(calm music)
- So the DJI Mavic 3 has just been updated
with the new Active Track 5.0.
When this drone was first released last month,
there was no Active Track built in yet,
however with this update, we now get access to all the same
Active Track features that were on the previous DJI drones
with some new additions.
So what I want to do in this video is show you
the different Active Track features that you have
so that you can track a subject,
whether it's you, yourself doing something
like mountain biking, or if you're tracking like a vehicle
or a boat or anything like that.
These features give you the ability to track an object
and then the drone does all the work for you.
(upbeat music)
Now I'd love to test this in like dense trees but,
I'm here in Southern California
and there's not a whole lot of trees.
But there are a few different ways that I can test
this Active Track so that we can test
the obstacle avoidance because the big difference
with the Mavic 3 is that you have that side to side
obstacle avoidance, whereas with the DJI Air 2,
Air 2S, any of those drones, you only have
front to back obstacle avoidance.
So I've done a lot of work with the Active Track
with these previous drones, however the big issue
comes when you have Active Track on and you're moving
to the side, so with the Mavic 3, it solves that issue.
And we're going to test how that works
in a few different ways.
So first let's just dig into what the different features
are when you turn on your Active Track.
(calm music)
All right so let's just do a quick rundown,
you can see my screen here.
I just want to go through how this works so basically
when you want to turn on Active Track you just drag a box
around your subject and then it will grab your subject.
So see it's grabbed me as a person and you have these three
boxes that pop up underneath so you have Active Track,
spotlight, and point of interest.
So spotlight mode is basically, the drone just sits
in one spot unless you personally move the joysticks.
So I'm going to move the joysticks and then drone's
going to fly around.
And it's always going to keep me in the center
no matter where the drone goes.
I never have to really even look at the drone
and I know that I'm going to be in the center.
This is really useful because you could do some creative
movements with the drone and it's going to keep me centered,
kind of a cool feature to use
and I've used this in a lot of creative ways
with, you know, Air 2S because you could just
keep your subject centered and then do some cool moves
and the drone automatically does this whole rotation thing
and keeps that subject centered.
Now with point of interest you click on the point
of interest button and click go.
You have this little bar with the arrows,
that is the speed that you can set for how fast
you want it to spin and point of interest
is basically, the drone is just going to spin around
your subject in a circle indefinitely.
So for a situation like this where I'm on top
of a mountain, this is perfect to put the drone up
and get that cool circle motion to show
basically everything around where you're at.
And the last thing that you have is Active Track
and we're going to play with that in a second
but I do want to talk about some of the features
that you have access to when you're in these tracking modes.
Now unfortunately, you can't shoot in delog.
For me that's one thing that's really frustrating
about the software, is you have to use the normal mode.
I personally shoot everything in delog so the fact that
I have to use normal to be able to track
is a little bit unfortunate and I think part of that
is to do with the fact that, you know, when you're in
the flat setting it's harder to visually track
with the software, and I feel like that could be fixed
if there was a setting where you could turn on
like a lot or just a basic baked in look
so you get the same normal view
but you're still recording in delog.
So that's one unfortunate thing.
Also, you can't use this tracking in 5.1K.
You can only use it in 4K or cinema 4K
up to 60 frames per second in the normal mode
using tracking.
(calm music)
So now let's test the Active Track and the new features
that come in Active Track 5.0 and I'm going to do it
on a bike, it's a great way to be able to film
with a little bit more speed than hiking
and I have this controller mount which allows me
just to pop the controller in super easy.
We'll pack all this up and go ride a bike.
And a few things that I want to test with this,
is one, hills, because I'm in an area
where there's lots of hills going up,
lots of hills going down, I want to see
how it follows in that scenario.
Also, as you can see, you know, with these hills,
they're kind of rolling so I'm going to have
the drone do some spins around me, point of interest style,
and see if it's going to run into anything.
We're hoping that with these new sensors
that it's not going to but, definitely want to test that.
And then last I want to show you just on the screen,
the new feature that makes it a lot easier
to film yourself when you're flying with this Active Track
so I need to turn this camera off so I can
go do some riding.
Also one note, I'm using the new free well filters
that they just came out with for the Mavic 3.
I have a polarizer and D-filter on so I'm shooting
that double at my frame rate so I can get motion blur
in my shot, but also, you know, I have a polarizer
on there so it should make the footage pop a little bit more
with, you know, the kind of clouds that I have.
Polarizers are really great when you're shooting like snow
or the ocean or, you know, skies like this
so we're playing around with that and I'll put a link
down below in the description if you want to check out
the filters, already in my lets that have created
four drone footage, all this footage that you're seeing
from the drone has been graded with my lets.
All right, let's go.
(calm music)
All right I'm going to sync my audio with a big clap.
Okay so I'm using the DJI mic so you can hear
what's going on and I can talk to you.
