Beginner Drone

Hi all,

I am really considering getting a drone in the very near future. I have a budget of about 500 but I can go a bit higher.

I was looking at the DJI phantom 3 standard.

Does anyone here own one, if so, Would you reccomend it. If not, what would you buy with my budget?

Cheers

CabanSail

I have the Phantom 3 Standard.

I bought mine used and have found it good to learn to fly.

Had originally ordered a Lily as I liked the waterproof specification, but they were cancelled. Then used my refund money to buy the P3S.

A bit like advice buying a DSLR I have bought this as an entry level. When I hit the envelope I can then upgrade. Will know more what I need then and there will be newer products available.

It flies well but there is a lot of learning required. I would download the manual and read everything before you get it as when it arrives you just want to get into the air. Download the DJI Go App to your phone and make sure your device is in the approved list. Then look into the rules for registering it in your location (I am assuming Ireland) and the rules which apply to flying. The places you can fly can be limited depending on your location.

I would avoid using the Beginners Mode or the Max Distance setting as these have caused some issues with people losing control and having their aircraft fly away.

The camera on the P3S is quite good for the size. It has a wide enough lens at 20mm (equiv) and a 12Mp 1/2.3" sensor (similar to mant compacts) The aperture is fixed at f2.8 but as the lens is wide the DoF is fine. It will shoot in both Jpeg and RAW (DNG) for stills. For Video you may want to get a set of ND Filters to slow down the shutter speed.

They are a great device if used carefully but they can crash and that can be expensive. The warranty will cover you if it's their fault but often it's pilot error.

CabanSail

I have put some of the images taken on Flickr in this Album.

Thanks for the info. Definitely looking like I will get it.

Love the photos by the way. Great shots

CabanSail

The RAW images were taken by the P3S but then there is Post Production. At least the Phantom does give RAW files to work on.

denismc

I am a little curious about the image quality from these cameras, I see a lot of grain in images posted on flickr and the like.
Realistically what size could you print these images for display at home?

CabanSail

The Phantom 3 Standard will save RAW files in DNG format at 4000 x 3000 pixels.

It is a 12MP sensor. People would print A3 from 6MP sensors a few years ago.

If you use 300dpi this will give you a print 13.3" x 10" of course you can probably get much larger prints by lowering the dpi. Then you can stitch images together and raise the resolution that way.

The grain may come in if shooting at higher ISO or if they are lifting frames from video. Many people shoot video with an ND filter attached.