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I haven’t made a new post in a couple weeks. Not much is going on. The days are noticeably shorter, and a million years of evolution is telling me to eat lots of fat, dig a hole and hibernate until spring thaw. I’m fighting mother nature to eat healthier, keep moving and don’t let the many hours of darkness each day get me down. I decided I needed a new hobby, or at least a distraction and I’ve been comparing drones for months now. I think one will be so useful when I’m on the road and will allow me to share both videos and photos with people so they can have an idea of where I am and what’s going on.<\/p>\n
Drones range in price from about 20 bucks at the low end (kid’s toys) to thousands at the high end.\u00a0 After much research, I realized that the ones that had the features I wanted were at the high end and out of my budget. But then DJI released the new Mavic Mini.\u00a0 It’s very tiny, costs under $400, and does a pretty good job of photography and videography.\u00a0 I got it, and I LOVE it!\u00a0 Unfortunately it was delivered on a day with high winds and I didn’t dare take it out for a test flight and risk losing it before I even got acquainted with what it can do.\u00a0 The next day was still a bit windy, but calmed down a bit at sunset. I risked it and took it for a trial run in my back yard.<\/p>\n
It is so easy to fly and I suspect I will eventually get good at it.\u00a0 I was still a little unsure of how it would react if a gust of wind came along. I was afraid to fly it too high for fear it would blow away, and afraid to fly it too low because I was surrounded by trees and telephone poles.\u00a0 So cautiously, I took it up, moved it slightly forward and then slightly backward.\u00a0 I turned it around to face the opposite direction. I played with raising and lowering the camera angle. I now understand all the controls and I can use any of them one at a time.\u00a0 The trick is going to be to learn to use several of them at once. For instance I can go forward. I can turn. I can go higher.\u00a0 But I’ve not yet mastered the control needed to take off, move forward while turning and ascending.\u00a0 I can walk and chew gum at the same time, so I know in time I’ll master this.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, every day since has been brutally cold, extremely windy, or raining. Not good weather for a rookie to go out and practice. But today seems not too windy, even though it’s a bit chilly. I think I’m going to find a big field, take her out and give her a proper trial.<\/p>\n
On those cold, rainy, windy days, I’ve downloaded new video editing software (Cyberlink Power Director 18) and have spent time learning how to edit the footage I’ve taken so far. I’m not proficient yet, but I’m having a blast.<\/p>\n
If you’d like to see my first video, it’s on YouTube and you can see it by clicking this link:\u00a0 My First Drone Flight<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I haven’t made a new post in a couple weeks. Not much is going on. The days are noticeably shorter, and a million years of evolution is telling me to eat lots of fat, dig a hole and hibernate until spring thaw. I’m fighting mother nature to eat healthier, keep moving and don’t let the … <\/p>\n