Hi,

I simply love the Phantom 3 Professional - but I have one problem: The camera doesnt stay horizontal while flying. I did the IMU calibration, gimbal calibration and compass calibration before take off.

The camera is in level before take off, but after just 10 seconds of flying, the horizont makes me dissy... ;-)

And yes, I have updated the firmware to latest edition.

Any tips?

Best regards
Jacob

Yes, wait the next firmware and pray...

Make certain that the camera is in "Follow" mode and NOT "FPV" mode. In FPV mode the camera will tilt left and right as you roll the Phantom 3 left and right.   In Follow mode it SHOULD keep camera level  while turning and banking th P3.

Yes, it is in Follow mode. But thanks for the advice :-)

You said you have done an IMU calibration and Auto gimbal calibration.  Were those done withthe P3 sitting on a nearly perfectly level surface?

If so, are you also getting an "IMU is warming up" message for longer than 30 seconds at first battery power-on for the day?

If so, then you might want to try a hard-core "very cold IMU calibration," which may cure both your tilted horizon and eliminate the IMU warming up message.

Place your P3 in your refrigerator.  What? Yes - I'm serious and Yes - your wife may seriously challenge your sanity. Leave it in for one hour.  While it in the final minutes of this time period, get your RC and iPad connected, turned on and get into the IMU calibration screen so that you are ready to perform an IMU calibration within 1 minute of removing the P3 from the fridge while it's still very cold.  NOTE: I also left the battery in my P3 while it was in the fridge.  Don't think this is necessary, but that's what I did.  It IS important to get the P3 aircraft electronics cold before starting the IMU calibration to eliminate the "IMU is warming up" delay.

Take the P3 out of the fridge, place it on a nearly perfectly-level, non-metallic platform at least 2 feet above any rebar in your house foundation, driveway, roadway, etc.  Again, this 2-foot rule may not be necessary for an IMU calibration like it is for a compass calibration.  But that's what I did.  Note: a light film of condensation wiil probably cover your camera lens because  it is colder than ambient temperature, but that's OK.  THE LIVE CAMERA IMAGE WILL BE ALL BLURRY INITIALLY DUE TO CONDENSATION FOG ON LENS. IT's OK - immediately proceed with IMU calibration.

Turn on the P3 battery, and as soon as you get a live camera image, do the following two things as quickly as possible:  1) Point camera straight down using the gimbal wheel on the RC. 2) Start an IMU calibration and click OK to any "are you sure? meassages" and CLICK ON START to start the IMU CALIBRATION.

Now, watch the IMU calibration bar progress.  It may not start increasing above zero for 1-2 minutes.  But don't panic.  Also, you may hear some weird, unexpected beeps coming from the P3 during the IMU calibration, but DON'T PANIC.  As long as the progress bar is slowly advancing from 0 to 100 percent complete, leave it alone.  DO NOT TOUCH, BUMP, JIGGLE OR WALK NEAR THE P3 during the IMU calibration.  The camera may not move from the pointed down position until the final 2-3 minutes of the IMU calibration.  BUT when the IMU calibration completes, the camera should be pointed staight ahead and nearly level.

Finally, with the P3 still sitting on the level platform, perform an auto gimbal calibration.  
This procedure finally cured my P3 camera gimbal tilted-horizon issue.  it's level after rising off the ground; the horizon may tilt slightly on fast yaw amneuvers, but will re-level within 20 secs or so after yaw, and is typically perfectly level all during a slow yaw maneuver.  I can live with that.

I will try this tomorrow - thank you! :-)

Did the procedure, but it didnt help :-/ Hopefully DJI will release an updated firmware soon.. :-)

david.p.mann@ea Posted at 2015-7-15 11:42
You said you have done an IMU calibration and Auto gimbal calibration.  Were those done withthe P3 s ...

So how many people have you got to follow this? You're such a funny guy.

Almost as funny as telling them to reset it while sitting under a blanket with the lights turned off. Such a joker. laugh, I nearly shat.

Seriously though, while this sounds like a cruel joke, chilling the sensor is likely not a bad idea. Shame you can't hit it with some canned CO2 microchip test cooler spray.

I am still laughing thinking about what me wife would say.

Zombie Hunter Posted at 2015-7-17 17:06
So how many people have you got to follow this? You're such a funny guy.

Almost as funny as telli ...

Yeah - I know - putting the P3 in the refrigerator sounds silly, but chilling the P3 electronics definitely has an impact on the IMU calibration. In particular, it can eliminate the  "IMU is warming up" message and delay when first powering on the P3 battery. There are several posts by other forum regulars reporting variations on this technique - putting P3 in a car with A/C vents blowing on it to chill it down, putting it outside if you live a cold weather area, etc. All I know is that the one-hour chill-down in the fridge followed by an IMU calibration and Auto Gimbal Calibration finally cured my tilted horizon after a previous 1/2-hour chilling in the fridge failed to do so.  Maybe it had more to do with having performed two IMU calibrations back to back (as some others have suggested), or maybe it was just luck of the draw.

However, I am now seeing posts from Tahoe_Ed (a DJI employee) that indicate if the P3 camera gimbal is tilted "all the time" that the only CURRENT fix is to send the P3 in for repair.  They are working on a firmware fix for level horizons that drift over time.  

