u/3dlyx

Indoor, no GPS

Went to the park to fly with goggles and motion controller and fpv controller. Just to try the technicals. The resulting footage was - as expected - meh. So, a quick AI generation and some epic music later ...

Well, this was a tricke one. Not the flight itself, but dealing with the video quality. Directly from the drone it quite frankly sucked. Took a lot of post processing to get it somewhat decent. De-noising, de-sharpening, fiddling with exposure, adding motion blur, vignetting. In the end I exported it in 1080p instead of 4k, because there was only little difference aftzer all that treatment. It is watchable now, if you dont pull it up in full size on 4k screens.

To be fair, low light here means actually no light. For that the Avata360 performance is ok. Not great, not even comparable with my Air3s, but still ok. An even way better then what I have seen in those YT compare pixel peeping videos.

Also in low light there are a lot of stitching problems that I was only be able to resolve with some more creative framing.

For this run, I knew exactly where I wanted to fly and more important what I wanted to fly. In this case the Immelmann maneuver, a movement allegedly invented by the german WW I fighter pilot max Immelmann. Today it is flown in flight acrobatics as a chandelle, or often used in roller coasters. In drone acro flight the 'split s' is a deconstructed version of it. Essentially its a combination of a (forward) looping and a barrel roll. That is not easy to do with a fixed wing aircraft, and downright impossible with a 'normal' drone. But with the avata360 ...

If you take out the looping and the roll, which is to be done in post, the rest could not be easier. Fly in straight over the bridge, lower down behind it and pass back under the bridge. Super easy. Sinc I wanted to position the drone at the right height anyway and wanted to be a bit more dynamic in the second half of the movement, I decided to fly over the bridge backwards, and then pass under the bridge forward.

With this plan in mind the actual flight was less than 5 minutes. The lack of configuration of speedramps between keyframes in DJI Studio can be compensated by using the overall custom speed control fir each clip. Using this you can exaggerate the built-in speed ramps to create a fluid smooth motion, that gives the impression to be in an aircraft with actuall weight and inertia. Takes a bit of fiddling though.

So ya, you still need to plan you flights when you have a certain result in mind, but the execution is just way easier.

While I was at a local park, I noticed the mini train turning it's rounds and spontaneously took the opportunity. I wanted to get a feel for speed and distances, and trying out tracking modes. Unfortunately the system failed to recognize that little train as some kind of vehicle most of the time, and lost the object to a point where I just flew estimating When it worked, having the flight view and the tracking view gives a very safe and comfy feeling, when it did not work, it was still relaxing to do, because I knew I could reframe in post, and there would be usable footage out of it.

Still getting used to the crazy FOV and found that I could have gone way closer to the object, then again there were people in the park, so I rather played it safe and kept some altitude, also not to annoy people too much.

Finally. After all the preorder trouble foloowed by bad weather, finally. Today I took the avata360 for its first flight, and it went great. This thing is made for me. Used the RC2 to get a feel for how the drone reacts. It perfroms just as expected, but I didnt expect to have that much fun, while the same time creative doors opened for me. I do fly my neos a lot, use my Air3s as a work horse, but since I am result oriented, the 'work' and focus aspect on those is way more intense. the avate360 just frees me from having to plan and perform the framing, and helps me to focus on the motive.

One of my favourite photographers, Sebastiao Salgado, famously often ditches the technical artistry of photography in favour of actually seeing the motive and finding stories to tell. This is what the avata360 does. It allows me to split the technical performance from the visual, and allows me to create visuals that I could not have done with a 'normal' drone. Be it the lack of my skill, or the physical limitations.

I am pretty happy after my first run, and while I still not have edited all the footage, my brain already sparks with new ideas and places to go next to.

This is a first a a few following practice videos, just for fun and to learn. Lets call it part 1, getting to know the drone.

Laut einer Pressemitteilung aus Bad Neuenahr sollen dort nun JEGLICHE Drohnenflüge vorab beim Ordnungsamt angezeigt und genehmigt werden müssen.

Not regarding legal obligations, or the lack thereof, there is a general understanding of the mutual benefits of preorders.

DJI gets early insights into demand, can manage logistics, keeps the hype alive, securs funding to work with. The preordering client gets the product on release (or in many cases early access or other perks). He takes the risk of the product turning out to be shitty or not finalized (looking at you games industry, NEVER preorder games).

After talking to a number of fellow DJI victims who - like I - preordered the Avata360 on Day1, 26.03.2026 directly through the DJI Store ans STILL don't have anything delivered, I had a chat to DJI Support (very nice but unable to give more insights), then to PR/social media (just provided prebuilt textblocks), and finally to someone from local sales management (super annoyeyed themselves with DJIs logistics).

Turns out that DJI does not give a flippin flugg about preorders at all. The vast majority of the first batch of production has been distributed to shelf up 3rd party sellers / online stores. Where units are still available in abundance, gathering dust, while most preorder clients still did not get their orders. International DJI logistic centers are 'sold out' and are currently waiting for for the next production batch to arrive.

This is not how preorders work, DJI. Already from a moral point of view, it has to be preorders first. We already paid. And you deliberatly chose to put us last in a waiting queue.

My own order is on 'ready to ship' since 17.04.2026, current estimated shipping date is 05.05.2025.

https://preview.redd.it/nrjthz9f93yg1.png?width=1282&format=png&auto=webp&s=2fea54d8db7f5445656399a66283cbfb7c85fcc7

DJI, Do better.

preordered and paid on 26th of march, officially on sale today, 9th of april. status still on 'paid'. single drone already sold out. now my order shows estimeated delivery: 25th of april.

when I preorder, I expect it to be at my door the day it officially releases. or at least getting sent that day. thats the whole concept of preordering.

dji. do better.