Just for Fun 25

Lake Shadow


We've been out to Lake Shadow in the Shenandoah subdivision of Baton Rouge a zillion times with at least 4 different drones (Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K, Yuneec Typhoon H 480, Autel Robotics EVO 2 Pro 6K, and DJI Air 3). It's just a nice, scenic flight destination about 3,000 feet away. JD chose to check his Air 3 after a recent DJI Fly app and firmware update. Unfortunately, he didn't make note of the versions in place before the update, nor afterward. Since then, yet another update was issued and installed for DJI Fly. Currently, JD's RC-2 controller reports the following versions:

  • App Version: 01.14.2
  • Aircraft Firmware: 01.00.1500
  • RC Firmware: 2.07.0000

JD would only be guessing if he tried to tell you what app and firmware was in place for the flight in this video, so he won't. Always fly with the latest if you can unless you hear bad stuff about the latest version. This flight was 10/12/2024.

There were no surprises with whatever versions of app and firmware were involved in this flight. Home Point update reported seemingly accurately with a displacement of only 0.1 foot. at takeoff and 1.3 feet at motor shutdown. But it seemed to have landed exactly at the takeoff home point.

JD noticed that the 1x camera reported being in AF (autofocus) mode), but when the 3x camera was switched on, it displayed an icon of what looked like a head on shoulders where the "AF" had been. Does that mean manual focus? JD doesn't speak hieroglyphics. In any case, focus of the 4K video at 3x seemed to have drifted from infinity to be a bit soft. JD will try that again on another flight and pay more attention to the focus with the 3x lens.

Finally, a brief error message popped up during the return to home saying the video signal was weak and the virtual home point display might be inaccurate. But the signal strength displayed on the remote never showed anything but a full five bars. The virtual aircraft shadow seemed almost dead center in the takeoff/landing sidewalk block at the end of the flight.


© 2024 - J. Douglas, JDtheDJ.com