Newbie Phantom 4 or Phantom 3 advanced?

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Hi I've been reading and looking everywhere to try to decide on either spending out and getting the new Phantom 4 as my 1st ever drone, or to get the phantom 3 Advanced or Profesional with extra batteries etc.
Can any1 advise me please as I like the idea of the phantom 4 that it's harder to crash and easier to fly, but am I spending to much for my 1st drone. But what I don't want to do is get one of the phantom 3s and end up crashing it within a week or 2 and wasting all that money.
Any advise would be very much appreciated
 
Hi I've been reading and looking everywhere to try to decide on either spending out and getting the new Phantom 4 as my 1st ever drone, or to get the phantom 3 Advanced or Profesional with extra batteries etc.
If this will be your first ever drone as you have never flown one in the past, then neither.

Get a cheap manual learner drone e.g. Syma X5C-1 and learn to fly it in full manual mode first. Once you get a hang of it (and most likely crashed it a number of times) over a few months, then you can decide which Phantom next.
 
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Hi I've been reading and looking everywhere to try to decide on either spending out and getting the new Phantom 4 as my 1st ever drone, or to get the phantom 3 Advanced or Profesional with extra batteries etc.
Can any1 advise me please as I like the idea of the phantom 4 that it's harder to crash and easier to fly, but am I spending to much for my 1st drone. But what I don't want to do is get one of the phantom 3s and end up crashing it within a week or 2 and wasting all that money.
Any advise would be very much appreciated
My first ever flying machine was a phantom 2 vision

They are very simple my 10yr can fly it
Just for your first few times fly it in a park and learn how to use atti mode

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Hi I've been reading and looking everywhere to try to decide on either spending out and getting the new Phantom 4 as my 1st ever drone, or to get the phantom 3 Advanced or Profesional with extra batteries etc.
Can any1 advise me please as I like the idea of the phantom 4 that it's harder to crash and easier to fly
The P4 isn't any easier to fly than the P3. The additional features mean more to learn and possibly be confused by.
No cheap drone would be as easy to fly as the Phantom.
You'd be better learning how a Phantom works
At the current price the P3 Advanced is a gift and a very capable drone that can do 90%+ of what the P4 can for a lot less $$ and save your money for extra batteries.
 
In the same position as you, have got a syma xc quad copter to just fly around and get used to basic stick movement and how it flys, ready to step up to dji phantom, been on this forum a few months and have learnt a lot and are great discussions on hear and users are very helpful.
At first I was getting p3 standard, but most users say about wifi issues and distance. Then was getting p3 advance which has light bridge and longer distance. By this time the phantom 4 came out and the phantom 3 professional dropped in price loads. So now you can get the phantom 3 professional for great price and cheaper batteries.
I thinking towards phantom 4 because I like the all new look and build and extra features, but also because many users have issues with the dreaded stress cracks on the phantom 3 series. So hopefully dji have sorted this out on the phantom 4 time will tell.
Anyway if your saving money I guess the phantom 3 advanced is a great price at the moment and great piece of equipment. Depends on your $$$$££££?
Hope I was some help? :)
 
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Yep. Agreed. I taught myself to fly with the Sema and once I was more confident bought the phantom 4


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Hi I've been reading and looking everywhere to try to decide on either spending out and getting the new Phantom 4 as my 1st ever drone, or to get the phantom 3 Advanced or Profesional with extra batteries etc.
Can any1 advise me please as I like the idea of the phantom 4 that it's harder to crash and easier to fly, but am I spending to much for my 1st drone. But what I don't want to do is get one of the phantom 3s and end up crashing it within a week or 2 and wasting all that money.
Any advise would be very much appreciated
I've never owned or flown any RC aircraft before. I got a P4 and it's not difficult to fly at all. With a few test flights in an open area and common sense you'll be pleased you got one. DJI have aimed this at all skill levels (within reason) in my opinion… If I can fly it, then I think just about anyone could! The camera on both P3 & P4 are practically the same as you may be aware, though the P4 has improved glass apparently. So on that premise, I would go for the P4 as it's more future proofed being a newer device, if your budget can stretch to it
 
Thank you all so much for your advise . I did look at the Syma's , but as Erik says he went through four of them, not being as good as a phantom have been told they are harder to fly.
I still think either a Phantom 3 Advanced or professional would be a good buy as they have dropped so much in price. As I've just found out though on here there is a problem with stress cracks as Troyboy has brought to my attention , all the reviews and reading I've done have not heard about this.
With Realsting as well giving me the advise that the phantom 4 has been designed to cater for all skill levels, which he admits he's a learner and has got used to it quickly .
It's deffinatley going to be either a 3 or 4 I think, a bit concerned about the stress cracks, so still not sure.
But thank you guys so much. As I said, any advise is greatly appreciated and I'm really glad I found this forum as I reckon it will be handy now and in the future what ever I decide .



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Thank you all so much for your advise . I did look at the Syma's , but as Erik says he went through four of them, not being as good as a phantom have been told they are harder to fly.
I still think either a Phantom 3 Advanced or professional would be a good buy as they have dropped so much in price. As I've just found out though on here there is a problem with stress cracks as Troyboy has brought to my attention , all the reviews and reading I've done have not heard about this.
With Realsting as well giving me the advise that the phantom 4 has been designed to cater for all skill levels, which he admits he's a learner and has got used to it quickly .
It's deffinatley going to be either a 3 or 4 I think, a bit concerned about the stress cracks, so still not sure.
But thank you guys so much. As I said, any advise is greatly appreciated and I'm really glad I found this forum as I reckon it will be handy now and in the future what ever I decide .



