My issues so far with IOS Capture 1.0.0

IOS

iPhone 6

Capture 1.0.0

Phantom 3 Standard

 

Issue 1 - Many times, during the pre-takeoff screen, it does not send the mission to the UAV, not letting the mission start.  Sometimes restarting the UAV works, sometimes restarting the app does.

Issue 2 - BIG one here.  The UAV will fly one row correctly taking pictures, then will stop taking pictures.  Sometimes I get an error saying I need to restart the UAV, sometimes it will start syncing images, sometimes it just keeps flying the grid but not taking pictures.

Some things I do like about the new version

-able to set exact overlap %

-much better at not wasting time and battery going around corners.  It is flying much quicker and more precise around corners as well as to the start point.

-The speed makes up for the stopping to take pictures for me.

 

I hope you guys can get these issues fixed as it looks like Issue 2 is not limited to me only.  I would really like to start flying with out P3’s for the better images.

Hi Jake

> The speed makes up for the stopping to take pictures for me

That’s definitely not what I observed. At continuous forward flight speed (e.g. 5 or 10 or even 15 m/s) a multicopter usually uses less power than in a start & stop mode. Sharp movements whatsoever have a very negative effects on flight time, because in a steady forward flight the propellers create addn. amount of lift, which isn’t the case while hovering. And accelerating/stopping creates addn. overhead in terms of power consumption. I also don’t like the very sharp movements because it makes it harder to judge whether the copter is under control (of the autopilot) or whether it freaks out for any reason and needs to be brought under control by switching the flight mode. 

But the lack of reliability you observed (issue 2) worries me even more.

With my other multicopters, 2 and 4 years old, I do mapping flights with ease: I fly with autopilot (using DJI Ground Station) continuously (adaptive speed turns) and take images at a fixed interval, mostly 1/sec. Because of the tight integration of the camera, that doesn’t seem to work for the Phantom and Inspire, unfortunately.

Hi Jake,

I have attempted five flights on different days and observed the same behaviour as you. The P3P will fly one flight-line of the mission perfectly, taking pictures as it should. It then makes the first turn to head for the second flight-line of the mission. Only it never turns to do the second flight-line. 4 of the 5 times, the RC starts beeping and the P3P returns to home and lands. The 5th times, the P3P just started wandering aimlessly in the sky. I had to switch to manual mode to fly it home.

I agree with you though. I really like the way the app is setup. The overlap, sizing controls and even take-off checklist are really nice.

Hopefully this will get fixed soon.

As a follow up to my earlier post.

RE: The stopping and starting.  I was comparing that to the amount of acreage I can cover with the new P3 and new capture app vs. my old P2V and the old capture app.  Of course continuous flight is optimal, but in this case I am covering the same area in the same time. 

RE: Reliability. I have complete 4-5 successful flights since posting.  I have not experienced any of the reliability issues I had before. So far so good. 

Now to more gripes.  

  1.  When changing the settings for overlap, the map view grid disappears and has to be reoriented whenever I change overlap.  Small issue but it would be nice if you could adjust overlap without having to redraw the grid. 

  2.  Forgive me if this is out of your control, but the satellite view maps are completely out of date for the app.  All other map apps on my phone have much more current maps than the app does.  Some are at least 4-5 years old, and in urban areas that update regularly. We do a lot of urban work and the lack of up to date images makes offsite preplanning difficult.  Again, I know this is possibly out of your control. 

Hi all,

Thank you for your comments and sharing your experience.
Now that there is both a Safe (stop-and-shoot) and Fast mode implemented on iOS, the users can choose the trigger mode they prefer regarding their needs.

The official post for sharing experience with DJI drones and iOS Pix4Dcapture can be accessed here if you need:
https://community.pix4d.com/t/4968

@ Jake

I am glad to read that your issues were solved. It seems like the suggestions in your first post are now part of the latest version 1.3.0.
The problem of the grid that disappears when adjusting the overlap should be fixed. But let us know if you still face problems.

It is true that depending on the region, the satellite and map background can be outdated (by several years). We are aware of this problem, and we have added it to our suggestions list for future releases as a priority. The Capture team developed the app with a map provider that is no longer updating some parts of their data or at least they do it less frequently. Changing the map provider will require to restructure a major part of the app.

So far it is not planned to change the provider, but our developers are working on finding a solution since it prevents our users from planning flights with Pix4Dcapture. For a future version of the application they are considering to add the possibility to import/save some local maps so that you can easily perform missions when the data are completely outdated or when you are offline for instance.

Note that switching from the satellite to the map view might partially solve the problem of the missing background information when adjusting your grid in Pix4Dcapture. It is indeed more up to date than the satellite view.

@ Kurtis

Thank you very much for the nice comment!
Are you still facing such behavior with our latest iOS version 1.3.0?

Regards,