Solo vs The "White" guy...

[J R]

I debated whether I should post this video. I am not a photographer and I got into the UAV stuff more for the flying aspect than the photography. As I got a few more UAV's I started to see the differences between not only the flight control and characteristics but the camera abilities. Being a photography layman I'm looking for the plug and play stuff. I now understand the many variables that come into play with photography. It will probably take me years to master some of the things that many of you are able to understand and produce.

As many know, I have also been experiencing some vibration issues with my Solo. I've been trying everything I can come up with to resolve them but I'm not there yet. I am a major Solo fan and supporter and I believe the Solo will surpass the "white" guys.

With all of this in mind, I wanted to see the real world, layman's, difference between my Solo and P3Pro. I put this clip together for my own use. There was nothing special done to either bird. The Solo used a GPH4B that I purchased with the 4.35mm lens installed from Peau Productions. I used the "good" settings in the Suggested GoPro Settings for Solo | 3D Robotics Drone Forum thread, I did change the FOV to wide. The "white" one is the one supplied with the bird and was left pretty much defaulted, I did use the thumbwheel to adjust exposure once I got it in the air.I did no special settings and no editing other than cutting up the clips and putting it together in Power Producer.

It was a bit of a process for me as I wanted to match everything the best that I could. In order to maintain the same conditions I had to try to fly one right after the other. In some cases one was slower than the other and I had to cut the clips to see similar angles. The altitude and radius was the same for both birds.

This obviously isn't any type of scientific test. I know little to nothing about photography and proper settings. I'm certain that there are many faults that could be pointed out. I'm not looking to annoy or upset anyone. I just thought the clip was interesting and that some may benefit from seeing it.

I'm very interested in opinions and thoughts, particularly on how I can optimize my Solo and GoPro settings. I hope that I won't get bashed for providing and soliciting input. I value this forum and it's members and feel very fortunate to have been afforded such fantastic support with my Solo endeavors. The information and education that I receive here is priceless to me and I'm very grateful to those that have contributed to my UAV successes. I'm just trying to pay some of it back by providing the little contributions that I can.

Jerry

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[pyrate]

I personally prefer the gopro IQ
but to each their own, the 4.3 flaring looks about the same as the 4.4
going to go to a second IR Cut filter on my 4.4 to see if it helps

 

[Jon6565]

Hey Jerry, always good to see others opinions and views on things and this is no exception. I don't own a Phantom 3 - nor will I ever I doubt but having used my GoPro for all manner of things - I still rank it as the best camera of it's type on the market. I also own a Drift HD which is not designed for this type of work but the pic quality is no where near as good as the GoPro.

I am a photographer - albeit a serious amateur with a website and a business name so I can comment with a degree of experience behind me. I have also done some paid video work, but up until now it's been earth based and not drone work. Solo has potential for that but there's competition out there and they are better equipped. If this 'takes off' for me I may well look at investing in some pro level gear and get paid too!

I have ordered the Polar Pro 3 Filer set for my GoPro H4 Black and I am tempted with the after-market lens too. I use Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 - but compared to my experience with Photoshop - I'm a novice and I am currently trying to master "colour grading" in post after shooting in ProTune with the GoPro.

One comment on your video - if your software allows it, is that it would look better as a horizontal split (50/50) - sure it will crop the vertical aspect somewhat but it allows for a good instant comparison.

Thanks for sharing. I'm definitely a Solo Noobie so all this stuff is gold!

Jon

 

[Maddog]

Jerry, thanks for putting that together!
As far as vibration goes, I really don't see any difference. Later in the video, where you are orbiting the lone tree, the GoPro video looks sharper to me.

 

[J R]

Later in the video, where you are orbiting the lone tree, the GoPro video looks sharper to me.

I think the video looks "different", I can't say one actually looks better than the other. I'm sure some of the pros around here could do amazing things with either one. I do see a bit more vibration in the Solo. It was an interesting test for me.

