[zurura023]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Got myself a used Mavic Mini with the Flymore pack off FB Marketplace. With 0 experience, I’ve been spending time reading up and watching Youtube tutorial videos. Looking forward to using it on an upcoming trip.

Flying this is super fun & I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Start with the guards that come with the flymore pack in an fairly open space. You'll get used to the controls in no time.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by zurura023

Flying this is super fun & I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Start with the guards that come with the flymore pack in an fairly open space. You'll get used to the controls in no time.

Thank you. I did exactly what i was NOT supposed to do, and did the first trial inside the house, without the guards. Needless to say it wasn't a great outcome, thankfully no damage.

Next attempt was after reading the manual, as well as watching some videos, and it was a whole lot better. Need to take it to some open area to try, with all the restrictions around flying it in urban areas.

[Transmission]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Thank you. I did exactly what i was NOT supposed to do, and did the first trial inside the house, without the guards. Needless to say it wasn't a great outcome, thankfully no damage.

Next attempt was after reading the manual, as well as watching some videos, and it was a whole lot better. Need to take it to some open area to try, with all the restrictions around flying it in urban areas.

Practise with it for a the first few days. You need to familiarize yourself with the controls now so that when its time to get those shots you know exactly what you need to do - so much so that you barely have to actively think about it.

Also, I think even the Mini 1 (Mini 2 does for sure) has 2 techniques it uses to stabilize itself: GPS/postioning (coarse) and vision (fine). Flying indoors knocks out the first and badly affects the latter if the contrast is low (vitrified/pain tiles or marble/granite flooring, plain walls, low light etc) and thats why the drone is likely to act drunk.
But once you take it outside you'll see how ridiculously stable it is - particularly the footage since it gets the added benefit of the gimbal. You can see the drone move about 10-15cm from side to side and the image barely acknowledges it. And if at any point you feel uncomfortable just remove your fingers from all the buttons - the drones holds its position excellently - with 0 manual input.

DJI truly makes some fantastic camera drones. Fly responsibly, and have fun.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Transmission

Also, I think even the Mini 1 (Mini 2 does for sure) has 2 techniques it uses to stabilize itself: GPS/postioning (coarse) and vision (fine). Flying indoors knocks out the first and badly affects the latter if the contrast is low (vitrified/pain tiles or marble/granite flooring, plain walls, low light etc) and thats why the drone is likely to act drunk.

Agreed. But even indoors, the Mini 1 is extremely stable. I have cream coloured vitrified tiles with hardly any noticeable pattern and it still remains stable with a very mild drift only while braking. But while hovering, its really stable.

Outdoor stability is something else even with a fair degree of wind. Spent some good time with the Mavic over the last couple of weeks especially after buying the Litchi app and I can say its the best gadget investment I have ever made. Would upload some random videos soon.

EDIT:

Just a sample - A movie jig type of stability while moving even at low height

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsJB_I6E9Go

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by Transmission

Practise with it for a the first few days. You need to familiarize yourself with the controls now so that when its time to get those shots you know exactly what you need to do - so much so that you barely have to actively think about it.

Also, I think even the Mini 1 (Mini 2 does for sure) has 2 techniques it uses to stabilize itself: GPS/postioning (coarse) and vision (fine). Flying indoors knocks out the first and badly affects the latter if the contrast is low (vitrified/pain tiles or marble/granite flooring, plain walls, low light etc) and thats why the drone is likely to act drunk.
But once you take it outside you'll see how ridiculously stable it is - particularly the footage since it gets the added benefit of the gimbal. You can see the drone move about 10-15cm from side to side and the image barely acknowledges it. And if at any point you feel uncomfortable just remove your fingers from all the buttons - the drones holds its position excellently - with 0 manual input.

DJI truly makes some fantastic camera drones. Fly responsibly, and have fun.

Totally agree.

The Mini also has 2 techniques to stabilize itself as you mentioned. Day 1 it struggled as i had a dimply lit room, but was better after i turned on the lights.

Day 2 after being smarter with the information i had gathered, i launched it within the house and allowed it to hover while i tried out the gimbal movements, as well as going around. It definitely feels interesting, and i am looking forward to taking it out to try.

[Transmission]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Agreed. But even indoors, the Mini 1 is extremely stable. I have cream coloured vitrified tiles with hardly any noticeable pattern and it still remains stable with a very mild drift only while braking. But while hovering, its really stable.

Outdoor stability is something else even with a fair degree of wind. Spent some good time with the Mavic over the last couple of weeks especially after buying the Litchi app and I can say its the best gadget investment I have ever made. Would upload some random videos soon.

EDIT:

Just a sample - A movie jig type of stability while moving even at low height
https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=UsJB_I6E9Go

Yup, the Litchi app is a bit on the rough side with respect to UI but is bleeding with excellent features.

And thats a very interesting place - green paddy fields to hills to lakes to factories in a single area!

Also, may I recommend turning down the sensitivity of your yaw (left-right rotate) and pitch (camera up-down tilt) settings. I personally use yaw of ~15°/s with smoothness = 20 (and never max out on the yaw speed anyways so usually running at something like 5-10°/s) and a very slow pitch too in the Normal mode. It makes the video very smooth and easy on the eyes. Jeven Dovey on youtube has videos I found useful for myself

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Transmission

And thats a very interesting place - green paddy fields to hills to lakes to factories in a single area!

Also, may I recommend turning down the sensitivity of your yaw (left-right rotate) and pitch (camera up-down tilt) settings. I personally use yaw of ~15°/s with smoothness = 20 (and never max out on the yaw speed anyways so usually running at something like 5-10°/s) and a very slow pitch too in the Normal mode. It makes the video very smooth and easy on the eyes. Jeven Dovey on Youtube has videos I found useful for myself

Well thats our own farm in between some industrialization and urbanization.

