Remove camera as a beginner

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I am new to drones, I don't want to destroy my new P3 Pro so I'm really taking my time,researching videos completely read the manuals, and reading posts on a few different forums. I have had it now about 3 weeks and have made no attempt yet to fly because I don't want to be a one and done flyer. ( wish me luck ) My question is, as a precaution should and could I remove the camera from the bird. I have seen and read a couple of opposing views. I know there are a lot of knowledgeable people out there just from the posts I've read please help


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IMO, that's a good idea.

I remember a vid with Justin Davis from drone camps RC and he recommended same.
 
It would be better to fly in a large open area until you're comfortable flying. At that point, the ground would be the only thing you'll be able to crash into.
 
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I am new to drones, I don't want to destroy my new P3 Pro so I'm really taking my time,researching videos completely read the manuals, and reading posts on a few different forums. I have had it now about 3 weeks and have made no attempt yet to fly because I don't want to be a one and done flyer. ( wish me luck ) My question is, as a precaution should and could I remove the camera from the bird.
You are taking this too seriously and scaring yourself far more than is necessary.
By removing the camera you lose a lot of the technology that makes the Phantom easy and safe to fly.
You would have no telemetry as well as no picture.
No idea of the height, speed, distance, battery level etc, etc.
Not having those features, would make it more difficult to learn what's happening.
It would be like trying to learn to drive with a blindfold on.
It would be a stupid thing to do with much more potential downside than benefits.

You'll find that it's much easier to fly than you imagine.
It takes about 5 minutes to learn - but a lot of practice and experience to become proficient.
Don't let the simplicity make you get too adventurous too early.
There are many things that can go wrong and you need to understand what they are and how to make sure they don't happen to you.

Do your early flights in a large open area, well away from trees, buildings and obstacles.
Be afraid, very afraid of trees, buildings etc. They are involved in most incidents.

Read up on return to home procedures, practise using RTH and cancelling it so you understand how it works and how you can resume control in an RTH situation.
 
If you really don't want to practice on P3, buy a cheaper drone and practice. You would later on realize that it's so easy to fly P3P compared to a cheap drone available in the market.

Secondly most of the crashes occur by hitting trees and buildings. Go out to open field and fly at 200' and practice. Learn how to initiate RTH. It may be useful in case you lose track of your aircraft.


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Just do it, if you've read and understood the manuals, it'll be easy. Crashes come with distraction and showing off, so fly alone (no wife or kids within earshot) in a big flat field, with your phone in aeroplane mode, If something unexpected happens or you get flustered, release the sticks, it'll stop and hover (provided you've calibrated the compass and IMU) while you work out how to proceed. Don't take anything off it, fly it as it's meant to be flown. Also bear in mind crashes frequently occur when you get a little bit familiar with it and get cocksure, it happened to me which was a humbling experience.
 
I want to really thank everyone of you that responded to my question. I feel a lot better and will take all of the advice listed here. Thanks again happy flying.


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I would leave the camera alone. The absolute best thing you could do is learn to fly in less than ideal conditions with a toy. Get yourself a trainer that cost 30 bucks and fly it until you are a pro. Then fly your phantom. Get in a wide open area and Practice all the scenarios that could possibly occur.

Some examples that I practiced endlessly before I started taking it out:

Fly out to edge of line of site
A) bring it back using the map only.
B) disconnect app bring it back using orientation skills.
C) bring it back using RTH - let it land (ensure landing area is safe)
D) bring it back using RTH - disengage RTH land manually

Fly out to edge of line of site
A) disconnect application - reconnect application
B) shutdown transmitter - reconnect transmitter

This is a good start.


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I am new to drones, I don't want to destroy my new P3 Pro so I'm really taking my time,researching videos completely read the manuals, and reading posts on a few different forums. I have had it now about 3 weeks and have made no attempt yet to fly because I don't want to be a one and done flyer. ( wish me luck ) My question is, as a precaution should and could I remove the camera from the bird. I have seen and read a couple of opposing views. I know there are a lot of knowledgeable people out there just from the posts I've read please help

Seriously, it's just not that hard. The Phantom 3 Pro is a remarkably stable platform. The things that are going to crash you are a system failure (unusual, even in the P3P which does not have redundant compasses and IMU's) and flying into a tree. No amount of fear, trepidation and caution will prevent system failures, so your big challenge is not to fly into a tree, either while flying, or on RTH. Especially the latter. No reason to hit a tree while flying...at any point, you can just take your hands off the sticks and the thing will just immediately just stop and hover. Eliminate the problem altogether by flying in a big open field. RTH, on the other hand....make sure of your height programming. IMHO, surprises during RTH represent a significant percentage of drone crashes.
 
