Invest in the Solo?

SunshineOx · Jul 1, 2019

Hi 'Soloers'. Had a Solo for two years but, due to wife's illness, it's been sat unused. Technology has moved on, the Mavic Air/Pro and the Parrot Anafi look particularly good. A Solo owner met on a film set said the Anafi was especially good for photography. So, my question: Stick with the Solo, invest in any hardware/software upgrades, and my time, or should I go with a newer model? Main interest is photography - landscape/property and Paddleboarding. Grateful for any/all opinions and advice.

Robpower · Jul 1, 2019

I think it depends on if you have the time to put into it and a few skills to make it happen. I started out with a standard solo with gimbal and GoPro. I am also a stills photographer and wanted to fit a better camera. Over 18months I developed a platform with my solos (3) to do what I want. I needed to do some soldering, software updates, make some brackets, test fly etc but it was well worth it and I am the sort of person that enjoys that kind of challenge and getting my hands dirty.

Batteries are now becoming a problem but again with the battery mod that people worked out ,I now have 3 new packs that works great, again needed a few tools and some soldering skills but I made them up and they work fine.

I will admit I did a lot of reading on this forum and did get some help along the way with answers to a few questions but now a few people are doing the same thing which is great. To have a little Nikon j5 with a 1 inch sensor and a 10mm f.28 lens is exactly what I wanted

Take a look at these two threads,

Nikon J5 mirrorless camera on 3Dr Solo - ch7 shutter my set up is in this thread

3DR + NO-GoPro image thread this is some of the photography we have been doing with our solos

I hope this helps, totally up to you, I have helped a few along the way, sharing what I have learnt and I have learnt off other here. I think its a great platform and with some great people and ideas, it lives on.

psdisme · Jul 6, 2019

Robpower:
Sorry to butt in but could you provide a link to the battery mod that you mentioned in your post?

artcuda · Jul 6, 2019

psdisme said:
Robpower:
Sorry to butt in but could you provide a link to the battery mod that you mentioned in your post?

Solo Battery Mod for Dummies (Rev).pdf

drive.google.com

SunshineOx · Jul 6, 2019

Robpower said:
I think it depends on if you have the time to put into it and a few skills to make it happen. I started out with a standard solo with gimbal and GoPro. I am also a stills photographer and wanted to fit a better camera. Over 18months I developed a platform with my solos (3) to do what I want. I needed to do some soldering, software updates, make some brackets, test fly etc but it was well worth it and I am the sort of person that enjoys that kind of challenge and getting my hands dirty.

Batteries are now becoming a problem but again with the battery mod that people worked out ,I now have 3 new packs that works great, again needed a few tools and some soldering skills but I made them up and they work fine.

I will admit I did a lot of reading on this forum and did get some help along the way with answers to a few questions but now a few people are doing the same thing which is great. To have a little Nikon j5 with a 1 inch sensor and a 10mm f.28 lens is exactly what I wanted

Take a look at these two threads,

Nikon J5 mirrorless camera on 3Dr Solo - ch7 shutter my set up is in this thread

3DR + NO-GoPro image thread this is some of the photography we have been doing with our solos

I hope this helps, totally up to you, I have helped a few along the way, sharing what I have learnt and I have learnt off other here. I think its a great platform and with some great people and ideas, it lives on.