what happened is i switched to sport mode to reposition quickly and then forgot i was in sport mode. obstacle avoidance turns off in sport mode on the air 2 obviously but i guess i just wasnt thinking. there was a thin power line running across part of the reservoir that i honestly didnt even know was there, couldnt see it on the camera feed until basically the second it was too late. drone clipped it and went straight down into the water.

i did have DJI Care Refresh so i got a replacement but it cost me the replacement fee and also just the whole experience was horrible, standing at the edge of the water watching it sink. moral of the story i guess is always scout the area first and be really careful about switching modes mid flight and forgetting what mode youre in. the power line was totally invisible against the sky until it wasnt

anyway my actual question is about the RC-N1 controller vs the RC with the built in screen. i went with the RC-N1 to save some money and i'm using an old iphone 11 mounted on it and it works fine mostly but sometimes in bright sunlight i genuinely cannot see anything on the phone screen even with brightness maxed. like i'm basically flying blind trying to shade the screen with my hand. is this just the reality of using your phone or am i missing something? do the people using the RC with built in screen have this problem too or is the screen on that thing actually bright enough to see outdoors?

also any other tips for someone coming from the mini ecosystem would be awesome, feels like a totally different beast weight and handling wise

halfway through the move the aircraft just kind of... hesitated? like it almost stopped mid-air for maybe half a second and then resumed normally. no warnings on screen, no error in the flight log that i can see, return to home didnt trigger or anything. finished the flight fine, landed fine. checked the props when i got home and they all looked okay.

ive flown this thing probably 80 or 90 times and never seen that before. the only thing different was it was a bit hazy and i was flying over water which i know can mess with the optical flow sensors but i was at like 35 meters so it shouldnt have mattered. anyone experienced something like this or know what might cause a mid flight hiccup like that with no logged error

a buddy told me to just get the DJI ones but they're pretty pricey and ive seen a lot of people recommend Freewell or PolarPro. the Freewell all day kit seems like a good deal but then i keep reading that PolarPro Cinema series glass is noticeably better? im mostly doing landscape and some real estate stuff, not a ton of motion video, so i dont know if the more expensive glass would even matter for my use case.

also genuinely not sure how to pick which ND to use. like i know the 180 degree rule exists but in practice i always second guess myself. any tips from people who actually use the M3C regularly would be really appreciated

my house is a two story and i fly from the backyard so maybe thats it? or is there interference from something? i live in a pretty normal suburb nothing crazy nearby. the drone itself seems fine otherwise, no crashes, everything checks out in the app. just the signal weirdness when it's close but behind the house specifically.

anyway once i sorted that out and found a decent free LUT online the footage is genuinely really nice. the obstacle avoidance is also way more confidence inspiring, i was flying near some trees the other day and it just kind of... stopped and waited for me which was a bit startling but probably saved me from a very bad day. the Mini 2 had zero of that obviously.

one thing i wasnt expecting is how much heavier it feels in the bag and just generally carrying it around. not a dealbreaker but if you hike a lot it's something to think about. battery life is also noticeably better which i appreciate. anyone else make this same jump and have tips for getting the most out of the camera side of things?

im using the RC-N1 controller that came with it, not the smart controller with the screen. live in a pretty suburban area so there is some interference i guess but it really does seem worse than it should be. i checked and the antennas are oriented correctly, the ones on the controller pointing up.

havent changed anything in the signal settings, not sure if theres something in there i should be tweaking or if this is more of a hardware issue. the drone itself seems fine otherwise, no weird behavior, motors all sound normal. just the connection thing that keeps killing my flights early.

what surprised me though was the wind handling. i was flying out near the coast last weekend and had some pretty gnarly gusts, maybe 25-30mph, and the thing was just locked in. my Mini 2 wouldve been doing its little nervous dance all over the place. tracking shots are so much smoother now too.

