No more DJI Phantom 3 Advanced

My Failed Drone Experience

My DJI Phantom 3 Advanced

After a little over a year my drone experience has come to an end. I got the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced in January, 2016. Yesterday, March 17, 2017, after about a year of not using it, I sold it. It just wasn't for me.

I will say up front that I lost about $800 on the experiment but at the same time I'm glad I got something out of it when I sold it. I bought it shortly after DJI lowered their prices, which, as it turned out, was due to the imminent release of the DJI Phantom 4. The value of used Phantom 3's dropped considerably.

I really wanted to like it but I just didn't.

I didn't enjoy the flying aspect much at all. I didn't fly it much so I never got comfortable with it. I had a hard time seeing it very far away and during one flight I lost sight of it completely. I worried about crashing it and immediately being out the cost of the unit. I didn't get any kind of kick out of just flying it even when it wasn't very far away.

Gillespie Dam and Bridge, Arizona

I had bought it to use it for still photography and to try to take pictures that I couldn't get from standing on the ground. I really wanted to use it on some of the cliffs in Arizona to try to get unique perspectives. I was able to get some shots such as the one at right but I didn't like the image quality (IQ) at all.

Every shot I took had so much noise that I didn't even want to look at them. The camera uses a 12.4MP 1/2.3" sensor which is close to a 6x crop compared to a full frame sensor. I don't know if the photosite size was the issue or if it was software that was the problem but the IQ was just not acceptable to me for anything other than small sized images suitable for Facebook or the like. And that's not what floats my boat (or drone).

I shot it RAW (DNG) and tried processing with different software (Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, and NIK noise reduction). I shot in bright light conditions (I live in Arizona where we rarely get overcast days). I tried blending multiple exposures to average out the noise. Even if that had worked it was so much effort that I really wasn't interested in doing it. The still just weren't of any use to me and that's the only thing I wanted the drone for.

I thought the video looked okay, within my videographer limits. But I wasn't interested in shooting video. I did that years ago for a company and I don't want to do it again. I really like still photography because I can make prints that hang on a wall and which don't require a machine to be viewed. I got into photography for stills, not to make movies. I don't think I have even used the video on my Nikon D610 (I shot a short video with the D3200).

I watch Tony Northrup quite a bit on YouTube and saw a video of his comparing some DJI drones and the images. All of the images he showed had more noise in them than I would want and I was somewhat surprised that he didn't complain about the noise level since he does remark on it in some of his DSLR reviews or comparisons. The video just re-affirmed that I don't think that drones, of this level anyway, are useful for still photography.

I guess I don't have to worry about it now. I am conflicted about getting rid of things I purchase but this was a no brainer for me. I just wasn't going to use it for still photography. I didn't want to do video and I don't enjoy it from the pure flying aspect. It really just wasn't going to be used. After the initial month or so of practicing with it I flew it 2 times in a year and one of those was basically to demo it to the person I sold it to. That person is a video person - an independent movie producer - and he has an immediate use for it. Have fun!

DJI Phantom 3 Advanced - 11 Noob Piloting Tips



DJI Phantom 3 Advanced
and DJI Backpack

I've had the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced drone for a few weeks now and haven't done much except watch YouTube videos and practice flying with it. In large part it's because I've been battling a sinus infection for about 2 months and it's kept me from getting out much. I've flown in my back yard (tight quarters), in the green area of my housing community (better), and at a couple of places in the desert (the best).

You'll see people say it on YouTube - if you fly a drone you're going to crash it. I have twice now. The first time actually roughed up the expensive gimbal ($409) and slightly bent it. The bend doesn't affect it much, it's maybe 1 degree out of perpendicular. The second time chipped a prop and loosened one of the rubber gimbal mounts.

I did fly through my three batteries today and had a pretty good time practicing some things so I thought I'd share what I've experienced so far with the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced. Some of these things won't apply if your copter doesn't have all of the same features such as the warnings, return to home, GPS/GLONASS tracking, etc.

