Brand New Gimbal - Bad First Flight out of the box

Earldgrayjr · Sep 21, 2015

Axidrain said:
whatever floats your boat. if you say that the p3 is worthless when it comes to shooting video, i see that as an over exaggeration.

Did I say that? Read what I wrote again.

Bigskyflyer · Sep 21, 2015

Axidrain said:
whatever floats your boat. if you say that the p3 is worthless when it comes to shooting video, i see that as an over exaggeration.

This is the way I see it, some here are going to come uncorked but I don't care. The truth hurts sometimes. 3DR announces the release of the worlds first "Smart Drone" with no gimbal, no camera control from the app, a very dismal gps system and connectivity issues with your device. If I wanted to mod a bird as much as you have to mod the solo I would just have one built from the ground up. So for now I will go fly my "Stupid Drone" that flies as it was advertised. Bye now.

Axidrain · Sep 21, 2015

Earldgrayjr said:
Did I say that? Read what I wrote again.

well you did say the live feed was unusable and you have it grounded because of that. The fact that you chose to deal with cropped 4k footage and limited camera control on the gopro kinda baffles me tho.

anyway, It could be your mobile device. i tried hooking up a p3 with a xiaomi mi3. pretty crappy phone btw, and apart from the noticeably longer delay in the feed compared to the ipad mini 2, the feed was pretty much stable on channel 21 and above.

and about waypoints. you can actually set pretty complicated cable cam shots with the official DJI app. You have to fly the route manually to save the points but its much more accurate when you do it that way. but yeah, leaving out the option to input waypoints directly on the map without relying on 3rd party apps is kinda dumb.

Still kinda skeptical if either of you actually fly a p3 for video.

rrmccabe · Sep 21, 2015

Axidrain said:
and about waypoints. you can actually set pretty complicated cable cam shots with the official DJI app.

I have to disagree with you on one point. Since you cant tilt the camera automatically with the DJI mission software its hardly complicated. Position with elevation and Yaw and that's it. Now the 3rd party SDK apps are another story.

Earldgrayjr · Sep 21, 2015

Axidrain said:
well you did say the live feed was unusable and you have it grounded because of that. The fact that you chose to deal with cropped 4k footage and limited camera control on the gopro kinda baffles me tho.

anyway, It could be your mobile device. i tried hooking up a p3 with a xiaomi mi3. pretty crappy phone btw, and apart from the noticeably longer delay in the feed compared to the ipad mini 2, the feed was pretty much stable on channel 21 and above.

and about waypoints. you can actually set pretty complicated cable cam shots with the official DJI app. You have to fly the route manually to save the points but its much more accurate when you do it that way. but yeah, leaving out the option to input waypoints directly on the map without relying on 3rd party apps is kinda dumb.

Still kinda skeptical if either of you actually fly a p3 for video.

Lets start at the end and work backward.

*hint* take a look at my signature, which I have had for a while now.,..
Not sure what you are skeptical of, but in the end I couldn't care less. I am not here to impress or please you. I am here to learn and to help others. I have shown off my fleet here (in pictures) and many know what I have and what I can do. What you think is irrelevant if it isn't based on reality.

My tablets (two fo them) are both on the DJI compatability list (Nexus 7 and 9) and worked fine before the update. It is only after the update, that I immediately started having video problems, on two tablets, simultaneously.... I get it that it isn't happening to everyone. I don't know why... Neither do they. Whether you accept it or not, it is the update. DJI has tacitly admitted it (as much as they do anything) and done so to me directly. They know they have a problem, even if you don't. The video s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s along for almost the entire screen, and cuts out and pixelates so badly you can't make out what the camera is seeing when it is moving. Stop moving and it is fine. Stop and go is the only way i can see anything. You can't frame shots with that. I have tried. This is close in, moving slow, with a strong signal and on the same dedicated tablets that were fine before the update. I have worked with DJI and tried numerous things. They... are telling me to wait... There is something wrong that they hosed up in the update. It is in the forums even if you are in denial. I (and many others) are awaiting a fix from DJI. If I went back, I would have no automation at all. With two Solo's with gimbals, I have no reason to do anything with it but wait. If you don't see the logic of that, I am not sure I can help explain it any better...

While you may also be baffled as to why I shoot in 4K, you shouldn't be.... If you Google "why shoot 4K video" you will get just under 2 million hits... All variations of this...

RedShark News - Why everyone should be shooting 4K - even for HD delivery

FYI: I also shoot in 4K with the P3P (which is why I got the P3"P" instead of the "A". MANY people like me shoot exactly like this, as the resulting 1080 output is a better picture to begin with, and you have MANY more options on the way there for stabilization, cropping, framing, etc. without losing resolution and clarity, which is important with action shots, and even more important when fliming action from UAV's What baffles ME is that while you think you are schooling me... You don't already know this...

As for Waypoints.. The waypoints from Tower are no less "accurate" than following a path in DJI Go. They are in fact more accurate in Tower, as you don't have to actually fly a desired path manually to make it happen automatically and exactly. You can zoom in with Tower and get as accurate as you like, and you don't have to do it in real time. You can plan and save your shots offline without being in the air. The reality is that with DJI Go you have to waist a LOT of time (and battery) manually flying through a misssion, just to fly the mission again autonomously. I'm sorry, but that is just absurd from a functional standpoint, and laughable for anyone that has used Mission/Droid Planner or Tower. What it literally means for me is that crane and dolly shots take twice the time (and battery) with P3, and I still have to manually control the gimbal all the time with the P3, which adds more risk of missing the shot and having a retake. With Solo I can have it control the UAV and gimbal. I don't always do this, but it is very usefull for numerous shots. Don't even get me started on Spline Waypoints as opposed to Point to Point which is all Dji Go does.

Like I have said before... They are both good products. I fly both (assuming DJI gets a fix out) Even though I am using the tools quite often now, I am still amazed at how quickly the technology has advanced, and what I can produce with these amazing platforms. They do actually have more in common than not. Before I got the Solo gimbal I was relying on the P3P (and until recently a P2V+) and they did the job. Now that I have the Solo(s) and gimbal (now two gimbals as of this evening) it is simply a better tool for what I need to do. Accept that or don't, it won't change my life either way.

Cheers

Michael Stevenson · Sep 22, 2015

Enough with the long winded fan boy posters here. They are obviously paid to defend 3DR to the death. They should be banned and shunned like the Amish. Their superior attitude adds nothing to the conversation. I want the truth!