FPV with a GoPro

Nikkura

Member
Hello, I have a gopro 4 Black camera and would like to know, would you recommend any drones under 500 euro which dont have built-in camera, but are compatible with GoPro and can use an FPV through it?
Thanks!
 
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None that I can recommend and in fact, I wouldn't recommend using a GoPro for FPV at all.

Here's an exerpt from the guys at TBS:

1) GoPro requires a separate battery to deliver a picture. If that battery goes flat, we lose picture. If we forget to charge it, we can't go fly. Single-battery systems are an essential part of our security philosophy.
2) The GoPro A/V out connector is out the side, which creates a significant point of failure on hard landings or flying through trees and bushes. Cables sticking out the sides can catch on to branches and pull out or break the whole camera.
3) The GoPro does not work well in dusk or dawn. The ground is sometimes too dark when flying against the sun. A "WDR" security camera delivers better picture to the pilot
4) Our video transmitter use 4:3 aspect ratio, the AV output on the GoPro uses whatever we record at, which is 16:9. This reduces the resolution of the transmitted picture.
5) The GoPro has latency on the video output. While this latency is negligible when flying high altitude or slow, down on the ground when fast reactions are required the latency will be a problem.
6) The GoPro can inject RF noise back into your R/C system and deteriorate its range when it's being powered from the same battery as the receiver.
 
Excellent answer RENOV8R (absolutely love your avatar by the way, cracks me up everytime I see it) :p

I would add that, including all the points covered, latency and WDR should be amongst the biggest concerns when considering an FPV camera
(especially when "treebashing") ... Even amongst the numerous selections available of CMOS or CCD cams one should not shoot for the higher resolutions, because anything over around 600-700 lines increases latency. With respect to WDR, even the fastest response times are useless if the cam is relatively blind.

Think of it like this: It does no good having a beautiful picture for an FPV view if you've already hit something by the time you see it. ;)
 
Thank you, gentlemen!
I was thinking if the drone comes without camera equally good to an existing action cam - it should be equally cheaper and therefore, have the best flight performance for the money.
 
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