Advise for a novice pilot wanting upgrades

[TimboZero]

After losing patience with learning to fly a helicopter, I bought a DJI Phantom 2 (non-vision) on Saturday and had a great weekend whizzing about the sky above my home.
Really liking the drone and, although I bought the base Phantom to save money, wishing already that I bought the Vision+ for the video/photo and FPV abilities.

After finding out there is no (reasonable budget) DJI path from non-vision to FPV, I did some research on the subject and have bought a couple of entry level items to start my path to FPV.

I opted for the Turnigy HD Actioncam as my camera, which I have heard is a good value for money alternative to the Hero3/3+
The gimbal I went for was the DYS Smart 3 with Alexmos Basecam controller. I have heard mixed comments on this unit which seem to mostly be down to QA in production (if I get a bad one I don't mind returning it to the UK for replacement) and incorrect gain settings for the motors in the software calibrations.

This is just my first batch of mods and I intend to add a Fat Shark 250mW TX and a combined RX/LCD/DVR in the next wave.

Any comments, hints and tips or other feedback/advise would be appreciated.

Best Regards

Timbo

 

[TimboZero]

It would also be handy to know about wiring.
From what I have seen the Phantom controller is basically the Naza-M so would I be correct that I just connect my gimbal pitch and roll to the F2 and F1 (respectively) ports of the controller ?
As for the power for the gimbal, would I just solder in on the main (black and red battery) power leads where they join to the mainboard, or is there a port or better place to get power from (will probably want more than one tap to power by the end for the TX, camera and OSD) ?
Does the stock Phantom 2.4GHz radio have the channels to control both pitch and roll and if so, how ?

 

[sergekouper]

Be happy, you've got the best base to get the best pictures. If you want the best possible pictures out of your phantom, the answer is Gopro3+ and H3-D3.(coming close to the GP3 is not being a GP3) and since the GP4 is out you will find many at a great price. no need for buying new either. BoscamTX+RX+ any 7 inch monitor are cheap and more than enough to control what you shoot. H3-D3 is the best DJI gimbal for the phantom.
That is if you are interested in shooting photos and video. Now If you just want to see how it is up there any cheap stuff will do the job. About controlling the camera from the TX, Tilt control is the only available, and not easy with the original RC

 

[TimboZero]

Yes, I have seen that the Phantom 2 controller has a modified F2 (pitch) output to add attitude compensation to the 'dumb' Zenmuse gimbal, this will conflict with the controller on something like Alexmos based gimbals.
Anyone followed this path and found a way to disable that controller 'feature' without replacing it with a normal Naza controller ?