I’ve used Garmins varia radar previously, but didn’t like that blocky look it had. However, you can’t knock the usefulness of the unit in giving you information on what’s happening behind you.
The new radar unit, is more elongated, and slimmer than the original, and to my eye my more pleasing.
In use, it’s great, it gives me an idea of traffic, long before I hear it, with clear and easy to read graphics on my head unit.
There’s not much more to say on the unit that hasn’t already been said, for a much more detailed and in-depth look, be sure to check out DC Rainmakers blog.
I’ve been wanting to get the shot for awhile, but the weather has been uncooperative for every day I’ve had off. But a brief lull in the rain got me up there.
Despite a stiff bone chilling breeze, the drone was up and on its way to the installation on the hill. (A video describing how the Cut came to be: https://youtu.be/PnVnl8wyvwQ )
I rattled a few shots off, and then noticed the really low cloud base had started to roll in. The drone now reporting an altitude of -0.7m, the controller started beeping a landing warning, the cloud confusing its sensors.
By the time I’d got the drone back and landed, I couldn’t see the hill or installation. But at least I had a few shots to choose from.
The cloud had rolled in surprising quickly. It didn’t help with constant video breakups, as I was working with reduced range as I’d accidentally switched back to CE mode.
But all in all, a good flight, and I’d got the image I wanted, but I do want to try a different angle taking more of the quarry into view. Maybe a rotating video too.
A short film of our visit to Grimwith. I’ve been out here many times, but it’s the first time I’ve had the drone up. Despite shooting loads, there wasn’t really much to work with.
Trying out the panoramic feature of the DJI spark. Impressed, but not blown away by it.
I found it really easy Todo, with the drone doing all the hard work taking the images, a great mode for capturing the vista. However, I find myself unable to position the drone where I want, always seeming to stop short. Not a limit on the drone, but for some reason my brain always stops in that same position!
The spark has continued to impress with its ability in windy conditions. I’ve flown it in some questionable wind speeds, bit being careful not to take it too far. So far, there’s only been one occasion where I’ve noticed it not being able to cope and that was on blubber houses crag. And by god, it was seriously windy.
Up til now, I have had no way of actually knowing the wind speed conditions, apart from looking on apps and the weather reports, so I’ve invested little more than a tenner for an anemometer from Amazon to measure the wind speed.
This will let me know exactly what the wind speed is, and honestly, for £12, it’s a good buy.
So it was a trip to the top of Greenhow hill today. Lord was it cold and windy. But the little Spark did a sterling effort of dealing with the wind.
Up at the top of Greenhow hill is the old Lime kiln at Toft Gate.
The kiln was loaded with limestone through the top and with coal through the rectangular openings in the end and side walls. A stone lined flue runs from the kiln up a gentle slope to the chimney base in the distance. Life must have been hard up here. I’m suffering just with the cold wind, I hate to think what it was like being up here, mining the ore and loading it, moving the spoil, let alone the children that would have had to clean out the long flue leading to the chimney.
Theres plenty of grassy hillocks and curious dimples in the landscape between Toft Gate and Grassington – many of these are remnants of the limestone industry. People would mine the area, and transport it out to the lime-kiln where it would be burnt and heated to release the quicklime, which was then used in the local farms for fertiliser.
I decided to try the editor built into the DJI Go app, and it’s not bad really. Its most useful if your away from the main editing system you use, and just need a quick and dirty instagram upload or something, it wont really replace a dedicated editing software, but its intended use its not too bad. Once you play around with it and learn what it can, and can’t do as the information on using it is a little thin, it can yeild some good results. The auto create function can be a little odd, but that’s what you get for a random selection..
Went for a walk with a willing Muse around Thruscross reservoir yesterday. Very cold, but enjoyed the company.
My initial edit of the footage was done, and I liked the outcome, however I added a few scenes from the previous visits to Thruscross and extended it out by a few seconds for the second version of the edit.
Mikes Blog 