Using the Phantom 4 Pro's camera without flying.

[Xanthe_2871]

The Phantom 4 Pro's camera is awesome. A 4K 60 FPS 100Mbps camcorder that takes beautiful videos, but the flying time is only around 25 minutes. The camera can record video without flying, and the battery will last much longer that way, but the camera can only go up or down, not left or right in this mode, and to make it worse when I move the camera without flying the drone's gimbal compensates by moving the opposite direction. Pretty annoying. 

 

Does anyone have any advice or experience for using the drone to film without flight?

[DildorTheDecent]

Hold the drone and run around with it. 

[kemit]

8 minutes ago, Xanthe_2871 said:

The Phantom 4 Pro's camera is awesome. A 4K 60 FPS 100Mbps camcorder that takes beautiful videos, but the flying time is only around 25 minutes. The camera can record video without flying, and the battery will last much longer that way, but the camera can only go up or down, not left or right in this mode, and to make it worse when I move the camera without flying the drone's gimbal compensates by moving the opposite direction. Pretty annoying. 

 

Does anyone have any advice or experience for using the drone to film without flight?

With the phantom drones, you cannot manually move the gimbal left or right so that when you are flying it and so it foes not show the landing gear and lees of the props. and as for the pan comp you should be able to go into the DJI GO app (or whatever its called these days) and adjust how far, fast, sensitive, etc the gimbal is to the different movements that you would throw at it with using it as a normal camera, but on the other hand it works to stabilize you video well as if you had something like the OSMO but of course will an entire drone in your hand.

Hope this helps!

[zdog16]

It is possible but just really awkward. I lent my Mavic Pro to a friend and he used it for both Arial shots, a handheld gimbal, and even for an interview on a recent trip to Brazil. Turn the drone on configure you gimbal settings like you normally would for flight. The pan will follow wherever you point the drone but the tilt will still have to be controlled with the controller which can make tilts while recording difficult unless you have 2 operators working in unison. Also getting the exact framing you want is difficult because the phone is attached to a fairly large controller which you also have to carry around.

While it's not the best tool for certain jobs its a good example of doing what you can with the tools you have available. 

 

Here's the video my friend made using only my Mavic and an iPhone for audio.

 

[Xanthe_2871]

9 hours ago, zdog16 said:

-snip-

Thank you so much! That video actually looks, really good! I didn't even think of that, but filming an entire session with the drone would not only give better quality shots then any other camera I have, but it would also make editing way easier if the drone was already going to be used, well, as a drone, since there would only be one camera/video type to deal with.

 

It's too bad there isn't a better way to do this, it would amazing if the Phantom 5 had a detachable camera you could use with a separate battery pack or something, but I highly doubt DJI would do that for a consumer drone. Even if it costs +$1k!

[zdog16]

12 hours ago, Xanthe_2871 said:

Thank you so much! That video actually looks, really good! I didn't even think of that, but filming an entire session with the drone would not only give better quality shots then any other camera I have, but it would also make editing way easier if the drone was already going to be used, well, as a drone, since there would only be one camera/video type to deal with.

 

It's too bad there isn't a better way to do this, it would amazing if the Phantom 5 had a detachable camera you could use with a separate battery pack or something, but I highly doubt DJI would do that for a consumer drone. Even if it costs +$1k!

Actually they did do that. The DJI Osmo uses the camera from the inspire 1, and if I remember correctly they were giving out osmo handles when you bought an Inspire for a while, but I could be wrong. Anyway, all of the payloads for the inspire 1 can be used on the Osmo as well. I don't know about the Inspire 2 cameras I haven't seen anything on their compatibility with the existing Osmo handle. 

[Xanthe_2871]

4 minutes ago, zdog16 said:

Actually they did do that. The DJI Osmo uses the camera from the inspire 1, and if I remember correctly they were giving out osmo handles when you bought an Inspire for a while, but I could be wrong. Anyway, all of the payloads for the inspire 1 can be used on the Osmo as well. I don't know about the Inspire 2 cameras I haven't seen anything on their compatibility with the existing Osmo handle. 

Isn't the inspire the more expensive, professional one? That sounds like a great drone and camera if it's not and arm and a leg. I'll give one, but not both!

