Orbit and Cable Cam Are amazing

dmassphoto · Jul 10, 2015

I've now got both the P3p and the Solo. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. From a filmmaking/photography point of view, here are my main differences:

SOLO:
The Orbit and Cable Cam settings are just absolutely amazing when it comes to filming video. Being able to have your hands and mind free to concentrate on filming is soooo convenient. I was thinking about taking it back and keeping the P3, but this is what ultimately changed my mind. It's possible you can do the same stuff with the P3, but with the Solo it's so simple and quick to do why would you want to?

The only thing I would add would be the ability to change altitude mid-flight on cable cam. Picture a shot where you're flying along water with camera pointed down. You slowly point camera up and then gain altitude to show the entire scene. The Solo flies in sort of a curve upward.

Picture the same thing with Orbit, going around something like Trajan's Column in a screw-like fashion.

P3: The camera is what makes this bird shine. The ability to shoot RAW images is undeniably the main advantage. I'll be keeping this bird for stills and using the Solo for video.

1013D · Jul 10, 2015

I would like a cable cam with multiple points and the ability to blend into an orbit....maybe that is coming soon.

DodgeP · Jul 10, 2015

Yeah. cable cam is pretty nuts.. and once you master the orbit radius you're golden. That water shot could be accomplished using tower. It would take some time to map out but it could be accomplished..

dmassphoto · Jul 10, 2015

I haven't had a chance to try tower yet. My GoPro has actually been comendeered by the wife for the next few weeks, so I'm stuck using the P3. Haven't gotten into autonomous functions yet, but they are exciting. I'd rather not have to worry about having to learn a new set of skills right now just to get good footage, but I guess that's the way of things. I like the Solo's dummy functions much better.

DodgeP · Jul 10, 2015

I think in Tower the action you want to do over the water is like Cable Cam on steroids. You can create the waypoints but you'd have to change the altitude of each waypoint on the arc. I think if that function was added in the Solo App, it might have to be executed the same way since we don't have a 3D Map.