- Are you new to flying and
this is your first drone? Well, in this video we're talking about some of the biggest mistakes that new drone pilots make, and I teamed up with my buddy, Aldryn, who has an awesome drone channel, and we're going through
some different things that you need to think about before you take off and start flying. (frantic music) - Now, whether you're an experienced flyer or someone that's just starting out, there's definitely a lot
of kinda common mistakes that a lotta people will make. So lemme talk to you guys
about a few of those mistakes and hopefully you guys can learn from 'em. - Look, I don't wanna
tell you not to do this or not to do that, but
there are some things that you need to think about
before you start flying. Now, I started flying
drones back with the, what drone was that? The DJI Phantom 2. It was one of those where you had to actually build the gimbal
separately from the drone and you had to put it all together. And so one of the things I did when I first started flying drones is I took it up and I really wanted to get a close shot next to a palm tree. Well, you know what? I hit that palm tree, fell
to the ground, exploded. And that's not the only time
that I've hit an object. So one of the mistakes that a lot of new pilots make is
flying too close to objects. When you see people who are
very skilled at flying drones, you'll see some really cool footage of people flying close to objects, like right on something
or right past something. But even though it's small,
until you are super confident about flying this thing,
I would highly suggest, stay a little bit away from objects. The distance between this and the wall or the car or the tree is actually much closer than you think
when you're up flying, and when you're looking at the screen and you're trying to
eyeball where the drone is, you're not gonna gauge it perfectly. So just give yourself
space so you can learn how to fly better and
better, and over time, yes, you can fly closer to objects and get those cool-looking shots. - Now, one of the mistakes I used to make, and I still kinda do every once in awhile, is when you get to a location, you want to map out two or
three main establishing shots of that area, whether it be a landscape or anything that really
defines the area you are in that you wanna show in your video. Before I used to just kinda free-fly and I'd get home and I really didn't have any nice wide shots of an area and didn't really help tell that story. So what you wanna do is, when you get to a specific location, a specific area, try to get those established shots early, or establishing shots early, of that area. And then after that, try
to shoot some B-roll, shoot some extra footage. But make sure you plan
out two or three shots where you're really showing
what is around you first, and then you can go and
get some extra footage. - Now, I know you wanna get
awesome photos and videos, and even with the Mavic Mini, you can get some pretty impressive shots, but you have to know how to use a drone and actually get the proper exposure. So one mistake that a
lotta people will make when they fly is pointing
directly at the sun. The sun is a giant light source, so when your camera's trying to expose for that brightness, it's going to make everything else dark in the frame. And you can see from
this footage right here it makes it super contrast-y, and that's not a very pleasing shot. So a simple fix to this is just point the camera away from the sun. If the sun is off to your
side or if it's behind you, it's a much more pleasing shot. So just think of the position of the sun, where is it, and try to
avoid it with the camera, and you're gonna get
better looking footage. - Now, the great thing
about flying a drone is that you're always discovering
new things, new areas. So the one mistake that I've found is, that a lotta people will make is, they'll buy the drone
and only buy one battery or just use that one
battery that comes with it, and you end up going to a
location after a long hike, you get to an area, beautiful landscape, and that one battery is only
good for 15, 20 minutes. You did not get an extra battery. So another mistake that's very common. Purchase and pick up some extra batteries. - Now, I know you've
heard this over and over, but I just have to remind you of this. You need to know the rules and regulations before you go out and fly. And I'm not gonna go through all of those because there are people watching this video from all over the world. So some people are gonna have different regulations than you. But the idea is go find your
local laws and regulations and just make sure that you're flying within the boundaries
of what the law says. Because it only takes one person to do something really dumb to ruin it for the rest of us. And I know there's a lot of you out there that are saying, "Oh,
it's not that big a deal. "I'm just gonna go fly
here in this national park. "There's no one around." Well, that's how issues form, and then something's gonna happen. Maybe the drone drops, it hits
something, and you know what? It's just not worth it. So fly where you're supposed to be flying and just be aware of where
you shouldn't be flying. - Now, one mistake that you
