Guides

By Wouter du Toit

If you are planning on getting your Phantom 3 drone, or just bought one, here are the items that will make your flying experience so much more enjoyable.

An iOS or Android device

This can be your smartphone, iPad, iPad mini or any android device that you can install the DJI Go app on. This will be the monitor that’ll show you what your camera is ‘seeing’ so you can get the video or photograph you want.

DJI Phantom hood

A Hood that blocks out the sun

The screens on Tablets and Smartphones are very reflective. This makes it very difficult to see what’s on your screen, in other words, what it is you’re wanting to shoot. When flying a drone you’ll be outside most of the time, and standing in open areas with no trees to stand under. So, get yourself a Hood for your phone or Tablet. 

DJI Phantom battery

An extra battery

When you start getting the grip of control and possibilities that now lie ahead with your drone, you’ll soon want to shoot longer than the 25 minutes you get out of a fully charged DJI Phantom battery. It’s the best to be able to shoot and being able to replace it right there and then. So, the more batteries you have, the better off you are.

Hard cases or Backpack

Your drone is going to be in transit for most of it’s life. It’s a highly engineered piece of equipment that needs the correct protection when not in use. Here you have three options.

The DJI ABS Phantom Box
It’s strong, durable and lockable and you can insert the Phantom 3 with it’s propellers on. This is convenient and saves a little bit of time when the moment is there and you need to get going. The only thing is that it’s not a backpack, so you can’t put it on your back and head out trekking to easily.

DJI Phantom Aluminium Box
It’s similar to the ABS Phantom Box, but made with Aluminium.

The DJI Hardshell Backpack
It’s made from composite and is very impact resistant and can surely take a hit. Everything straps in well and it’s a strong large zipper that will surely last. The difference to the Box is that you need to remove the propellers each time you package it although it’s really easy to do. It goes anywhere and everywhere you go, it’s a backpack.

Propeller Guards

Although the Phantom Phantom 3 range has GPS and all the added technologies that make it such a please to fly, there is always a chance of it hitting a tree, wall or person. These Propeller Guards are a must if you’re just starting out.

With these accessories you’ll have the best start in flying your Phantom 3 drone.

Written by Wouter Du Toit

I’ve recently gone out to shoot some shot’s at night and wanted to see if I can get my Phantom to keep as still as possible while shooting cars passing by. I’ve always liked these shots, it gives it an energy of light streaks, but also of people getting around, in motion.

What I’ve learnt on my first night out is that you basically need three things to do get reasonably good shots that you’ll most certainly enjoy.

FIRST UP, YOU NEED A WIND-STILL NIGHT.

It’s not going to work if you’ve got the drone battling it out to maintain it’s gps coordinates. It will give you a drag on the moving lights and you’ll get an out of focus shot. So make sure it’s literally dead-still outside.

SECONDLY, YOU NEED TO DEACTIVATE THE FRONT RED LIGHTS OF THE DRONE.

The red light can add extra colour to the shot, and is mostly unwanted. Here are the steps to do this:

1. You do this by turning on the remote and the drone, going into the DJI Go App until you’re in camera mode.



2. When you can see what your camera sees, you’ll find a button at the top-right of your screen. It has a three-line list menu button.

3. When the menu shows up, on the left you can choose the ‘drone’ menu, top-left



4. You’ll now have a menu containing Advanced Settings. Go into that and turn off ‘Turn on arm’s LED light. The red light should be off now.

AND THIRDLY, YOU NEED TO SETUP THE CAMERA FROM AUTOMATIC TO MANUAL, AND INCREASE THE EXPOSURE TIME SO YOU CAN GET THE LIGHT STREAKS.

Here are the steps to do this:
1. On the right of your screen you choose the Camera Settings button.

2. And you toggle the camera from Auto to Manual.

3. You can then set shutter speed. The numbers are seconds. So you can keep your shutter open for up to 8 seconds. You can also set a higher ISO, but this opens up to the risk of noise in your shot.

Although you can go up to 8 seconds which is more than enough time, I suggest 4 or 5 seconds does the job pretty well and you have less chance of a breeze causing a shake leaving you with a blur. I left the ISO on 100.

Finally, if you don’t have a license and you want to take these type of shots in SA it’s important to know that you’re not allowed to fly within 50m of people, cars or streets. Getting the license is the correct way to do it. If you would like to get your drone licence contact sales@actiongear.co.za

• Join a triathlon group as this will make training more fun and will motivate you especially on the long rides and runs on the weekends. It is also a great way to meet like-minded people.
• Rest days are probably one of the most important aspects of training for IRONMAN and should not be overlooked (have at least one day off a week).
• Ride in wind at any opportunity you get whilst training as there is more chance than not that you will have a headwind to deal with at IRONMAN
• Arriving in PE on Thursday in my opinion was too early and made me more nervous than ever. I would suggest that novices only arrive Friday afternoon as this is still enough time to familiarize yourself with the route and be part of the build up to race day on Sunday. 
• Sort out your bike as soon as you arrive in PE to give you enough time to sort out any issues if they arise as the bike mechanics book up very quickly.
• Pre-book restaurants before heading to PE as they all get so booked up especially the “safer” more well known Italian and meat restaurants which are most popular.
• A pre-race swim is essential especially for “Joburgers” that do not get much practice swimming in the sea.
• Nutrition & Hydration! This is what can make or break your day. Firstly do not try anything new on the day and make sure you drink and eat frequently to keep energy levels up and avoid cramping.
• At the finish arch, make sure you look at the cameras and do not have any other athletes in front of you as you go through the arch as you want that epic IRONMAN finishers photo.
• Try and enjoy every minute of your first IRONMAN race as the day flies by so quickly and before you know it you will be officially announced by Paul K as an IRONMAN.

