So you’ve seen those epic drone shots on TV where the camera is swooping at breakneck speed through trees, racetracks and even the interior of restaurants or even bowling alleys!
You’re now wondering ‘how can I get those types of shots with my drone?!’....Well the truth is, you can’t. Sorry.
-Unless you can fly an FPV drone that is.
Luckily UAVHUB is here to guide you through the somewhat tricky process of FPV flying. First step, Aircraft.
There are 3 main ways to get your FPV aircraft up and running.
- Build from scratch
- Buy/Setup
- Just Buy
Build From Scratch
By far the steepest learning curve but also maybe the most fun?! Youtube is your friend here, research research and more research. Oh yeah, you might also need to learn to solder too. Once you've watched all the videos, you should hopefully have some sort of idea about what type of FPV Drone you want to build. You’ll then create your shopping list:
- Frame
- Motors
- ESCs (electronic speed controllers)
- Flight control Board
- Camera + Video transmitter
- Transmitter & Receiver
- Screen/Goggles
You’ll now need to wait for delivery day. Once all the gear has turned up, it’s build time! This is where your research will pay off as hopefully all the components you purchased, will fit and play together nicely.
Following a Youtube build video is a must. Think of it as a small complicated lego build that can catch fire if you put it together wrong, sounds fun right? 🧐
Once everything seems to work ok and hasn’t gone up in smoke (literally) then it’s time to plug the drone into a laptop and update/tune the firmware. Again, following a tuning setup video guide is also a must here too really.
Buy/Setup
This is a much easier way of doing things but potentially costs a little more and you don’t learn nearly as much about how your aircraft works. Search online for a ready to fly FPV kit. This will hopefully contain everything you need to get up into the air. A beginner kit will likely contain all the components you need, including a transmitter (for control) and a pair of cheapish goggles or screen. Obviously the down side here is not being able to choose your components but at least you’ll know everything should work when it finally arrives. You may also get some kind of parts warranty in case something is dead on arrival. These kits are normally plug and play (no fire) but may need a tweak on the laptop or some setting up. Again, youtube is your friend.
Just buy
This is an extremely new segment made possible by the DJI FPV Drone; A total game changer.
If you’ve got the cash then this will be by far the easiest route into FPV flying. Literally just buy the kit and wait for it to turn up. Done.
Learning to fly ‘FPV’
This is where the practice comes in. Flying FPV or ‘Full Manual Mode’ is hard, VERY hard. If you’ve built your own aircraft or bought a beginners kit, then really it's a case of going out and just having a go. Oh yeah, there'll be some crashes too. Lots. This is where the knowledge of your aircraft will pay off because if you break a motor or component, you’ll likely know how to fix it if you’ve built it. If not, then it may be a case of researching how to fix your gear.
The only real way of avoiding the repair bills is learning to fly on a simulator. These simulators normally let you connect your transmitter or even come with a cheap one to hook up. This is necessary otherwise your new skills won’t translate well to the real thing. If you put in the hours on a sim, you’ll be one step ahead when it comes to flying your aircraft. Trust us, it works.
If you have the DJI FPV however, that comes with a sim built in. It also has beginner modes, GPS and a pause button. That means if you come unstuck in the air, hitting the pause button does just that - stops the drone mid air and puts it into a hover. No other model does this (to our knowledge) and is a real lifesaver.
Conclusion
So there you go, that’s a very brief rundown of what’s involved with FPV, not easy eh? But with a lot of practice, you will get the hang of it and when you’re ‘in the zone’ flying through small gaps, buzzing trees and getting those epic shots - there really is nothing like it.
Oh and did I mention it’s pretty fun too?! Well, errr yeah, it is.
