P4 Tips to share
- Thread starter John Locke
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What is the digital assistant 2 and where can i find it?
I thought all was done within the dji go app now.
..edit.. found it and installed it on my mac.. works but have not managed to calibrate camera yet.. i get an erro message in chinese!.. any ideas?
I thought all was done within the dji go app now.
..edit.. found it and installed it on my mac.. works but have not managed to calibrate camera yet.. i get an erro message in chinese!.. any ideas?
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Isn't the zoom nothing more than digital zoom? In which case it's rather pointless, and you'd be better off just keeping the widest possible field of view (since it offers more flexibility in post-production), and then if you wanted a "zoom" you could just do a crop on the computer later.
Don't discount the digital zoom until you use it. When recording in 1080 the 2X zoom crops the 4K sensor, in essence giving you a non degraded image, as you would normally think about digital zoom. The video output is pretty darn good. Apparently this is only supported with the iPad version of the Go App, which could be why they don't talk about it in the manual.
Horizon tilt correction TRICK TO REMEMBER. When flying the P4, if for some reason you have a slight tilt in the horizon, this can quickly be corrected, FAST. Press and hold C2 button (right hand) and at the same time rotate the camera settings wheel on top right of controller. Left and right rolling off the wheel will tilt the camera left or right. This is a very handy remedy if you even need it. Usually my camera is pretty level all the time, but I have had a couple of times when it's slightly off.
Yes I totally get that. But you've just re-stated what I was saying, except in a different way. It is pointless doing a digital zoom, which is exactly what you are doing. You are far better off to keep the widest possible view (in 4K), then do whichever digital zoom you want to 1080p in post-production. If you do the zoom on-the-fly, you have cropped out the surrounding landscape which you can never get back.
I disagree. I don't care about 4K editing, I only publish 1080. Digital Zoom can influence how you shoot what you are capturing because you can see closer. Post editing can't do that.
Let me put it like this: shooting at 2x "zoom" is akin to shooting in JPEG as opposed to RAW. Or shooting in black and white as opposed to colour. Or shooting with the 5-megapixel setting as opposed to using a camera's full 24 megapixels (or whatever it is). You are throwing out all sorts of data and opportunities later on. I've been using all sorts of cameras for years and I know how this works. Please do some research on the matter.
I did research it, and I provided a demo. For some purposes it's useful. I disagree with you that's it's pointless. You need to consider this is doing something no other cameras in drones can do, and for special purposes, it's useful. If you don't like it, fine. It's not pointless though, only for you maybe.
I agree with AGreenway on this. If you do the zoom post editing you are able to accurately control the zoom range, speed and position. If you try and do this in-flight you will never be as accurate.
Far better to record as much area as you can and edit it later.
Far better to record as much area as you can and edit it later.
I think you guys are missing my point. While flying, having the ABILITY TO ZOOM LETS YOU SEE CLOSER, and this can influence where you spend your time capturing WHILE YOUR FLYING. If you can't see something interesting you might fly right by it, then later in post you'll be kicking yourself and say....., "gee I wish I would have noticed that cougar down there walking around, I would have stuck around and got more footage. That would have been so cool if I had only seen it while I was flying."
If you can ZOOM IN to see closer while flying, you won't miss as much.
The quality of zooming is the same as cropping 4K video, it's not degraded hardly at all, maybe just a little, unlike traditional digital zooms that will increase pixel size. If I'm always viewing my post edit in 1080, I can hardly notice any degrading with 2X zoom, since it's cropping native pixels from a 4K sensor.
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Two more Tips, based on me witnessing a stranger lose his Phantom this afternoon. He made two mistakes.
1. Never fly straight out a mile away, then make a turn and unknowingly go behind a hill because your flying FPV with no peripheral vision. If you cannot see your craft with VLOS (I fly that way all the time in the hills) make sure you have enough elevation so the craft doesn't go behind a mountain an lose LOS clearance, especially if you are above your predetermined RTH height. You can lose your craft doing that.