might kinda think is funny, but it happens all the time, is make sure you hit record
when you get up in the air. Now, you might think that's
a super obvious thing to do, and of course it is, but you'll realize how many times you get to a location, you might be rushing things
or you get really excited because you wanna get that footage before the sun goes down
or anything like that, you get up there, you look down
after 15 minutes of flying, and realize you weren't recording. So one mistake, make sure
you hit that record button. - Now, when it comes to
getting good footage, one massive mistake is
just taking the drone as high as possible and just
getting that bird's-eye view. It's kinda cool at first, when you've never flown a drone before, to get really high in the sky because that's a really cool perspective. You're looking down on the world. The issue is, if you're shooting video, then you're not gonna be able to get very exciting shots from up top. You'll have one shot that
just shows the landscape or whatever it is. But when you're super high in the air, you're not gonna see
that sense of movement that your drone can create. It flies, so you need to see that sense of movement to create
those cinematic shots. So don't fly as high as possible. Bring the drone a little bit lower so that you get that sense of movement. And also just find different perspectives. Way up top, looking straight down, and seeing the landscapes is cool, but where can you put this camera that you can't put other cameras and get some different and unique shots? - Now, if you get something
like the Mavic Mini, it does not have any internal storage. Now, one thing that a
lotta times I will miss or forget to do is put that
memory card back in the drone. Now, if you have the Mavic Pro 2, it has some internal memory on there at eight gigs internal storage, but the Mavic Mini and
other drones don't have that internal storage. So the one thing you'll do sometimes is you'll forget your memory card. So one mistake that's very common. Try not to forget your memory card. And also, when you do have
your memory card in there, check your capacity on that card. Clear it out if you have to, but also make sure it's backed up. But before you get up and you hit record and you try to film something, the last thing you wanna do is be halfway through your shoot, and
the next thing you know, it'll say capacity full. So one, make sure you have a memory card, and two, make sure you clear
it out and have it backed up. - So when it comes to capturing footage, anything jerky, when you're
like (creaking with voice), is gonna look pretty awful. So you wanna have smooth shots that have a beginning and an end. Now don't get excited and just try and capture 30 shots when you
take the drone up in the air and you only get two seconds of each shot. The issue is, when you get into the edit, you'll realize that you might
wanna hang on a shot longer. So it will benefit to get 20, 30 seconds of a shot where you're flying
from point A to point B. Slow down the sticks. Don't push full throttle all the time. Maybe pull it half,
maybe pull it a quarter, so that you have more
of a slow, drifting shot and that your shot lasts
a decent amount of time. The mistakes that new flyers
make is jerky camera movements and really short shots that
don't really show much. So when you're shooting video, you wanna think in terms
of creating a movie, so longer takes, because that will give you options when it goes into your edit. Now, you might cut all of it up and you just use two
seconds, but you never know. You might want 20
seconds for that one shot 'cause it's just amazing and breathtaking. - Another common mistake
I will see is people try to run their batteries a little too long and assume that they have
enough juice to get back, and all of a sudden it might go into some sort of auto-landing and they might still be
hundreds of feet out there. So a common mistake is
running it too long. Once you get into that 30, 40% range, you wanna have that drone fairly close enough to you, where you can see it, that if anything were to go wrong, if the battery were to drain quicker than normal for some-odd reason, say if you're flying
somewhere in the snow, and that battery were
to drop significantly, at least you're able to visually see it, land it if you had to. But try not to run your
battery too far down. Have it within distance when
you're about that 30, 40%. Try to get your shots in. And I normally like to bring my batteries and my drone back in at about 20%. So one mistake. Try not to run your
batteries too far down, especially if you're flying way out there. - So I just wanna say thank you to Aldryn for jumping in this
video and giving you guys some awesome mistakes to look out for. If you haven't seen his channel yet, make sure you head over to FlytPath. He's got a lot of awesome videos all centered around flying drones and just everything you
need to know about drones. So for any new drone pilots out there, I highly suggest checking out his channel. And if you wanna see another video on 20 more mistakes that you
can make as a drone pilot, then check out this video right here. I dig into a lot of other things that could go wrong when you take up this little guy to go flying. All right, guys, that's it. I'll see you on the next one.
