Seems a little crazy but I have seen a lot of new birds with damaged cameras and gimbals. I have flown a ton of planes, some choppers but intermediate at best. This seems extremely simple for me to fly and i have good confidence but just asking for opinions ??. I won't be looking for video at first but not sure about the mechanics of taking the cam on and off and flying w/o it. What to the more experienced guys think....
Removing camera for safety of camera and gimbal at first
- Thread starter RIDETOEAT
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It's an idea that appeals to unexperienced people that have been scared by negative posts
Removing the camera/gimbal will cripple the Phantom by removing telemetry and FPV.
You'd remove a lot of what you use to fly safely and things that help you fly.
The Phantom is very easy to fly.
Just read the manual, take your time, learn in an open area away from trees and don't do anything stupid.
Removing the camera/gimbal will cripple the Phantom by removing telemetry and FPV.
You'd remove a lot of what you use to fly safely and things that help you fly.
The Phantom is very easy to fly.
Just read the manual, take your time, learn in an open area away from trees and don't do anything stupid.
I certainly appreciate the diversity of opinion, I am torn a bit by which way to go. Will likely, based on previous experience leave it intact and fly but still thinking as I am charging batteries and reading manuals.
Doug...
Doug...
I did it and the good folks at DDM have a nice pictorial guide to doing it. It's pretty easy but, you'll want to be careful with the cables. I didn't crash with the camera off and thankfully, with it on either. The real advantage of removing it is that doing so really reduces the stress level on your first flights. Do it, then go slow, keep it close and get your confidence. One final piece of advice; go ahead and put the V+ in NAZA mode. With both switches up it flies exactly like (useless, IMHO) Phantom mode. The benefits of NAZA are many so start there. Good luck. You'll be very happy.
RIDETOEAT said:
Do yourself a favor and go to ebay and do a search for the DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ camera. On any given day, you will see about 15-20 smashed, broken, and useless cameras being sold for parts only. And that is probably a small percentage of the overall number of cameras that have been damaged so far. And I will be willing to bet that most of those quad owners read the manual, took their time and tried to do everything by the book.
US Hobby and Area51 Drones have sold several hundred replacement cameras in the past 60 days alone. If you have flown a similar craft before, it's not that big a deal, if not, I say again, remove the camera.
How do these 2 clear plastic retainer pins come out without damaging them ??........EDIT: .....I found it, I hate to start cutting it up too......
RIDETOEAT said:
I support your decision wholeheartedly... but only you can decide... if you feel like you need to get comfortable with this puppy first and you will be doing mostly LOS flying ... then go for it... i've taken mine off before and it's not a big deal to do at all... worst part about it is watching the lights on the arms of the Phantom for all your naza statuses rather than having it on screen...
Need to make sure you see the rapid green flash for home lock... and then keep an eye out for all four going red to indicate low battery... other than that the baby flies like a dream with all that weight removed!!! :ugeek:
RIDETOEAT said:
They don't... you have to damage them... cut 'em off with snippers... they gave two extra in the parts bag... and they sell them cheap if you need more.
Sorry for the dumb question but you all were so fast, by the time I edited my post I had answers showing up. I am fairly experienced so I am going to leave it on and video every flight from the beginning and at least have a crash video for a trophy if it happens. Thanks for the responses.
Now my only issue is I took the main batteries to work to charge after lunch but did not think about the wifi extender so sitting on my duff waiting for it to charge now, torture !!!.
Now my only issue is I took the main batteries to work to charge after lunch but did not think about the wifi extender so sitting on my duff waiting for it to charge now, torture !!!.
Take a very small flat tip and gently bend 2 of the tabs back and you can wiggle the ring off without damaging it. To put them back on squeeze the tabs down and then install it. It's pretty soft plastic.RIDETOEAT said:
Thanks for helping me through the first day and flight jitters.
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Here is how it went. Just made my first 3 short flights, I was at a park in the wide open on the first 2 brief flights and struggled to get 6 sats. I did get the needed 6 briefly but mostly just sit on the ground waiting for several minutes, when I finally did get the 6th and decided to take off I lost one Sat. in flight both times and had to land w/o GPS hold. Landed safely but an inexperienced heli pilot would have had trouble getting down safe. I was puzzled by what was going on since my camera would respond to the vert. movement commands on my iphone but the video was dead ??. Changed my power up sequence to Controller, Quad, Extender, then Iphone and rebooted my phone too and tried again at a different location on the way home and I got 7 Sat's at the best but had a short but completely successful flight with a short video. I often see no video ... it didn't happen so I'll up load and link it back here in a while.
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Here is how it went. Just made my first 3 short flights, I was at a park in the wide open on the first 2 brief flights and struggled to get 6 sats. I did get the needed 6 briefly but mostly just sit on the ground waiting for several minutes, when I finally did get the 6th and decided to take off I lost one Sat. in flight both times and had to land w/o GPS hold. Landed safely but an inexperienced heli pilot would have had trouble getting down safe. I was puzzled by what was going on since my camera would respond to the vert. movement commands on my iphone but the video was dead ??. Changed my power up sequence to Controller, Quad, Extender, then Iphone and rebooted my phone too and tried again at a different location on the way home and I got 7 Sat's at the best but had a short but completely successful flight with a short video. I often see no video ... it didn't happen so I'll up load and link it back here in a while.
I actually am buying up bits and pieces of "broken" cameras on eBay very cheap. I've had to get into my camera few times as well as installed a web interface on both the repeater and camera. As long as the ribbon doesn't break I can replace parts if I need to. Ive only "crashed" once in 60 or-so flights. I forgot to do a compass calibration after flying 3 states away and paid the consequences. It fell about 15 ft up after getting into some branches. The bird landed in 6" of water near a beach. Interesting enough the water actually saved the camera from really getting damaged. After I completely dried everything out, re- positioning all of the servos and shafts, lubricating the bearings, I'm about 98% fixed. Long story short these cameras are very delicate but not as hard to work on as you may hear. If DJI made the ribbon cables accessible everything could be fixed fairly easily.RIDETOEAT said:
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