1. I purchased a gimbal guard but frankly I haven't used it much. I bought the DJI Phantom 3 backpack and you can't put the copter in the backpack when the gimbal guard is installed. Where I've been practicing the ground is pretty level so the guard isn't really necessary. I think it was an impulse buy after my crash that scratched up the camera and even if I'd had it on during that crash I'm not sure how much good it would have done.
2. Practice flying in large, open areas without fences (like brick walls common in Phoenix, AZ or weeping willows like in my back yard). That way you've got plenty of room to recover from losses of orientation which is what caused both of my crashes.
3. Make sure you let your battery levels go down so that you can get used to keeping calm and collected while alarms are going off on your $1,000 device. My first crash was also due to experiencing the alarms for the first time and worrying about what was potentially going to happen instead of maintaining control.
4. You're not supposed to ever fly over busy streets or people and I think that is especially true while you're learning how to fly. Those things can hurt. I was landing on a T.V. tray in my back yard, standing just a couple of feet from the drone. It was down but the motors hadn't stopped and a light gust of wind blew it off the top of the tray. Instinctively I grabbed for it, sticking my hand in the spinning rotors. Ouch and bloody.
5. This is from a YouTube video - if you loose orientation and there is nothing above the drone, give it altitude to help keep it from running in to anything while you figure out which direction it is headed. This is a good reason NOT to fly under trees or other obstacles until you've had some pilot time.
6. This is from a YouTube video - when you fly the drone some distance away it can be easy to loose the orientation. As long as you've stopped flying while you still have some room, you can maneuver the drone to re-establish the orientation. Give it forward pitch (make it go forward). If it goes to the left, give it left yaw (make it turn left) so that it's coming towards you. If it goes to the right, give it right yaw (make it turn right) so that it's coming towards you. In other words, assuming a "normal" joystick configuration, if the copter goes left push the left joystick left, the same direction as the movement of the drone. If it goes right push the joystick to the right. If the drone starts going the opposite direction you've over-corrected and you just need to reverse the joystick direction to match the drift of the drone. This will bring the drone home to you (make minor adjustments as required to keep it headed towards you).
1. If you give the drone forward pitch and it doesn't go left or right then it's headed towards or away from you. Give it some left or right yaw. If it turns the same direction that you steer it's going away from you. If it turns opposite of the direction of the yaw then it's coming towards you.

   

   Intersection where I used "Return to Home"
   Interstate 10 and Loop 303 from 112 feet above ground

    
7. Even with the above tips I had a couple of times today where I hit the "Return to Home" (RTH) functionality because I couldn't tell how much room I had to play with to figure out the orientation. The RTH will cause the drone to point towards you and rise up to a set height before giving itself forward thrust to return to you (or more specifically, to the set home point). In one case I was near an intersection on Interstate 10. I knew I wasn't over it and that there was nothing above the drone. In the other case I realized I'd gotten close to some power lines. In both cases the drone ascended and started heading back. After it got to where I could tell what its orientation was I took over the controls again.
8. Regarding the power lines, it didn't dawn on me until I got close to them (I was still probably a decent distance away but they made me nervous) that there are two problems with high voltage power lines (yeah, the big ones): a) you could run in to them; b) the magnetic field could interfere with the control signal transmissions. I did actually have something minor go wrong with the signals and I had to land and reboot everything. The controller has a switch that makes the camera point down or straight out and it stopped working. The reboot restored the functionality. The controller also has a wheel to control the camera angle and it still worked - it was just the button that stopped working.
9. While learning to fly I shot some video and still images but I don't really care much about them yet. I'm just concentrating on keeping control of the craft for now and the video and images are just a minor distraction.
10. It is hard to see my tablet in the Arizona sky. I could at times use it to determine the orientation of the drone (I was trying to use it) but unless I really got the tablet in some shade it was hard to see it, including when trying to change controls (like go to "waypoint" mode).
11. The videos I shot had a lot of propeller in them. I think this is due to two things: a) there was a bit of wind and I think the craft is running at more of an angle to try to keep it's orientation correct; b) I think it would be good to always drop the camera angle a bit below horizontal to avoid the propellers.

Looking south down Cotton Lane
from 228 feet above ground

I'm partially enjoying this learning process but at the same time it seems like a distraction from photography and that there's a lot of skill required, which in turn requires investing time, and that time is being stolen from practicing photography. For now I'll keep up with it a bit longer but unless I get some pictures from this soon that provide some wow factor I am half of the mindset that I'd have been better served getting that Nikkor 200-500 f/5.6E lens. Maybe once I'm cured from this sinus issue and start actually taking some photographs again I'll find that this thing is cool. Otherwise I may have to take up my co-worker on his offer to purchase it.

Looking West along Interstate 10
and Phoenix Trotting Park from 228 feet above ground

DJI Phantom 3 Advanced - Initial Impressions - Part 4

I had been dealing with a sinus infection that won't go away but I had a work holiday on January 18, 2016 to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. I didn't feel great but forced myself to take the drone out to try to take some photographs and try out some of its more advanced functionality. I had charged the batteries up after flying in the back yard the day before, and I charged my phone up as well.

