DJI Fly and Lightcut - Effortlessly Edit Drone Videos Anywhere!

With the DJI Mini 4 Pro, DJI Mini 3 Pro or basically any DJI consumer drone you can use the DJI Fly App and and Lightcut App to create incredible, engaging content that can be edited and published 'on the fly' 😉
So @larrymattox2471 asked me about downloading videos to their phone and whilst I may have slightly misread their comment - The DJI Fly app and Lightcut app were definitely front of mind!
I hadn't used Lightcut for a while, but as you will see in the video I was genuinely bowled over by it - I was slightly lost for words at how good it's become!
Find the mobile apps in the Apple or Android app stores or or from DJI's website here :
www.dji.com/uk/downloads
Contents
00:00 Flex much?
00:31 Background
01:48 The Apps
03:02 DJI Fly - Connecting The App to The Drone
04:45 DJI Fly - Downloading the Raw Footage
07:35 Over to Lightcut
07:55 Lightcut - One Tap Edit!
08:58 Lightcut - Just scraping the surface!
11:29 A very important message
11:46 The result...
13:01 A fun fact
13:57 It's not all work,work,work!
Headslap Scene from 'The Naked Gun' - Paramount Pictures
Various graphics from Vecteezy
Music :
Talky Beat by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: www.twinmusicom.org/song/265/t...
Artist: www.twinmusicom.org

[@joyzh6747]

I learnt that you can use LightCut to connect drones like air 3, mini 4 pro to edit directly without needing to download first by DJI FLY, might be a tip for you

[@amoktimeflies]

Great tip! Thanks for watching!

[@larrymattox2471]

Just watched your video. Another great job and thanks for plugging my comment to you. Larry

[@amoktimeflies]

Hey - You're welcome & thanks for the inspo, Larry! Glad you liked it!

[@darrencoleman2960]

More great content. I haven't been a drone user for long but your content has taught me alot . Keep up the good work. 👍

[@amoktimeflies]

Thanks so much for your kind words, Darren - That is truly wonderful to hear. My whole goal is to make content that is relatable to people starting out. I've not been doing this for long, but I like to share my passion with a wider audience and if it benefits one person, or at least entertains them, then the 1 hour of editing to 1 minute of content is worth it! (ugh this one was a 4am-er!) Thanks for watching and happy flying!

[@cibonthesaint8903]

Enjoyed it very much now a subscriber!

[@amoktimeflies]

Thankyou so much - Glad you enjoyed it! Beautiful car BTW!

[@CarpBites]

Enjoyed your style of presenting mate, and really informative too - I have just purchased a mini se for my fishing vlogs, so will be watching you for more tips!

[@amoktimeflies]

Thanks bud - hopefully you won’t get too fed up with me ‘carping on’ (sorry!)

[@martindouglas6538]

Boringly, amazing in a heleriously boring, fantastic and interestingly funny way. I got so excited to start typing "big Ben is the bell" hahaha. Loved this! Did you know Big Ben "the bell" currently in place is the second one, after the original 'short lived' bell was cracked, this was built in Stockton. Then the bell was took down, shattered and used to make the current one! NOW, THAT'S HOW YOU DO "BORING"

[@amoktimeflies]

😂 love it! Many thanks for watching,and your comment - it did make me chuckle!

[@user-wv3gp2dt2x]

Fantastic, thanks.

[@davidjkelly1160]

Details matter. Big Ben is the name if the bell. Please, as fly your drone into Big Ben, the bell, not the tower. That'll go well. Hardly any security in that part of London. Cheers from Melbourne Australia. Our Regards to our King, his majesty. 🙂

[@amoktimeflies]

Wow thanks buddy! 🇦🇺 and thanks for watching! I’ll pass on my regards to Chuck-o when I next see him! 😉 👑

[@davidjkelly1160]

​@@amoktimefliesmy English is perfect. I have no idea how I achieved such a vast number of typos.

