3D Robotics Solo vs Dji Phantom 3 Pro

[StarLord]

The much vaunted "smart" moves of the Solo are silly and unneeded in my opinion and very few will give a rats arse. What happens when Joe Consumer accidentally sets his Cable Cam to plow through a tree? Very few actuall locations and situations where these can be used. Learn to actually fly, much more fun. I guess the Solo might be good for beginners who need help with their orientation.

 

[ianwood]

StarLord, GoPros have been used extensively in broadcast TV for years. Your opinion of GoPro's stock position is hardly relevant. This is not a stock tips site. You've made your opinion clear. If you're going to make a comparison, stick to the facts.

And let's tone the DJI fanboy talk down a bit. We should all welcome the competition. It does us all good. DJI will make more reliable products and support them better if 3DR proves to be credible competition.

 

[StarLord]

Months away? I would like to think 3 weeks away but could be wrong.

No Gimbal for months!!!! Check out RCG threads. Given the release of the P3 and the delays with the Solo and the price, why even bother releasing it? It's going to be worse than Ishtar.

 

[StarLord]

StarLord, GoPros have been used extensively in broadcast TV for years. Your opinion of GoPro's stock position is hardly relevant. This is not a stock tips site. You've made your opinion clear. If you're going to make a comparison, stick to the facts.

And let's tone the DJI fanboy talk down a bit. We should all welcome the competition. It does us all good. DJI will make more reliable products and support them better if 3DR proves to be credible competition.

Isn't this a fan boy forum, what's your angle?

 

[ianwood]

No, it's not a fanboy forum. This is not the place for blind support of a brand or product. It is place for informed, factual discussion including comparison to other similar products.

 

[rrmccabe]

No Gimbal for months!!!! Check out RCG threads. Given the release of the P3 and the delays with the Solo and the price, why even bother releasing it? It's going to be worse than Ishtar.

You know reading the RCG threads isn't going to tell me any more than I know now.

 

[Buzz313th]

No, they are using the DJI camera for broadcast video, I've seen it and it's great. Where's the Solo with live HD feed broadcasting from a GoPro on National TV? In your dreams.

I'll do one much better.. The GoPro's are used on many Features, Commercials and Episodic TV seamlessly intercut with Alexa and Film Footage. You won't see them advertising the GoPro in the credits because GoPro doesn't pay the producers to use the camera. The Crew uses the camera because it's the best option for it's format.

Your lack of understanding is obvious since your using the fact that GMA used the inspire in product placement intercut with Studio Broadcast Cameras.. on Peds Those cameras alone are inferior in image quality when comparing to a camera that is used to shoot pre canned footage like an Alexa, Red or Film...

Here...
Philip Bloom helped to put DJI on the map with the professional photography crowd... He has done reviews with every single camera including the Hero3+, P3P and the Inspire. DJI pays him to review the cameras and professionally grade and edit the footage for online marketing...
He just recently won an award at the New York Drone Film Festival for his work he did while on a personal vacation in Thailand. His piece was shot on a Phantom2 with a GoPro Hero 3+, not even a Hero4 Black..
See the link..
https://vimeo.com/philipbloom/kohyaonoi
Notice the color grading. It's natural tones and great contrast can be manipulated to a large degree because the Gopro has an enormous amount of dynamic range when shot in raw mode. This gave him the control needed to make this footage look like it was shot on anything but a gopro. The footage is smooth, there are no apparent compression artifacts. The footgae is not too sharp, to look like a digitized piece. It has good gradation in the contrast. In a nutshell it looks like footage we might see on a feature film or in fine art cinematography. Oh, and most of the above footage was shot with the fisheye corrected in AE. He uses the Fisheye to his advantage, helping him to get more impact out of the foreground objects.



Now he was also sent a Pre Production P3P to review for DJI. He was tasked with professionally shooting, editing and grading the footage from the P3P to help market it.
See Link

Now of course it was a Pre Production P3P, and things have improved a bit before they shipped you yours.. But the overly digitized post sharpening that hides the inherent optical sharpness still exists, so does the lack of dynamic range which is covered up by a flat color grade and most importantly and the hardest thing to get rid of in post is the large amount of high resolution compression artifacts that make the image look like it's crawling with little tiny insects in the midtones and shadows.

Show the two pieces to any professional photographer and the answer will be they like the
GoPro footage better.

 

[Tron_X]

Now of course it was a Pre Production P3P, and things have improved a bit before they shipped you yours.. But the overly digitized post sharpening that hides the inherent optical sharpness still exists, so does the lack of dynamic range which is covered up by a flat color grade and most importantly and the hardest thing to get rid of in post is the large amount of high resolution compression artifacts that make the image look like it's crawling with little tiny insects in the midtones and shadows.

You do realize there is such a thing as Internet compression? Have a look at his GoPro film:

Please commence defending the GoPro image and dynamic range.

 

[Buzz313th]

You do realize there is such a thing as Internet compression? Have a look at his GoPro film:

Please commence defending the GoPro image and dynamic range.

Yes of course.. But I don't have a copy of his piece to put up on dropbox.. So your point is?

Ohh, I get your point.. The pixels jumping around in the Rhyolite footage is not internet compression. Grab your P3P shoot anything and zoom into the shadows or midtones.. This is also the very reason why if you guys shoot anything with high contrast straight edges, you will get horrible moire' and aliasing.

 

[Tron_X]

Yes of course.. But I don't have a copy of his piece to put up on dropbox.. So your point is?