[zdog16]

18 hours ago, Xanthe_2871 said:

Isn't the inspire the more expensive, professional one? That sounds like a great drone and camera if it's not and arm and a leg. I'll give one, but not both!

Yes, but you have to remember what market DJI is trying to hit. As far as they are concerned the Phantom/Mavic series are targeted towards hobbyists, while the Inspire 1/2 is targeted for film makers, and then they have the Matrice series targeted for industry professionals(which uses the same detachable cameras as the inspire). Also the current design of the camera on the Phantom/Mavic makes it very difficult to make the camera removable since most of the camera components are actually located inside body of the quad. The only parts on the outside of the quad are the lens, sensor, and gimbal assembly. It allows the camera to be very small and light. The camera modules on the Inspire contain all of the camera components and the gimbal, which makes the camera much larger and heavier compared to that of the other quads. 

 

I'm not saying that they won't make the camera on the lower model aircraft detachable, but based on the feature separation that I've been seeing with the DJI lineup, it looks like that's a feature that they are reserving for the more premium models. 

[Dennisdn]

Is this a good drone as first drone? http://bit.ly/2gJQF0R 
Or is the Mavic better?

[Xanthe_2871]

On 4/15/2017 at 2:16 AM, Dennisdn said:

Is this a good drone as first drone? http://bit.ly/2gJQF0R 
Or is the Mavic better?

Absolutely it is. Is the Mavic better, I can't say. I haven't used one. But the P4A is basically the P4P without a few sensors, and the P4P is amazing. Super easy to fly! 

 

But what do you plan on shooting with your drone? While the P4A is a great drone, it's also super expensive, so you might not need that much drone for your project, if you know what I mean.  

[zdog16]

On 4/15/2017 at 5:16 AM, Dennisdn said:

Is this a good drone as first drone? http://bit.ly/2gJQF0R 
Or is the Mavic better?

while all of the DJI quads are super easy to fly, I would rarely suggest it to anyone as their truly first drone. They are expensive, a bit intimidation and have a high cost of repair. I always tell people, if they are interested in drones to go buy a $20-50 toy quad from Ebay, and fly that first. The controls are almost exactly the same, and because of the lack of autonomous control features you get a much better understanding of how the aircraft controls actually work. Plus cheaper quads are much much more durable and cost much less to repair(if you crash it really hard). Once you are comfortable with that then go and buy a more expensive quad. 

 

As far as the P4 vs the Mavic, in my opinion, the Mavic makes more sense for most people because of the portability. There are not really any notable features of the P4 that the Mavic does not have or is not a very close race(I know the 5 direction obstetrical avoidance is nice, but if you're flying in a safe manner it should never matter). I've said it before in this thread but the ability to have the quad with you at all times is hugely valuable for small filmmakers who need that one 10 second drone shot to add production value to their piece. The experience using both quads will be very similar between the 2 with setup process and time being really the only difference. Once the quad is in the air the actual filming is almost exactly the same, you will have the same challenges as far as being forced to Yaw the aircraft to pan, the pilot having to not only concentrate on framing the shot but safely controlling the aircraft, and both quads have the same intelligent flight modes. Battery life, range, and top speed are all exactly the same. The P4's camera is a bit better with a bigger sensor and higher fps at 4K, but for most the 4K 24p down to 720p 90p that the Mavic provides will be plenty.

 

Purely from a performance/features standpoint, all of these quads are great for first timers because they are really easy to fly if you're paying attention, but realistically $1400 is a big pill to swallow for most people, including myself. People tend to get really nervous and make mistakes more easily when they spend a large portion of their available income on something that could have a random failure and fall out of the sky. Practicing on cheap quads gives you the chance to hone your piloting skills before putting a lot of money on the line. 

[AkiraDaarkst]

I just bought the Mavic fly more package that comes with extra batteries and props a few days ago.  I must say I like using it more than the Phantom 4 (which I'm now selling).  The Phantom 4 isn't a bad drone, I simply don't take it everywhere with me because of it's size when I also need to carry other gear.  I can't wait to use it in June when I'll be filming some documentaries in Ecuador, Philippines and Bhutan.