But we're going to use all the visuals from the drone
and my screen record.
Pretty cool with these DJI mics that you can just use it
as a recorder like this.
Have a sync point and then you have audio
basically anywhere and you don't have to be close
to a receiver because it's just a recorder at this point.
All right real quick I just want to show you spotlight
so if you want to use your drone as like a tripod
in the sky and have it follow you, you just put it
to spotlight mode, track your subject,
and then it will just sit there and keep that subject
in the position that you want it as your subject
moves through the frame so, super easy.
I'm going to put myself off to the right third,
same type of thing, I'm making a pass the other direction.
Let's put it into Active Track mode
and you'll see right here that something new pops up
on the screen with Active Track.
So when you go to Active Track,
you're going to click the button and it's going to show
the different ways that you can follow your subject.
Behind, to the left, to the right, to the front,
or even like the front corner so let's follow off
to the left and let's hit go.
So now it's going to go off to my left side
and follow me from that direction wherever I move.
(calm music)
So it takes a second for it to orient itself
to the subject, but as you can see it's now following
off to my left side.
(calm music)
So right now I'm filming in the normal mode
which means that all my sensors are working
and the drone is definitely avoiding this giant hill
that it would run into if I was working
with the DJI Air2S.
It's just completely avoiding all the obstacles
and it's flying up as I go up the hill.
Sorry if I'm a little out of breath,
but I'm climbing, I'm trying to get this drone
to chase me faster.
And you can see it starts to float back
as I move faster but it does catch back up so,
it does take a few seconds for it to get
in the exact position, but it is following
and it's avoiding everything that's in it's way.
Pretty incredible, isn't it?
Oh man, drone's making me work.
All right let's go, up the hill.
(calm music) (man panting)
All right let's switch it, let's go in front.
(calm music)
Let's go, up the hill, I'm chasing you, come on drone,
move faster!
All right follow me behind, let's go up the hill together.
Come on drone, we're getting to the summit.
We are almost there.
(calm music)
All right made it to the summit, put it in
point of interest, spin it around, here we are.
(calm music)
I don't want to pause the video for one second,
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But let's get back to talking about this new Active Track.
All right so one thing I want to test is if Active Track
works in explore mode and it does not.
Pretty cool how it finds which orientation you're going
and then it will find the side that you're on,
it's such a rad feature, let's swap it
to the other side.
(calm music)
All right so I don't have a ton of battery left
but I'm just going to throw it in point of interest
and I'm going to ride down a single track hill here,
I'm going to go up this way first.
So basically the drone is circling off to my left,
it's at a medium pace, but the idea is I want the drone
to continue to spin around me as I do this trail
so I'm always getting a cool dynamic shot
as I'm riding my bike down this trail.
(calm music)
Hasn't lost me yet.
(calm music)
Oh it might have lost me.
Did it find me?
Let's see if it can pick me back up, it's still spinning.
Nope.
So I went behind that bush and it just completely lost me.
All right let's try this again.
I'm going to spin the other direction this time.
So now it's coming along the right side.
All right there's the hill, let's see if it dodges the hill.
All right it went up to avoid the hill and it's circling
back to follow me.
(calm music)
Coming back around this way, let's see if it can follow me
on these loops, woo!
(calm music)
How is it handling?
Good, little straight away here coming up.
Speeding up, getting away from the drone.
(calm music)
Looks like it lost me.
(calm music)
All right, I've got a steep section here,
let's see what happens.
Does it follow me down?
Stay high.
(calm music)
There we go, now it's found my orientation.
Now it's following the line, oh this little bridge.
A couple of thoughts after reviewing all of this footage
and just playing with this Active Track
in a few different settings.
The Active Track works well, you just have to have
a clear visual line of sight for the Active Track
to stay locked on.
There was definitely moments where I went behind a bush
or the drone would be moving fast up and over me
and it would lose the tracking.
Now it does grab back on if you're somewhere
in the frame within a few seconds but if you go too far
out of frame, it's not going to find you again.
So definitely you need a clear line of sight,
and like I said earlier in this video,
I want to test this in a forest and really see
if it can track you through the trees
because just working with it in this setting
where it's clear and open, you definitely need to have
that clear line of sight so if trees are going between,
you just have to figure out how many trees
or how much time you can go behind something
before it will grab back on so definitely need to do more
testing in those kind of settings.
Overall though, I think the Active Track does work
super well, it seems to stay locked on
better than my Air2S and just everything
that I have tested with it, it looks good.
A little bit frustrating you can't use delog,
maybe they'll update that in a future firmware
update but for now it is what it is,
you have 4K 60 frames per second, you can track,
it's not cropped in or anything like that
so it does work well and if you need to track a subject
I think it's a great option.
Now make sure you head down in the description
to check out my editing course and next you should watch
this video which is all about some of the biggest mistakes
you should avoid when you're flying your drone.
See you in the next video.