[@chriscapune7873]

Wonderful!!! 😀👏 I find that when I transfer from my drone to my phone it usually takes the second time to connect. Love your channel 👍 Will have to think up something to ask how to do. Cool fun fact!!!! 😀🐾🐈‍⬛👍🍻

[@amoktimeflies]

Cheers Chris - always love your feedback! Please do leave a suggestion any time! As always TFW!

[@edruttledge342]

OK - I like the dryish humor. I sub'd. Thanx also for the information. [I do drone videos - just posted one captured on Rarotonga]

[@amoktimeflies]

Thanks Ed! Lovely vid, and lovely location! Great slomo waves at the beginning, fantastic reflections on the 'boat pool' and a lovely sunset! (Will stick this comment on your vid as well)

[@iansantanabr]

Good Job! Nice content! 👏 🤣🤣🤣 No, a hat is not necessary, maybe a comb

[@amoktimeflies]

It would have to be some sort of bloody magic comb! 😂😂😂 Thanks as always Ian!

[@technodrone313]

i got a steamdeck. davinci runs fine. fits in any bag with my drone gear

[@amoktimeflies]

Oh WOW! That’s so awesome!!! Yeh - I guess it has the graphical ‘grunt’ to do that - niiice!

[@technodrone313]

@@amoktimeflies not as good as a desktop but better than your average laptop it works in a pinch.

[@-DG-MEDIA]

Hi pal thank you for this video, i have just started my drone KZbin channel so this helps a lot, i have used capcut for a few years now but from what i have found on lightcut it seems to be a lot more better. thank you again

[@amoktimeflies]

Yeh - there are a few alternatives out there, but what really impressed me with LightCut is how the AI adds ambient sounds as well as the music! Thanks for watching!

[@-DG-MEDIA]

@@amoktimeflies It really is a very impressive app, i spend hours editing videos, finding the right sounds, filters effects etc now all i do is upload a few videos and lightcut puts everything together for you, this is the app we need. Thank you. New Subscriber here 😃

[@terryrccrazy6993]

Very informative thanks, I have been looking forward to using this, but I didn't have a clue what to do

[@amoktimeflies]

Thanks for watching Terry - glad it was helpful!

[@skiphorni]

Love your channel. Your cardboard KZbin subscriber award is hilarious. Very nice video editing skills. I'm jealous. Working on developing my own. Flying in central Texas. My Air 2S and my volunteer group's Mavic 3T. Did note that Lightcut's user agreement restricts free use to non-commercialized videos. Seems to imply that any monetized videos would violate the free version agreement? Just a thought. Good work. Keep it up.

[@amoktimeflies]

Oooh - that’s interesting about the monetisation! Thanks, I’ll check that out! V. Jealous about the 3T! Thanks for watching!

[@amoktimeflies]

I couldn’t find anything in the T&Cs about monetisation, but I have emailed them just to check. Cardboard play buttons may be my first bit if merch btw so keep an eye out! 😂

[@amoktimeflies]

@skiphorni - For what it's worth - I reached out to Lightcut and they confirmed that it's fine to use for KZbin vids and they didn't seem overly concerned about whether they were monetised or not. I would suggest that you using it then it's probably just a common courtesy to acknowledge them in the vid or description given that they give away the software for free... Fly happy buddy!

[@nikmarx]

Nice Vid. How did you get your phone screen recording, e.g. @ 2:02, to show in your KZbin video as if you were screen sharing? Perhaps you should do a KZbin tutorial on that!?

[@amoktimeflies]

Thanks Max - It's an option in the control centre. If you don't find it there you can go into settings -> control centre and it'll be in a setting called 'Screen Recording'. Then just bring up the control centre click on that and it gives you a 321 countdown and starts recording. When you finish it saves it to your photos and videos. You can then either pick it up on your computer through iCloud or by connecting the iPhone via the lightning usb Cable (Or USB C if you're lucky enough to have an iPhone 15. May do a quickie vid on it at some point, although it is slightly outside my niche right now... Even doing a vid on the Pocket 3 doesn't get a huge reaction (see the using the Air 3 as a Tape measure vid!😉) But keep the suggestions coming - all are appreciated! There are no bad ideas! (Well there are, but they are normally mine!🤣😂🤣) TFW!

