DJI Drones Vs Freestyle Drones

[Futuramille]

Flying my new DJI Mavic pro by myself today... so locked in.. great camera and worked a charm but... knowing Im not really in control feels so sketch to me.

I have full 17 satilites available here at home but even so there is a half second delay at least before it responds. Im flying in beginner mode.. RC (not wifi) .

pretty cool camera platform but Ive lots to learn and test and confidence building to do.

As a trained photographer, I think Im falling in love with this camera !

 

[Aziz_Sharif]

Flying my new DJI Mavic pro by myself today... so locked in.. great camera and worked a charm but... knowing Im not really in control feels so sketch to me.

I have full 17 satilites available here at home but even so there is a half second delay at least before it responds. Im flying in beginner mode.. RC (not wifi) .

pretty cool camera platform but Ive lots to learn and test and confidence building to do.
View attachment 3167
As a trained photographer, I think Im falling in love with this camera !

Futuramille thats great if you are Into this Photography & Videography Drone the Dji Mavic. My question here is that how do you rate this Drone with other FPV Quads which we all build & fly other then Photography & capturing Videos !!! Whats your opinion on it or you think that other FPV quads which we all fly are capable of capturing as good video as dji drones and are much economical in long range & repairs VS DJI Drones !!!

 

[the.ronin]

Aziz, is your question really how to make a drone that can fly as stable with all the fancy assists of a DJI but also be small, portable, much much cheaper and not have geofencing so you can fly without restriction anywhere? Is that really your question?

That is called a unicorn.

 

[Futuramille]

Futuramille thats great if you are Into this Photography & Videography Drone the Dji Mavic. My question here is that how do you rate this Drone with other FPV Quads which we all build & fly other then Photography & capturing Videos !!! Whats your opinion on it or you think that other FPV quads which we all fly are capable of capturing as good video as dji drones and are much economical in long range & repairs VS DJI Drones !!!

Aziz,
the Mavic is not really an " active flyer". there's a half second delay to every input just for starters. its a computer controlled by satellites. your controller sends data to satillites and they communicate back down with the drone.
Its also alot more annoying to people cause it's obvious just filming where a mini quad is obviously being flown with all attention on flying not filming.. so for neighbors it seems more invasive. two neighbors have already said this... friendly like but.. even Nate said it was "eye in the sky watching you" feeling.
On the other side though...
there is no way to get the Resolution and smoothness for a camera platform though without the stability and GPS positioning like with DJI phantom or Mavic etc. Its highly superior or I wouldn't have bought one.
The Mavic and other such etc are tools to get a different prospective in photography.
You can't crash DJI without great repairs expense (reminds me of flying a rc heli) if you hit anything but air.
Our other Flynoceros quads can roll around in the grass, bounce about inside and out of trees with zero damage and cost ALOT less so we can truly rip without fear of anything but getting stuck high up in a tree.
there's really no comparison.... plus Race quad forums like DRP are alot more open and friendly JMHO here.

A regular guy like me can repair a race quad.. especially if I built it. A DJI is sent away for repairs and parts are super expensive.
sorry for the disertation here but the are too many differences to list.
One last good one... Im positive that my race quads won't just fly away with me losing all control and simply watching and waving bye bye. . this mavic pro .. well, Ive been practicing my parade wave! ???

 

[rtkDarling]

this mavic pro .. well, Ive been practicing my parade wave!

I still don't trust Return-to-Home enough to have EVER used it. Not once. I know that's bad, but I just turned it completely off. If my mavic loses signal, it hovers in place and waits for me to come find it.

The new GoPro has really changed the game here. You're not going to get the range or battery life of the mavic, but you can get stable shots right out of the box now. I just built a cinnewhoop for a friend of mine, and this is the raw footage of the first flight.

Bobbing aside, the camera does a spectacular job of stabilizing. First flight, no throttle curve, and stock rates so... it was working pretty hard.

 

[Futuramille]

You can also setup modes and add gps to these race quad to add stability. the gopro is good but the camera control isnt there!
Switching video to photo and back to video with (during flight) DJI camera exposure controls, zoom and the butter smoothness of cinematic camera mode adds a professional edge that you must have to ensure no moments are missed.

