DJI Phantom

4xdog

Explorer
I had a chance to play with a colleague's Phantom in December during a trip to San Diego. What a blast. He then took it to Hawaii on holiday and got some terrific video.

He's happy with it, but were he starting over he'd seriously consider the 3D Robotics IRIS, http://3drobotics.com/iris/. That one might be a little ahead of DJI these days, he thinks. They allow programming of waypoints for flight and a mode that tracks the base station at a programmed height/distance.

Gimballed video makes a big improvment, but these mounts are pricey and just one more thing to worry about losing or breaking. The more money one has in it, the more conservatively one flies it seems.
 

RMP&O

Expedition Leader
Waypoints are definitely cool. IRIS looks a bit more expensive though but thanks for the link, I will check into it.

When looking at the Phantom last night I saw many upgrades for it. I really like the glasses you can get so you see what the camera sees. I would imagine that vastly improves your ability to take good video. Along with gimbals and other stabilizers.

http://phantomguide.com/fatshark-predator-v2-fpv-system-for-dji-phantom/

I also saw you can buy all the parts for the Phantom, in case you wreck it. Seemed like most parts were fairly cheap. Battery life seems short but hey you can buy a bunch of spare batteries. Hardcases for transport available too. Along with lot's of other upgrades or add ons. I also saw some websites where you can build your own video copter from scratch. That is pretty cool too!

I didn't find many action videos on youtube made using one of these Phantoms. The few I did find looked very cool. Where I live I can get some sweet footage, kayaking, rock climbing, snowboarding, river surfing and even off-roading. Within 30 minutes of my house we have great spots where all this stuff is enjoyed.

I got a bit burnt out on taking and making videos in the last few years. Seems like something like a Phantom would spark my interest again a lot. Not to mention I love gadgets, upgrading things and so forth. I build my own computers just for fun!

Cheers
 

Jholden

New member
I just got interested in buying a phantom as well. I work in real estate and getting aerial photos and videos for that would be an added bonus that makes me think I could justify it.
The thing I was worried about was hearing about the "fly aways"
 

Honu

lost on the mainland
been wanting one noticed the new phantom has way better battery life etc.. that IRIS looks pretty cool to :)
 

BIGGUY

Adventurer
Matt Granger on Youtube has a few videos of this. He flies it around in some different areas such as in town, at the beach, and in a field and explains how to fly it, how it works, etc. He also has a couple of videos where he teaches someone to fly it for the first time to show how easy it is. You might check them out.
 

Bullsnake

Adventurer
Have a few of these - both the original Phantom and the new Phantom vision. Great platforms for the hobby shooter, and very user friendly. If you want to go to the next level give Karsten a call at Quadrocopter - I have one of the AD8 - HL's that I use to fly a 5D MkIII - fantastic rig!
 
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