Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

I understand that logic. I was a bit different as the X8C was my first quad and I was happy with it to begin with. Didn't have any plans on upgrading to a Phantom when I bought the Syma so I didn't buy it thinking that I'd learn to fly it first, then buy a Phantom once I had become proficient at flying the Syma. However, like most hobbies, flying quads does start to get addictive and you naturally start looking at higher spec and more capable machines. However, as you say, Phantom 3 prices are now at the stage where yes indeed - that £100 or so that you may initially spend on getting an X8, could be better put towards a P3 (cut to the chase, so to speak ;) ). In fact, if you are like most folk getting into quads for the first time, it wont just be an initial cost of £70-£100 for a Syma. You will without a doubt, find yourself buying things like more props, higher rated motors, a Runcam/Mobius or Foxeer Legend cam, carbon rubber loaded gimbal mounts for the new camera, different legs, carbon skids, prop balancer, better charger........the list goes on and on!!

The footage the P3 takes is in my mind, awesome with the stock camera. I've put a couple of vid clips from mine in the past few pages but Youtube doesn't show it off to its best and I'm not too well up on the procedure for uploading 2.7k footage to Youtube at the moment (always seems to default to 1920x1080 with me for some reason). But I can absolutely vouch for the P3 Standards camera being good. At your budget I think buying a P2 would be a step backwards as you are buying slightly older tech. For @£400 I highly doubt the Phantom 3 Standard can be beaten as far as 'bang per buck' is concerned with what is currently on the market. :)
 
Really itching to get the P3 standard now although prices seem to have gone up on Amazon the past few days. Another Big obstacle to overcome is I told the Mrs I want one....it was a straight No. That's before I tell her the price. I've got some major sucking up to do :/
 
sprite1275 said:
Really itching to get the P3 standard now although prices seem to have gone up on Amazon the past few days. Another Big obstacle to overcome is I told the Mrs I want one....it was a straight No. That's before I tell her the price. I've got some major sucking up to do :/
Click to expand...

I bought one and let her discover it once it was delivered. I wasn't flavour of the month for a couple of weeks but she eventually calmed down. :p

A few places are doing 'Buy now, pay nothing for 6 months' if that softens the blow any? I got mine from Clifton Cameras who are still doing their P3 Standards at £449 inc delivery on a buy now pay nowt for 6 months deal. ;)

@£449 seems to be about the going price for the P3S just now, certainly from a UK retailer anyway.
 
sprite1275 said:
Really itching to get the P3 standard now although prices seem to have gone up on Amazon the past few days. Another Big obstacle to overcome is I told the Mrs I want one....it was a straight No. That's before I tell her the price. I've got some major sucking up to do :/
Click to expand...

Hah. Mine didn't have much of a choice. Saved my pennies purchased what I wanted.
 
After watching vids on you tube and doing some reading up on the P3 I'm starting to feel like I could get bored of it pretty quick.

Also seems the phantom is a pretty weak machines and breaks easily.

Think I need to ponder a bit more on getting a P3. I know I would love it to start with but just dont get the feeling that would last long.
 
You don't fly a Phantom (or any other GPS stabalised quad) for fun.

There's no challenge there. No skill to master, and therefore no reward or feeling of accomplishment.

You fly a Phantom to take photos or video, which is what they were designed for and excel at.

If you want fun. Fly a plane. Fly a helicopter. Fly an FPV racing quad. All are much more of a challenge.
 
sprite1275 said:
Also seems the phantom is a pretty weak machines and breaks easily.
Click to expand...

Depends how you crash it and from what altitude it tumbles from. Most drones will result in something breaking if they have a sudden meeting with a solid object, tree or ground. The Phantom isn't especially prone to damage in comparison to any other drone. There are documented issues with stress cracks around the motor mount locations but this seems random and affects some, and not others. However, I can testify to the robustness of a Phantom. This was mine after it crashed into a tree approx 50ft up then tumbled down through the branches and slammed into the deck:-

small1.jpg


End result was a broken prop and a few scratches. No other damage. Replaced the props and after a fresh battery charge, she took off and flew as if nothing had happened. ;)


Bigpops said:
You don't fly a Phantom (or any other GPS stabalised quad) for fun.

