This test of the DJI Spark Mini Drone was to make sure I could use it in the way I intended for it when I am outdoors and want to get that nice higher up flowing camera angel you can only get form a drone.. The method I use in this video doesn't even require a remote control or smartphone and I can have it take off right out of my hand.
I then use hand gestures to control the DJI Spark Drone to do things like: Place the drone in the right starting location, make the DJI Spark start recording video, have the Spark zoom up and out from me for an "eye in the sky" aerial follow me mode and then of course when I am finished what I want it to record have the DJI Sparkreturn to me and land again on my hand. Again all of this without even taking the remote out of the box or even using a smartphone to control the DJI Spark Mini Drone!
Watch me test out the DJI Spark Mini Drone in my backyard while I shoot some of my Airguns at miscellaneous targets while I walk around and have the DJI Spark follow me while recording video.
My struggle for a reliable and dependable Chronograph to test the feet per second velocity of the airguns I test in my indoor Sea Can shooting range has been going on for some time now. My original Chrony Chronograph just never gave me consistent results and over time it pretty much became useless so I ended up shooting the living tar out of it (Watch that video) and replacing it with a slightly better Chronic Chronograph.
The new Chrony Chronograph setup in my indoor Sea Can Airgun range worked really well for me especially using the LED lighting system I added to it (Made by Caldwell). But not even two years later my new Chrony Chronograph just flat out died on me, the screen went all garbley-goop and became unreadable. I tried a new battery and looked everywhere to see if there was a factory reset I could do but was not able to get it working again :(
Well I figured I invested enough money buying Chrony Chronographs with not so good results from them so it was time to look to another company for my airgun velocity testing needs. I ended up going with the Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph which by the way is compatible with my LED lighting system since it is all made by the same company. I paid $149 Canadian for my Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph which is pretty good and it even came with a super long cable to connect a smart phone that works on both iPhone and Android phones using the Caldwell App to display velocity readings in the their smartphone App.
I will be making a "test" video where I shoot several airguns I have not Chronographed yet to see how my new Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph works so stay posted for that video coming out very soon!
On another note I upgraded my Drone just a little, I previously bought the Yuneec Breeze 4k Drone to use in my future videos to get some new interesting camera angles while I do some of my outdoor shooting and to be honest the quality is really good on it. Probably good enough for what I'm doing, but for only a couple hundred dollars more I was able to buy the DJI Spark which is by far a much better drone than the Breeze in many ways. Video is more stable and "follow me modes" are way more reliable to name a few things the DJI Spark does that are important to me.
You'll get to see video from the DJI Spark shortly in fixture videos. This little Drone is crazy!
What some of you may not think about is all the stuff that goes behind the scenes when a Vimeo video is being made. It's a lot more than simply grabbing a camera and saying what's on your mind although that can work sometimes.
Most of the time multiple cameras are used, tripods and special lighting are important and even how you record the audio source can make a huge difference as to the sound and what people hear in your final video.
With all that said I am always looking for a new way to help me out with the quality of my video recording and production. How can I make things look better or more interesting, how can I improve the sound quality and clarity of my videos?
Well today I show you two new products I picked up that I feel will help me out in these areas. First in the audio department I show you my new Wireless Headset/Lapel Mic system from a company called FiFine Technology. They actually sent me their FiFine Wireless Headset and Lapel Mic for free so thanks a lot for that! My plan is to use the FiFine Wireless Headset and Lapel Mic to record the audio portion of my videos rather than the built in mic in my camera since I will get less room noise and better direct voice audio recording. I think it will also be useful when doing outside shooting videos to get super clear audio with less outside noise at all times. For this testing I simply connected the FiFine Wireless Headset and Lapel Mic to my Samsung Android phone using a USB adaptor, the same can be done suing an iPhone.
Moving on now to a new video product, I have been wanting to get a Drone to capture more interesting video that I can shoot from multiple viewing angles and also be able to have a moving camera while I shoot outdoors videos. The problem is they can be kind of expensive for anything decent, because of this, so far I have not been able to justify bitting the bullet and buying a drone. That was until I saw a great deal on the Yuneec Breeze 4k Selfie Drone at my local Best buy for half price ($249 CAN) What a deal!
Anyways, watch me fumble around while I try to figure things out with my Yuneec Breeze 4k Selfie Drone for the first time, there is always a learning curve when you get something new but I do hope to be able to utilize both of these new products in upcoming videos for everyone.
