First FPV - not as easy as I thought

[Arange98]

Took my phantom out for my first FPV flight over the weekend and was surprised to find out how difficult it is to "trust" the video output after years of flying things from the ground view. Fortunately I brought a spotter who handed me the goggles after I had the phantom up about 30' and took them back less than a minute later.

I need a couple of extra batteries so I can practice in a safe area I guess.

Any suggestions on how to get over the feeling of not knowing where the phantom is?

Cheers,
Allen

 

[martcerv]

Fly somewhere you know well or get an osd with home indicator and distance to home. That way you will always know where you are and makes it much easier to fly in unfamilier areas.

 

[thetac]

It is quite different for sure...i fly in open areas...in areas that i am used too as martcerv mentioned...it does take time to get used to! The IOSD is a life saver and provides so much more confidence!..

 

[boat chaser]

I was a bit overwhelmed at first, just keep practicing, you will progress until it becomes normal.

 

[PhantomFan]

Things gonna look hella different from the air, for sure. I've never done it, and don't know if I ever could, although the notion of flying from a the vantage point of INSIDE your model is intriguing. Props to you for having the guts to try and the smarts to have a spotter. <two thumbs up!>

PF

 

[Driffill]

I done some flights on the weekend just past. I could say that it was the first true FPV flying I've done, I have the 7" LCD on my Tx, but until last weekend, I'd generally fly by LOS and just use the screen to see what was in the shot. On the weekend I planned to get footage at an event, but with the layout of the area we were in, I'd would need to use the screen more or the footage would be all guess work.

I found it a little funny at first when I switched to looking at the LCD and controlling the phantom, but once I could see the pic well I found it was somewhat easier (for what I was doing) as all control inputs were in relation to the screen orientation. Before I knew it, I had my head in the screen flying circles above the target asking my spotters to keep an eye on the trees that I couldn't see from my screen lol

I still need alot more practice in all forms of flying, but the conditions on the day were rather perfect for flying and recording, cool temps, very little wind, overcast cloud and less than 5 houses within 2km (FW limits set too 800m radius from homepoint and 250m high) I only have a cheap lcd screen so it doesn't cope well in full sun, but the cloud cover made it possible to fly from the screen.

 

[Scuba Rat]

I have a question about FPV... I have a Fat Shark and all but I would like to get the on screen display stuff as well. I see the iOSD, but can that be used with the Phantom? Probably a stupid question but I can't seem to find the answer.

 

[Driffill]

I have a question about FPV... I have a Fat Shark and all but I would like to get the on screen display stuff as well. I see the iOSD, but can that be used with the Phantom? Probably a stupid question but I can't seem to find the answer.

I use a FireBug Ghost OSD, I know somebody else running an iOSD on a phantom so it is possible. The ghost has little support now jay has backed away from the project (I'm not sure if the FB GHOST OSD is still available, last I heard all the stock on the website was gone) there is other OSD's too EZ-OSD, sky-lark??? and others

 

[martcerv]

I have a question about FPV... I have a Fat Shark and all but I would like to get the on screen display stuff as well. I see the iOSD, but can that be used with the Phantom? Probably a stupid question but I can't seem to find the answer.

To use the mini iOSD you need the PMU v2 on the phantom, works great with the advantage of getting info direct from the NAZA and GPS/compass units. This will show you if you have any issues and gives most of the info you need along with only being about 45g total for all you need to fit these.

Heres a couple flights I had with this trying to capture what my screen sees, the camera has trouble picking up the screen properly with the first having a cam chest mounted and the second video with camera mounted on the screen itself.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf9FOC92kPE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0kGB28FAKY[/youtube]

Here is whats being shown on screen

You can also use the regular OSD but its much larger and the mini was a tight fit in the phantom and my other mods, the mini does most of what the regular does. Main differences is you can make more changes to the screen setup on the larger one I think and it allows remote channel switching with the DJI FPV setup. It also allows 2 cam inputs, this is something I wanted but there are workarounds to this and I am pushing the weight limits on my phantom as is so another camera may be a bit much.

 

[Driffill]

I have a question about FPV... I have a Fat Shark and all but I would like to get the on screen display stuff as well. I see the iOSD, but can that be used with the Phantom? Probably a stupid question but I can't seem to find the answer.

To use the mini iOSD you need the PMU v2 on the phantom, works great with the advantage of getting info direct from the NAZA and GPS/compass units. This will show you if you have any issues and gives most of the info you need along with only being about 45g total for all you need to fit these.

Heres a couple flights I had with this trying to capture what my screen sees, the camera has trouble picking up the screen properly with the first having a cam chest mounted and the second video with camera mounted on the screen itself.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf9FOC92kPE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0kGB28FAKY[/youtube]

Martcerv, I've been meaning to show you, this is the SD-DVR I bought to record the display from the LCD screen, cost around $90 on eBay and is actually 2 channel, but the second is to low frame rate to be useful for vids. Its a fairly small unit, I was going to mount it on the side of my homemade lcd shroud, now I'm waiting on the same screen as yours, I'll look at the setup again once that's here.

eBay item number 280938646609

 

[martcerv]

I have considered getting something like that, would be useful though most of the time the gopro footage is enough and OSD just needs to be viewed live. For examples trying to show the feed quality though an DVR would be good and may help find the quad in the worst case scenario of it going down somewhere you cant find so looking back at the recorded live video may help.

