- Joined
- Jan 8, 2016
- Messages
- 72
- Reaction score
- 60
- Age
- 63
What I find is that millions of people will love a product and never say a word but if just one of those people have an issue, it's all over the forums. I've been flying my Q500 4K since last summer and never had an issue so I can't speak for Yuneec's customer service or the quad's crash resistance but I can say I'm more than pleased with what I bought.
Thoughts:
1) Unless you need to follow a speeding car you really don't need a fast drone. If you do decide to fly around fast as **** and change direction in the middle of the video, be sure to give each of your viewers a gun so they can make the pain stop one way or the other. The Beastie Boys said it best...Slow and low that is the tempo. (Google it)
2) Don't assume if you crash that there is something wrong with the quad. You may very well have something wrong with your transmitter. It's rare but possible. Don't forget your transmitter battery and the fact that the transmitter has a screen to power.
3) Take the small SD card that came with the Qaud and put it in your transmitter. Go buy a fast 64GB card for your quad, the faster the better. Look at the write speeds, not the read speeds.
4) Power - if you have a bad battery, things go wrong very quickly. I go through a lot of batteries on my little toy drones. What happens when the battery fails on my little quads? Lights flash and then power's gone. The batteries balloon when they go bad so if yours starts fitting tight watch out. If anyone reading this is not familiar with how to maintain their batteries it's time to hit Google. First thing you want to do is trash the battery charger that came with your quad and go buy a real charger. The guy at the hobby shop will explain. Pick up a couple of extra batteries while your there.
4) Still Photos - Set your camera to Pro mode. Select DNG for your stills and learn how to process RAW images. I use Photoshop but Lightroom works just as well. It's easy to go in and adjust everything. There are complete books on this subject so I won't even go there.
5) Buy a small toy quad and fly it around the house everyday. Chase the dogs and piss off the cat. Set up a course and try not to run into the light shade. You'll get good, fast.
6) Quads don't like water (and either do I). One time I was flying a Blade Quad for work, shooting stand up paddlers. I was flying along and all of a sudden the battery starts running out. The quad starts slowly heading for the water. I start yelling and the paddler rushes over and saves the quad with his paddle! When it was over I was shaking so badly I couldn't even talk! Now every time I fly over water I freak out.True story...
7) Go watch other's video footage. Notice how the super high altitude footage puts you to sleep? How about when someone goes up real high and starts spinning in place. How's that make you feel? You need motion in the ocean. Slow and low. Up or down...left or right....forward or backward...Like my old Navy chief used to say, "KISS" Keep It Simple Stupid. It's okay to shoot from up high, just don't make the whole video that way. Mix it up. Different heights, angles, etc...
8) Many toy companies have issues with quality control. When you think about it they are actually putting a lot of technology into a very cheap package. They are going to produce some lemons, there's no way of getting around that. How many lemons is the question. Most of us will get a perfect product, some won't. All it takes is one cold solder joint to ruin someone's day. Just one little plug wire is all it takes to bury your pride and joy.
9) I know many of you think $1300 is a lot of money for a quad but you have to put it into perspective. I spent more on just one lens my DSLR camera than I did on my Q500. When I bought my last Canon 5D MKIII I spent over $3K on just the body. That little CGO3 camera produces sharper video than my old Canon 5D. I actually sold all my canon gear and switched to Panasonic 4K mirrorless just so I can combine my drone footage with my ground footage. The CGO3 4K footage made the Canon footage look like crap! True story.
I'm sure some of you guys can help me out here. What did I forget?
Thoughts:
1) Unless you need to follow a speeding car you really don't need a fast drone. If you do decide to fly around fast as **** and change direction in the middle of the video, be sure to give each of your viewers a gun so they can make the pain stop one way or the other. The Beastie Boys said it best...Slow and low that is the tempo. (Google it)
2) Don't assume if you crash that there is something wrong with the quad. You may very well have something wrong with your transmitter. It's rare but possible. Don't forget your transmitter battery and the fact that the transmitter has a screen to power.
3) Take the small SD card that came with the Qaud and put it in your transmitter. Go buy a fast 64GB card for your quad, the faster the better. Look at the write speeds, not the read speeds.
4) Power - if you have a bad battery, things go wrong very quickly. I go through a lot of batteries on my little toy drones. What happens when the battery fails on my little quads? Lights flash and then power's gone. The batteries balloon when they go bad so if yours starts fitting tight watch out. If anyone reading this is not familiar with how to maintain their batteries it's time to hit Google. First thing you want to do is trash the battery charger that came with your quad and go buy a real charger. The guy at the hobby shop will explain. Pick up a couple of extra batteries while your there.
4) Still Photos - Set your camera to Pro mode. Select DNG for your stills and learn how to process RAW images. I use Photoshop but Lightroom works just as well. It's easy to go in and adjust everything. There are complete books on this subject so I won't even go there.
5) Buy a small toy quad and fly it around the house everyday. Chase the dogs and piss off the cat. Set up a course and try not to run into the light shade. You'll get good, fast.
6) Quads don't like water (and either do I). One time I was flying a Blade Quad for work, shooting stand up paddlers. I was flying along and all of a sudden the battery starts running out. The quad starts slowly heading for the water. I start yelling and the paddler rushes over and saves the quad with his paddle! When it was over I was shaking so badly I couldn't even talk! Now every time I fly over water I freak out.True story...
7) Go watch other's video footage. Notice how the super high altitude footage puts you to sleep? How about when someone goes up real high and starts spinning in place. How's that make you feel? You need motion in the ocean. Slow and low. Up or down...left or right....forward or backward...Like my old Navy chief used to say, "KISS" Keep It Simple Stupid. It's okay to shoot from up high, just don't make the whole video that way. Mix it up. Different heights, angles, etc...
8) Many toy companies have issues with quality control. When you think about it they are actually putting a lot of technology into a very cheap package. They are going to produce some lemons, there's no way of getting around that. How many lemons is the question. Most of us will get a perfect product, some won't. All it takes is one cold solder joint to ruin someone's day. Just one little plug wire is all it takes to bury your pride and joy.
9) I know many of you think $1300 is a lot of money for a quad but you have to put it into perspective. I spent more on just one lens my DSLR camera than I did on my Q500. When I bought my last Canon 5D MKIII I spent over $3K on just the body. That little CGO3 camera produces sharper video than my old Canon 5D. I actually sold all my canon gear and switched to Panasonic 4K mirrorless just so I can combine my drone footage with my ground footage. The CGO3 4K footage made the Canon footage look like crap! True story.
I'm sure some of you guys can help me out here. What did I forget?
