seems to be very specific to following or camerman orbits. I can live with it. I can work around that.

I hope it’s fixable in firmware, but I also have suspicions it may be my phone (specifically, a dodgy barometer in my phone). Parrot can’t do much about that. Maybe they could build in some error checking fudge factor to soften the influence of bad barometer in my phone. Or maybe I’m just totally off base and it’s a completely different issue.
 
I have two Anafis. One will do exactly what you have described and the other works just fine. The one that does it was my crashed Anafi that spent all winter out doors in a tree. I notice it most in follow me mode when it is just hovering and not moving. It never did this before and I am not convinced it was because of the long winter out doors or maybe a bad firmware update that it took.
I think I made a post of the problem a while go but I am not sure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dmbrody
I got my second Anafi now. The first one couldn't read any SD Cards anymore but hadn't this strange wobble. Now the second has exactly the problem you describe and the footage looks really sh*t and not usable :( I also tried recalibrate the drone and the camera but nothing changes. Seems like I should just switch to another manufacterer, I'm sick of this problems all the time.
 
Any updates with this issue?
On 6th of August I've made a request via the Parrot Official Website and also sent them two E-Mails but I did not get any answer yet. In the mean time i uploaded a video where you can see the problem. I was at "manual" mode at this time:

The problem is that obvious down movement of the camera when accelerating. The camera also goes up, when the drone is "braking". Very annoying :(
 
Were you flying in sport mode with the angular speed of the gimbal insufficient to keep up with the rapid tilt of the Anafi?
 
Were you flying in sport mode with the angular speed of the gimbal insufficient to keep up with the rapid tilt of the Anafi?
Yes, I'm pretty sure that I was in Sport Mode at this time but the gimbal has to keep up with this rapid movement. I also tested it in Film mode and there the problem also appears. My previous Anafi never had any problems with that.
Also in "Camerman" mode the camera sometimes is really shaking up and down like crazy, as you can see here:
I hope it's "just" a software problem.
 
Just a quick update: I've opened 3 cases via the official Parrot website and send them 5 reminder E-Mails from 2 Accounts since 6th of August. I also asked them on Facebook and I got absolutely no response (except of the automatic Mails: "Our technical team is processing your request and will contact you within the next 48 working hours.")
So I returned my Anafi now and will never buy anything from that *** company again :mad:
 

New Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
5,295
Messages
45,050
Members
7,965
Latest member
Peanut