Jerry

 

[PdxSteve]

I think the GP video looks crisper and better picture overall. It looks like you possibly didn't colorgrade it after shooting in ProTune? It's pretty flat. Your Solo definitely does look like it's vibrating though when looking at the edges of the picture. I know you've been struggling with that for awhile now, but if you can get that fixed the GP vid will look even crisper than it does now. I've been fortunate in that my Solo/Gimbal has worked flawlessly out of the box. The only thing I've done is boost the wifi signal.

 

[XperienceVisuals]

Great comparison!

To my eye the Phantom video appears to have better color and is also more stable. Also seems to react a lot less to the sun in terms of lens flairs.

The Solo footage has more detail and better definition. Also FOV is a lot better. Color is flat though and there is some definite micro vibrations both of which can be corrected. The lens flare is another detractor. But that seems apparent on any of the 4. whatever mm lenses that are out there be it Peau, Ragecames or whatever else.

Out of the box, ide give the edge to the Phantom. For those like myself who like to tinker I feel the potential for superior footage is with the Solo.

The road has not necessarily been easy but the shots im getting now with my Solo are stable, defined and rival footage ive seen shot with an I1 but with a better FOV. I am more than satisfied for the time being. And now with the new ribcage air I can swap lenses on the fly. Plus the 'murdered' out look just looks better

 

[Troiano27]

Do you, or did you use an nd filter on the GoPro? Also you said you used the "best" settings via the GoPro settings thread? So you filmed in protune on, and flat? Did you doing any color correction on the GoPro footage? I don't know anything about how the phantom films, but I feel using protune flat footage straight from the card isn't a fair comparison to anything. Should at least throw a LUT on the footage. There's a color correcting website that sells LUTs for GoPro footage. If you sign up for their email, they give you a free LUT. You can apply that and it will make the footage look pretty good without tweaking.

But thank you for posting this. I've been looking at Solo hard, and kind of looking at the phantom pro. But since I own 2 hero 4s I was,leaning towards solo.

 

[J R]

But thank you for posting this. I've been looking at Solo hard, and kind of looking at the phantom pro. But since I own 2 hero 4s I was,leaning towards solo.

Tro,

No, I used "good" settings not "best", so Color wasn't Flat it was GoPro, Protune On. I appreciate your thoughts but as I said in my OP, I don't know much about processing or editing, so I pretty much left everything alone. I didn't think it would be fair to try making things look better. I wanted them to be what they were without tinkering. Just to give you an idea of my photographic experience, I don't even know what a LUT is yet. I have not concluded that either is "better" (aside from the vibrations), especially given my lack of photographic experience. I did the original test so I could see the difference for myself. After doing so I thought others may get some benefit from seeing it. If I had to purchase a Solo or a Phantom Pro 3 today, I would purchase the Solo before I'd purchase a P3 or any other DJI product. I am not a big supporter of DJI. Anything I provide on this forum is to help make the Solo a better product, nothing else.

Jerry

 

[Troiano27]

Jerry I respect your contribution. I posted some color correcting stuff in the GoPro settings thread, because I didn't want to high jack your thread here. I'm with you about solo. I've owned a handful of the other guys stuff and frankly I don't trust it. I've been eyeing a pixhawk based bird for a while and I love how far the out of box equipment has evolved. A year ago I was all about building my own. Now I'm all about solo and just opening a box and go. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade the experience I've gained building all the quads and hex's that I did. It can only help with with a craft like solo.

 

[J R]

I posted some color correcting stuff in the GoPro settings thread, because I didn't want to high jack your thread here.

Tro,

Thanks for the input. I respect and appreciate the posts and replies you've contributed as well! I'll take a look at your posts in the GoPro thread. As you can clearly tell, I need all the help I can get with that part. I can fly and tinker fairly well but I've got a lot of learning to do on the photo\video end of things!

Jerry

 

[Gary Burch]

I think the gopro footage looks more clearer. Notice some vibration . Have you balanced props?

