Downtown Davenport, IA - questions and comments

Joined
Jan 20, 2017
Messages
84
Reaction score
28
Age
50
Purchased my refurbished P3S a couple of weeks ago and I have a few flights under my belt (nothing fancy). On Friday, I decided to go downtown and record two flights (just got a second battery), hoping to still have my Phantom intact when I finished. I tried to think of everything in the planning stages so I wouldn't make any fatal mistakes.

I'm happy to report I did not crash and both flights were successful! However, I have a few questions and comments regarding my flight. For background info, this was in a major downtown area (Davenport, IA) along the Mississippi River, but my home point was a open park near the river.

1) DISTANCE. Even though I was in a downtown area, I took off and controlled the Phantom from a wide open park with no obstacles near to me. The maximum I could fly in any given direction was about 1000-1200 feet (while flying 200-400 ft high). Once I reached those distances, my camera FPV signal dropped, though my controller signal was still ok (not great, but it didn't disconnect).

Q. Does 1000-1200 feet sound about right for a downtown area? There were definitely cell towers and such around the area.

Q. Is it typical for the FPV camera view to drop before the actual controller gets disconnected? I think one other time the app asked me if I wanted to go home since I lost FPV, even though the controller was still ok. Obviously, if the controller disconnects for a period, then it'll do failsafe RTH.

C. I purchased an inexpensive range extended (just the plastic reflector type that attaches to the existing antenna) and it really didn't do much at all. Sometimes I think it helped a bit, and other times I think it actually degraded my signal. I tried attaching it upside down and right-side up with varying degrees of success, but just ended up taking it off because of the inconsistency.

2) GIMBAL / CAMERA stutter? When looking over my footage, I noticed that once in a while the picture would be wobbly or wavy (not sure how to describe it). Is that the rolling shutter, or is that just the gimbal not being to stabilize precisely enough for the conditions? It wasn't too windy of a day, so I don't think it was the wind, but I haven't noticed it on previous flights. I'm just hoping my gimbal or camera isn't having a problem (you can see the effect somewhat in my video below, though I edited most of it out).

3) RECORDING VIDEO. I have learned that controlling the drone and shooting video with camera angles in mind is not an easy think to do. It does require some planning, skill, and practice. My first few flights, I really didn't even care about camera angles, but just wanted to concentrate on flying. This time, I felt pretty comfortable flying, so I tried to plan some shots and get some better footage. I think I was moderately successful, but when looking back at it, I can obviously see many things I should have done differently. It was nice having an extra battery so I could make two flights out of it. Sometimes, I spent too much time trying to fiddle with the settings doing something like Point of Interest, etc. In the end, I think it's better to cut out more footage, but I'm finding it difficult to pick and choose! lol

Here's the video:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
very nice video dude, nice pace and music suits it perfectly, angles are good also.

Looks like jello to me, have you inspected the gimbal and camera? You don't have more than 2 lock pins in your gimbal do you?

Ive read a few posts now where the standard seems to be misbehaving on the camera/gimbal wobbling side of things, hope this isn't a inherent fault which is starting to rear its head?

Range in downtown- not experienced enough to comment but I suspect yes if there is wif interference then I don't think its too bad a range, get a range extender like dbs or argtech etc, and that should sort you out anyways.

Otherwise I really enjoyed this vid, beautiful place to film.

Darren
 
  • Like
Reactions: Travisimo
very nice video dude, nice pace and music suits it perfectly, angles are good also.

Looks like jello to me, have you inspected the gimbal and camera? You don't have more than 2 lock pins in your gimbal do you?

Ive read a few posts now where the standard seems to be misbehaving on the camera/gimbal wobbling side of things, hope this isn't a inherent fault which is starting to rear its head?

Range in downtown- not experienced enough to comment but I suspect yes if there is wif interference then I don't think its too bad a range, get a range extender like dbs or argtech etc, and that should sort you out anyways.

Otherwise I really enjoyed this vid, beautiful place to film.

Darren

Hey, thanks for the encouragement and taking time to comment.

I actually did put the other two lock pins in the gimbal after noticing there were only two. Now I see from the search that there's only supposed to be two. But I'm also reading that some owners put the other two in place or use some sort of ties for extra security. I had a minor crash the day before, and I thought the other two pins fell out. Do you think having the extra two pins would cause the rolling shutter / waviness in my video?

I will definitely be checking into a proper range extender, but I'm glad to hear the range I got wasn't too bad. I'm not sure if I want to spend too much extra money on this drone when I might prefer to save up and buy one with much greater range. Then again, I told myself when I bought this one for $350 that it was okay to spend a little extra money for accessories. I already bought an extra battery, an inexpensive case, and a couple other odds and ends. I'd also like to start saving for an upgraded model with much better range (would really like the Mavic), but that's just not practical at this time.
 
Last edited:
Hey, thanks for the encouragement and taking time to comment.

