Brief Summary
This video provides 34 essential tips and tricks for the DJI Mini 4 Pro drone, covering various aspects from device management and flight settings to camera controls and safety features. It includes tips for optimizing flight performance, enhancing video quality, and ensuring safe operation.
- Device Management and Offline Maps
- Flight Menu and Battery Information
- Camera Controls and Settings
- Safety and Control Features
- Transmission and System Settings
Profile Menu
The profile menu allows users to view flight distance and time for their drones. For DJI RC2 users, offline maps are essential due to the lack of direct internet connection. Users can download maps via Wi-Fi or a mobile hotspot for offline use, which is especially useful when traveling to new locations.
Device Management (Tip #1)
In the device management section, users can access detailed information about their drones, including flight distance and flight time. This information is useful for personal tracking and can also be valuable when selling the drone privately.
Offline Maps (Tip #2)
Offline maps are crucial for DJI RC2 users who lack direct internet connectivity. By connecting to Wi-Fi or a mobile hotspot, users can download maps for offline use. This feature is particularly useful when exploring new locations, eliminating the need for constant hotspot connections.
DJI Mini 4 Pro Subscribers Combo (@djistoreau)
The D1 store offers exclusive subscriber bundles for the Mini 4 Pro, including the Fearless Drone Academy course and essential accessories. These bundles provide great value for new drone pilots. International viewers can also find deals on DJI's website and Amazon.
Flight Menu
The flight menu provides access to pre-flight checklists and battery information. The pre-flight checklist allows users to adjust return to home altitude, max altitude, and format the SD card. Battery information displays critical data such as return to home time, forced landing time, and battery depletion time.
Preflight Checklist (Tip #3)
The pre-flight checklist, accessible in the top left corner of the screen, allows users to adjust settings like return to home altitude, maximum altitude, and format the SD card. This is a convenient way to manage basic settings before each flight.
Battery Information (Tip #4)
The battery information, found in the top right corner, provides essential data such as return to home time, forced landing time, and total battery depletion time. It's crucial to monitor this information to avoid forced landings and ensure safe flight operations.
Waypoints (Tip #5)
Waypoints can be planned using the map interface or by adding them manually during flight. The map interface allows for pre-flight planning, while manual addition provides more precise control over framing and distance. Assigning a customizable button to add waypoints can streamline the process.
Attitude Indicator Compass (Tip #6)
The attitude indicator displays a compass-like interface, showing the drone's orientation relative to the controller. It also indicates wind direction, helping pilots understand how the drone is compensating for wind to maintain stability.
Enable FocusTrack - ActiveTrack, POI & Spotlight (Tip #7)
FocusTrack mode is enabled by drawing a box around a subject on the screen. It includes ActiveTrack 360, Point of Interest (POI), and Spotlight modes. ActiveTrack requires the drone to recognize a person, vehicle, or boat to function correctly.
Touchscreen Camera Controls (Tip #8)
Touchscreen controls allow users to control the camera by pressing and holding on the screen and dragging their finger up or down. This provides an organic way to adjust the camera angle. While the Mini 4 Pro primarily supports vertical movement, some drones also allow horizontal adjustments.
Pro Mode (Tip #9)
Pro mode allows users to customize camera settings such as ISO, shutter speed, and EV. Users can also adjust white balance, resolution, frame rates, and color profiles. This mode provides greater control over image capture.
Auto Focus / Manual Focus Controls (Tip #10)
Users can switch between autofocus (AF) and manual focus (MF) by pressing the AF button on the screen. Pressing and holding the AF or MF button and dragging a finger up and down allows for precise focus adjustments, enabling foreground or background focus.
Digital Zoom (Tip #11)
Digital zoom can be adjusted by pressing the "1x" button to switch between zoom levels or by pressing and holding the "1x" button and dragging a finger to fine-tune the zoom. This allows for more subtle zoom adjustments.
Vertical Camera Mode (Tip #12)
Vertical video mode allows users to capture 4K 60fps HDR video in portrait orientation. This mode supports all quick shot modes and tracking features, providing a fully functional vertical video capture experience.
Safety Menu
The safety menu, accessed via the three dots in the top right corner, provides options for obstacle avoidance, return to home settings, and AR settings.