I digress.. Its a great flying camera for the price. get a part 107 and a Mavic pro can make you money enough to pay for the 700$ FAA part 107 and pay for itself in the first couple jobs

Or just go rip a battery and relieve some stress with a race quad

 

[Futuramille]

I still don't trust Return-to-Home enough to have EVER used it. Not once. I know that's bad, but I just turned it completely off. If my mavic loses signal, it hovers in place and waits for me to come find it.

The new GoPro has really changed the game here. You're not going to get the range or battery life of the mavic, but you can get stable shots right out of the box now. I just built a cinnewhoop for a friend of mine, and this is the raw footage of the first flight.

Bobbing aside, the camera does a spectacular job of stabilizing. First flight, no throttle curve, and stock rates so... it was working pretty hard.

I tried "return to home" and when it was going to 300' first just to come 50' back up my slopped yard it got real small real fast and I just took over, brought it back down manually and landed it myself.. soooo sketchy. Its not at all a reducer of my stress level like a 3.5 min Quad rip is

 

[Aziz_Sharif]

Aziz, is your question really how to make a drone that can fly as stable with all the fancy assists of a DJI but also be small, portable, much much cheaper and not have geofencing so you can fly without restriction anywhere? Is that really your question?

That is called a unicorn.

The.Ronin Thanks for your input. Well yes I know that its not possible to get all the fancy features of DJI in our FPV Quad for example Follow the person or Point of Interest etc... well I just want to know that is there a possibility that we can get the same quality smooth footage with self made quads or Tiny Whoops which a famous these days & can save a huge cost of repair DJI from the company & is it possible to shift to these type of self build quads from DJI Drones ? AS I want to Shift from the DJI World I want to convert my Dji Mavics & Phantoms which I fly for my Arial Videos for personal use only and want to build my own quads and fly and in the long run the cost of repairing will be less in coming years VS DJI Drones !!! Please shed some light on this Thanks

 

[rtkDarling]

is it possible to shift to these type of self build quads from DJI Drones ?

It's been done... kinda

The issue is that the camera and the gimbal controls are lost when you do this conversion, because they're all part of the same board (which you're bypassing). I haven't seen anyone hack one and still have the camera functionality. (this was shot on a gopro)

 

[Aziz_Sharif]

It's been done... kinda

The issue is that the camera and the gimbal controls are lost when you do this conversion, because they're all part of the same board (which you're bypassing). I haven't seen anyone hack one and still have the camera functionality. (this was shot on a gopro)

RtkDarling I don’t want to convert my dji phantom to an FPV QUAD I want to leave the dji platform and want to shift my self to DIY Fpv quads so I can build them my self repair them & enjoy flights with good Video footage and yes I don’t want to have camera control features and other smart features like POI follow me or Return to home. Instead I want to fly long range more than Dji’s can go and yes Height as well as there is a 500Meter hight limit for dji drones & still i want to capture great footage for my personal use no commercial use !!! I hope you get my point of view and question. Your input is very valuable.

 

[rtkDarling]

There are lots of guys out there that do long range. You're supposed to have a HAM license to do this, plus it's technically illegal to fly out of sight.

 

[rtkDarling]

Look at the shake though! You'll need to stabilize in post, or get the GoPro7. Even the 7 is limited because Hypersmooth can mess up certain perspective changes

 

[the.ronin]

The.Ronin Thanks for your input. Well yes I know that its not possible to get all the fancy features of DJI in our FPV Quad for example Follow the person or Point of Interest etc... well I just want to know that is there a possibility that we can get the same quality smooth footage with self made quads or Tiny Whoops which a famous these days & can save a huge cost of repair DJI from the company & is it possible to shift to these type of self build quads from DJI Drones ? AS I want to Shift from the DJI World I want to convert my Dji Mavics & Phantoms which I fly for my Arial Videos for personal use only and want to build my own quads and fly and in the long run the cost of repairing will be less in coming years VS DJI Drones !!! Please shed some light on this Thanks

Short answer ... nope.

Looking at some footage from my DJI Mavic Air (hardly the top of the line DJI A/P system) and when it is on tripod mode, you cannot even tell if it is flying. It is *that* stable.