I travelled to the Gillespie Dam Bridge area where I knew there was some rarely visited space that was fairly free of obstacles. The Gillespie Dam Bridge is a bit west of Phoenix. Heading west on Interstate 10 out of Phoenix, you take the State Route 85, exit of of it on the Patterson Road exit just south of the state prison. Continue to you reach Old U.S. Highway 80 and turn right heading north. You'll come to the bridge and you can't miss the rusty old steel bridge - there aren't many like it in Arizona!

The spot I went to is on the west end of the bridge. There's rarely anyone there and its pretty open. I thought I might be able to fly along the side of the bridge and also fly around the open area.

Per somebodies suggestion I had taken a piece of particle board to use as a take off and landing pad. If nothing else it would give me a place without rocks to land.

I parked and got everything set up. I had the DJI Phantom 3 in its box and the second box for my other battery. You have to have the propellers off when the unit is in the box. I assembled the drone, hooked my phone to the controller, placed the Phantom on my landing pad, turned on the DJI Go application on the iPhone, turned on the controller, and turned on the Phantom. I was excited and ready for my first real flight!

Here's video of my first excursion. This is a reduced size video - not the full HD size.

 

 

As you can see, I didn't have the White Balance set properly. I had it set to Incandescent from the little clips I did in my house and didn't change it when I got outdoors. I had set the DJI Go app to only allow the drone to go out 200 meters which is where I got to alongside the bridge when I stop and turn it around.

I'll admit that I was a bit nervous seeing the Phantom out that far. That's a big part of the $1,000 toy way off in the distance and the YouTube videos of "fly aways" had gotten to me! My old eyeballs could still make out where the drone was but not its orientation. When you push the "pitch" stick (right control) forward to make the drone move forward, it moves forward in the direction of the front of the drone. You can change which direction the front of the drone is facing with the "yaw" stick (left control). The problem is that after a few yaw adjustments it is difficult to tell from a distance which is the front of the aircraft.

And that is a great reason for the "Return to Home" button. The drone figures out on its own which direction to turn and then drives itself right back to you! I tried that out a number of times and frankly it would be hard to get along without it I think. Once you see the drone heading back to you it allows you to take control again if you want and then you can continue to pilot it to where you want it to go next.

I spent time just getting used to the flight controls. I also tried out the "follow me" functionality by having the drone chase me while I walked around. I started trying out the "waypoint" feature but ran out of battery life before I got that done.

Gillespie Dam Bridge from abut 36 feet elevation
Taken with the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced

On a photographic note, I did take a couple of photographs of the bridge and the dam. I saved them in the DNG RAW format. The histogram looked pretty good. The sky was partly cloudy or partly sunny - not a cloudless sky but also not completely overcast. I thought the daylight was pretty good. I had the ISO set at 100.

Gillespie Dam
Taken with the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced

When I got home to process the images I was underwhelmed. There was quite a bit of noise in the hills on the right side of the image. I processed them in Adobe Lightroom and it did pretty good but the original just wasn't the same as my Nikon D610. The drone MIGHT be about the same as the Nikon D3200 - which I also don't like any more and rarely shoot with it because of the noise.

I am holding my final judgement on the picture quality of the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced because I've seen decent photographs online taken with it. I want to shoot some more with it and hopefully I'll figure out how to get better images with respect to digital noise. But if they don't clear up I'll be wishing I'd got that Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 lens instead! I'm already questioning my decision. I didn't want to get involved with video and I don't think I'll become a big quad copter fan, at least not of this big bulky type of  'copter. The FPV Racing Quads might be a different story!

DJI Phantom 3 Advanced - Initial Impressions - Part 3

After ordering the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced, and while waiting for it to arrive, I downloaded and read the manual, watched the DJI tutorial videos, and watched a lot of YouTube videos about or taken by drones, especially the DJI Phantom 3.

I felt I had some insight as to how to approach learning how to fly and control the drone. A co-worker of mine, Nick, who has flown RC drones for years gave me some advice. When it arrived and I got the batteries charged and the firmware updated, I was ready.

I went out to my back yard, set up a crate as my heliport, followed the instructions to turn the equipment on, and hit the "Auto Takeoff" button. The drone armed its motors and then launched, hovering about 4 feet above the top of the TV tray! I was airborne!