one thing i didnt expect to be annoyed by is how much heavier the controller feels after two years with the lighter one. my wrists actually got tired on a longer session which sounds ridiculous but its true. anyone else find a good way to deal with that, like a neck strap or something? also curious if the ND filter sets people are using, ive been looking at the Kase ones but theyre not cheap.

im in the US so the transmission power should be fine. controller antennas are pointed correctly i think, the flat part facing the drone. phone is a pixel 6 if that matters. it was doing this pretty much from the start so its not like something changed. started wondering if i got a bad unit or if theres something dumb im missing in the settings.

first thing i noticed is the hasselblad color profile is no joke. i was skeptical because marketing but side by side with my old footage the difference in the greens especially is just really noticeable, especially in flat d-log. took me a while to get a LUT workflow sorted but once i did the footage looks genuinely cinematic without much work.

the obstacle avoidance is so much better than i expected. flew through some pretty dense trees on a trail i know well and it was nervous-making but it handled it. not saying you should push it but its confidence inspiring. battery life is also just... longer than the spec sheet suggests in calm conditions? i was getting close to 42 min on a warmish day with light wind. the mini 2 would be sweating at 25.

downsides honestly are just the size/weight and the ND filter situation. the built in variable ND is convenient but i still feel like i want more control, thinking about picking up a set of fixed polarpro or freewell NDs. anyone have opinions on which brand for the 3 classic specifically? also curious if the fly more combo is worth it at this point since the prices have dropped a bit.

thing is it came back but landed like 80 meters away from me in some scrub brush. nearly lost it. had to go crashing through bushes to find it and one of the props has a nick in it now.

i think maybe i moved after i took off? i remember walking maybe 10-15 meters along the path while it was in the air. does the home point update automatically or do i need to do something to refresh it. also flying near cliffs, could that have messed with the GPS lock when it was trying to come home

i picked up a cheap set off amazon (some brand called Freewell i think?) and the 64 and 128 look really dark to me even on a bright sunny day. like the footage comes out looking underexposed even when i crank the ISO. im shooting in D-Log M if that matters. should i be adjusting something else first or did i just buy the wrong filters

also not sure if this is related but im noticing some slight jello effect in windy conditions, is that normal for this camera or am i doing something wrong

i grabbed the sticks and took manual control which worked fine and nothing bad happened but it genuinely scared me. i had obstacle avoidance on so i think that saved it from actually hitting anything but still. is this a known thing or did i do something wrong in the setup. i feel like ive used active track before without this happening but maybe conditions were different i dunno

the set i got says its compatible with Mavic 3 but i know the Classic has a different lens setup than the regular Mavic 3 so now im second guessing myself. the filters fit physically which is something but i dont know if the coating quality matters that much at my level. also just generally when do you guys actually bother putting them on vs just shooting without, like on a cloudy overcast day do i even need them or is that more of a bright sun situation

im using the RC controller, not the phone, and its been doing this since pretty much when i got it. i updated the firmware when i first unboxed it and havent had any major issues otherwise. the footage is fine, it doesnt seem to actually lose control or anything, just that little blip. my friend has a Mavic Air 2 and says he never gets this but im not sure if thats relevant or if maybe my flying areas are just more congested with interference or something.

anyone else see this or should i be worried enough to send it in

first thing i noticed right out of the box is how solid it feels compared to my old Mini 2. like theres actual weight to it, feels like it was built by people who meant it. the Hasselblad color profile thing was what i was most curious about and yeah the D-Log M footage is genuinely different to grade than what i was used to. took me a few sessions to stop overcolouring it because you really dont need to do much.

battery life has been the biggest practical upgrade for me. i was constantly swapping on the Mini 2 mid-shoot and now i can actually just fly and think about the shot instead of watching the battery percentage like a hawk. anyway just wanted to share since this forum helped me make the decision. happy to answer questions if anyone else is on the fence about the Classic vs Air 2S thing.

