Originally Posted by ArielK

Hi All,

I have been following the thread since the beginning and I am considering getting the DJI Phantom or the F450. The Phantom is a nice little package but lately I am more inclined towards F450 as it is slightly bigger and probably offers a bit more flexibility for the future.

I am new to the RC stuff and have only been flying the Blade MQX (which is quite fun but is very limited).

If any of veterans (or not) could provide any advice what would be a better choice. If I would be getting F450 it would be with the GPS and NAZA so it would be the same functionality as Phantom (just a bit more expensive with the DX6i).

I would like to move towards FPV and shoot some nice HD footage (just for my pleasure) and I am a bit torn between the two.

Any feedback will be appreciated...

Get the f450. It's a much better fpv platform....may even be a little small for fpv a lot of f450 owners into fpv buy the tbs discovery frame. You can also build it the way you want it, better motors, better props, better radio, etc

Hi everybody. I followed the whole article and bought my DJI Phantom last week and I must say itīs a nearly perfect tool for the money. In my first Test (Video1) the Phantom was directly out of the box and it was my first flight every with a copter. So I must say from an amateur point of view itīs one of the easiest copter on the market and very easy to fly. Later I managed to balance the pros so I get smoother flights and movies and it worked pretty well. The props were all unbalanced but with a little bit of tape they are now balanced and much smoother. In the next step I wanted to test the Graupner 8x5 props they should be the best, I will see on Thursday or Friday.

Originally Posted by Airphotoman

He anyone tried the old beer can lift test, i have seen plenty of videos on line of owners of competitors to the Phantom trying it. I'm curious to know the lift capacity of the Phantom and can it lift a Canon G12 camera, maybe on a CF platform suspended between the horizontal rails of the landing gear. The camera and battery goes at 401 grams

Hi Airphotoman, the DJI Phantom is not able to carry Cameras over 400g. I tested it with the Panasonic FZ200 (600g), the Sony RX100, the GoPro Hero2 and 3 and a bottle of water.
Everything over 300g was a not stable enough for smooth video. For fast flying the GoPro 3 Black Edition in 2,7K 30p wide or 1080p 60p medium you will get the best results. For filming slow movies the Sony RX100 is the camera to go. But that’s the limit. With the RX100 a 2000mA battery you have about 1050g.

Originally Posted by Airphotoman

Thanks for the insight. Have you tried any other props on your Phantom?

I will tests the Graupner E-Prop 8x5 on Thursday and Friday. After that I will upload the Video with the differences (maybe Friday evening), The Graupner props should be the best.

Originally Posted by ArielK

Hi All,

I have been following the thread since the beginning and I am considering getting the DJI Phantom or the F450. The Phantom is a nice little package but lately I am more inclined towards F450 as it is slightly bigger and probably offers a bit more flexibility for the future.

I am new to the RC stuff and have only been flying the Blade MQX (which is quite fun but is very limited).

If any of veterans (or not) could provide any advice what would be a better choice. If I would be getting F450 it would be with the GPS and NAZA so it would be the same functionality as Phantom (just a bit more expensive with the DX6i).

I would like to move towards FPV and shoot some nice HD footage (just for my pleasure) and I am a bit torn between the two.

Any feedback will be appreciated...

I was nearly in the same position. I wanted to buy the F450 or F550 to make small movies. The whole set costs me about 1200 EUR, the DJI Phantom 570 EUR. So I gave the DJI Phantom a try and I must say itīs worth every penny or cent in my case. The thing is: because the set is a whole RTF Package you can sell it every time without loose much money and if you want to go bigger in the future you can still use the Phantom as you second copter for small rooms or for travel. I will go in two month to Marocco for surfing holidays and the phantom fits perfectly in my bag, the F450 does not.

Here you can find my Results with the DJI Phantom and the GoPro:

DJI Phantom with GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition flight in Gelsenkirchen Germany (4 min 9 sec)

DJI Phantom GoPro 3 Black Edition in Recklinghausen (3 min 34 sec)

Originally Posted by camera_man

Modified Phantom, impressive storage case and gimbal setup:

http://youtu.be/auJFodn5WNo

Yes sorry should have said it's not mine, wish it was. I grabbed the link from the Phantom Owners Facebook page. And I think someone mentioned there that the guy is in Florida, his contact numbers are on his videos.

