First flight was awesome!!!

Quinten · Jan 20, 2016

So mind you this was my first ever drone flight period so I had no idea what I was doing but I think I'm in love now haha. It's a snowy day here in Chicago with temperatures being around 10F but the drone did pretty well. Flew it for about 10 minutes and still had about 48% battery life left. I left it on beginners mode so I didn't really fly far out but had a choppy video feed the whole time. Even when it was 10 feet In front of me. Rc signal never dropped a bar though but I did keep getting warnings about a lot of interference in the area. The downsides of living in a city I guess.

I'm already thinking about getting the dbs or flv attennas mod to maybe help with the situation although I'm probably not going to be doing that much city flying but can anybody report on how those mods help in urban areas????

Also isn't it possible to record video with sound?? I remember watching one before and could hear the propellers buzz. Is that possible on the standard???

Here's some quick pics I took as well. Can't wait for it to warm up here!!!

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KDFrosty · Jan 20, 2016

Cool pics!
There's no sound recorded by the stock camera on the P3S. The vid you saw with prop noise either featured a different cam, different drone, or had sound edited in.
Sorry, but I cant help with the antenna connection, as I'm brand new to the P3S too.

Quinten · Jan 20, 2016

Ok, I know for sure it was a phantom as I loaded it off this forum. He was talking through the video as well as hearing the propellers spin. Does the adv/pro have this feature???

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PFalcon · Jan 20, 2016

No, the adv/pro also do not have audio with their cameras. I'm not sure why anyone would want to here the propeller whine of a drone in video images anyway.

dannyboy75 · Jan 20, 2016

You probably saw someone using a Phantom with a GoPro or similar. But as already mentioned, the audio is fairly pointless anyway - all you hear is motors, rotors and wind.

I wish it would snow here in southern England so I can get some cool footage. Most of the U.K. has had snow but none here :-/

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Quinten · Jan 20, 2016

Yea, about to take it to work and fly around there some as we have about a 5 acre lot of nothing to work with so hopefully I can get a better video feed. Another question is there a way to figure out how this gimbal lock is suppose to slide into place. I didn't pay much attention when I took it off the first time and can't figure out how to put it back so the camera doesn't move around.

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dannyboy75 · Jan 20, 2016

The signal can be iffy. I was stood less than 2ft from my P3S the other day and it suddenly said 'Weak RC signal' in the Go app.

The gimbal lock slides on from the right as you look at the front of the camera. The arrow where it says 'unlock' should be pointing to the right. I'll try and attach a photo in a minute , not sure if it'll work with this PhantomPilots app though.

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dannyboy75 · Jan 20, 2016

Above shows you how the gimbal lock should be orientated before you slide it onto the camera.

Below is what it looks like once it's on.

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SouthernPhantom · Jan 20, 2016

Sound: everyone is correct. If there were a microphone on a Phantom, all you'd hear would be the propellers. Think how noisy it is just standing 20 feet away when you take off.

If you have another video camera or even a GoPro, put it on a tripod and talk while you're flying.

If you want a bit of propeller noise, use the auto-takeoff feature and record the prop sound while the Phantom is hovering at about 4 feet. Make sure you stand clear of it when you finally ascend, so you don't fly accidentally fly it into yourself.

Then later, using a video-editing program like Premiere, dub in the various tracks, and even add music into your video.

snerd · Jan 20, 2016

Congrats!! The very first flight is exhilarating to say the least! I remember sweating so bad I could barely keep my fingers on the sticks lol!! The more you fly the more relaxed you'll become. Then it's like riding a bike.............. well, only better!

Quinten · Jan 21, 2016

Yea my 2nd flight was even better as I had a good video connection the whole time. It's crazy how easy it is to loose sight of haha. I look up its there, fly about 200 ft more out then it's lost. Having a white shell isn't probably the best haha. I feel it's so easy to run into a tree or a light pole if your not extra careful of your surroundings. My first few flights will probably all be over 150ft high just to be safe. Now I'm just contemplating if I want to get my antenna mod now or wait till spring lol.

Here's some pics from my job

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Quinten · Jan 22, 2016

So as I'm really starting to like flying this drone. I was thinking about going to a abandoned oil refinery and I was wondering will it be ok to fly around all that old scrap metal laying around. Will that cause the compass to go crazy??

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KDFrosty · Jan 22, 2016

According to DJI, "keep away from ferromagnetic substance and other electronic equipment when calibration and flying". Highly doubtful that scrap metal lying around on the ground would cause in interference in flight, but I certainly wouldnt calibrate the compass on or immediately next to it. All depends on the type of metal too.

Quinten · Jan 22, 2016

Yea it's located next to a river and a lot of old metal bridges and old barges so it would make for some nice pictures but I don't want the drone going crazy and dropping into the Chicago river lol.

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KDFrosty · Jan 22, 2016

I'd actually give it a go. Just make sure you are comfortable with your surroundings, that your RTH altitude is set correctly for your surroundings, and that you know how to activate if anything happens. You dont have to get THAT close to the barges/bridges to get good pics.

Bobby Wig · Jan 22, 2016

I hope you enjoy it

can't wait to get mine!!

Tony Cowan · Jan 22, 2016

I can't imagine flying that I'm Chicago. I grew up there but wow so many obsticles. Only safe way is as you said fly above everything. In the city. The Sears tower. Oops. Willis tower is 1450. I would have a nightmare that high. Hehehe. But in the neighborhoods 150 should have you covered. I just took mine to 390 yesterday. It said I was at max which I thought was 400. Not sure about that. Thinking out loud here. Anyway to get over the 500m max in settings? As I will leave country in a few months to isolated areas with low air travel. I saw a video of guy at 4921 feet. Don't know how he did it. I think it was a phantom 2.

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Quinten · Jan 22, 2016

In the city it's actually kind of impossible unless your in a big park. Every house now a days pretty much has wifi so getting a clean signal is hard. I can't even imagine trying to fly it downtown as I probably won't ever see it again lmao.

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SouthernPhantom · Jan 22, 2016

Tony Cowan said:
I can't imagine flying that I'm Chicago. I grew up there but wow so many obsticles. Only safe way is as you said fly above everything. In the city. The Sears tower. Oops. Willis tower is 1450. I would have a nightmare that high. Hehehe. But in the neighborhoods 150 should have you covered. I just took mine to 390 yesterday. It said I was at max which I thought was 400. Not sure about that. Thinking out loud here. Anyway to get over the 500m max in settings? As I will leave country in a few months to isolated areas with low air travel. I saw a video of guy at 4921 feet. Don't know how he did it. I think it was a phantom 2.

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The recommended max. height is 400'. The GO App stops you at 390', providing a slight margin. I believe it can be overridden.

Quinten · Jan 22, 2016

So I'm wondering how good is the adv/pro when it comes to low height traveling. I'm starting to see how bad the range is with the standard. Was standing around a junkyard with nothing but open space and started to get the dropped video feed around 1000ft. At 200ft high. I want to take the bird lower since the camera doesn't zoom in but around 100ft I started loosing the rc signal. Basically it seems the controller needs a line of sight as much as I do lol. Does buying an antenna kit increase the distance of the video feed as well as the rc Feed???

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