- Are you new to flying and this is your first drone?
Well, in this video we're talking
about some of the biggest mistakes
that new drone pilots make,
and I teamed up with my buddy, Aldryn,
who has an awesome drone channel,
and we're going through some different things
that you need to think about before
you take off and start flying.
(frantic music)
- Now, whether you're an experienced flyer
or someone that's just starting out,
there's definitely a lot of kinda common mistakes
that a lotta people will make.
So lemme talk to you guys about a few of those mistakes
and hopefully you guys can learn from 'em.
- Look, I don't wanna tell you not to do this
or not to do that, but there are some things
that you need to think about before you start flying.
Now, I started flying drones back with the,
what drone was that?
The DJI Phantom 2.
It was one of those where you had to
actually build the gimbal separately from the drone
and you had to put it all together.
And so one of the things I did
when I first started flying drones is
I took it up and I really wanted
to get a close shot next to a palm tree.
Well, you know what?
I hit that palm tree, fell to the ground, exploded.
And that's not the only time that I've hit an object.
So one of the mistakes that a lot
of new pilots make is flying too close to objects.
When you see people who are very skilled at flying drones,
you'll see some really cool footage
of people flying close to objects,
like right on something or right past something.
But even though it's small, until you are super confident
about flying this thing, I would highly suggest,
stay a little bit away from objects.
The distance between this and the wall
or the car or the tree is actually
much closer than you think when you're up flying,
and when you're looking at the screen
and you're trying to eyeball where the drone is,
you're not gonna gauge it perfectly.
So just give yourself space so you can learn
how to fly better and better, and over time,
yes, you can fly closer to objects
and get those cool-looking shots.
- Now, one of the mistakes I used to make,
and I still kinda do every once in awhile,
is when you get to a location,
you want to map out two or three main establishing shots
of that area, whether it be a landscape
or anything that really defines the area you are in
that you wanna show in your video.
Before I used to just kinda free-fly
and I'd get home and I really didn't have
any nice wide shots of an area
and didn't really help tell that story.
So what you wanna do is, when you get
to a specific location, a specific area,
try to get those established shots early,
or establishing shots early, of that area.
And then after that, try to shoot some B-roll,
shoot some extra footage.
But make sure you plan out two or three shots
where you're really showing what is around you first,
and then you can go and get some extra footage.
- Now, I know you wanna get awesome photos and videos,
and even with the Mavic Mini,
you can get some pretty impressive shots,
but you have to know how to use a drone
and actually get the proper exposure.
So one mistake that a lotta people will make
when they fly is pointing directly at the sun.
The sun is a giant light source,
so when your camera's trying to expose
for that brightness, it's going to make
everything else dark in the frame.
And you can see from this footage right here
it makes it super contrast-y,
and that's not a very pleasing shot.
So a simple fix to this is
just point the camera away from the sun.
If the sun is off to your side or if it's behind you,
it's a much more pleasing shot.
So just think of the position of the sun,
where is it, and try to avoid it with the camera,
and you're gonna get better looking footage.
- Now, the great thing about flying a drone is
that you're always discovering new things, new areas.
So the one mistake that I've found is,
that a lotta people will make is,
they'll buy the drone and only buy one battery
or just use that one battery that comes with it,
and you end up going to a location after a long hike,
you get to an area, beautiful landscape,
and that one battery is only good for 15, 20 minutes.
You did not get an extra battery.
So another mistake that's very common.
Purchase and pick up some extra batteries.
- Now, I know you've heard this over and over,
but I just have to remind you of this.
You need to know the rules and regulations
before you go out and fly.
And I'm not gonna go through all of those
because there are people watching
this video from all over the world.
So some people are gonna
have different regulations than you.
But the idea is go find your local laws and regulations
and just make sure that you're flying
within the boundaries of what the law says.
Because it only takes one person
to do something really dumb
to ruin it for the rest of us.
And I know there's a lot of you out there
that are saying, "Oh, it's not that big a deal.
"I'm just gonna go fly here in this national park.
"There's no one around."
Well, that's how issues form,
and then something's gonna happen.
Maybe the drone drops, it hits something, and you know what?
It's just not worth it.
So fly where you're supposed to be flying
and just be aware of where you shouldn't be flying.
- Now, one mistake that you might kinda think is funny,
but it happens all the time,
is make sure you hit record when you get up in the air.