I actually did put the other two lock pins in the gimbal after noticing there were only two. Now I see from the search that there's only supposed to be two. But I'm also reading that some owners put the other two in place or use some sort of ties for extra security. I had a minor crash the day before, and I thought the other two pins fell out. Do you think having the extra two pins would cause the rolling shutter / waviness in my video?

I will definitely be checking into a proper range extender, but I'm glad to hear the range I got wasn't too bad. I'm not sure if I want to spend too much extra money on this drone when I might prefer to save up and buy one with much greater range. Then again, I told myself when I bought this one for $350 that it was okay to spend a little extra money for accessories. I already bought an extra battery, an inexpensive case, and a couple other odds and ends. I'd also like to start saving for an upgraded model with much better range (would really like the Mavic), but that's just not practical at this time.

ive read that having all 4 locking pins in can and will cause the rolling jello effect, it makes the gimble stiffer and causes vibration, if you crashed and camera looks undamaged then chances are it is fine, your quality certainly looks fine...

And for me if i can get good range with some mods like 1-2 miles then that will be fine for me for a few years until the phantom 4 comes down in price.

Darren
 
  • Like
Reactions: Travisimo
ive read that having all 4 locking pins in can and will cause the rolling jello effect, it makes the gimble stiffer and causes vibration, if you crashed and camera looks undamaged then chances are it is fine, your quality certainly looks fine...

And for me if i can get good range with some mods like 1-2 miles then that will be fine for me for a few years until the phantom 4 comes down in price.

Darren

Thanks, now I have the dilemma of either leaving all four pins on, or to remove two of them and see if I still notice the jello effect. Don't you have to cut the pins off, rendering them non-reusable? I suppose I could just use ties if it came down to it, which some pilots seem to prefer over the pins anyway.
 
My wife and I took her parents to a ballroom dancing in Davenport and we were there for 2 nights. I think you captured the city very well and the timing of the music was empecible. But what do I know being quite amateurish myself. I'd imagine there was lots of interference so I'd expect some issues at that height and distance. I only watched half of the video as it's bedtime here for me but I look forward to seeing the rest tomorrow morning. Pretty smooth overall and I like the insertion of the poi in the midst of the video. Loved going to see the Bandits play ball while we were there. Good memories for me
 
  • Like
Reactions: Travisimo
You should only have two pins but might still work with 4. Make sure they float loosely, no binding. If binding, the rings may be pushed too far.
You can remove them without cutting but takes finesse. Push the rings further down the shaft, wait 5 minutes, maybe wiggle/rock them some to spread the prongs. Then pull straight out with a little force. Seems when you push them onto the shaft, temporary plastic fatigue leaves the prongs wide enough that they come off. There's some videos out there on the concept.

Sent from my HTC 10 using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
  • Like
Reactions: Travisimo
My wife and I took her parents to a ballroom dancing in Davenport and we were there for 2 nights. I think you captured the city very well and the timing of the music was empecible. But what do I know being quite amateurish myself. I'd imagine there was lots of interference so I'd expect some issues at that height and distance. I only watched half of the video as it's bedtime here for me but I look forward to seeing the rest tomorrow morning. Pretty smooth overall and I like the insertion of the poi in the midst of the video. Loved going to see the Bandits play ball while we were there. Good memories for me

Hey, great to hear from a local (or thereabouts)! You must be talking about the Col Ballroom? Just a few blocks away from where I was shooting. Anyway, thanks for the comments and taking the time to watch.
 
You should only have two pins but might still work with 4. Make sure they float loosely, no binding. If binding, the rings may be pushed too far.
You can remove them without cutting but takes finesse. Push the rings further down the shaft, wait 5 minutes, maybe wiggle/rock them some to spread the prongs. Then pull straight out with a little force. Seems when you push them onto the shaft, temporary plastic fatigue leaves the prongs wide enough that they come off. There's some videos out there on the concept.

Sent from my HTC 10 using PhantomPilots mobile app

Thanks for the tips. I will watch a video of the procedure and see if I can get two of them off without breaking them. Then I will pay attention on my next flight to see if the jello effect is still present.
 
Thanks, now I have the dilemma of either leaving all four pins on, or to remove two of them and see if I still notice the jello effect. Don't you have to cut the pins off, rendering them non-reusable? I suppose I could just use ties if it came down to it, which some pilots seem to prefer over the pins anyway.

No dilemma here brother, the manual states theres only suppose to be 2 pins in there :)
 
No dilemma here brother, the manual states theres only suppose to be 2 pins in there :)

I was able to get the two extras off without breaking them. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to test it today to determine if that's what was causing my jello.
 
I was able to get the two extras off without breaking them. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to test it today to determine if that's what was causing my jello.

Let us know brother
 
I can confirm that my jello effect went away after I took off the two extra lock pins. Flew two different times today and they were all very smooth (except for a few stutters when panning).
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,358
Members
104,936
Latest member
hirehackers