New use for an old interest...

Got a newer quadcopter with better video the other day and took some video with it on Thursday.

I basically just wanted to fly in front of my garage to try to get some stable video and use actual targets (like cars sitting in the garage) to try to get video of as best I could manage. I want to practice trying to point the camera at something of interest and see how well I can keep the target centered in the video. Obviously need some trim work to do on the controller to stabilize the quadcopter as well as work on my own neophyte skill level. The quad goes real unstable coming straight down so I need to work on a better method of shedding altitude. This is referred to as "vortex ring state" and means that when the copter drops down into the wash of it's own propellers, the turbulent air causes instability, and even sometimes complete loss of control. If it's too close to the ground when this happens, it's very difficult (for me anyway) to keep the quad from bouncing off of the ground. So I try to keep if from coming down over the concrete.



As you can see, my property is heavily forested, so the clearing around the garage gives me little room for error with this thing. It will be extremely easy to get this thing stuck up in a very tall pine tree if I am not careful. Matter of fact, I'm real surprised that I haven't put the Hubsan I bought earlier up in a tree already as I ran it up pretty high a few times and consider it a minor miracle that I got it back safe and sound.

All in all the picture isn't all that bad considering the whole shebang cost just over $200. Video probably would have been a lot better had it been bright and sunny out, as the camera seems to be sensitive to light levels. I can see quite a bit of graininess in this video, but it's definitely heads and shoulders over the video I can get out of the Hubsan I got earlier.

Man, there is REALLY a learning curve involved in these flying gizmos. They can move really fast, so I can see where you need to get so proficient that reflex takes over instead of thinking about what you need to do. If you have to take time to think about what you need to do, it will already be too late if you aren't REAL careful. And I'm running this thing in EASY mode which limits the power to only 50 percent of the full throttle settings.

VERY COOL RICH !!
Looks like you are going to do good with this gadget seeing this was your first flight.
I can defiantly see that this new one has better clarity in the videoing than the first one you posted.

Now, here is a challenge for you, which I think would be really cool.
Take video down the trail you and Connie took me & Diane down on our visit there, through the bamboo groves.

Walter
BOUT' CORNS !!

Originally Posted by Walter Smith

VERY COOL RICH !!
Looks like you are going to do good with this gadget seeing this was your first flight.
I can defiantly see that this new one has better clarity in the videoing than the first one you posted.

Now, here is a challenge for you, which I think would be really cool.
Take video down the trail you and Connie took me & Diane down on our visit there, through the bamboo groves.

Walter
BOUT' CORNS !!

Yeah, that might be a challenge..... It's called "First Person Viewing" to fly these things remotely using the camera as guidance. I'm not there yet....

What is interesting about this latest one and that Hubsan is that they are no bigger in diameter than a slice of bread. So with enough experience to control it properly it could go just about anywhere. Within range of the transmitter of course.

Originally Posted by Rich Z

Yeah, that might be a challenge..... It's called "First Person Viewing" to fly these things remotely using the camera as guidance. I'm not there yet....

What is interesting about this latest one and that Hubsan is that they are no bigger in diameter than a slice of bread. So with enough experience to control it properly it could go just about anywhere. Within range of the transmitter of course.

Yeah, I checked out one of the other videos (after watching yours), the one with the guy unpacking his new Proto-X VPF and I was surprised at how small it was,
especially considering the height you can get with this little gadget. I think it's pretty cool that it has a onboard monitor on the transmitter/controller as well.
What is the actual range on it ??

Walter
BOUT' CORNS !!

Originally Posted by Walter Smith

Yeah, I checked out one of the other videos (after watching yours), the one with the guy unpacking his new Proto-X VPF and I was surprised at how small it was,
especially considering the height you can get with this little gadget. I think it's pretty cool that it has a onboard monitor on the transmitter/controller as well.
What is the actual range on it ??

Walter
BOUT' CORNS !!

I'm not sure about the range, but the ad copy states 240 ft. for the video stream. Actual control for the quad might be different. Flying it straight up it will likely go out of site pretty darn quickly. And flying through trees will likely greatly reduce that range. I've watched crashes of the bigger models that can have a range of between 1 and 2 km that were caused by obstacles coming between the quad and the controller.

Here's a pic of one of these Proto-X VPF quads from one of the sites selling them to show the size of it.

Oooh, the squirrels around here could be in for some BIG trouble.....

Does anyone own Phantom 3 here?

I stopped looking at offerings for a while, since it was pretty obvious that too many companies were trying to jump into this market too quickly, and selling quads that were way premature in the error detection and correction department. Too many instances of failures with units dropping out of the sky and flyaways to suit my tastes. No way I wanted to spend a good $2,000 on something just to watch it suddenly go into "return to China" mode and fly away till the battery going dead forced it down somewhere.

Nothing else non living that I have ever considered spending money on had the potential to have a failure of that nature.

So I am just biding my time waiting for products to mature and become more bullet proof.