P4P First Flight Impression: gimbal not as stable as P4

[TK-421]

EDIT: Video below. Did IMU calibration, didn't help.

Just had my first P4P flight, 45-degrees and breezy outside. My main takeaway was that the gimbal/camera is not as steady as my old P4 (which I sold).

Now, I will say that my P4P threw an IMU error that cleared after a minute (telling me to calibrate IMU). Wondering if that will affect the gimbal stability. The main issue is going from hovering to flying forward or backward...there is either a bump-rise or bump-dip in the gimbal as the P4P transitions, whereas I could gun my P4 backward and you wouldn't see a bump in the shot. This could be from the larger P4P camera and narrower field-of-view...but I wasn't impressed.

I'll calibrate the IMU and fly again when the weather warms a bit (who knows when that will be).

 

[tml4191]

do a cold imu calibration...SOme people even stick it in the fridge for like 15 minutes.... you can wait until morning or in the middle of night when it's real chilly. IMU calibration works legit this way.

 

[TK-421]

I calibrated the IMU, readings were much better. However, performance was the exact same. While I do think the P4P produces superior images (both stills and video), I don't think the video shots are as stable as the original P4.

It's going to be a long cold winter where I am, so I may just pack up the P4P and send it to be serviced by DJI right out of the gate. Unless @Adexure has a good return/exchange policy...this is my first time dealing with them.

 

[tml4191]

Do you have a video of these unstable shots? I might have to look for that in my next flight too. Is it possible that it's only your phantom?

 

[TK-421]

I'll try to put something together. I have no idea if it's just my P4P or if it's all of them (took me seven or eight P4 units to get one I liked...ha). I will say that my P4P came with camera ribbon cable that got hung up on itself (it's the ribbon cable inside the cylindrical housing on the opposite side of the gimbal motor mounted to the camera...left side as you're looking at the lens).

 

[tml4191]

I'll try to put something together. I have no idea if it's just my P4P or if it's all of them (took me seven or eight P4 units to get one I liked...ha). I will say that my P4P came with camera ribbon cable that got hung up on itself (it's the ribbon cable inside the cylindrical housing on the opposite side of the gimbal motor mounted to the camera...left side as you're looking at the lens).

It might be yours. If it is, then you can always get a replacement since that's the manufacturers fault, right?

 

[smiller]

Strange to see this since I was just looking at some P4P footage a while ago and remarking to myself how stable it was, especially since I was flying in relatively high winds. I was in a hover over an area and upon viewing later on a large monitor it looks like the camera was installed on a tower rather than an aircraft, absolutely rock stable.

 

[TK-421]

Strange to see this since I was just looking at some P4P footage a while ago and remarking to myself how stable it was, especially since I was flying in relatively high winds.. I was in a hover over an area and it looked like the camera was installed on a tower rather than an aircraft, absolutely rock stable.

That is the opposite of how I feel about the P4P. I was adjusting attitude sensitivity and other parameters, but no dice. It was breezy, but not what I would call windy...footage is much jumpier than my original P4.

 

[F3honda4me]

Mine looks rock solid, same as my P4 was.

 

[TK-421]

Here ya go. The video below is AFTER the IMU calibration. I put a yellow line as a reference to highlight the gimbal jumps as I move forward and backward with the P4P.

GIF: DJI P4P GIMBAL JUMP

VIDEO: P4Pgimbaljump

 

[F3honda4me]

Yea that is not right. I just checked a video of mine where I went from a dead stop to wide open in sport mode, going up to 50mph, and my horizon BARELY moves. It's pretty much immeasurable. Also spot checked a few other of my videos and same thing, rock solid. Yours definitely does not look right.

 

[TK-421]

Yea that is not right. I just checked a video of mine where I went from a dead stop to wide open in sport mode, going up to 50mph, and my horizon BARELY moves. It's pretty much immeasurable. Also spot checked a few other of my videos and same thing, rock solid. Yours definitely does not look right.

Yeah, I figured I got a bad bird. Like I said, I went through quite a few original P4 units before landing on a good one. In the video, my P4P was in P-mode with obstacle avoidance enabled (definitely NOT Sport mode).

 

[KevMo Photog]

Here ya go. The video below is AFTER the IMU calibration. I put a yellow line as a reference to highlight the gimbal jumps as I move forward and backward with the P4P.

GIF: DJI P4P GIMBAL JUMP

VIDEO: P4Pgimbaljump

Just read through your thread here. And I got to thinking about my second flight yesterday. It was 27 degrees outside but I had my gimble glitch just like what your video shows here too. It was blowing about 10-15 or so but I would not call these bumps a wind glitch at all. Other than that one or two times that it happened to me I feel like this new Pro is def more stable than my P4 was. But not huge diff. Mine did not continue to bump like yours did however. Just one little bump and then done. Hopefully these gimble bumps will be ironed out with an update asap!