A difference that matters between the Phantom 3 standard, and Pro

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I see drones only as a tool. I do not enjoy flying them. Never did.

As one of limited use(you can't fly them anywhere you want to), and one that it very easy to ruin, I thought it wise to not spend a lot of money on one

I could care less that the Phantom 3 pro had a12.4mp, and the standard had a 12mp one. I could have cared less about the thing people talk about most, which was 4k vs 2.7K. I looked at the video from all three quite a bit, and decided that the Standard video was washed out with blown highlights, that the Standard video looked better for less money, and that I didn't think the video on the Phantom pro looked that much better for the price.

I did not need the optical flow, as I am skilled enough to fly my quad in low places, and tight spaces, and most of the time it will be flying much much higher where the optical flow sensor not only does not matter, but also does not work...

The limited range of the standard was also not an issue as I had always kept the quads on a tight leash where I could easily make out their orientation...

So I bought the Standard, and am very happy with it up until the main reason to have a camera quad, which is the camera. All of them have the same poor camera lens, with lots of chromatic aberration, and purple fringing.

However, there is a major difference, which I had not read about, or was not explained.

The Pro has a back illuminated senor, and the standard has a front illuminated one. What is the difference someone might ask?

It means that the Pro model should do much better in low light situations. Situations like taking pictures and video during sunset, which is what I like to do.

On a front illuminated sensor, the wiring to connect all of the pixels is on top of the part that gathers light, so that it doesn't gather near as much light, and you get grainy, soft looking images.

On a backlit sensor, the sensor is much more efficient in low light so you get more information. Information like shading detail and color saturation in low light situations.

The look of purple fringing and chromatic aberration can be down played in post processing. A lack of detail high image noise, and low color saturation can not effectively be taken out. You can noise filter the image, but you further loose detail.

If color saturation isn't there to start with, there isn't much to turn up on gain, and what you end up with when you try is a very weird looking, grainy image.

So, had I realized, I probably would have waited. I might be a little more happy.

The control of the quad is GREAT!. It is a powerful tool in that respect, but the image in low light is pretty much horrendous!

For you reading pleasure, the link below is about backlit sensors vs front illuminated. This is only really a factor on very small sensors that don't have the real estate to gather light effectively.

Hints and Tips Discussion - The differences of the sensors for Phantom Pro./Adv. and Standard
 
my brain hurts
 
I see drones only as a tool. I do not enjoy flying them. Never did.

As one of limited use(you can't fly them anywhere you want to), and one that it very easy to ruin, I thought it wise to not spend a lot of money on one

I could care less that the Phantom 3 pro had a12.4mp, and the standard had a 12mp one. I could have cared less about the thing people talk about most, which was 4k vs 2.7K. I looked at the video from all three quite a bit, and decided that the Standard video was washed out with blown highlights, that the Standard video looked better for less money, and that I didn't think the video on the Phantom pro looked that much better for the price.

I did not need the optical flow, as I am skilled enough to fly my quad in low places, and tight spaces, and most of the time it will be flying much much higher where the optical flow sensor not only does not matter, but also does not work...

The limited range of the standard was also not an issue as I had always kept the quads on a tight leash where I could easily make out their orientation...

So I bought the Standard, and am very happy with it up until the main reason to have a camera quad, which is the camera. All of them have the same poor camera lens, with lots of chromatic aberration, and purple fringing.

However, there is a major difference, which I had not read about, or was not explained.

The Pro has a back illuminated senor, and the standard has a front illuminated one. What is the difference someone might ask?

It means that the Pro model should do much better in low light situations. Situations like taking pictures and video during sunset, which is what I like to do.

On a front illuminated sensor, the wiring to connect all of the pixels is on top of the part that gathers light, so that it doesn't gather near as much light, and you get grainy, soft looking images.

On a backlit sensor, the sensor is much more efficient in low light so you get more information. Information like shading detail and color saturation in low light situations.

The look of purple fringing and chromatic aberration can be down played in post processing. A lack of detail high image noise, and low color saturation can not effectively be taken out. You can noise filter the image, but you further loose detail.

If color saturation isn't there to start with, there isn't much to turn up on gain, and what you end up with when you try is a very weird looking, grainy image.

So, had I realized, I probably would have waited. I might be a little more happy.

The control of the quad is GREAT!. It is a powerful tool in that respect, but the image in low light is pretty much horrendous!

For you reading pleasure, the link below is about backlit sensors vs front illuminated. This is only really a factor on very small sensors that don't have the real estate to gather light effectively.

Hints and Tips Discussion - The differences of the sensors for Phantom Pro./Adv. and Standard
This is exactly what I was asking about in my post on monday in regards to whether or not the P4 will have an FSI or BSI sensor as the sensor details are not listed on the website
:
BSI vs FSI image sensor
 
Sorry.

However, for someone like myself who would stumble across this, it would be helpful. It would have been helpful to me had I found something like what I just wrote before I bought the phantom. This is for others that might look!

Not only did I watch videos before buying it, but I also spent time looking on forums and found nothing like this information.

It wasn't until I had the phantom 3 standard in my hands, until I realized just how bad this was. It took me some searching to find what the difference might be.

When they go over camera specs, they will tell you 4k vs 2.7k which in reality meanse nothing. They will compare megapixel numbers, which also means nothing. However, people can tell that 4 is bigger than 2.7, and 12.4 is larger than 12, so they will most of the time just pick the one with the larger number...
 
This is exactly what I was asking about in my post on monday in regards to whether or not the P4 will have an FSI or BSI sensor as the sensor details are not listed on the website
:
BSI vs FSI image sensor

You obviously understand the nuts and bolts! Good for you!

It is really cool that you know what features to look for ahead of time.

Most people don't care. I normally wouldn't, until I found out the poor low lighting abilities of the Standard. For the videos I saw, which were all well lit, the cameras looked pretty much the same. It wasn't until I started using it in low light I saw something I wanted to try and identify

So most of us wouldn't know to check if one sensor was FSI or BSI....

I know now though.....

I didn't find that info easy to find though!
 
Last edited:
Is the Pro the only phantom3 with the BSI?

Your post is really helpful for those of that are better flyers than photographers. Thank you
 
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