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DJI Phantom 4 Active Track Tesla Demo

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benjiejr

Technogeekextraordinaire
Nov 20, 2014
672
480
San Antonio, Texas
Here's a Tesla-related video... I used the DJI Phantom 4 Active Track functionality to follow the Tesla...


On a side note to the mods or anyone that might know, I tried to create a new post in the "Videos" section, but it says I have insufficient privileges to do so. I've made several posts there before, even since the move to the new forum design. Not sure why it gives me that message so I've posted here instead. Mods are welcome to move.
 
Nice! I would have been nervous about doing that in a residential area though. Maybe take the drone out to some rural roads without power lines and you might be able to set a lower altitude.

I am getting closer and closer to buying the new DJI.
 
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Nice! I would have been nervous about doing that in a residential area though. Maybe take the drone out to some rural roads without power lines and you might be able to set a lower altitude.

I am getting closer and closer to buying the new DJI.

Yeah, I was nervous but I took it out early on a Sunday morning and it was pretty quiet. I do want to try it on some open country roads so I don't have to worry as much. Thank you.
 
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Cool video. What's the fastest you can go with your car without losing the drone tracking?

Also, I see a lot of bad reviews at Amazon in regards to DJI 3 and 4, how is your experience so far? thanks

So this street has a speed limit of 30 mph and as I got closer to 25-30 it seemed to be at it's max. I believe the drone will do closer to 40-45 mph if you put it into Sport Mode but that turns off the obstacle avoidance sensors and such and I'm guessing that you can't use the Active Track feature in Sport Mode but I haven't tried this.

I had two Phantom 3s and both had issues with firmware updates messing up the camera connection. Really frustrating! Knock on wood, I haven't had any issues with the Phantom 4 although I've had a friend who had some issues and another friend who is having issues with the Inspire. So I'm not sure if I've just been lucky so far or if my friends have had bad luck. I'm really impressed with this drone - the features, the video quality, the firmware update process - all of it! Hope that helps.
 
Sweet! I sent that along to my drone photog friend. He's got an Inspire and I'm sure he'll be jealous.

Thanks! The Inspire is an awesome drone and has some definite advantages over the P4 and is probably more for the professional drone videographer. For the money, the P4 is a great value and the P3 series maybe even a better value if you don't need some of the newest features like obstacle avoidance, tap to fly, active track, etc.
 
Really nice video from your Phantom 4 following your Tesla. I have just been getting into flying drones (I am learning with a Syma X5C indoors - it can't seem to handle any wind outside). What would you recommend for my next drone? Should I step up to a Phantom 3 Advanced or should I practice with another less costly, advanced beginner drone before moving onto a DJI drone. Thanks for any advice.
 
Really nice video from your Phantom 4 following your Tesla. I have just been getting into flying drones (I am learning with a Syma X5C indoors - it can't seem to handle any wind outside). What would you recommend for my next drone? Should I step up to a Phantom 3 Advanced or should I practice with another less costly, advanced beginner drone before moving onto a DJI drone. Thanks for any advice.

Thank you. I think almost anyone can fly the DJI series drones so I would just straight to that. Depending on how much you can afford I would go with one of the Phantom 3 or 4 series. I think Phantom 3 Standard starts at like $499 and the higher end Phantom 3s have some improved specs and functionality. The Phantom 4 has got more bells and whistles and probably even easier to fly if $1399 is within your range.
 
Thank you. I think almost anyone can fly the DJI series drones so I would just straight to that. Depending on how much you can afford I would go with one of the Phantom 3 or 4 series. I think Phantom 3 Standard starts at like $499 and the higher end Phantom 3s have some improved specs and functionality. The Phantom 4 has got more bells and whistles and probably even easier to fly if $1399 is within your range.

Thanks for the advice. I am considering getting one of the Phantom 3 models for now and may consider getting a Phantom 4 as my next drone. I don't really need 4K video so I am thinking about the Standard versus the Advanced. Do you think the Lightbridge makes a big difference and does the Advanced offer better in-flight stability and ease of control over the Standard. Thanks.
 
Thanks for the advice. I am considering getting one of the Phantom 3 models for now and may consider getting a Phantom 4 as my next drone. I don't really need 4K video so I am thinking about the Standard versus the Advanced. Do you think the Lightbridge makes a big difference and does the Advanced offer better in-flight stability and ease of control over the Standard. Thanks.

For the money, maybe just go with the Standard. It's such a huge step up from the Syma X5C that you'll be amazed.
 
Cool Video.

We definitely live in exciting times with Mobile Eye technology in the Tesla, and similar technology from a company called Movidius that's optimized for object tracking and other visual computing tasks.

So far in my testing of active track I've had mixed results. It's supposed to be capable of slightly above 20mph (in active track mode), but does seem to fall away when I get close to 20mph.

It does do a pretty good job tracking as long as the object your tracking doesn't change (like a rider crouching, etc). You do have to watch out for any altitude changes in the landscape since the drone won't automatically adjust.

Here is my video of an active track test.

 
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