Tello Virtual Gimbal maneouver for amazing downward photo shoots

raulvolador · May 3, 2019

Hi all,

I would like to share with you an idea I had some time ago. In short, it's using Tello for shooting amazing downward photos tilting aircraft by performing an aggressive acceleration maneuver. I did some tests and it seems to work pretty well !

See this schema:

Let me explain method: Firs of all I set max attitude to 25 degrees at config screen:

When Tello it's flying over spot I set high speed mode (sport). I fly backwards about one second, then suddenly change flight direction to forward and try to shoot a picture at maximun pitch. I Stop motion inmediataly after photo taken, as Tello will overshoot goal quickly and wifi link use to degrade during photo download process. Dangerous lost of video/control it's possible. In fact, I suffer a risky flyaway during test.

Please, see this pictures. Notice when using virtual gimbal maneouver sky it's not visible, ground detail is great and image it's not blurred despite high speed movement.

First shoot, not using virtual gimbal:

Second shoot, using virtual gimbal:

My Tello photos had never shown the ground before !

I love new point of view into this tilted pictures

I hope you enjoy this method.

Cheers.

Raul.

Flyboy57 · May 3, 2019

Thanks for this! Will try.

ph2t · May 3, 2019

Very creative!

LucaG · May 5, 2019

Hi Raul,

since some time I was also thinking of using accelaration to "adjust" camera orientstion. In particular my thought is about compensating Tello's tilt due to wind when taking panorama's pictures or a 360° video.
Maybe something to suggest to Volatello?

Guorium · May 5, 2019

I did this by unintentionally. (Did not did give a fancy name) Yeah it is not bad angle at all. Did not fly back for a sec though. I was doing full speed toward at max pitch.

raulvolador · May 6, 2019

LucaG said:
Maybe something to suggest to Volatello?

Great idea !

raulvolador · May 6, 2019

Hi all,

Another Virtual Gimbal sample:

it's not a pretty landscape, but good for understanding what's possible using this technique

Raul.

Token2695 · May 6, 2019

Try to use the timer to sync the camera shutter with the stick movement. Getting this right will minimize movement

volate!lo · May 6, 2019

raulvolador said:
Great idea !

ROFL

As Raul knows this feature has been on the todo list for some time already, but now its getting closer to the top. I think this could make much larger (higher) 360 panorama. But I want to test it first before committing to it.I hope to release later today, later this week I will do another release for the XXXX feature that some already know, and then I will dig into this.

raulvolador · May 6, 2019

volate!lo said:
... XXXX feature ...

looking forward...

Jan Hurstjes · Aug 29, 2019

volate!lo said:
ROFL

As Raul knows this feature has been on the todo list for some time already, but now its getting closer to the top. I think this could make much larger (higher) 360 panorama. But I want to test it first before committing to it.I hope to release later today, later this week I will do another release for the XXXX feature that some already know, and then I will dig into this.

The iOS version ?

ZWActual · Aug 29, 2019

Jan Hurstjes said:
The iOS version ?

TelloFPV is Android only

volate!lo · Aug 29, 2019

IIRC the super secret XXXX feature was FollowMe but that failed so badly that it was never released.

I also tried the gimbal shots but while this maneuver is OK if executed manualy its strange under autopilot. Tello rocks back and forth violently under autopilot which is a bit frightening, does not give any confidence in that app, and is potentially dangerous. Nothing I can release to the public.

I have not yet committed to building TelloFpv for IOS, but chances are getting better recently: I now own (but don't use) an Iphone and a Mac, which is the minimum required for IOS development. And with my Android app being increasingly threatened by software piracy I am leaning more and more towards an IOS version.

Jan Hurstjes · Aug 29, 2019

ZWActual said:
TelloFPV is Android only

As far as I know VolaTello is considering an iOS version of TelloFPV. Would have been quite a surprise if that turned out to be project XXXX

ZWActual · Aug 29, 2019

Indeed. @volate!lo is

volate!lo · Aug 29, 2019

TelloFpv IOS will be project "windfall"

lifescanner · Aug 29, 2019

volate!lo said:
TelloFpv IOS will be project "windfall"

Will this be the end for further Android Versions ?

raulvolador · Aug 29, 2019

I hope TelloFPV Android version keeps alive...

volate!lo · Aug 29, 2019

There is no direct relation between IOS and Android projects. Ongoing Android development may slow down a bit as may days only have 24h but won't stop due to IOS.

Future android releases entirely depend on the revenue generated and the ideas I have - as soon as revenue declines significantly it enters maintenance mode. As soon as I run out of ideas that I consider worthy of implementation I just stop. We are however getting closer to that point, as I refuse to add complexity to the app just to make a tiny minority happy.

Right now I'd say I have still ideas for a few releases but nothing spectacular that is worth to hold your breath. TelloFpv is mostly feature complete.

I am interested in CV computer vision and things like posure / gesture control or followme, but these will never enter telloFpv. I'd have to raise the hardware requirements significantly to make this work smoothly and everyone with a 2 year old phone would be left behind. Not an option for a mainstream app like TelloFpv.

If I venture into CV (which is an alternative project to IOS) then it will be a completely separate App and not even related to TelloFpv. And people will need recent high-end phones.

Bob B · Aug 29, 2019

I hope that tello fpv will survive and will remain with us for long time Volate lo dont worry about our phones as you will need to buy better for this application