[@salk007]

Thanks for sharing this video. I tried this app but I was not pleased with the video quality output. The clips from Mini 4 pro to light cut took too long transfer time for me and unfortunately the video output in 4k 30 was not nearly as clean as when I edited them with my pc video editor. The video output was quite unsharp compared to actual clip on the drone. I am sure this app is great but I rather use the editing on my PC.

[@amoktimeflies]

Yeh - it’s defo no substitute for editing on a pc, but great at a pinch, especially if you’re out in the field and want to upload to social media… interesting that you were having issues with quality though - the vids that I’ve downloaded from my phone are all fine at 4k 30 - and I’ve not done anything to them in post except drop them into my main vid. Perhaps Davinci does something magic with them in the encoding? 🤔 Thanks for watching! 🖖

[@salk007]

@@amoktimeflies I am glad you had no issue with the video quality but then you are a genius and I am not :) I liked all your videos because you explain things so well, making it easy to understand. Thanks for making so much effort to share your experience and skills with the drone usage.

[@amoktimeflies]

Thankyou for your kind words and glad you enjoy the vids 😁🖖

[@barnum4244]

If you're going to be serious with your interesting facts, please use the approved unit of measurement - a double decker London bus, not Big Ben. 😉

[@amoktimeflies]

🤣🤣 I was considering using the area of Wales or how close to the moon it would get, but the latter was just filled with complicated variables. Thanks for your comment - it did make me laugh!

[@clementseguin7997]

hey amazing video, any idea how to get longer video than 40s in the one tap edit mode?

[@amoktimeflies]

Thankyou! Oooh - I don’t know, but I’ll try to find out!

[@amoktimeflies]

Have you tried creating an edit using one tap - then click on ‘edit’ at the bottom of the screen, then ‘edit more’

[@clementseguin7997]

yes I did , but if I add a video the music doesn’t prolong it self , so I end up with the last piece of video without sound .. but the idea was good :-)

[@amoktimeflies]

@@clementseguin7997 in the ‘edit more’ screen, tap ‘music’ then ‘add more’ and it will show you loads of tracks that you can use - probably including the track that was initially selected (I’m sure with a bit of digging around you’d be able to find it) May do a follow up video on this as these are all good questions! 🖖

[@craigstone902]

Used LightCut to edit and added in the music provided by the App. Next thing I knew my clip was labelled “Copyright” by YT, apparently someone claimed copyright to the music … WTH!!!!

[@amoktimeflies]

Yes - same happened with me on the Native DJI Fly app as well. Shouldn’t cause an issue, however may stop the video from being monetised. Definitely worth emailing Lightcut support though - they’re nice people and actually answer emails quite quickly. Thanks for watching! 🖖

[@therealsharps]

So.. the same as Capcut. Gopro Quick.. or the inbuilt apple app? ok thanks,

[@amoktimeflies]

I think so - it’s an alternative anyway! Thanks for watching!

[@timcolton4680]

Great Intro - All of this or just a phone. I like photos - have you tried to use Lightcut with photos or no ? P.S. - I used big platter disks then 9 inch floppies before the 3 inches were ever thought of myself. Sure do like the SD's though.

[@amoktimeflies]

Thanks Tim! Yes, you can mix photos in or just purely use photos and LightCut will create a really nice dynamic slideshow with dynamic zooming and automatic effects. I started out with data on punch cards - this is why I love the latest tech so much!

[@timcolton4680]

IBM Keypunch cards, those were good old days. Question - Lightcut I cannot find where it's useful for just simple photos, not video, just photos. @@amoktimeflies

[@amoktimeflies]

Sorry Tim - Do you mean that you can't find it, or that you don't find it useful for photos? I just checked and I used it to create a slideshow from a dozen of the photos on my phone....

[@georgeallwood4929]

Can you edit by adding text by using the light cut app?

[@amoktimeflies]

Hi George - yes there is an option to add your own text 👍 Thanks for watching!