Obstacle Avoidance (Tip #13)
Obstacle avoidance can be set to off, brake, or bypass. Bypass mode enables ActiveTrack 360, allowing the drone to continue tracking while avoiding obstacles. Normal mode is recommended for stability, while Nifty mode is riskier.
Optimal RTH (Tip #14)
Return to Home (RTH) can be set to preset or optimal. Optimal RTH calculates the best route home, saving battery life. AR features display the augmented reality path, showing the drone's planned route.
AR Settings (Tip #15)
AR settings include options for displaying the home point and return to home route in augmented reality. The home point AR display is especially useful when using the RC2 without offline maps. The return to home route AR display shows the drone's planned path and landing spot.
Advanced Battery Information (Tip #16)
Advanced battery information provides details on cell health, temperature, voltage, and cycle count. This information is crucial for monitoring battery condition and identifying potential issues.
Auxillary Light (Tip #17)
The auxiliary light is an LED underneath the drone that illuminates the area below. It can be set to auto, on, or off, providing additional lighting for landing in low-light conditions.
Advanced Safety Settings (Tip #18)
Advanced safety settings determine the drone's behavior when signal is lost. Options include return to home, descend, or hover. Return to home is recommended to ensure the drone attempts to return to the launch point.
Control Menu
The control menu includes settings for subject scanning, FocusTrack, gain and expo tuning, FPV mode, button customization, and cruise control.
Subject Scanning (Tip #19)
Subject scanning automatically identifies potential subjects for tracking. This feature must be manually enabled after each drone launch. It allows for quick and easy subject selection and enables ActiveTrack mode.
FocusTrack Settings (Tip #20)
FocusTrack settings allow users to customize ActiveTrack 360, adjusting parameters such as outer and inner circle radius and height. These settings provide greater control over the drone's tracking behavior.
Gain & Expo Tuning / Gimbal & Aircraft Movement (Tip #21)
Gain and expo tuning allows users to adjust gimbal and aircraft movement settings for normal, cine, and sports modes. This includes tilt smoothness, maximum control speed, and yaw speed. Adjusting these settings can create smoother, more cinematic footage.
FPV Mode (Tip #22)
FPV mode causes the gimbal to follow the aircraft's movements, creating a first-person view effect. This mode is useful for fast-paced shots and unique perspectives.
Button Customization (Tip #23)
Button customization allows users to assign various functions to buttons and scrolling wheels. This includes zooming, adjusting auxiliary light, and switching between portrait and landscape modes.
Cruise Control (Tip #24)
Cruise control, enabled via button customization, maintains the drone's current movements and inputs. This feature is useful for capturing smooth, consistent footage along coastlines or other scenic routes.
Camera Menu
The camera menu provides options for color profiles, color display assist, histogram, overexposure warning, frame guide, and style settings.
Color Options (Tip #25)
Color options allow users to select normal color mode, HLG, or D-Log M. D-Log M provides a flatter profile for greater control in post-production.
Color Display Assist (Tip #26)
Color display assist makes the D-Log M profile more usable by displaying more vibrant colors on the screen while capturing the flat profile.
Histogram (Tip #27)
The histogram displays the distribution of light in the image, indicating overexposure or underexposure. A perfect bell curve indicates optimal lighting.
Overexposure Warning (Tip #28)
The overexposure warning displays zebra patterns on Overexposed areas, helping users avoid losing detail in highlights.
Frame Guide (Tip #29)
The frame guide provides guides for framing content for various social media formats, such as vertical video (9:16) and Instagram posts (1:1).
Style / Sharpness & Noise Reduction (Tip #30)
The style settings allow users to adjust sharpness and noise reduction. Sharpness can be increased up to two, while noise reduction can be adjusted to one.
Transmission Menu
The transmission menu provides options for viewing interference and changing channel selection.
View Interference (Tip #31)
Viewing interference allows users to assess signal quality in the area. This feature is only accessible when the drone is on the ground.
Change To Manual Channel (Tip #32)
Manual channel selection allows users to manually adjust the channel to avoid interference. In most scenarios, dual-band auto mode is recommended.
About Menu
The about menu provides options for checking for updates and resetting or clearing data.
Check For Firmware Updates (Tip #33)
Users can manually check for updates to the aircraft firmware and fly safe data in this menu.
Reset / Clear Data (Tip #34)
Resetting or clearing data is useful when selling the drone or sending it in for repair. This option resets settings to factory default and clears user data.