By Tuks Cycling Team

With the summer steadily approaching, a lot of cyclist in the area are starting to dust off the cobwebs from their bikes and getting back into shape. With the second part of the racing calendar kicking off at the end of August, we have identified a very well balanced climb to help you work on those sustained climbing efforts. These efforts will help stay with the pack when the race starts going uphill and make sure you have enough power for the attacks at the top of the climb.

“Cycling doesn’t get easier, you just get faster” – Greg LaMond

Klapperkop climb is one of the most ridden climbs in the Pretoria area with more than 1000 people riding the climb each day. It is a very well balanced climb and makes sure that you work on your sustained efforts throughout. The climb in full, from the bottom cattle grid at the entrance to Klapperkop nature reserve, up to the top of the climb is just over 3,7 km long. The average gradient is just over 3% but this is very deceiving seeing that there is a 250m downhill section halfway through. The climb starts off with quite a steady section with an average gradient of 5,5% and works its way up to a steady 7%.

The Tuks Cycling team uses this climb quite often, especially when training for longer climbing efforts. The total time for the climb ranges between 7 and 9 minutes and is ideal for the longer climbs in races such as the 94.7 Cycle Challenge. We usually do between 5 and 10 repeats on this climb with a couple of minute’s recovery in between each interval.

Please see below the detailed breakdown of the Rose Avenue climb (map, profile) and our video dairy made during a training session on Rose Avenue.

I trust that you enjoyed our first and second Blog Post in this series! Please come and have a look at next weeks post. You can also follow the team on social media for updates and pictures.

Klapperkop – Climb breakdown:

• Maximum Gradient: 7,5%
• Average gradient: 3%
• Climb length: 3,7km
• Surface: Tar surface throughout the climb
• Surface quality: 8/10 Perfectly smooth tar, a couple of potholes at the foot of the climb
• Lighting: No lighting installed on climb
• Best time to train: First light of day up to 5 pm
• Overall rating: 8/10

Klapperkop – Street map

Klapperkop – Profile

Klapperkop - Video Blog

By Jacques Viljoen

When I first used my GoPro Hero 3 Black I was bowled over. I couldn’t comprehend how such a small camera, can capture such amazing quality video. I wanted to record everything I do with it because I just could not get enough of it. There simply wasn’t enough time (and memory cards) in a day to record everything that happened. After one late afternoon mountain bike ride, I discovered one of the GoPro’s Achilles heels. It did not like recording in low light situations. Even with just less-than-ideal lighting, the video became grainy and adding artificial light was also tricky, as it had to have gradual light, like the type you find in a studio.

So when they announced the release of the Hero 4 Models that had improved 'Auto' Low-Light capabilities, I was a very happy guy to say the least. They also added a Night mode to the photo settings.

I will admit, you will need some practice before getting that perfect night time photo. A good way to start is to take the same photo more than once, with the different settings to see what works best for you in different situations.

Protune is also now available for photos which allows you to set various parameters such as White Balance, ISO limits and more. Since this guide is about using night mode I won’t be using Protune in any of the photos.

The part that makes the biggest difference to photos in night mode, is the shutter speed. The following shutter speeds are available:

Shutter speed / What to use it for: 

• Auto - Sunrise, Sunset, Dawn, Dusk, Twilight, Night
• 2 Seconds, 5 Seconds, 10 Seconds - Daw, Dusk, Twilight, Traffic at night, Ferris wheel, fireworks, light painting
• 20 Seconds - Night sky (with light)
• 30 Seconds - Night stars, Milky Way (complete darkness)

Watch this video to see how to get to night mode on your GoPro Hero 4:

Or follow this step-by-step guide:

• First, switch on your camera and go to photo mode
• Press the settings button on the side
• Once you’re in the settings menu, press the shutter button until “Night” appears. You will notice that the menu layout has slightly changed, bringing in the shutter speed menu.
• Press the mode button to move down to the shutter speed.
• Press the shutter button to select the required shutter speed depending on the application.
• Once you selected the desired shutter speed, press and hold the Shutter button to return to the main screen.

I found that the shutter speed set at 2 Seconds is a good ‘go-to’ mode.

Here are some examples of photos I took using Night mode:

One of my favourite features to use Night mode for is called light painting. If you are the creative type then you can have a lot of fun with this mode.

Here are some examples:

And this next one is by far my favourite:

Some quick tips for Night mode photography:

• Choose the right shutter speed. If the shutter is open for too long, it will let in too much light, resulting in over exposed photos, which does not look nice.

• Always have the camera resting on a solid non-moving object. For most of my photos I used a tripod, but a chair, table or rail will work just as well, depending on where you are. Even slightest movement, as I discovered to my frustration, will result in blurriness.

• Night mode is not ideal for capturing moving objects (apart from light painting). If you for example try to take a photo of yourself running, you will look transparent and blurred at the same time, much like my arm in that one photo.

I hope this guide helps you to get that perfect shoot.

We would love to see what photos you guys can create. So tweet me your photos using the following handles: @ActonGearSA and @jacquesv569 pop in #NightMode and we will put together a blog featuring your photos