shot some stuff at the beach last weekend and a couple clips had this weird color cast that i dont usually see, kind of purple-ish on the highlights. could be the filters could be something else entirely, i genuinely dont know. the light was pretty harsh and coming from a weird angle.

curious if anyone has actually done a proper comparison or if this is just gear snobbery. im not against spending the money if theres a real difference but i dont want to drop 80 bucks on filters if my cheap ones are doing the job fine.

main thing is the Hasselblad color profile stuff ? i shot in D-Log M on my second flight because everyone online says to but honestly the footage looked completely washed out and grey and i panicked a little. i know thats normal and you have to grade it but i have no idea where to start with that. im on premiere pro if that helps. is there a LUT people actually use or do you all just do it manually every time?

also the RC controller that came with it, is it normal that it gets pretty warm after like 30-40 minutes? not hot hot but definitely warm. maybe im overthinking it.

ive updated everything, tried different phones, same issue more or less. a friend with the same setup doesnt seem to have this problem which is what makes me think somethings off with my unit specifically. environment isnt crazy, suburbia with some trees but nothing dense. its not consistent either which is the annoying part, sometimes it flies fine out to 800m, other times its being weird at 400.

not sure if the antennas in the controller are the issue or if its something with my phone interfering. using a pixel 7 if that matters. any ideas welcome at this point

first thing ? the Hasselblad sensor is not hype. i was kind of expecting it to be a marketing thing but the colors out of the box are genuinely nicer, and shooting in D-Log M gives you so much more to work with in post compared to what i was doing before. the adjustable aperture actually changed how i shoot, being able to go wider for low light or stop down for those sharp landscape shots is something i didnt realize i was missing.

battery life is the other thing. 46 minutes rated, i get like 38-40 in real conditions which is still way better than the Mini 2. feel like im actually exploring instead of constantly watching the battery percentage.

only gripe so far is the RC controller that came with it had some connectivity weirdness the first couple days but that seems to have sorted itself out after a firmware update. also this thing is noticeably heavier to carry around, the bag situation is a bit more involved now. small stuff though, overall really happy with the switch.

problem is i cant really justify the cost to myself unless theres something that actually changes how i fly day to day. the camera difference looks pretty minimal to me from the sample footage ive seen? like its better but not life changing. maybe im wrong.

does anyone who has actually made this jump feel like it was worth it or did it end up sitting in the bag feeling basically the same as before. my Mini 3 batteries wont work with it either which is another thing annnoying me about the whole decision

the wind was picking up a bit, maybe 15-18mph gusts coming off the water and i was honestly nervous about it at first but the thing just locked in like it was nothing. i had it hovering maybe 40m out over the water and it barely drifted. ActiveTrack was tracking my partner walking along the cliff path and it held her beautifully even when i was wrestling with the controller a bit in the wind.

one thing i did notice though ? battery drain was noticeably faster than in calm conditions. i knew this would happen but it was still a bit of a gut punch watching the percentage drop. ended up getting maybe 22 mins of actual useful flight out of each battery instead of the usual 28-30 i get at home.

anyone else fly coastal a lot? curious if there are any ND filter setups people swear by for that kind of bright overcast sky you get near the sea. i was using the ND16 from the fly more kit and it seemed okay but im not sure i nailed the exposure.

somewhere around that distance the video feed just went gray and the controller started beeping. i've had minor signal hiccups before but this was a full disconnect, the map froze, everything. i just kind of stood there for a second not knowing what to do and then remembered that RTH exists and just hit the button and waited.

longest 90 seconds of my life watching that little dot on the map barely moving and then finally it comes crawling back over the treeline and lands about 3 feet from where i was standing. footage was fine, drone was fine, i was not fine lol.

think it might have been interference from something? there were some power lines maybe 100 meters to the north. anyway just wanted to share because i always read about people losing drones and it was a terrifying reminder to actually trust the failsafes and not panic