I think the image comparison speaks for itself - And you just made my point, you're not working with the P3 and yet you claim it's image is crap. I have been working with the images and I can tell you with certainty that they are much better than anything I've been able to pull from a GoPro in the past.

The files don't have macrobocking issues and the color grading response is quite good. Even the lens flares are decent. Why anyone would want to shoot in fisheye and stretch that image into rectilinear is beyond me. You simply cannot express the virtue of GoPro's "untouched image" under those contradictory terms because you've already lost half of the resolution of the lens with the post-processing handicap.

 

[Buzz313th]

I have shot with the P3P, the inspire, the Hero4 even a GH4. I have access to all the above. After shooting test footage of each one, I decided to wait until something better is offered.

I have a budget of 5k burning a hole in my pocket for my next drone and I have promised myself not to make a purchase I will regret one week after that purchase.

And I don't believe the P3P image is crap.

And by the way, nice job on that piece you posted.

 

[Tron_X]

I have shot with the P3P, the inspire, the Hero4 even a GH4. I have access to all the above. After shooting test footage of each one, I decided to wait until something better is offered.

I have a budget of 5k burning a hole in my pocket for my next drone and I have promised myself not to make a purchase I will regret one week after that purchase.

And I don't believe the P3P image is crap.

And by the way, nice job on that piece you posted.

OK, it sounds like you're just trying to make an informed decision rather than performing random bashing (its hard to tell on forums sometimes).

I'd be just as interested as you to see an unprocessed and unsharpened profile come out. Everything I've shot to date has been at -1 sharpness. I've read the -2 sharpness setting softens the image beyond the native resolution so I've stayed away from that setting. I'm confident there is no real issue with lens sharpness judging by the raw still photos I've ticked off to date (but everyone has their own opinion of what is to be considered sharp enough for professional work).

 

[StarLord]

No, it's not a fanboy forum. This is not the place for blind support of a brand or product. It is place for informed, factual discussion including comparison to other similar products.

In your opinion. If you don't like my posts don't read them. If you think that the long term business future of 3DR and GoPro are not relevant, that is your opinion and yours alone. If GoPro is struggling how can you be sure they will continue to innovate and not go out of business? Same for 3DR, how do you know you won't be alone supporting the solo by yourself in a year?

The Solo has almost no chance at success and potential buyers should consider that before buying sight unseen. And btw, 99% of consumers prefer a flat field camera that looks great right off the card then a GoPro image that takes tons of post processing to look decent.

 

[StarLord]

One last point. GoPro has stated that they are developing their own drone. In this dog eat dog competetive situation (no pun intended ) what makes anyone think GoPro will support the GP5 on the Solo? They are going to be direct competitors.

 

[rrmccabe]

I think their decision to make the controller more ergonomic by using internal antennas are a mistake though.

Hey Buzz, just in from 3DR. 3D Robotics Inc.Those aren’t production units — you’ll have antennae on your controller.

 

[N017RW]

Mr. Lord you are entitled to your opinion as all others are here.

However you have not supported your assertions such as :"...99% of consumers prefer a flat field camera...", or "The Solo has almost no chance at success and potential buyers should consider that before buying sight unseen."

Please cite your references if you wish otherwise it's just a lot of blow-hardy nonsense made up to bolster your argument. As these 'add up' your credibility diminishes.

Not everyone wants the same thing in a multi-rotor. The Phantoms are great for those who just want to take pics. As they mature and the ecosystem continues to close there is less and less appeal for the hobbyist.

There lies room for other products.

 

[StarLord]

Mr. Lord you are entitled to your opinion as all others are here.

However you have not supported your assertions such as :"...99% of consumers prefer a flat field camera...", or "The Solo has almost no chance at success and potential buyers should consider that before buying sight unseen."

Please cite your references if you wish otherwise it's just a lot of blow-hardy nonsense made up to bolster your argument. As these 'add up' your credibility diminishes.

Not everyone wants the same thing in a multi-rotor. The Phantoms are great for those who just want to take pics. As they mature and the ecosystem continues to close there is less and less appeal for the hobbyist.

There lies room for other products.

You are right, I should support my conclusions. DJI is selling a much more advanced and capable unit at a much lower price. They can do this because they have massive economies of scale that 3DR cannot hope to match. Moreover, the technical challenges and many failures we have seen with other MR products means there is a high chance the Solo will have many issues. Include the fact that 3DR is making these on DJIs home turf for the first time with Chinese 3rd party manufacturer, and QC issues are likely to be rampant. Add to this the distorted fish eye images and limitations of a GoPro camera versus the flat lens all in one P3. Finally throw in the MUCH higher price and I will say it again: 3DR has almost no chance of being successful.

 

[bbfpv]

Anyone else notice the irony in this discussion?

 

[GhostMaster]

I found gopro footage better than the p3, I have a peace and a hero 4 black and the detail of the hero 4 black is much better, less compressed I think.
The ability to control the camera in the air in the p3 in other hand is awesome and the dwg raw images are nice to work.

 

[StarLord]

I found gopro footage better than the p3, I have a peace and a hero 4 black and the detail of the hero 4 black is much better, less compressed I think.
The ability to control the camera in the air in the p3 in other hand is awesome and the dwg raw images are nice to work.

Don't get me wrong, the GP produces nice video with post production. Main stream consumers don't want do extensive editing. BTW, Do you think DJI is working on zoom AP cameras?