Originally Posted by ArielK

Hi All,

I have been following the thread since the beginning and I am considering getting the DJI Phantom or the F450. The Phantom is a nice little package but lately I am more inclined towards F450 as it is slightly bigger and probably offers a bit more flexibility for the future.

I am new to the RC stuff and have only been flying the Blade MQX (which is quite fun but is very limited).

If any of veterans (or not) could provide any advice what would be a better choice. If I would be getting F450 it would be with the GPS and NAZA so it would be the same functionality as Phantom (just a bit more expensive with the DX6i).

I would like to move towards FPV and shoot some nice HD footage (just for my pleasure) and I am a bit torn between the two.

Any feedback will be appreciated...

I was about to ask the same thing! I too have only flown an mqx, but I have decided that naza with gps is a must. I have a dx5e currently, but seems like i would need to upgrade to the dx6i or greater to take full advantage of Naza. My main goal is to produce some JELLO FREE footage, and maybe some fpv in the future. Any thoughts of buying a used f450 here on the classifieds or ebay? Or should I start out with the phantom?

Time Lapse EyeCopter (4 min 8 sec)

DJI Phantom ICE flight (6 min 34 sec)

I will tests the Graupner E-Prop 8x5 on Thursday and Friday. After that I will upload the Video with the differences (maybe Friday evening), The Graupner props should be the best.

Looking forward to the results!!

Thanks

I have some APC 8x3.8 SlowFly props here that I'll try on the Phantom in the next day or two. I do expect the Graupners to be preferred, but the APCs are a lot cheaper so I'm interested to see how they do.

@ArtSteinhauser WOW. those are great.
The things I see from first time pilots with the Phantom is simply amazing.

two things did you use the stock GoPro camera mount for the Phantom.?

I notice you still have some rolling in the high video. I would suggest using a GoPro base plate. stick it on a piece of 5x5 plastic. on the other side of the plastic stick 4 1x1x1 cubes of sorbothane rubber in the corners. then stick another plastic plate on top for the sandwich. finally attach the top to the bottom of the Phantom either with double side 3M tape or as I do with a strap of table around the entire thing between the rubbers on the top plate.
BTW. I use gel type crazy glue to attach the sorbothane cubes, to the board.
That should isolate / remove the last small vibrations in the system.

Naturally, revisiting the props with even more carefully balancing is always worthwhile.

Looking forward to more videos from you.

video just tweeted by GoPro. Kinda odd

DJI Phantom for your GoPro! (3 min 52 sec)

**edit: wasn't tweeted, just liked by gopro so it came up on my YouTube feed

muc951-
Great video. Were did you buy your landing gear? Building same quad and would like to purchase that gear. Looks light, and very sturdy!!

Thanks
Bob

Originally Posted by camera_man

Yes sorry should have said it's not mine, wish it was. I grabbed the link from the Phantom Owners Facebook page. And I think someone mentioned there that the guy is in Florida, his contact numbers are on his videos.

If these are not yours, do you modify kits for people of do video. I am really confused as to what it is you are showing.

Originally Posted by vislaw

Today I tested a Zippy 3S 4000mah battery with the Phantom. For the test I kept the FPV camera and transmitter on board. I used the Quanum Telemetry module to monitor the battery (using it without its antenna to save weight because I can get a good signal at close range without it).

Total flight weight was 966 grams (34 grams under the recommended maximum weight limit). I mounted the battery under the body because it is too long to fit inside the battery compartment.

I did not adjust gains or CG setting in the Naza assistant (something I will do before the next flight because the change in CG made the craft noticeably more twitchy as the GPS tried to correct position.

Flight was completely in GPS mode and there were modest gusts that made the system work a bit.

I flew until the first cell hit 3.5 volts (lower than I would normally go, but my intent was to test the flight time limit).

Final flight time was just over 18 minutes from liftoff to landing.

Looks like a bigger battery would be a lot nicer for fpv. What flight times were you getting on the stock battery while running your fpv gear off the same battery?

Originally Posted by HighGainTuning

If these are not yours, do you modify kits for people of do video. I am really confused as to what it is you are showing.

@HighGain - the guy doing it have his phone number in the Utube description. if you look at his other videos, seems he do business improving stock products.

Hi everybody,
I believe it's a good case for Phantom, Tx, few Lipo's and much more (BP-980 or BP-990)
http://www.carrycasesplus.com/blow-m...tandard-cases/

Andrey.