Birdseye View

Per Nick's advice, I started slowly moving the roll and pitch controls to just go back and forth in one direction, then flying small squares, in both directions. Getting a feel for the response of the aircraft to the controls. Because the DJI Phantom 3 is such an advanced aircraft, I didn't need to control the elevation manually during these exercises. It will hold it's elevation for you. When you move horizontally, however, you do lose some lift so I did bump up the elevation a bit now and then just to keep it about eye level.

Eventually I had it in an open area with no trees above it and I decided to try making it go higher. I went straight up to about 60 feet. It was still easy to see the drone but at the same time a bit nerve-wracking having something that expensive up in the air that high! I made the camera point down and snapped a picture of my dog Elmer and I in our backyard with the dormant grass.

I was able to land before using up all of the battery, and repeated the trials with the second battery. The batteries were used up before you know it, and way before you want them to be used. It would be great to have half a dozen batteries or so, with the capacity to charge multiple batteries at the same time.

I found that using the DJI GO controller application on my iPhone 5 was satisfactory. I could make out what the camera was seeing. I could access most controls okay. Some of the controls use icons that are rendered very small on the iPhone 5 but I have somewhat grown accustomed to that from other iPhone apps and was able to get around it.

I tried my wife's iPhone 6 Plus which has the larger screen and it wasn't significantly better, not to the point where it made me want to upgrade my phone. I was actually thankful about that - it meant I didn't have to spend more money!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is my first encounter with the RC world. I don't know what it would have been like without the auto-hover or video streaming capabilities of the DJI Phantom 3. I do know that those features and others are what people praised in the many reviews I read and what led to their recommendations for this platform and to my purchasing it. I have to say I did not have any trouble flying the drone!

What about some video?

After the batteries had charged again I was able to go through both of them once more in my backyard. This time I captured a video of the adventure. It's not terribly amazing but I edited it a bit by putting some titles on it and one of my songs (the Phantom 3 does NOT capture sound). Enjoy!

DJI Phantom 3 Advanced - Initial Impressions - Part 2

This unit basically requires some sort of intelligent device that you put on the controller such as an iPhone, iPad, or some of the Android devices. They don't mention any way to use it on a Windows device. The device you use can mount on the controller itself and provides access to most of the drone functionality that is not directly related to controlling flight. For example, you can set up the camera, set the maximum distance you want the drone to fly (useful when learning how to fly), and you can see the image from the drone camera itself.

I really hoped I could use my Kindle Fire but there is no native application for it. Apparently you can "sideload" the application which means opening up the Kindle to a non-Amazon application but I didn't read of anyone having great success so at this point I haven't tried it. Instead I decided to just use my iPhone 5 and then I'd determine if I wanted more.

Before the drone arrived I installed the DJI Go Application through the Apple store. Installation was no big deal, similar to most Apple installations.

DJI Phantom 3 Intelligent Flight Battery

When the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced arrived from DJI the first thing that I had to do was charge the batteries. I'd purchased an extra battery so that meant charging the 2 batteries for the drone plus the battery in the remote controller. I can't say exactly how long it took but I'm guessing it was around 3 hours or more before the batteries were charged. It could have been 4 hours. The controller took the longest, perhaps as long as the two batteries combined.

While the batteries were charging I spent my time reading the brief documentation, registering with the FAA, and watching plenty of videos on YouTube. DJI has some introductory tutorial videos just for the Phantom 3 Advanced and Professional model.

The batteries that power the drone are called "Intelligent Flight Batteries". They have some circuitry in them to support and display the status of the battery's cells. For $150 each they better have something in there!

Note that I am talking about things that are new to me. I have some appreciation as to the technology in this drone compared to earlier versions or drones from other companies. The fact that this drone offers 720K video streaming from the drone to the controller, for example, was a $1,400 or so add on to the version 2! Now they're throwing it in for free! That's just one example of what I'm able to take for granted. Another is the way this drone detects and manages its position through GPS and Glonass, resulting in a hover that pretty much stays where you put it when you take your hands off of the controls. Thanks to everyone who came before, developing this technology!

Once I got the batteries charged and turned things on and linked up I was told I had to upgrade the firmware. This is a process that a number of people complain about. I upgraded the aircraft by downloading the update software and installing it on the SD card. I couldn't get the controller to upgrade that way but when your iPhone is attached you can upgrade online if you have internet access through your iPhone.

Still image from DJI Phantom 3 Advanced
Saved as DNG and processed in Lightroom

Finally, I was ready to fly but it was about 2:00 AM and dark outside. Instead I took some photographs and video with the device and familiarized myself with the controls. I couldn't hold back, and installed the propellers and actually lifted off inside the house. It was only a few seconds before my wife came out and, with a pleasant voice, reminded me of the current time and that she had to get up early to take a vehicle in for service. I shut the unit down to wait until the following day...