I am yet to get the right settings for the pitch. I must reduce the rate and also the smoothening. But in C mode it works really well. Only thing is during wind I saw some videos where they suggested not to use C due to lack of sudden response if there is a gust of wind and the drone struggles to compensate for it.

[Transmission]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Well thats our own farm in between some industrialization and urbanization.

I am yet to get the right settings for the pitch. I must reduce the rate and also the smoothening. But in C mode it works really well. Only thing is during wind I saw some videos where they suggested not to use C due to lack of sudden response if there is a gust of wind and the drone struggles to compensate for it.

The C mode is really good, but the noticeably faster speed of the N mode helps get much better forward/backward moves (without having to use any speed up in post processing). So I use the N mode but tweak the gimbal to be as smooth as the C mode - and hence these settings

I haven't had any issues with wind on the C or the N modes. The drone definitely wobbles visually when it hits sudden gusts, but the gimbal kees the video very stable. So clearly its well within its abilities IMO.

[logicalidiot]

Do we need to register Nano drones on the Digital Sky platform? I understand that the Type certificate, DAN, Pilot licence is not applicable or required for Nano drones but not sure if the registration needs to be done. I think I had read before that Nano drones need not be registered but I can't really find it now - if somebody has a copy of it, please share if possible.

I tried going through the DigitalSky platform but not able to bypass the identity verification - offline e-kyc aadhaar is not working the way as it should be. Looks like an issue from their end. Would be great if someone has a found a way around this one.

[Transmission]

Originally Posted by logicalidiot

Do we need to register Nano drones on the Digital Sky platform?

As far as I can tell, no you dont need a registration for a Nano drone.

Source

[logicalidiot]

Originally Posted by Transmission

As far as I can tell, no you dont need a registration for a Nano drone.

Source

I did find the above link when I did a search on Google but since it is not an official government website, I'm a bit apprehensive about it. I'm looking for official gazetted notification which states that no registration is required for Nano category drones. If you look at the Drone Rules 2021 Notification, there are lines confirming that Type Certificate, Remote Pilot License and Insurance is not required for Nano category drones, however for registration, all it says is the below.

"No person shall operate an unmanned aircraft system without first registering it on the digital sky platform and obtaining a unique identification number, unless exempted from the requirement of a unique identification number under these rules."

Even though it states "unless exempted", there is no clear definition of what is exempted from registration. Just want to be on the safer side and keep a print out/soft copy of these documents handy in case some ill-informed cop wants to take me for a ride.

[camitesh]

From what I understand, drone registration on Digital Sky platform is mandatory for all categories of drones including a Nano drone. What the nano drone owners do not need is the permission to fly (under something called as NPNT or No Permission No Takeoff which all other categories of registered drone owners need). Nano drone owners also have relaxations on insurance or remote pilot requirements.

I do own a Mavic mini 1 since 2020 and had a DAN (Drone Acknowledgment Number) previously which was converted to UIN (Unique Identification Number) in March this year after certain formalities online. The process to get the drone (even nano) registered isn’t very straightforward but it is manageable with some research. A nominal fee of INR 100 was charged to get UIN whereas DAN was free.

I know many people who were/are very cautious of registering the drone on digital sky because of lack of clarity and longish process. I got mine registered basis my understanding of the law and to get that additional comfort of ‘having the UIN and not needing it’ rather than ‘not having a UIN and needing it’

PS: for mavic mini owners still in doubt, visit the site and do a keyword search for UIN issued to mini or mini 2 drones. You’ll see hundreds of them registered already as they should be IMHO

PPS: what a wonderful little capable drone the mavic mini is. Recently went for a trek in Meghalaya and shot a lot of beautiful footage like this https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bT2...w?usp=drivesdk

[arpanjha]

I am a nano drone flyer, Mavic Mini 2. Although I have registered on Digitalsky, but it is not mandatory for <250gm nano drones. But, better to do it. Also, I use my drone by logging in from my registered DJI ID. Infact since I stay very close to the airport, even if I fly indoors, I need to apply for unlock permission each time. This way, it makes me feel very secure too.

BTW, one more of the footages I shot last evening over the serene river Hooghly:

https://youtu.be/ejhdyBeII-I

[logicalidiot]

Originally Posted by camitesh

I know many people who were/are very cautious of registering the drone on digital sky because of lack of clarity and longish process. I got mine registered basis my understanding of the law and to get that additional comfort of ‘having the UIN and not needing it’ rather than ‘not having a UIN and needing it’

Originally Posted by arpanjha

I am a nano drone flyer, Mavic Mini 2. Although I have registered on Digitalsky, but it is not mandatory for <250gm nano drones. But, better to do it.

Thanks guys. I think you just made me go for the UIN. I thought it'd be a complicated process but it's way easier than I thought. A little fumbles here n there but got it done quick when I understood the steps. The DigitalSky support team was quite helpful.

The registration is more like a reporting and doesn't really require any approval (for nano drones). The UIN is generated as soon as the registration fee payment is made online. Super easy and the steps are mentioned on the DigitalSky platform as well.

P.S the platform asks for a lot of information but most of them are not mandatory and lets you leave it blank if you don't know - that's what the support team asked me to do and it worked

[Mortis]

Guys can someone help me out with regards to drone related rule ?
My brother is currently in Singapore and found a great deal on a DJI Mini 2.
Can he buy the drone and get it in his check in baggage specially to Mumbai ?
It is a nano drone so technically has the least regulations
Or are you only allowed to buy drones via direct import ?
He's coming back in a couple of days so I would appreciate a quick reply.
One source told me that all drones coming in via international passengers are illegal and will be seized