DJI Mavic Discussion

Cool, and great landscape!
Unfortunately my one is so unsharp :( don't know if curation will accept it.
To get the best of it what's possible i rendered in PP as jpg image sequence, then postworked the jpgs in Lightroom and set it together as mov.
Surely it's not the last possibilty to get such a shot. In my near home area we have also a lot of buzzards. Usually they seem to avoid any contact with my bird, but also it happend that they seem extra to inspect it by passing near by.
Last not least i don't believe that the propellers can damage the buzzard's or eagle's feet. It's more likely that the Mavic becomes damage and fall down.
But what's the life without any risks ? ;)

Risks: Indeed .. if you throttle up and lift off with a drone camera, you basically do so KNOWING that you may never see your drone, camera, or footage ever again. Get over it. Once you do, then you can get down to work. But it is always a risk. And worth it.

I keep hoping to get the shot of the ravens circling and diving around the drone in midair ... they are so quick though ... all I get is swoops and flashes at best. Nothing worth saving. But it is a very cool interaction to see. They get bored quickly though, and fly off.

As to whether the props will damage or hurt the feet of a large bird - I disagree. I've had several birds (chickens, pigeons, ducks, geese) , and while they are tough, they are easily hurt ... I can't see that an eagle or buzzard would differ much: I offer you this test: Fly the Mavic 0.5 meters off the ground. Grab it from the top. Let us know how you feel afterwards! : )

Also: If the props do NOT break from impact (possible due to them being folding), then it is entirely possible to have the craft regain stability and fly. Recent video test on YouTube proves this ... some "person" flew up and shut off the motors, then restarted ... and did not crash.

Huaaahhh, some people have too much money if they can do so crazy tests ;)
In the Netherlands they have trained eagles to catch dromes, so i'm sure eagles or similiar feet / legs are absolute not so sentitive like my fingers. Some people catch their Mavic by hand from below in sandy or wet areas. I read of one when first try out this the props stiked his fingers. It hurts, but his fingers are not damaged or off. But so long it's not nessescary i won't try it.
Wish you good luck with your crows. Have you tried to make the shot in 1080/120fps ? Yesterday i had again contact with a buzzard and got a nice shot of him flying / passing by, but not so very near. So what i can say till now, they are curious to see who's in the air in their space, but they avoid contact and disapear when coming near. I think it's the sound of the Mavic which is creepy for them ;)

Funny, those police eagles never made my eagle taking drone shot sell. No, it really would hurt them ... if the props strike their legs. I've done medical care on wounded/infected birds ... they are not so tough. I've also had Inspire 1 props strike me when I accidentally activated motors holding improperly. Yeah .. it hurt. Made tiny bloody slices in two parts of my hand (but I did not let go until props stopped!)

I hand catch Mavic and Phantom 4 Pro both - especially if from boat or on snow/dust. It's better. Not so hard with Mavic. Try it with Mavic Off. Rotate props and see ... You have lots of room. Just DO NOT let go. P4P hand catching is super easy due to big handles.

Mavic is almost stealth compared to P4P which is very noisy.

I have not tried bird shots in HD/120. I hate HD. Always disappointing. Enjoying 4098 at 48fps with P4P right now .. .

Polar pro Shutter series ND filters... so far so good. Gimbal calibrates no issues at all.
I can't see any loss in picture quality and there doesn't appear to be much, if any colour cast.

Only negative so far would be they are quite tight, especially removing them. I always keep the plastic gimble bracket thingy in place when installing/removing the filter, it adds a bit of support.
Hopefully they will loosen a touch over time.

I saw no win in using the filters, and really, removing them is a pain !

Took it to a remote desert area. High cliffs and deep valleys. Three times I had birds "attack" it. KInda like a chick magnet.

About "Find My Drone" in DJI App:
Hope you never have to use it, but let me encourage you to train it before!
First let me say, it works great and you see exactly the last GPS coordinate of your bird together with a symbol of your current position. Especially when you're in irritation by loosing your bird you really have to be in hurry if you'll use the possibility of "beep" and "blink", which is only possible if the drone is still connected, and of course if the power is still enough. And that's the problem!
Unfortunately it happened me to loose my bird less than 300m from my current position in a dense forest and uphill. After mental registration that my bird doesn't react to any controller action i needed a while to know how to search in the right direction (exactly that's what you should train). Because i didn't know if there are pathways in the forest which will lead me to the nearest position i had to go and climb straight on in the dense forest bushwerk.
After a whole while i found the nearest position where i couldn't come more near to the last GPS positon. Of course "beep" and "blink" activation was no longer possible. Unfortunately my bird seems to rest in a 40m tall beech tree and there's nothing to see from the ground. Can also stay in a near by tree, maybe in a radius of around 10m. Who knows?
Shit happens!