Hi,
The thing I miss most when flying FPV is the ability to take stills.
From my various searches it looks like FPV cameras, including the DJI, units don’t have a shutter and you have to cut frames from video.
I have an action camera but the range of its remote is only a few feet so it has to be left in timelapse mode for the duration of the flight.
This is workable, but not that versatile since you can’t meter manually and my model doesn’t have the dynamic range to capture a bright sky and the land below in the same frame unless it’s very sunny.
Are there any other workarounds for this problem?
Do any action cams have a longer range remote?
I have some old Pocket Wizard radio triggers which have a range of 1,600ft, but my action cam doesn’t have an external trigger input. And of course this doesn’t allow me to see what the camera is looking at.
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I believe runcam do an interface board that takes stills or video on a trigger input.
Let me search…
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No stills! But 4k recording with analog. Did a load of research into this for a client a year ago, I need to pull out my version of this and play. Need to get an analog receiver setup first though.
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~ 8 Megapixels
Slightly more than my first DSLR in 2006, but it’s definitely an option!
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I discovered there’s an old GoPro wifi remote that has up to 100m range. That might do the trick.
I sometimes use an ffmpeg script to convert every few frames of video into photos.
Delete all but the good photo frames.
If you don’t move too much then it shouldn’t blur too much for the good shots.
I just run it on my GoPro or Runcam Thumb Pro W footage.
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I have a drone with a mechanical shutter. The Mavic 3M enterprise has this but apart from rolling shutter effect which I will explain. I don’t see the difference in spitting the frames. I do this in DaVinci resolve especially for fireworks. Although my Mavic 3M can take pictures at the same time as recorded video timing can be hard to get spot on so I use video instead and I break the frames down. Rolling shutter effect is a problem for cameras without a mechanical shutter. The drone normally does a good job of preventing this mind so it only is noticeable in some of the frames. My Mavic 3M and the 3T are my latest editions. I started with the air 2 then I purchased the mini 2 4 years ago. I still have these. There are videos on YouTube about splitting video up. What software are you using to do this?
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Part of FPV is getting good motion blur with the aid of ND filters and camera settings. I’m assuming this is an effect that is desired by OP
Welcome to DroneHub @kyleireland !
Great to have you with us!
Not necessarily.
It’s a good effect for high speed action shots but I usually just want a clean still.
It looks like, despite upgrading my 6 inch to DJI, it will still have to lug around an action cam or small point and shoot to take stills.
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Do you not get a much better raw file from the Mavic?
Perhaps not.
My Mini3Pro raw files are pretty much identical to the jpgs it outputs.
If only it could do bracketed shots there would be a bit more dynamic range to play with.
I’ve used Premiere to browse and save individual frames but the license on that runs out in December so I’ll be back to Resolve. It could be quicker with an FFMPG script.
The Mavic 3 is a true 20 megapixel camera with a mechanical shutter and has aperture. The mini 3 pro is only 12 megapixels when shooting in video. If the cameras were the same then I would not have spent all that money on it. I have two Mavic 3. The 3T and the 3M. They both do different jobs. I have the air 2 and the mini 2 as well.
I know it has a superior camera to the Mini 3 Pro, but it is still a 4/3 sensor, which might be the bees knees in drone cameras but compared to stills cameras that’s just a standard prosumer sensor size.
So I think it’s a fair question.
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The thermal only does jpeg but the 3m and the 3E both do raw. The mini 3 pro doesn’t have 4/3 sensor and that is why I was surprised by the comparison but yes you are right it is a drone camera but it is very good one. I can see the difference even between the Mavic 3T main camera and the Mavic 3M main camera. Especially for night shots. They both can do night shots but the Mavic 3T is all iso so it doesn’t look anywhere near as good. Get back on subject yes I’ve have been happy with the DaVinci resolve grabs then process in lightroom but I’ve only really done this for fireworks so far. Mainly because I was struggling with the timing to get the best shot of the firework. So for a completely different reason. Another advantage of the Mavic 3M it can take photos every 0.7 seconds when in jpeg mode only. All the other drones I have only take photos every 2 second when in jpeg mode. So timed photo and hyperlapses are usable to break up with the Mavic 3M because it’s fast at taking photos compare to other drones. None of this is really helpful for FPV. What I’m trying to say this will cost money even if we do a self build because of the camera specifications. I did not want two Mavic 3 but I did want a 20 megapixel camera for mapping and roof inspections and a thermal camera for pet searching. This is how I ended up with two of them. I had enough at the time to get the 30t as well but I couldn’t afford two of them as these have the same problem. I would have to get two so I when for the quieter option and I could afford all the accessories with this option. I hate doing the same thing every day so I diversified instead of specializing. This was going against all the advice I had all the time. Literally from everyone. Sorry I’m going on. Do you think there is a cheap why to do this?
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I’m still thinking about it. The key factors are:
The payload weight for the Vapor D6 is up to 200g.
The camera needs to be great for stills.
It has to have a physical remote port.
I think the options are:
-
A GoPro compatible with the old long-range SmartTrigger
(I bought a used trigger for £12 to test weeks ago but it’s still in the post).
-
A second-hand point-and-shoot with a remote port. Remove excess weight, add long-range radio trigger.
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Maybe you’re over thinking this? Get yourself a nice dji mini series drone. Problem solved.
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I have a Mini 3 Pro.
On a stills level the camera is equivalent to a phone camera from five years ago.
It doesn’t have enough dynamic range and there is no exposure bracketing for making your own HDR.
Low light photography is very limited.
In summary, it’s not much use for my work.
If I could afford a 5pro or a Mavic I’d certainly try one out.
Meanwhile I have 15 years of pro experience in stills and a lot of equipment.
I wouldn’t say I was overthinking it. Just trying to find the right solution for my needs and have less money than sense.
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My mini 2 does HDR bracketing so are you sure your mini 3 pro doesn’t do this.? It is possible to do them manually but it requires no wind.
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Thanks for the link, you’re a star!
You could be right - I’ve never actually read the manual 
Unless HDR is done with a burst shot, the artifacts are awful in my experience. Even with a tripod, things like wind moving trees create a confused mixture of tones and lines in the apps I use.
I gave up on proper HDR as a photographer before it was even added to Photoshop and Lightroom.
Call me a dinosaur but I now just do exposure composites by hand, usually from a couple of bracketed shots. But that’s with RAWs from a Sony A7Riii full-frame which has great exposure latitude at low ISO.
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