I am new to drones, I don't want to destroy my new P3 Pro so I'm really taking my time,researching videos completely read the manuals, and reading posts on a few different forums. I have had it now about 3 weeks and have made no attempt yet to fly because I don't want to be a one and done flyer. ( wish me luck ) My question is, as a precaution should and could I remove the camera from the bird. I have seen and read a couple of opposing views. I know there are a lot of knowledgeable people out there just from the posts I've read please help


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My input mirrors a few others here. I'd just go to an area with plenty of space and take to the skies. As others have noted, I think you'll be surprised with how well it flies.
Afterwards, you'll probably have more questions to ask and at the same time you will now better understand the things you have been only reading about until now.

If you're interested, click here for a few tips that I share with new P3 owners.

Good luck!

(To answer your question though - yes you can take off the camera and fly if that is what you really want to do)
 
I would absolutely NOT take off the camera. First of all, you will be wasting a set of anti-drop pins and getting the vibration dampers back on is a pain. In addition, the cable connectors are not designed to be pulled on and off repeatedly. The sockets on the VPS are surface mounted and can break off easily if you get the cable out of alignment and try to push it in by force. Honestly, the bird is very easy to fly and if you take it easy you'll be fine. Spend a couple of $$ and get a gimbal protector plate for the bottom of the landing gear and just be careful. You'll also change the center of gravity on your bird and it doesn't fly the same.


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I agree with the others that say just fly it. Just be sure that you set it up right, calibrate everything, and unless there is a good reason not to I'd set your RTH Altitude at a minimum of twice as high as the highest trees or structures in the area. I hesitated for 3 weeks after buying my P3 and then started out doing auto takeoffs and auto landings gaining confidence daily. My initial area was surrounded by 100' trees. A friend had an area without trees where I loved the way the Phantom would approach the home point at 400' during practice RTHs, stop and hover for a few seconds directly over my home point, and then descend to the home point. Later on when I would lose my signal because of the tall trees I would watch in amazement as first my P3P and then my P4 would return and descend vertically always staying about 10' from the closest trees. I never got in trouble with that P3 but believing in the hype of Object Avoidance with my P4 I didn't have my departure altitude at twice as high as the trees and it met a tree top leaving my area that was out of my sight. Thanks to my Marco Polo I found it! It was a lesson well learned. I operated my P3 and P4 at 8,000' and above in amongst tall trees until a month ago when I came down to my other home in the SF Bay Area pretty much at sea level where there are no high winds as compared to the Rockies! According to the Internet the winds were at and above 50 mph today at my Mountain Home.

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Just bought my first drone about a month ago, was a P3P , never flew one in my life , read the manual and watched a lot videos and let me tell you it's not as hard as I made it out to be in my head , just take it slow , I've flowen about 20 times now and all been good
 
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Just bought my first drone about a month ago, was a P3P , never flew one in my life , read the manual and watched a lot videos and let me tell you it's not as hard as I made it out to be in my head , just take it slow , I've flowen about 20 times now and all been good
My son-in-law got me a Syma X8C for Christmas last year and that is what got me going with the P3P! Gotta tell ya, after flying that toy I was scared to death to try it with a $1,000 P3! Bought my P3 for me birthday a week later and took it out in the middle of football field to give it a try. Wow, I was thinking why I ever wasted time with the toy! If you want to crash and get all skitchy, fly a toy drone, If you want to have fun, be careful and get a P3! Just keep your toy for when you want to get reckless. I'm rebuilding the X8C with brushless motors and putting the guts in an old P3S shell for giggles to see what kind of monstrosity I can come up with for manual flying :)
 
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I agree with all those who said fly in open spaces, but a word of caution: open space means different things to different folks. My brother thot he was in a pretty open space, till his phantom flew far enough to hit a tall tree, whereupon it fell, breaking his camera off. If someone is unfamiliar with flying a non-toy aircraft, you may be surprised at just how fast it can cover a mighty furr piece of ground. The bigger the space the less a beginner should have to worry. Better to look back and laugh at how big a space you required than to look back and wish . . .


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What about downloading a sim like... Next or heli-x. I know Next will give you some free demo flight time with out the purchase. I've come from flying helis and would want to crash a beautiful new tool with out some orientation skill sets first!

But like others have mentioned... The DJI is a very stable platform, just learn what the difference between the flight modes are and get busy and learn..... She will be forgiving
 
I agree with all those who said fly in open spaces, but a word of caution: open space means different things to different folks. My brother thot he was in a pretty open space, till his phantom flew far enough to hit a tall tree, whereupon it fell, breaking his camera off. If someone is unfamiliar with flying a non-toy aircraft, you may be surprised at just how fast it can cover a mighty furr piece of ground. The bigger the space the less a beginner should have to worry. Better to look back and laugh at how big a space you required than to look back and wish . . .


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I can relate to that! Had one of those "if I only had..." moments myself o_O
 

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