I transferred the few images to my PC and did a little playing around in Adobe Lightroom with the DNG images. Then I decided to go to bed so I could get up at some point when the sun came up and take the drone outdoors.

Why the "Advanced" model?

DJI makes three variations of the Phantom 3, the "Standard", the "Advanced", and the "Professional". The Standard lacks a number of features that I thought I should get and most of the reviews I read echoed my thoughts. You can review the differences on DJI's website. The Standard has an inferior video downlink, does NOT use the GLONASS satellite system, does NOT have the Vision Positioning System which helps with flight control when satellites are not available (e.g. when you're indoors), does NOT support filters for the camera lens, and has a less capable controller, to name a few items. I was especially interested in the ability to have lens filters. I decided the Standard was not enough for me.

The Advanced and Professional models are identical except for 3 items:

1. The Professional has a camera that will capture 4K video; the Advanced will only capture HD video.
2. The Professional comes with a higher powered 100W charger; the Advanced comes with only a 57W charger meaning that the battery charging time is longer.
3. The Professional has Gold stickers; the Advanced has Silver stickers. Note that the Standard model has Red stickers.

Since I'm not after the camera for video purposes and the still image specifications are the same between the Advanced and the Professional, and the Professional was selling for about $350 more, I decided to go with the Advanced model and use the savings for additional batteries (I will buy at least one or two more I'm betting...) and other accessories. This is the same conclusion I found a lot - unless you're trying to get the best video available, and as long as you have a computer where you can process and/or view that video, the HD format video is still really good.

DJI Phantom 3 Advanced - Initial Impressions - Part 1

I believe I've posted that I've been interested in the new(ish) Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E lens. At the beginning of the new year I almost got it but then another idea started competing - to get a drone that would take decent still photographs. I've had this idea for a while, at least since reading about it in Outdoor Photography magazine.

I did a bit of research and the name that kept coming up in the price range I was interested in was the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced. It has a camera on a 3-axis gimbal that shoots amazing HD video and I found a number of decent stills taken with the unit too.



DJI HD Camera on Phantom 3 Advanced

The camera is made by (or at least branded) DJI using a Sony EXMOR 1/2.3" sensor that will shoot 4000 x 3000 pixel images in JPEG and, more importantly to me, DNG! If you don't know, DNG is an Adobe open, lossless RAW image format, supported of course by Adobe Photoshop (PS) and Lightroom (LR). So you get a 12 MP image in a RAW format that can be shot from a very stable platform at up to a (legal) height of 400 feet!

I thought this would open up some new perspectives for images! I also hope to be able to stitch together shots in PS or LR to get larger shots if desired.

I've also mentioned in the past how I have a hard time imparting the sense of height from the top of a ridge or cliff and I have wondered if having some additional height for the camera might make a difference. Alternatively, shooting from off of the cliff might do it too. A drone would allow those types of shots, and many more! Like shooting a saguaro from more than 6 feet off the ground! The rocks at Chiricahua National Monument!

On the other hand, the Nikkor lens has received nothing but wonderful reviews, even from Ken Rockwell, and that's not very often that he likes something! It's reported as having better image quality (IQ) than the competitive 150-600mm lenses from Tamron and Sigma, as well as better build quality than either of those lenses. However, the Nikkor has 50mm less reach on the short end and 100mm less on the long end. The smaller magnification factor allows for tighter tolerances and better performance from the Nikkor - it's just a matter of which is more important, focal range or IQ.

Not long after I got into photography I determined that IQ was my main motivation and trying to achieve sharpness and clarity and color saturation were what I was interested in and still am. Consequently, along with my attraction to genuine Nikon gear, I really wanted this lens.

Around the beginning of 2016, both of these items were hard to find at times, an indication of how popular they are. At the same time, DJI celebrated their 10th anniversary and offered a 20% savings on the Phantom 3. I decided to take the plunge and go for this instead of the lens. They are both in the same ball park as far as cost (the lens was about $1,400; the Phantom 3 Advanced was $799 but with an extra battery at $150 and a case at another $150 you're up at $1,100).

I ordered mine directly from DJI (Adorama and B&H Photo also carry them, with no tax to Arizona residents and free shipping, but they were out of stock). DJI had the same deal (no tax, free shipping). It took about 3 days to arrive and all of a sudden I was a drone owner!

I'll continue my thoughts on my drone and my decision in my next blog or two...

DJI Phantom 3 Advanced w/ Apple iPhone 5