There's no challenge there. No skill to master, and therefore no reward or feeling of accomplishment.

You fly a Phantom to take photos or video, which is what they were designed for and excel at.

If you want fun. Fly a plane. Fly a helicopter. Fly an FPV racing quad. All are much more of a challenge.
Click to expand...

^^This. Or almost ^^this.......:p

I'd agree, to a point. I wouldn't go as far to say you don't fly a Phantom for fun, I find it great fun to fly mine. Even despite its bulk and weight, its got a reasonable turn of speed about it (obviously nothing compared to a racer or even some so called 'toy' quads like the Tarantula X6 for example) but nevertheless, still fun. Flying in ATTI mode is as close as you'll get to any sort of 'manual' flying but its really no different to flying most other drones with altitude hold present, you still need to have a grasp of the basics to fly it proficiently. Which is why I recommended that a new pilot purchase something like a Syma X8 to learn with. The skills gained whilst flying a cheap but capable quad stand you in good stead for when you move up to something more expensive. Totally agree though, a Phantom is an aerial photography/video platform, at which it utterly excels - yep.

As far as having fun on a different or elevated level then yeah, a racer is the way to go undoubtedly. The thing is with this hobby is that don't you find that once you get hooked, you end up buying more quads? I've still got my little X8 and find it huge fun to fly. And I'm also looking at picking up a racer of some sort and venturing into FPV - I've got my eye on a Walkera Runner or F210 or I might even just build one myself which is another part of the fun!

I didn't buy the Phantom under any illusions that it would be a balls out seat of the pants experience. It never will be. But I still think its great fun to fly and the other part of the fun is getting home, downloading the video footage and then editing it into a nice little vid to show other folk. :cool:
 
Delvis said:
I thought you 'could' fly the phantom manually? No aids?
Click to expand...

Sort of. ATTI mode will allow flight in a 'manual' way albeit that it still maintains altitude hold. The difference between ATTI and P-GPS mode is that if you let go the sticks on the Tx in P-GPS mode, the Phantom will adjust its position to maintain that position within a few cm either side. In ATTI mode if you let go the sticks and the wind/breeze makes the Phantom drift, it will keep drifting. So aye, sort of a manual mode.

Love the Falcon. Looks huge fun! :D
 
It's pretty quick, especially with the 4s batteries and increased rates...I need to dial it in a bit as it oscillates at full speed.

There are better ones put there as it is a budget sort of brand, but I love it for a first taster in hobby grade equipment
 
So now I have the P3P I also need a new laptop/PC, I have no idea why I thought it would work and my current laptop just cries when I try and install some editing software let alone try and edit anything.

Whats the cheapest option to edit 4K footage with reasonable speed? I don't really have room for a desktop and I'm sure a laptop of suitable spec would be pretty costly.
 
Yes I think so, There's an FPV setting which I'm sure does just that. Not tried it yet though.

It does feel weird coming from a fixed camera to a gimbal as with a fixed camera you know what the quad is doing on the axes
 
I suppose it could be used it some circumstances but I doubt I'd ever use it, I have the 250 for flying fixed camera......When it's not constantly being repaired :D
 
Was out flying yesterday at a local historical landmark. I apologise in advance for some of the jerky flying, I'm finding it hard to remember to make smooth movements when trying to take nice video footage. Do any of you guys covert 4k (or in the P3 Standards case like mine - 2.7k video footage) and upload to Youtube? I tried converting this footage to 2704x1520 using Corel Videostudio X9 last night and it rendered it fine but the file size was 58Gb!!! :eek: I had not applied any 'Compression' to the output settings as when I chose from any compression settings my output resolution dropped to 1920x1080 for some unknown reason?

Also, although I've not tried it yet, I see lots of folk online complain that Youtube cant/won't/refuses to accept 2.7k as an upload option but 4k is fine? Any hints or tips on either issue would be welcome! I've also noticed that in the 1920x1080 videos, when I pan around in the Phantom, it appears pretty 'jerky' movement wise but in the original 2.7k footage on the SD card its as smooth as silk?

Anyway, here it is in 1920x1080p. Next time I'm going to try the Phantoms IOC functions, specifically 'Course Lock' and 'Point of Interest' so I can get steady footage with the camera pointing in one direction and the P3S moving in another.

 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom