Meticulous Flying

[SmithMan]

noob pilot here, learning the way of the phantom. On my most recent flight, about only my 15th flight probably, I was feeling confident enough to do something really stupid like record ripples on the water from the p3 around the base of a tree......... oh the regret.

Anyways, I am super grateful to have a functioning p3 still after drying it, im a amazed by its durability. This was my first time trying to get really close to any object because im normally so cautious but when i hit the tree I didn't even know i was about to hit the tree.... I was thunderstruck.

Might be an irrelevant question for many, but any tips for getting shots up close? is that even a thing? The perspective through the fpv is hard to gauge because the props stick out pretty far. I cant seem to find any videos of people getting too close to anything, probably for the reason that i had to learn the hard way. I am thinking now that looking at the phantom is key and not just the fpv... I rely on that most of the time. Also i think prop guards would have saved the day in this scenario, but i could be wrong.

 

[Air Ontario]

I try not to fly too close to something with everything inline. I do my best to get close shots at a right angle to my line of eyesite so I can see the distance between.

However this does cause other alignment problems but centering is easy with FPV and closeness deftermined by being at right angle to flight path.

Sometimes you have no choice. Like me trying to video a hockey rink and flybackwards over the blue line to the boards while ascending over the center light pole.......

 

[Jtrjr]

Might be an irrelevant question for many, but any tips for getting shots up close? is that even a thing?

Smith,

Prop guards may help in that particular scenario. I rarely use them anymore but the few times I did they were able to absorb some little bumps. The first thing I would do is learn to fly in ATTI mode. It'll take some practice but I find it easier to fly in that mode when low and close to objects. I also try to get my camera set up ahead of time so I can focus my eyes on the bird instead of the FPV screen. Just my thoughts and opinions, others may differ. Glad your bird is okay!

Jerry

 

[SmithMan]

That's hugely helpful thanks for your reply. I'll focus more on my flight path and angle of view.

 

[Noodle]

Might be an irrelevant question for many, but any tips for getting shots up close? is that even a thing?

The tip is don't do it. As much as P3 is a rock-solid steady video flying platform, it is still not a super-precision flying machine.

I recently had my first crash of my P3A when using FPV I was trying to manoeuvre it between a building and a power pole, a gap of 10 feet which I thought is wide enough, but I suspect a gust of wind blew it sideway, it hit the building and crashed. Luckily the height was just 5 feet, and the only damage is a few scratched props when it landed upside down.

 

[SmithMan]

Thanks Jerry I never considered the other modes. I'll look into that more.

 

[Stealth Tours]

Something that I have done, but isn't always possible...I hand hold my quad without props rotating with video on. You start to learn to turn your human "gains" down to emulate the quad flying for great video. I am planning to try hand holding the landing legs with props rotating while opening the upstairs balcony doors and launching out over the hand rails so as to not have an incident occur with the doors, hand rails etc. on this home.

 

[Trackman1]

Wow! That is a nice house!

I have noticed that the P3 can make some undesirable moves if it gets too close to a large object. As in moving toward the object.
I think this is because the object blocks the GPS sats from that side. Sort of like being in a gps shadow.

 

[Stealth Tours]

Trackman1, you must be psychic. About a 1/2 mile down hill is the Pacific Ocean just north of Malibu, the very first day on this house, the very first flight I chose to start at the electric gate at the bottom his personal driveway. The wind was less than 4 mph but by the time I had gone up the driveway about 30+ft. before entering the carport area, the wind compressed under the balcony blowing out the carport approx. 15 mph along with ferrous materials in the hill to the side of the house & driveway and the house is a rebar steel structure. So what started as 12-13 sat's, became less than 7 sat's approaching this carport all at 25 degree angle driveway, I get instant "NO GPS", I was prepared for that, my pinky left finger switched to "A" mode as I try to set it down from being head high & get an "ultra sonic error", get it to touch ground that is still not level, wind blowing it backwards towards me, not still for 3 seconds, "do I sacrifice my hands" as it slid into the succulent plants away from the hill and it chopped plants & stopped...SO SCARED. This is what led to me HAND FLYING my P3P sometimes.

 

[Wheatfield]

noob pilot here, learning the way of the phantom. On my most recent flight, about only my 15th flight probably, I was feeling confident enough to do something really stupid like record ripples on the water from the p3 around the base of a tree......... oh the regret.

Anyways, I am super grateful to have a functioning p3 still after drying it, im a amazed by its durability. This was my first time trying to get really close to any object because im normally so cautious but when i hit the tree I didn't even know i was about to hit the tree.... I was thunderstruck.

Might be an irrelevant question for many, but any tips for getting shots up close? is that even a thing? The perspective through the fpv is hard to gauge because the props stick out pretty far. I cant seem to find any videos of people getting too close to anything, probably for the reason that i had to learn the hard way. I am thinking now that looking at the phantom is key and not just the fpv... I rely on that most of the time. Also i think prop guards would have saved the day in this scenario, but i could be wrong.

I just stay away from stuff. It's not worth it. There is a slight latency between what the quadcopter does and when you see it do it on the screen. This is really important when close to objects because objects really are closer than they appear. Also, any slight drift that the GPS allows can put you into an object if flying close to it.

 

[SmithMan]

This community is great, a lot of awesome responses and suggestions here, thanks everyone.

Wheatfield, something I did not consider is the delay of the fpv- that is a serious factor when things get meticulous. All these responses generally make me conclude that its better to just keep an obviously safe distance from objects.