Can you get that kind of stability in a DIY build? Absolutely. The posts before mine show heavily modified Phantoms not dissimilar to the Frankenstein build that got me into FPV in the first place. But I would confidently defy *any one* of those builds to outperform the stock Phantom ... *at the same price* ... yes you can build something yourself but it will be bulky, heavy, and WAY more expensive than a stock DJI.

Why? Because DJI has been in game for a long time, cornered the AP market, and used those funds to design highly customized drones. The end result is a drone that is literally plug-and-play but also one that performs like a very well tuned machine - because it is.

Look man, I don't want to rain on your "let's build the bestest drone that can do everything" parade ... I think we all go through that and it is fun to explore and learn. I would just hate for you to spend all that money (which seems to be less of an issue for you) but also go through all that trouble and heartache to find that you just can't quite get it to DJI standards. Leave DJI standards to DJI.

Make the best drone you can with what's available and don't benchmark it against DJI. Most importantly ... have fun lol.

 

[the.ronin]

And for reference, this first video is a montage of footage I took with a highly modified Phantom 1 and then Salton Sea footage from an Armattan FPV equipped with the same Naza FC and Tarrot 2-axis gimbal from the Phantom 1. (Keep in mind this was like 2015 and drone technology was very new still so hardly anywhere close to the quality you see today.)

Frankenstein Phantom 1

Armattan FPV

I can tell you flying that Armattan was not fun. It moved like a barge but it had to in order to keep up with the flight time of the Phantom. Even the Frankenstein Phantom did not fly as solid as it did when I first opened it out of its box.

[edit] Also in 2015, FAA had not finalized drone laws so technically none of this was illegal. lawls.

 

[rtkDarling]

You almost have to think of it like a camera lens: no matter how good a single lens is, having a few that are specialized will give you better overall results.

I'll also add that you don't need most of this stuff. Sure, long range SOUNDS awesome, but I'm losing my craft at 600mw and having a hard time finding it. I've only had a handful of locations that the extra range would have really made so much difference.

It's not the kit, the frame, the motors etc. it's the pilot. By the time you're a good enough pilot to push this hardware, the hardware will have changed.

 

[the.ronin]

It's not the kit, the frame, the motors etc. it's the pilot. By the time you're a good enough pilot to push this hardware, the hardware will have changed.

OMG this.

 

[Keifie]

Sorry for the late reply, don't know why I didn't get a notification for this threat I'm following. Yes, that's the iFlight XL7 V3 frame. BrainFPV Radix, Emax Pro 35A ESCs and the motors are BH Avenger 2507 1500kv V2 model

How is she flying with this set up? I've got the same motors> BH Avenger 2507 1500kv V2, but haven't even started my Raggio build yet. I have planned the time to do it tomorrow. I have a RunCam Split mini that I had laying around. The STL file for that 3D printed pod (for Raggio) is available. The flexible nylon filament turned out really good. I have a RunCam Split in a 5' freestyle that does the HD job fine enough. Have you got the IFlight where you want it?

 

[johnjean]

Every choice always have it's pros and cons:
If we talk about DJI it has best tech, quality apps, suitable sized drones, drones with variety of built in facilities like DJI MG-1P, Agras T16, are the best Drones. Now in the case of FPV freestyle, pushes the boundary of normal drone flight, emphasizing reaction times, technology development, and aerial freedom.

 

[Scv Flyer]

The newest fad that seems to be developing is the 7" quad. It gives you the speed of a 5", the floatiness (haha I just made that word up) of a 6" freestyle rig and the ability of longer range like a DJI. Here's one I'm working on to give you an idea. Nice thing is there's lots of room for components.View attachment 3065

Renov8r, man you put together so seriously clean builds!! I am so impressed with everything I’ve seen you post! It looks like that’s and iFlight frame, yes? I had the 8” and I really liked how it flew. Hope you enjoy it! I’m currently building a Pyrodrone Source One 7” to replace the one I lost a month ago??? First time I had one go down and couldn’t find it. Was over a mile over some hills and video went from starting to fade to nothing in no time and unfortunately the video file in my DVR in my HDO’s was corrupted so I hiked around a bunch over 3 weeks and couldn’t find it.