so ive had my drone for about three weeks now, its a Holy Stone HS720 which i know is not the fanciest thing but i figured id start cheap in case i broke it. anyway ive been going out a few times a week and i feel like im still pretty shaky on the controls especially when i try to do anything other than just going straight forward or hovering. turning while moving forward is where i always mess up and the footage looks terrible.

im just wondering like is this normal, how long before it starts to feel more natural. i see people posting these smooth cinematic shots online and i honestly cant even imagine how they do that right now. do most people practice in a specific way or is it just hours of flying and eventually it clicks

totally normal, the yaw combined with forward movement is the thing that trips everyone up at the beginning. what helped me was flying in a big open field and just practicing figure eights over and over until my hands stopped thinking about it. also if your drone has a tripod mode or something similar that slows the response down, use it while learning, it gives you way more time to correct mistakes before they turn into crashes.

as for how long ? honestly it depends a lot on how often you fly. i felt like things clicked somewhere around maybe 10-15 hours of actual stick time but some people take longer and thats fine. the cinematic stuff is a whole other skill set on top of just flying, those guys are also doing a lot in post with stabilization and color grading so dont compare your raw footage to their finished videos

yeah ive been flying for like 8 months and i still botch some maneuvers, its not as linear as people make it sound. some days feel way better than others too which is annoying. one thing i wish someone told me earlier ? practice flying without looking at the screen sometimes, just keep eyes on the drone itself. helps a lot for orientation especially when it comes back toward you and the controls flip.