Phantom Vision 2 plus camera compared to GP3+ ?

[haidozo]

Hi There,

I am pretty new to video but have been using go pro's for a couple year and since i got into aerial filming have started using pro tune at 2.7 at 30fps, occasionally 1080p at 60fps editing in Premiere and Aftereffects. I had quite a few crashes and hassles setting up the FPV on a Phantom 2 so bought a Phantom 2 vision plus. Compared to the stills i was taking with Go Pro 3 and 3+ on the P2 i have been REALLY happy with the the P2 vision+. The FPV, telemetary and waypoints are amazing. Compared to the Go Pro unfortunately i am not very impressed. I am using normal sharpening. Soft seems too soft for me and i can't sharpening the footage in post satisfactorily using P remiere and Aftereffects CC. I find the P2 Vis + footage has a lot of noise in the shadows and blows out really easily in the highlights. I also get a lot of moire on architecture patterns. The stability of the gimbal is amazing and being able to switch between stills and video is a dream come true....it's just the video quality that kills it for me.

Can anyone please explain what the main differences are between the video cameras and why the DJI camera has so much noise andartefacts compared to the Go Pro3 + ? I am a photographer so understand color bits dpi etc but wonder how it works with video :roll: The DJI footage looks like a compressed sharpened JPG compared to a RAW file before it has been processed - in photographic terms.

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[TheloniousMac]

I'm curious about this as every video comparison I've seen shows little difference or generally the Vision+ beating the GoPro's... whatever version you throw at it.
Similar story with the GoPro vs the Sony Action Cam or any competitor. GoPro has some big fans.
I'd love to see a video with GoPro handily beating the Vision+ so if you've got some definitive video it would be a great excuse to get a GoPro.
More so now that they can do simultaneous video and photo capture.
Right now from everything I've seen the benefits of the integrated system blow away anything from GoPro.
I'm hoping the next Phantom 3 Vision knocks it up a few pegs and considering the comparisons between the GoPro 3 & 4 are virtually identical except for 4k frame rates and a few other high frame rates most people won't use, I can't see how anyone can recommend the non Vision+.
I'd love to be convinced though.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl384Xl0MuE[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GWFfBEbkZg[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLG0OtBRbbw[/youtube]

 

[haidozo]

Thanks very much for the reply and apologies for the delay in responding. I am editing a short movie that i shot with the vision plus and a Go Pro 3+ and will post this shortly. I guess i find that the vision plus for video really does have some noise and lacks detail compared the the GP3+. Also at speed i find the vision plus footage really messy especially when there is lots of info in the footage ie shooting straight down over richly coloured autumn foliage.

I found an interesting article by Philip Bloom http://philipbloom.net/2014/04/19/phantompost1/ and this sentence kind of sums it up for me:

The bit rate of the the recorded MP4 is also a huge problem. It’s around 12 MB/s in the 1080p mode. That’s half of AVCHD, way short of the GoPro Hero 3+ in 2.7K mode which is around 43 MB/s.

I guess that is why the footage kind of "falls apart" for me compared to the GP3+. I love my vision plus and i will use it mainly for stills but for video it's GP 3+ all the way.

 

[TheloniousMac]

I have to disagree on this. This guy shot in soft mode (which is basically like smearing petroleum jelly on the lens) then tried to sharpen in post. Of course his video is going to look worse than a protune 2.7k video.
The gopro was recording in an uncompressed format as well as higher resolution and also includes audio so I'm not at all surprised by a higher but rate. It is incomparable.
I've seen gopro footage jelly blur when panning just like most cameras at speed.
Im hoping DJI release a new model with better gopro integration so it's not a 3rd party hack to get FPV and telemetry but their vision+ is kicking *** at the moment.
1080p is still considered high resolution for online (and offline) videos so 4k isn't much more than bragging rights right now.
In any case I've ordered a gopro 4 silver (sorry couldn't justify the black) and plan to do a 4 way comparison with the vision+, sony action can and an iPhone.
I'd love to see your comparison video when it's up.

 

[haidozo]

Fair enough - sounds reasonable to me. Ok i have my video ready. https://vimeo.com/109212107 The first 34 secs or the sunny footage was shot with a P2 using a H2-3D gimbal and a Go Pro 3+ at 2.7k 30 fps with Pro Tune on. The rest of the footage was shot with the vision 2+ 1080p 30fps sharpening > normal. To be fair the lighting conditions were pretty different. It is tough to see the difference online but in the last 3rd of the vision 2+ footage from 1:00 the detail just seems to fall apart especially when the frame is ful or a fast shot. Wide slow shost are sweet but i really don't like artefacts in the footage as well at the moire in the repeating patterns from 2:10 etc. I know there may be ways to get rid of a lot of these issues in post. From a work flow perspective it takes me more time to edit the Go Pro footage but i would prefer to colour correct and sharpen footage that way rather than deal with the vision 2+ footage in comparison. When i use ND filters with the Go Pro (smashed my last one) the end results and much more satisfying for me using a Go Pro. Can't wait for my black 4 to arrive. I am upgrading my gimbal for the P2 to a H3-3D. Love having both set ups and really keen to we what happens with the Phantom 3 - circular way point templates where the camera stays centered on a subject is high on my with list! I have been asked recently for lots of 360 pans like this and flying these manually is tricky! Looking forward to see your vids soon!

 

[TheloniousMac]

Great video. I see what you mean and in this footage the GoPro looks softer and better.
The Vision+ has tried to get too much detail and is struggling with the leaves... maybe thats the software compression as well. Looks to be a ton of artefact.
I know it definitely makes a difference to down scale the footage as well. 4k videos dropped to 1080 or 720 would look better than the 1080 or 720 on the Vision+
I've only just downloaded the GoPro software but might only use it with ProTune. It will be good to see how easy it is to edit that footage compared to the Vision+

 

[TheloniousMac]

Finally got around to comparing the GoPro 4 Silver with the Vision+ camera.
Considering the price of the Vision+ to the GoPro FPV setup I think the Vision+ does very well.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grif81uiHpw[/youtube]

and compared to the much cheaper and older Sony Action Cam AS30V
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uVE05fYySY[/youtube]
the Sony hold up enough as well.

I just wish the GoPro wasn't so colourblind with parkinson's

 

[ianwood]

There's really no comparison between the Vision+ and the H3/H4 cameras. (I know nothing of the Sony.) Not only is it a higher bit rate but it's also more latitude and with a lot more flexibility even in non-Protune. So even if the Vision+ saturates the image more in camera, the GoPro gives you a lot more color information to achieve the optimal exposure and color.