 

[Driffill]

. . .(it) may help find the quad in the worst case scenario of it going down somewhere . . .

That was my reasoning behind getting it, and also to log any unusual events (obvious GPS malfunction etc) for reviewing later.

 

[boat chaser]

I installed the mini iosd a couple of days ago, reached 23 ms with slight wind. I now have iosd, gcu, pmu, futaba receiver and the naza all crammed in my phantom like a tin of sardines (trust me, it ain't pretty but functioning well). I personally love the home point function, you always know where you are when flying in unknown territory. Had no problems connecting this with the immersionrc 600mw/ FS Doms. And at 14 grams, perfect for the phantom. A great addition for fpv. The only issue I had was the telemetry was superimposed over the gopro telemetry. You can move the image in assistant software which helps but not perfect. You can clearly see the important information.

 

[martcerv]

The only issue I had was the telemetry was superimposed over the gopro telemetry. You can move the image in assistant software which helps but not perfect. You can clearly see the important information.

You can disable the GoPro OSD in the menu settings, though doing so I have made a few flights only to find out I forgot to press record and you don't get a gopro battery indicator. With the GoPro OSD on you see easily what mode your in and if its recording but I prefer to just use the DJI OSD on screen now.

 

[boat chaser]

Cheers Martcerv! I don't really need the gopro osd, gopro gets charged after every flight and I always know the mode I want to shoot in. If I disable the gopro osd do you know if it will stop the goggles blinking in time lapse when your taking photo's. I don't really want to lose that ability, very handy when taking photo's.

 

[martcerv]

I dont think I have ever had my fpv gopro setup for photos so cant say, I think its something that happens each time it takes a pic with the display screen blacking out unless in photo and video mode. Only one way to find out I guess, on a longer timelapse setting I see how it would be usefull but on a short setting it would make fpv nearly impossible I think.

 

[PhantomFan]

So...hypothetically ( :lol: ) if I wanted to do this OSD with goggles, what would I need? I have a v.1.1.1 Phantom (if that makes a difference). I'd need the PMU v2...and the Fat Shark of my choosing...but what if anything else?

Really dumb question: The Fat Shark. Does that come with a transmitter and receiver for that hefty price, or do I have to buy that, too?

PF

 

[boat chaser]

So...hypothetically ( :lol: ) if I wanted to do this OSD with goggles, what would I need? I have a v.1.1.1 Phantom (if that makes a difference). I'd need the PMU v2...and the Fat Shark of my choosing...but what if anything else?

Really dumb question: The Fat Shark. Does that come with a transmitter and receiver for that hefty price, or do I have to buy that, too?

PF

When I bought my gear the goggles came with an rx and stock antenna but I had to buy the battery and vtx and I also upgraded my antennae to ibcrazy blue beam clovers. Immersionrc vtx works well with the fat shark systems. There is a video and ground cable on the immrc vtx and the osd, I just crimped the wires and all good. The hardest thing was getting it all in there.

Heading out of the city this weekend to do some range testing but I easily get 1km clear with 600mw immersion vtx and futaba T8FG, hoping to get much more. Your vtx can connect to your gopro through the zenmuse or straight to it on a fixed mount. A fixed mount will give you more of a real flight experience in fpv due to the perceived pitch and roll whilst using the zenmuse it sort of feels like fpv on valium with no pitch and roll, but that is where the osd kicks in with the attitude line letting you know pitch and roll.

 

[thetac]

PF
The fatshark comes with an immersion style transmitter board (250W with rubber duck antennas for both the transmitter board and goggles) you may want to buy the upgraded 600W board and clover leaf antennas for better and longer reception. The receiver is built into the goggles which is nice in some aspects....you can connect the video out cable that comes with the goggles to a monitor that you can mount on your phantom transmitter...then you and a friend can watch together(one with goggles the other on the monitor)....or if you'd prefer to keep one eye on the phantom yourself, you can let the goggles hang at your side and fly it using a combination of your eyes and the monitor. Fatshark also comes with battery to power the goggles but you'll need to hook the transmitter board to a powersource. Hope this makes sense. If you want OSD you'll also need to buy a PMU and IOSD itself...fairly easy install...if you need assistance with that just PM me.

 

[Arange98]

Thanks for all the tips and kind words. The main reason for FPV for me and I assume others is to extend the range and see what is being recorded.

Looking into OSD options, but may also look into a small LCD screen as well. There seem to be so many OSD options out there and it gets overwhelming very fast.

Seems that the phantom is the gateway drug and now I am spending just as much on add-ons as I did on the phantom itself. LOL