[@stehume]

Not yet got a drone but hoping to get one soon, just all the rules and regs that are putting me off. It would be used to do hiking and camping videos mainly so out in the country side / open. Enjoyed this video and have already subbed. If that fun fact is correct then wow. in the mid to late 80s i had an atari stfm computer as i used it to do midi sequencing in a studio and had to boot the computer up with one inside, how things have changed i like the way you present you vids, to the point but with a bit not all serious. fingers crossed you will soon get you subs up. i started my channel about 18 months ago but injured my ankle after only one video but all better now so fingers crossed will get more vids done and my sub s up. The reason i want the drone to make better vids all the best to you ps, im looking at the mini 4pro, rc2 combo, do you know if i can put filters on the lens?

[@amoktimeflies]

Hello Buddy and thank for the sub - much appreciated! Sorry to hear about your injury, but hopefully things will get motoring on soon! If I was to recommend anything as a starter kit, but also in general, it would be the Mini 4 Pro fly More combo with the RC2 right now. All the software benefits of the 'big boy' Air3, Mavic 3 etc with the flexibility of being sub 250g, so being able to fly in the A1 Open category (you still must be able to see and detect the orientation of the drone at any time you're flying though! check out this vid : kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4amfaigfLVkmpI With filters - yes defo help if you're wanting to capture good quality cinematic footage especially on bright days. Unlike a lot of conventional cameras most smaller drones have a fixed aperture, so no way to reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor. There are a lot of good vids out there that explain the 'sunglasses for your drone' - I've not done one yet, but this is one of the best : kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWetnZdohL2pjdUsi=nameNTo0T_RPxPji Happy flying and welcome to the greatest hobby on Earth!

[@stehume]

many thanks for the reply, i just watched the video you recommended the other day (5 things to know) on a comment that i forgot that i put on. also watched the active tracking one in your car when it was foggy, Im going to go for the mini 4 now as you seem knowledgeable on them. Thanks for all the tips and advice and look forward to watching your past and future vids @@amoktimeflies

[@amoktimeflies]

Good stuff! You won’t regret it! 👍

[@hndflights]

Just use LightCut to pull in the videos from the drone.

[@amoktimeflies]

Yep - that’s what I did in my lightcut to instagram vid. Thanks for watching! 🖖

[@psoon04286]

It’s a lot like iMovie creating trailer clips. Nothing really ‘AI’

[@amoktimeflies]

I guess so, although I think Lightcut uses AI to get the 'beats' of the video synced up with the music and also if you notice, the AI has recognised the environment as countryside and put appropriate background noise in too, which I find really impressive given that drones don't record sound... Thanks for watching! 🖖

[@psoon04286]

@@amoktimeflies can’t argue with that👍

[@graphguy]

I’m sorry DJI video app is atrocious

[@amoktimeflies]

Well each to their own, but for a quick simple fix and for someone just starting out I think it does a decent job. Would be happy to try out an alternative AI phone based editor for drone footage if you have a suggestion though! 😊 Thanks for watching!

[@PatrickHobley]

​@@amoktimefliesai editor lazy af bro

[@amoktimeflies]

I'm not saying this is a replacement for the hard graft that it takes to edit and produce a full video, but for those with limited time on their hands and/or a limited budget, I think it's a good alternative. At the end of the day the AI has to work with the material it's fed, so there is still the skill of capturing the right images - as they say "You can't polish a turd!" 😂 Thanks for watching!

[@jessiepayne737]

Enjoyed the video and it is a simple and quick way to produce and send a video. Also I am a new subscriber.

[@amoktimeflies]

Thanks Jessie - yes as others have pointed out, just one of the ways, but possibly the quickest, but most flexible IMHO 😀 thanks for the sub 👍

[@mxv2015]

OMG, Sooooooo slow. Learn edit tech.

[@amoktimeflies]

Thanks for the feedback. I am at the beginning of my KZbin and editing journey, so please bear with me as I work this stuff out! 😬😀 Every video I edit, I learn something new, but I also want to convey the ‘real life’ experience for the average user as well, rather than a purely slick bishbashbosh vid that may give the viewer an unrealistic impression of how something might work…