Hello!

[shawwellpete]

Hi guys,

Firstly, I am new to the forum so hello from me from Sevenoaks in the UK.

I have just ordered a P3S which should arrive later today. I, was originally going to buy a P2 and use it with my GoPro but after some advice on the talk photography forum I decided to pay a bit extra and get the P3S.

I rent out some properties in Spain and would love to get some footage for the websites (www.villabegur.com and www.villasariera.com). In fact, having wanted a drone for ages it was the "business reason" that persuaded me to pull the trigger!

I appreciate that it will take some practice, but I have until next summer to get some flying time before I shoot the villas. I would love to get the sort of footage they have on this home page Haven Hotel - Sandbanks, Poole - FJB Hotels

Has anybody got any advice for a newbie flying a drone trying to get decent property footage?






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[RoyVa]

Practice slow smooth turns. Check out some of the video in the video/photo area and you can see for yourself.

 

[lotusteve]

I have had my p3a for a week and it's been fantastic. I used to have a symax5sc to practice with.( very twitchy) p3a is an absolute dream to fly compared to the Syma, start by using the beginners setting for some close flying and do some forward and backward flying, then some left right flying,take it slow and get some confidence built up first. You will love the p3s..

 

[Wacker2611]

Get a cheap Chinese quad (Syma x5, Hubsan x4 etc etc) if you haven't done already. The Phantoms are a piece of cake to fly compared to these, when everything's working properly that is. However, I cant emphasize enough how important it is to develop your orientation skills should you ever have to fly your Phantom without GPS, and you would get much better footage too with those additional skills.

 

[shawwellpete]

Thanks for the advice guys.

The P3A arrived today and I had a few initial problems (not IOS9 compatible until I updated firmware) but soon got it working.

I haven't got any of the GPS functions working yet so I flew it by hand, it's an amazing piece of kit. I tried to be as smooth in my turns but still need a lot of practice.

Here is my first attempt with the first 3 or 4 flights edited together, the cheesy music is written by my 12 year old son.

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I'd appreciate any pointers, I also have a bunch of questions but will have a go at searching for answers before listing them all here!

 

[Wacker2611]

Looks great, and what a lovely house!

 

[Man.Of.Kent]

Hi Pete and welcome

I'm about 10 miles from you and very happy to meet up to compare notes.

 

[RoyVa]

Nice flight, careful if GPS not set so it doesn't head out wrong way.

 

[shawwellpete]

Thanks guys. Roy, what do you mean by setting GPS, is it just like a fitbit where you have to wait for it to find the satellites?

 

[RoyVa]

That's correct, patience until the GPS gets a lest 6 plus satellites and locks the home position. As the pilot we have to verify that has happened before taking off. Depending on conditions it could sometime take a couple of minutes. We get anxious to fly and can get a little ahead of ourselves if we don't watch closely.

 

[shawwellpete]

Thanks Roy, that makes a lot of sense, I have read through these excellent FAQ's and I'm starting to understand a bit better. I also downloaded the latest manual which I was surprised was not included in the box.

I still have a few things I am slightly confused about...

1. The modes, P, A and F, I have read the manual and it's not going in, when would you use each mode?

2. Attaching I-pads, I have been using my iphone but I think an ipad would be better. There are loads of mounts on eBay, does anybody have any particular recommendations?

3. The colour balance on the footage I took, particularly the earlier ones looks a bit off, too magenta. Do you guys tend to adjust the white balance for the ambient light each time? Any tips?

4. I have read that there is a way to set the battery to discharge itself after a few days but can't find it on the app, is it possible to get the battery to discharge to half charge? I assume that would be best for long term battery life?

5. The difference between FPV and follow mode. I saw this video which demonstrates which is which. Does anybody have any advice on which mode is best for different shoots? I assume for architecture Follow mode is better?

Thanks, in advance for any help.

 

[Wholly]

I'll take a swing at your questions...

1. Flight modes.

• P-mode - Positioning Mode - Uses GPS to lock the craft to a position. Most common beginner flight mode as letting go of the sticks causes the craft to hover in place even in mild winds.
• A-Mode - Attitude Mode - Does not use GPS for navigation but allows the pilot to control movements. This is likely similar to the control you see with the syma/hubsan micro-quads - it is likely that this would drift in a mild wind (but RTH, if a home point was set at launch, should still work in this mode.)
• F-Mode - Function (IOC) mode - This is the mode that allows things like Point of Interest, Waypoint and Follow me. These are navigational aids that, as some people are finding out, don't avoid obstacles. These are new features in the latest firmware update.

2. iPad mounts - There are many options and I just took a wild guess and picked up -

• RioRand CNC Aluminum Alloy FPV LCD Display Monitor Mounting Bracket Support Shortcut for DJI Phantom Transmitter
  • - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L7CYBGY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00
• Square Jellyfish Mini Tablet Tripod Mount
  • http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXGF84M?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

That mount is for smaller tablets which might be less of a pull/weight to carry but I believe they have a larger one. I just ordered this gear over the weekend so we'll see how it goes.
​

3. Color balance - Not worked with it yet, but there are a few other good and experienced people that have notes on the forums.

4. The batteries do this by default - the only thing you can do is control how many days before it starts discharging between like 2 and 10 days. It can be controlled in the DJI Go app.

5. FPV is just the "normal" use of the Phantom cameras. As the camera cannot turn side to side, the quad must be slewed left and right to get sweeping shots.

Follow mode is part of the F-Mode controls and causes the phantom to follow the gps of the DJI Go device. Warning - iPads without cell/lte do not have gps. I suspect that it just guesses a path to stay a specific distance from the moving gps signal.

Point of Interest mode might be more interesting for you as it maintains camera orientation on a fixed point as it moves through a circle. Limited but predictable.

Another mode that might be interesting is the Waypoint mode as if you set points you can tell it to move between the points and it can be set to slowly rotate the camera from waypoint 1 orientation to waypoint 2's orientation perhaps getting you what you are interested in.

Mess with it and let us know! But I will highly recommend that you wait for gps lock and test RTH, I've found that sometimes (especially directly overhead) signal loss is almost guaranteed and without home set, it might try to auto land in a tree, house, pond, pool, or police vehicle.

From one noob to another...

Wholly

 

[shawwellpete]

Thanks Wholly, much appreciated!

1. Thanks! I finally understand P A and F!

2. ipad mounts - thanks, please feed back if you're happy with them

3. white balance - I'll take a look for other posts, I shoot photos in RAW so am used to White Balance control in post processing.

4. Got it, thanks

5. The FPV and follow modes are two options within the Gimbal mode and change the way the camera behaves when turning. Follow is default and the horizon remains level and FPV gives the impression of being on a fixed wing plane with the horizon tilting as you turn. I just wondered how people used each type?

 

[shawwellpete]

Warning - iPads without cell/lte do not have gps. I suspect that it just guesses a path to stay a specific distance from the moving gps signal.

Is this a problem? are i-phones better for that reason?

 

[Wholly]

Is this a problem? are i-phones better for that reason?

Follow mode won't work without gps on the dji go app. I saw a poor guy struggle with it on youtube. Once he swapped to his phone he was good to go.

I've not seen a specific FPV mode - I still have many options to experience. (grin)