 

[J R]

I think the gopro footage looks more clearer. Notice some vibration . Have you balanced props?

Gary,

Yes. Balanced props, swapped out 3 motors, replaced stock HDMI cable with Relish ribbon cable.

Jerry

 

[Troiano27]

I'll say this about things. Regardless if the footage looks perfect, I generally always run my aerial footage through image stabilization. I know a lot of people want their video to be perfect straight off the Copter. But I'm a big believer in post processing.

I'll add, I also try as best as possible to get the best footage out of my setup (i.e. Balance motors and props, etc). But post processing is just a part of the game.

 

[J R]

But post processing is just a part of the game.

Tro,

I totally agree! I'm just trying to get the hardware part sorted the best I can before I move on to the processing front. Trying to do it all at once will only add to the confusion for me. I'm looking forward to learning about processing, I'm not to that part of the game yet.

Jerry

 

[Bigskyflyer]

I debated whether I should post this video. I am not a photographer and I got into the UAV stuff more for the flying aspect than the photography. As I got a few more UAV's I started to see the differences between not only the flight control and characteristics but the camera abilities. Being a photography layman I'm looking for the plug and play stuff. I now understand the many variables that come into play with photography. It will probably take me years to master some of the things that many of you are able to understand and produce.

As many know, I have also been experiencing some vibration issues with my Solo. I've been trying everything I can come up with to resolve them but I'm not there yet. I am a major Solo fan and supporter and I believe the Solo will surpass the "white" guys.

With all of this in mind, I wanted to see the real world, layman's, difference between my Solo and P3Pro. I put this clip together for my own use. There was nothing special done to either bird. The Solo used a GPH4B that I purchased with the 4.35mm lens installed from Peau Productions. I used the "good" settings in the Suggested GoPro Settings for Solo | 3D Robotics Drone Forum thread, I did change the FOV to wide. The "white" one is the one supplied with the bird and was left pretty much defaulted, I did use the thumbwheel to adjust exposure once I got it in the air.I did no special settings and no editing other than cutting up the clips and putting it together in Power Producer.

It was a bit of a process for me as I wanted to match everything the best that I could. In order to maintain the same conditions I had to try to fly one right after the other. In some cases one was slower than the other and I had to cut the clips to see similar angles. The altitude and radius was the same for both birds.

This obviously isn't any type of scientific test. I know little to nothing about photography and proper settings. I'm certain that there are many faults that could be pointed out. I'm not looking to annoy or upset anyone. I just thought the clip was interesting and that some may benefit from seeing it.

I'm very interested in opinions and thoughts, particularly on how I can optimize my Solo and GoPro settings. I hope that I won't get bashed for providing and soliciting input. I value this forum and it's members and feel very fortunate to have been afforded such fantastic support with my Solo endeavors. The information and education that I receive here is priceless to me and I'm very grateful to those that have contributed to my UAV successes. I'm just trying to pay some of it back by providing the little contributions that I can.

Jerry

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I noticed the much better color in the phantom and also the exposure is better, you can see in the shadows where the gopro is just dark spots.

 

[Maddog]

I noticed the much better color in the phantom and also the exposure is better, you can see in the shadows where the gopro is just dark spots.

I think you could compensate for that with different GoPro settings.
And you could certainly make improvements in post.

 

[pyrate]

are you running ND now?

 

[J R]

are you running ND now?

Pyrate,

Are you talking about an ND filter? In these clips? If so, yes, ND4 on both clips.

Jerry

 

[tomnjfl]

So...today my boss decided to buy a Phantom 3 because he got a bit frustrated seeing me struggling with the Solo from time to time. We use the Solo for work purposes occasionally, and well...let's just say we can't risk any crashes around some of the expensive "merchandise". I tried to explain that operating any modern drone, whether it be the Solo or the P3, will provide the same obstacles, but he's an impulse buyer and decided to go for it.

Next week sometime I'll post up a review of the P3 in comparison to the Solo. I'm actually a bit curious myself.