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When Drones Attack
August 14, 2017

When Drones Attack

When Drones Attack

My very own DJI Mavic Pro drone tried to attack me! In my latest Vlog (Episode 4) I go on a bit of a location scouting adventure where I have to try find a suitable location for an upcoming photoshoot.  Whenever I go location scouting I always take my quad rotor friend with me and there’s a number of reasons why. Firstly, when you location scout you are often exploring new territory or at least places that you dont frequent, so these sorts of places are likely to be perfect for some fresh new aerial imagery. Secondly, having a drone on hand can atually speed up the location scouting process. You can use the drone to go up and down a coastline or see past trees that might block your view.  It can save time and effort, and makes the process a bit more enjoyable. At least it is until your own drone tries to attack you!

Watch my latest vlog below to see my very own Dji Mavic Pro drone try to bee line it straight for me to take me out.

I’m not entirely sure what happened. The drone was in active track mode and it had successfully locked onto me. I was controlling the drone in a slow pan to camera right. For some reason the Mavic Pro has stopped tracking, and just headed straight for me at a decent pace. Let me just say, I did not in any way move the controller in the forward throttle position to force the drone to come towards me. This isnt the first time the drone has lost its marbles and behaved completely irratically. It only ever seems to happen when using the active track mode. So I am very suspicious of these automated modes and I am always super careful when using them.  Fortunately it sounds like the collision detection kicked in before I actually pulled back on the controls. I love drones, but when they try to kill me I start to re-think things.

Will have to keep an eye on that one!

While we are on the topic of Location scouting, a brilliant app I often use is Sun Seeker. It gives you a 3D augmented reality view of the scene using your camera and shows you the path of the sun and where the sunset will occur. You can even specifiy the time of year and watch it change. It’s really handy because you cant always get to every location at the exact time you want to shoot.

Happy Shooting,

Brodie.

 

 

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