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Ya the stress crack is obviously something to worry about on the P3, the P4 would probably grand you more fun, enjoying the new features, and it is claimed to be more stable, so if you are into photography and like to do "superresolution" or panoramas, i believe the P4 can probably get sharper results, and it is also probably better for photogrammetry and mapping because the camera is claimed to have less distorsion, if budget is not an issue the I believe P4 is obviously the best choice.
 
I know im extremely impressed with my P4. I'm averaging 27 minute flight times per battery. The forward facing sensors are great for newbies I just wish there was one on each side and in the rear as I like to get in tight areas for close up shots.


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Glad to hear this. Lots of people on here seem to be crying "fraud" regarding the P4 saying they can't get any good time on their battery.
here is a real battery test, it lasts him almost 25 min, and he is even recording in 4k during the whole flight :
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so the peoples crying might have a batch of faulty batteries, or do something wrong..
 
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but also because many users have issues with the dreaded stress cracks on the phantom 3 series. So hopefully dji have sorted this out on the phantom 4 time will tell.
As I've just found out though on here there is a problem with stress cracks as Troyboy has brought to my attention , all the reviews and reading I've done have not heard about this .... a bit concerned about the stress cracks, so still not sure.
Ya the stress crack is obviously something to worry about on the P3
You guys are almost 6 months late with the cracking thing.
It only ever affected a small number of Phantoms and most never developed cracking at all.
It was most likely due to a couple of batches of bad plastic or bad moulding technique.
But that was ages ago and we hardly hear of it these days.
if you are into photography and like to do "superresolution" or panoramas, i believe the P4 can probably get sharper results, and it is also probably better for photogrammetry and mapping because the camera is claimed to have less distortion.
The P3 lens doesn't produce any distortion that you'd ever notice.
The marketing people claim lens distortion had been reduced by 36% compared to Phantom 3 Professional, but you'd have to take that with a grain of salt.
36% less than something close to zero doesn't mean a whole lot.

If you want to see how the P3 handles panoramas there are plenty of examples here: Sea - Above & Beyond Photography
 
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The P3 lens doesn't produce any distortion that you'd ever notice.
The marketing people claim lens distortion had been reduced by 36% compared to Phantom 3 Professional, but you'd have to take that with a grain of salt.
36% less than something close to zero doesn't mean a whole lot.

That's completely false, the P3 distortion is substantial. In 4K video mode it has to be corrected through a cumbersome barrel adjustment process that results in substantially longer render times. I have yet to see anyone come out with a plugin that properly corrects it. Without correction you will see horizons with a sharp punch curve in the center that tapers near the edge. There is some in-camera correction available for HD video but not for the 4K. It's not as bad as a true fisheye, but its not exactly great either.

If you shoot raw photos and toggle lens profile correction in Lightroom you will see that there is substantial warping taking place on the P3 photos. This always results in less resolution after the fact because some pixels are thrown away and others are stretched in order to correct the distortion. It's the same end result as shooting with a soft lens. You can increase sharpness in post but at the expense of creating artifacting and aliasing throughout the picture.

The P4 lens is sharper in the center and in the corners and has substantially less chromatic aberration to correct. To pretend that the P3 lens is comparable to the P4 is doing the OP a real disservice.
 
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That's completely false, the P3 distortion is substantial. In 4K video mode it has to be corrected through a cumbersome barrel adjustment process that results in substantially longer render times. I have yet to see anyone come out with a plugin that properly corrects it. Without correction you will see horizons with a sharp punch curve in the center that tapers near the edge. There is some in-camera correction available for HD video but not for the 4K. It's not as bad as a true fisheye, but its not exactly great either.

If you shoot raw photos and toggle lens profile correction in Lightroom you will see that there is substantial warping taking place on the P3 photos. This always results in less resolution after the fact because some pixels are thrown away and others are stretched in order to correct the distortion. It's the same end result as shooting with a soft lens. You can increase sharpness in post but at the expense of creating artifacting and aliasing throughout the picture.

The P4 lens is sharper in the center and in the corners and has substantially less chromatic aberration to correct. To pretend that the P3 lens is comparable to the P4 is doing the OP a real disservice.
Yes the P3 as a "bubble effect" and this will make some slight gaps in panoramas,(I took over 50 pano using the p3), also it create some slight errors with photogrammetry calculation. I compared some raw from my old p3 shots and the p4 raw on the net, and the lens distorsion is obvious, sharpness in corner is less obvious but any experienced photographer will notice some blur units in the corners. As for colors, this can be corrected in post.
Edit : everyone i know who owned a P3, had the crack issue after or before 50 hours of flight
 
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Yes the P3 as a "bubble effect" and this will make some slight gaps in panoramas,(I took over 50 pano using the p3), also it create some slight errors with photogrammetry calculation. I compared some raw from my old p3 shots and the p4 raw on the net, and the lens distorsion is obvious, sharpness in corner is less obvious but any experienced photographer will notice some blur units in the corners. As for colors, this can be corrected in post.
Edit : everyone i know who owned a P3, had the crack issue after or before 50 hours of flight

I had cracking on one of my motor mounts as well. I disassembled the shell and reinforced each motor mount with some 30 min epoxy (filled in the shell cavities) and later added some aluminum sandwich plates to the exterior. The P4 improvement in shell strength certainly provides peace of mind in that regard and eliminates the potential for needing a cumbersome repair process down the road.
 
I recent went from a P2 to a P3P and don't regret it with the complaints on the P4 range and battery life. IMO I just think the P3 is a better option and better bird. I'd do it all over again.
Cracks can happen but aren't a big deal. Easily repaired in minutes.
 
Most of the crash happens when the Phantom flying sideway or backward while the pilot doing FPV. P4 can only prevent crash if you are flying forward. I would recommend getting P3S and use it for a year. Upgrade to P5 next year when you are familiar with Phantom.
 

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