Now, you might think that's a super obvious thing to do,
and of course it is, but you'll realize
how many times you get to a location,
you might be rushing things or you get really excited
because you wanna get that footage
before the sun goes down or anything like that,
you get up there, you look down after 15 minutes of flying,
and realize you weren't recording.
So one mistake, make sure you hit that record button.
- Now, when it comes to getting good footage,
one massive mistake is just taking the drone
as high as possible and just getting that bird's-eye view.
It's kinda cool at first,
when you've never flown a drone before,
to get really high in the sky
because that's a really cool perspective.
You're looking down on the world.
The issue is, if you're shooting video,
then you're not gonna be able to get
very exciting shots from up top.
You'll have one shot that just shows the landscape
or whatever it is.
But when you're super high in the air,
you're not gonna see that sense of movement
that your drone can create.
It flies, so you need to see that sense
of movement to create those cinematic shots.
So don't fly as high as possible.
Bring the drone a little bit lower
so that you get that sense of movement.
And also just find different perspectives.
Way up top, looking straight down,
and seeing the landscapes is cool,
but where can you put this camera
that you can't put other cameras
and get some different and unique shots?
- Now, if you get something like the Mavic Mini,
it does not have any internal storage.
Now, one thing that a lotta times I will miss
or forget to do is put that memory card back in the drone.
Now, if you have the Mavic Pro 2,
it has some internal memory on there
at eight gigs internal storage,
but the Mavic Mini and other drones don't have
that internal storage.
So the one thing you'll do sometimes is
you'll forget your memory card.
So one mistake that's very common.
Try not to forget your memory card.
And also, when you do have your memory card in there,
check your capacity on that card.
Clear it out if you have to,
but also make sure it's backed up.
But before you get up and you hit record
and you try to film something,
the last thing you wanna do is be halfway
through your shoot, and the next thing you know,
it'll say capacity full.
So one, make sure you have a memory card,
and two, make sure you clear it out and have it backed up.
- So when it comes to capturing footage,
anything jerky, when you're like (creaking with voice),
is gonna look pretty awful.
So you wanna have smooth shots
that have a beginning and an end.
Now don't get excited and just try
and capture 30 shots when you take the drone up in the air
and you only get two seconds of each shot.
The issue is, when you get into the edit,
you'll realize that you might wanna hang on a shot longer.
So it will benefit to get 20, 30 seconds
of a shot where you're flying from point A to point B.
Slow down the sticks.
Don't push full throttle all the time.
Maybe pull it half, maybe pull it a quarter,
so that you have more of a slow, drifting shot
and that your shot lasts a decent amount of time.
The mistakes that new flyers make is jerky camera movements
and really short shots that don't really show much.
So when you're shooting video,
you wanna think in terms of creating a movie,
so longer takes, because that will give
you options when it goes into your edit.
Now, you might cut all of it up
and you just use two seconds, but you never know.
You might want 20 seconds for that one shot
'cause it's just amazing and breathtaking.
- Another common mistake I will see is people try
to run their batteries a little too long
and assume that they have enough juice to get back,
and all of a sudden it might go
into some sort of auto-landing
and they might still be hundreds of feet out there.
So a common mistake is running it too long.
Once you get into that 30, 40% range,
you wanna have that drone fairly close
enough to you, where you can see it,
that if anything were to go wrong,
if the battery were to drain quicker
than normal for some-odd reason,
say if you're flying somewhere in the snow,
and that battery were to drop significantly,
at least you're able to visually see it,
land it if you had to.
But try not to run your battery too far down.
Have it within distance when you're about that 30, 40%.
Try to get your shots in.
And I normally like to bring my batteries
and my drone back in at about 20%.
So one mistake.
Try not to run your batteries too far down,
especially if you're flying way out there.
- So I just wanna say thank you to Aldryn
for jumping in this video and giving you guys
some awesome mistakes to look out for.
If you haven't seen his channel yet,
make sure you head over to FlytPath.
He's got a lot of awesome videos
all centered around flying drones
and just everything you need to know about drones.
So for any new drone pilots out there,
I highly suggest checking out his channel.
And if you wanna see another video
on 20 more mistakes that you can make as a drone pilot,
then check out this video right here.
I dig into a lot of other things
that could go wrong when you take
up this little guy to go flying.
All right, guys, that's it.
I'll see you on the next one.