2. If you do screw up and go behind a hill, and you lose video signal, don't panic and immediately hit RTH. That reaction is a plan for disaster (as I witnessed today). If you have lost video feed, that doesn't necessarily mean you have lost control signal to the craft. Instead of enabling RTH, give the craft FULL throttle to ASCEND. Hold it full throttle for about 30 seconds, then wait, you may get video back. If nothing, try it again for another 30 seconds. Usually you'll get your video signal back and you can fly it back. Just make sure that if you go above 400'AGL that you get you craft down below 400AGL asap.
1. Never fly straight out a mile away, then make a turn and unknowingly go behind a hill because your flying FPV with no peripheral vision. If you cannot see your craft with VLOS (I fly that way all the time in the hills) make sure you have enough elevation so the craft doesn't go behind a mountain an lose LOS clearance, especially if you are above your predetermined RTH height. You can lose your craft doing that.
2. If you do screw up and go behind a hill, and you lose video signal, don't panic and immediately hit RTH. That reaction is a plan for disaster (as I witnessed today). If you have lost video feed, that doesn't necessarily mean you have lost control signal to the craft. Instead of enabling RTH, give the craft FULL throttle to ASCEND. Hold it full throttle for about 30 seconds, then wait, you may get video back. If nothing, try it again for another 30 seconds. Usually you'll get your video signal back and you can fly it back. Just make sure that if you go above 400'AGL that you get you craft down below 400AGL asap.
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DON'T USE A GIMBAL GUARD ON P4! This will make your P4 YOYO about 40-60' will sitting in a hover, with no stick input. It can be a bit scarry, you'll think "FLY AWAY".
I believe the reason gimbal guards work OK on P3 series is because the VPS technology is different. P4 VPS works up to 30' high, the P3 only works to 9' high.
However, without a gimbal guard, most P4s will will yoyo up and down once about 4-8' each time you stop to a hover. That's pretty normal behavior for a P4. This is NOT NORMAL for a P3P which has never had reports of this yoyo effect.
I believe the reason gimbal guards work OK on P3 series is because the VPS technology is different. P4 VPS works up to 30' high, the P3 only works to 9' high.
However, without a gimbal guard, most P4s will will yoyo up and down once about 4-8' each time you stop to a hover. That's pretty normal behavior for a P4. This is NOT NORMAL for a P3P which has never had reports of this yoyo effect.
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I also do not find a 2x zoom???I'm finding little things here and there to share. Please post any tips you may come across.
1. The new digital assistant 2 released a couple days ago seems to work OK now. The sensor calibration works, when before the start button was always dim and disabled.
2. When doing a sensor calibration, make sure your mouse IS NOT positioned over the dot patterns, as that will make the process very frustrating, believe me.
3. Zoom camera is very cool. Even though it's only 2X, it's quite nice and pretty clear. I really like it, except for the jerky graduation when zooming slowly. It's best to zoom in and out fast, so it instantly goes from 1X to 2X or back to 1X, nothing in between. Just make sure your subject is in the center before you zoom. FYI, I think this only works on the iPad version of Go App for now. Here's a sample of the quality when recording in 1080.
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Is there no way to reduce the transmission quality while keeping automatic channel selection? I'm worried that I might fly in an area with disturbances and when it can't switch to a better channel, lose connection.
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Keep in mind, the auto channel function is only controlling the video. The control signal of the craft is separate, unaffected by selecting custom channels or auto select. If you were to lose video you typically still have control of the craft. In the case of losing video signal, ascending 50 to 100' can often regain your video signal, triggering you to cease flying further from home. Optionally you can initiate RTH if this fails. Manually selecting channels 29 through 32 (using the channel hack) almost eliminates the possibility of interference due to very few using those frequencies, they aren't part of the typical computer wifi frequencies. Using 4mbps can double your range compared to 10mbps, and the degradation to the display quality on the tablet is hardly noticeable. It's a good trade-off.
There's nothing in the manual about this. When capturing in 1080, while flying, on the ipad touch screen, with two fingers, pinch to zoom out, spread to zoom in. This also works in 2.7K, but not in 4K mode.
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