The pre-programmed drone disaster - or not?
4.10.2017
Translation: machine translated
Video: Manuel Wenk
As a video producer, I've held a lot of cameras in my hands, but they've never flown. My colleague Manuel Wenk doesn't think that's so great, so he persuades me to get to grips with the DJI Sparks and fly the drone.
I'm in the middle of planning a major video shoot when my video colleague Manuel Wenk interrupts my research.
"Stephie, you need to learn to fly drones," he says.
Okay. We've known that for a long time. So it's nothing special. And I've got better things to do right now.
"Yes, and now what?" I reply.
Manuel tells me about a new drone he's supposed to be testing. But since he can already fly drones and has already made videos for digitec, he thinks it's time to bring me into the game. OMG. What? So with the camera and all that?
I'm nervous and irritable. Why now? It can wait. Bigger shoot and all that! There's no rush. Flying drones is super dangerous anyway and I can do something like that when I have more time than I do now. But all my counter-arguments are useless. Manuel remains firm. My inner cat is really resisting, but then he should just teach me.
"Fine, then... When should I do it?" I ask.
"Now," he says in his typically calm manner.
No, honestly... This man is out of his depth! I'm not even properly dressed. But that's fine. It's his own fault: after all, he has to look at me in the cut and not me. Hehe. ;)
Let's go!
It's even worse than I thought. Manuel has no intention of helping me at all. He wants me to inform myself. I roll my eyes and my filming plans recede into the unattainable distance. It's probably not going to happen today. And anyway, he's not the one making a fool of himself in front of the camera. But as my clumsy personality gives me a high tolerance for embarrassment, I threw myself into the adventure.
Youtube, help me!
Youtube has helped me in many hopeless situations. YouTube is my friend, not like Manuel. YouTube helps me when I need it.
I got the DJI Spark for testing.
My first impression: Yay! Tiny: 143×143×55 mm to be precise. I was imagining something powerful and cool. The drone is neither powerful nor particularly impressive at first glance. What does YouTube say about how to fly it? At most, I've flown toy drones once and was extremely successful at crashing them into a wall, a window and a potted plant.... So you see, this experiment can only go wrong. Because I've never flown a proper drone myself. As I'd rather not break the flying object, I google for all I'm worth. Because I naturally want to see what I'm filming or where I'm flying, the first thing I do is download the DJI Go 4 app.
I watch two videos with too much blah blah blah. Here's one. The other one is lost in my Youtube history.
Loo boring. Too much rambling, not enough drone. Next video.
I found the most important thing: how do I switch it on and how do I get it to fly. I'm not interested in all the rest. I don't like reading or looking at long instructions. I've tried, but patience is not my strong point. It makes me all fidgety. I want action! Manu too! So let's go! Out we go! As long as I know how to switch on and know the emergency button that flies my drone to where the controller is on its own, I'll be fine, right? We will see!
I hate to make a fool of myself, but my impatience has won out. A woman can't spend all afternoon watching others fly on a screen! I want to do it myself!
I'm nervous. Once I've put the drone in the grass, I hold the joystick like I've seen on YouTube and pull both joysticks towards me, in the right and left corners respectively. Yay! The propellers are turning! But the Spark doesn't really want to on the grass. I steal Manuel's jumper and quickly turn it into a take-off and landing platform. Here we go.
Wow! It's much easier than I thought. I use the left joystick to make Sparky - yes, I've given the drone a nickname - gain height. I quickly understand what the joysticks do. Once you understand that, it's really simple. Anyone can fly a drone. Even impatient people like me, who would rather try it out and fly on the nose than prepare in detail.
This drone probably has fancy things like gestures that take a selfie of me. It can also land on the palm of my hand, but I didn't dare try all that stuff at first. The main thing is to get her off the floor! I can do all the extravagant shit when I feel more confident - and maybe without Manuel holding the camera in my face. ;)
What I have problems with are the camera settings. I can find the shutter, the ISO, but basically I'm missing some important settings at first glance. Where can I set how many frames per second I want to film at? Back at my desk, Google then told me that the frame rate cannot vary. So the Spark films in full HD, at 1920×1080 with 30fps. That's not a problem, but it's good to know.
After a bit of flying and admiring Zurich from above, the remote control suddenly whines and beeps. Oh my! It's the battery! I get a bit hectic. The 16-minute flight is over far too quickly. Manuel provokes me at just the right moment and my nervousness is suddenly blown away: he gives me the task of landing the drone back where it started: on his jumper. As he says it with enough provocation in his voice, my inner cat puffs up and lands the Sparks cleanly where it should. Bam! That's how it's done! Panic over and drone safely on the ground. Yay!
Will I ever do that again?
Back in the office, we check the footage. Wow. The drone may be small, but it packs a punch. The images are razor-sharp. For such a small thing, it packs quite a punch. Not bad.
I've never been able to understand what's so great about flying drones. Now I know. You can be a bird for 16 minutes, fly and see the world from above. Thank you Manuel! It's funny that I avoided it for so long! Now I want one myself. It's really fun. Give it a try. Absolutely.
I get back to planning my big shoot. But instead of logistics and equipment, I have a new question on my mind: can I include aerial shots somewhere? Can I have Manuel's drone? He certainly doesn't want it as much as I want it.
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Stephanie Tresch
Video Producer
stephanie.tresch@digitecgalaxus.chMy world moves in 25 frames per second. As a journalist, I report – not because I can, but because I can’t help myself. After all, the world is full of stories that are waiting to be told. Adventures don't wait. From national to international news, hand me a camera and a mic and I've got it covered.
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