Goth weekend and new helmet cam

A couple of weeks ago upgraded the Drift Ghost HD to new 4K version.
It's generally much better but at start of this you can see why stabilisation does not want to be turned on when using it like this.

Walking round Whitby was with GoPro and Feiyu gimbal.
I recorded 2.7K and 30FPS, with hindsight it would have bee better to use 60fPS and slow several parts down.
A common problem was very brief glimpses of something interesting before someone walked into frame or they moved off. It is extremely crowded and congested in some of the narrow places.

Wool collection Castleton

Peak 1940s at Levisham

Bike cam video on way and back - I have used 'Mavic' rendering settings on this and was quite pleased with results, however have just decided to upgrade the helmet cam to Drift 4K (from Ghost HD) and quick test on day #1 looks promising.
Much higher bitrate at 1080p.

Blacksmiths, Hartoft Cropton Forest

Close to disaster at start of this, as only by pure luck missed a TV cable slung over the roof.
It's fairly obvious on big screen later.
Blacksmiths Arms has been empty all summer but someone is there acting as housekeeper as lights were on and I've seen a car there.
There is a separate house adjoining.

Rosedale - East mines

Seems a bit dull at first but second half is good.
If I go over there again will go lower especially over the ruined houses.

Old Canon 300D file

I've been quite impressed by how nice these can be made with Lightroom and PS + more knowledge.

Unfortunately I didn't always save the RAW files as in those days 20mb are whatever seemed huge and filled the 20gb drive up to fast!

 This lower part of Blakey near Hutton-le-Hole was in a Ford Transit advert early 1980s and has been used on Top Gear.
You can see why, but to make it look like this is slight deception by zoom lens.

I didn't like the 300D with original lens but an inexpensive Sigma 18-200mm transformed it - much sharper.  Unfortunately after 5 years or so unused I found the camera had got fungus on the sensor so practically unusable.
After owning the 5DMkii for a while it felt like a toy but being much lighter is a good thing.

 With hindsight I would manage without the SLR and buy (now) something like Sony RX100 iv.
The 5D is still good but so bulky and heavy even in car it's inconvenient.
My tiny S100 does RAW and is almost as good as the 300D was a lot of the time.
Also it's nice to be able to do decent video preferably 4K.
The 5Dmk2 was more or less the first SLR to be able to do video too, but only 1080p and it can overheat apparently.
The results are nothing special - requiring quite a bit of processing later - and you can only use it more or less static on a tripod, a it won't change focus automatically during recording.

Whorlton Castle again

Not the best light for this last week, but still much improved on 2014 Vision Plus version.
The close-ups of upper levels worked well - however wind suddenly hitting it near top of walls inside the gatehouse was worrying!

Seated Man Rainbow

Unfortunately only a segment but still a nice moment - though you can barely see where 'he' is.

It is becoming apparent that the number of visitors is excessive and it would not be surprising if it has to be removed before planned date of 2022 due to erosion.

From home we can see it on the skyline and for weeks now there is a small crowd circling round it every minute of the day.

Hutton-le-Hole quickie

Not the best lighting for this but I especially liked the part coming back to Barmoor where we used to make extra hay in the late 1960s. (when living at Wheat Ends)
A nice thing about flying at Hutton is there are several quiet(ish) places to take off all around with a bit of elevation and you can circle round without going over the busy bits.

Having said that where I parked someone pulled in alongside halfway through and looked a bit stunned when I reached out of pick up window and Mavic landed in my hand like a hawk :)

Heather time again

Been experimenting with new aproach to settings on Mavic.
There is a school of opinion that if you use lower than +1 sharpening automated noise reduction starts to kick in first in darker areas then in lower light all round the outside.
I've definitely seen this e.g. Seated Man Video but in good light you often don't see it.

My experiments with +1 on 4K video looked pretty horrible to be honest, but then I tried it on 2.7K rendered for youtube at 1440p and must say it does seem more reliably good crisp footage though needs a bit of gaussian blur to take the edge off unless light is fading.

Annoyingly weather has been dreadful if not impossible for flying it until yesterday when I did these two and am quietly impressed with the overall effect especially viewed on smart TV.

The Seated Man

A painted Bronze sculpture by Sean Henry and commisioned by the David Ross Foundation.
The three metre high artwork overlooks Westerdale from Castleton Rigg, contemplating the expansive view.
It is to be removed after five years.

Silage 2017

Had to be done.

Rudland Rigg with CRF 250L and Mavic

I had it in mind to make the drone follow alongside for a little way. but somehow forgot how to do it having only used the feature once before with the quad bike!
When out in bright sun it's very hard to see the screen instructions such as they are.
At home later I sussed it out easily.

Silton and Kirkdale

Both of these it was too windy on Sunday to do anything overly ambitious, but light was good.

At Gregorys Minster it seemed calm in the valley but DJI App gave second level wind warnings at 100 feet. (Not to be disregarded)
I also arrived just as a service had started so kept well clear!

St Oswolds at Lythe

Had to go to Whitby on afternoon of 2nd May and found time for this on the way back.
The sea fog was rolling in on an Easterly wind, but the atmospheric feeling quite suited the location.

 

Lockwood Beck in the spring sunshine

Close proximity pines

Wild daffodils 2017

They're a week or so early this year and quite a good display. The rain a couple of days ago just spoiled the earliest ones but peak is just starting.

Kildale again

Had to go to Stokesley for sheep injector gun and light was lovely as I came back.
Possibly the best Mavic footage so far with nice detail but it still looks a bit odd on 4K TV if you get too close.

Sundown Mavic

This is nothing special but I was pleased with the striking video grab thumbnail.
Mainly a quick whizz round fields to test (yet again) following Mavic Firmware updates which have vastly improved my preferred D-Log mode.

I still see some colour problems problems notably with green and magenta which seem to look implausibly different depending what you view it on.
With laptop too much green, on TV too red/magenta. Just right on desktop where I edit.
Laptop and Desktop are supposed to be calibrated same, 4K TV is problematic but video from other cameras look closer to expected on it.

Local History Group aerial

Misty Moorland Morning

Always a sucker for a bit of fog.

January at Gillamoor

This little village is always quiet but even more so in the dead of winter.

Ralphs Cross sunset

First Mavic snow run

There had been snow showers in the night which is partly why some bits are whiter than others!
It seems crucial to get exposure right - more so than Phantom 3.
Even one click (0.3) too bright or dark and things go wrong quickly, fortunately it can be gradually tweaked even dynamically through a scene in Adobe Premiere but this is all rather slow and tedious.
I used the auto exposure and towards the end you can see it changing as I tilt up and down.
At least the change is smooth and probably better than spotting the required change and clicking manually in 0.3 steps.

Meanwhile a few stills I took were a little disappointing as I don't seem to have switched back to RAW from JPG following last firmware update.
Though I thought I did whichmakes me wonder if actually it reverted on its own, worth checking in future as JPGs have quite a lot of NR applied.

Still quite good at larger size - click it.