If your camera horizon is tilted all the time, I would certainly try a couple cold IMU calibrations in a row, before packing my bird up and sending it in for repair, which might take 6-8 weeks.

I made a suggestion in a similar post, but no response there so far.
I'm suggesting a test and as I don't have this problem I can not do it.
I suggest if doing the calibration on a perfectly level surface results in a constant horizon tilt
Try shimming the surface so it's NOT level.
Raise the side  the side that is widest on the horizon( I think) by a small amount , do the calibration then try it.
If someone would let us know if that changes anything(better/worse)
It might work and save sending the P3 in.
I don't know if the error is the way the gimbal is hanging so might have to try the opposite direction (raise the narrow side) if the problem gets worse.
I'm thinking P3 flys normally the IMU calibration on a level surface and the gimbal calibration on the unlevel surface.
What do you think?

I've got the tilt sometimes, but mine also drifts as well.  Tilt only really shows up on the horizon so it's not a big deal.

Rob

I only saw this issue after the last update.  Sad because I flew around this beautiful island in the Bahamas, and most of the time, the camera was tilted.
https://www.skypixel.com/videos/phantom-3-footage-of-half-moon-cay-aka-little-san-salvador

Hello guys,

Im in need of some information to help my fight my case with jessop's store as Dji told me to contact them because that's where I purchased the drone from even tho the probEm lies with Dji not,the store I got it from. I bought a Dji phantom 3 standard. In my first flight it was great.  I had my drone for just under a week and with less than 1 hour flight time on the drone. I was flying one day and the weather was perfect for flight. When I was a couple of minutes into my flight I was viewing flight via my iPad when suddenly the camera tilted to one side making the horizon off. As I was trying to figure out what was going on I lost focus and this resulted in my drone clipping a tree. As a result from the crash the yaw arm had been cracked. I contacted the Dji support team to see if they could help the problem as I could deal with the small crack on the yaw arm but the problem still lay with the off camera. After talking to Dji they told me that I need to down grade my firmware because there was a fault in the firmware. Is this correct ???? This seems to be happening all over the world. My problem is that the store I sent it off to sent it to the drone doctor. After having my drone for 6 weeks I contact them about the drone. I get an email saying the they will not cover the damage. I paid £450 for my drone from new out the store. They have now told me that it will cost a further £302 to repair my drone.

If there is any body in here that can give me a little more information on the camera problem so I can fight this because if they are charging nearly the same price I bought it for. We all need to pull together on this problem because I feel like you took my money very quickly but are not willing to help correct the problem need to get this sorted because the world knows the problem lies with the firmware. All drones  should of been recalled and replaced from such a large company. Not have them get away with helping the customer.

Sorry for my rant but it needs sorting

marksmythe09 Posted at 2016-2-24 15:12
Hello guys,

Im in need of some information to help my fight my case with jessop's store as Dji told ...

Sorry to hear this!!  I understand the frustration, and have also had minor horizon issues,  but you are going to have a hard time convincing many people here that the horizon being off was a cause for crash that DJI should be liable for.   If you've followed this forum at all many people repeatedly plea with new users to fly within their limits, and make sure that the bird remains in line of sight.   It's way less likely to hit a tree or anything else, if you are actually looking at the P3 and not the screen.   
At first sign of an issue,   I would have landed to inspect the aircraft.,  Although this comes with experience.....I can certainly see why you might have tried to troubleshoot with bird in the sky.


All I can say is sorry that you lost/damaged it, have you already sent in your flight logs to DJI?  Hopefully DJI-Ken or DJI- Tim can chime in and make sure someone from DJI analyzes your log for any potential clues,  and maybe if a defect is found they could at least maybe offer a discounted rate.   Also maybe start your own thread, this thread is quite old and my not get much attention.  Lastly,  if you have no luck,   Check out if you can find a spare standard gimbal/cam used for a good price,  it is a pretty straightforward swap out.

Good Luck!!!!

ryan209 Posted at 2016-2-24 21:36
Sorry to hear this!!  I understand the frustration, and have also had minor horizon issues,  but yo ...

Ryan thanks for your reply. I was actually flying the drone in full line of sight I was less then 50ft up as I was new to flying the drone. I was looking at my drone and my iPad until suddenly the camera moved and I panicked as I was unsure to what was happening. This resulted in me having to look at the drone and the screen as I didn't know what was going on. This is when I clipped a tree. I have gave Dji all my login details to view my flight records and footage.  I also understand that the damage may not be fixed for free. One of my issues is that I bought the drone for £450 new and now they want £302 to replace the yaw arm. Dji provide yaw arms for £60 I think. The customer service has been very poor as they have had my drone  for over 6 weeks and I have had to chase it up my self. The firmware is a ongoing problem and Dji new this as their support team tole me to down grade firmware and wait for a new one before upgrading. Dji should be recalling and not selling the drone till the problem is fixed. They are making millions and millions of pounds just on repairs alone round the world from this problem. Yes the drones are amazing but Dji its self are not very helpful at all. Once again thanks for the reply

Ah I understand I had a similar slip up when I got mine and ended up clipping a lawn chair luckily only chipped a prop.  That does sound steep if they indeed only replaced the YAW arm and didn't put on a new gimbal/camera assembly entirely.   That said,  there are a couple of DJI folks on this forum who I've seen be very helping in trying to get a resolution for these types of issues with their service center, so maybe if you start a new thread it will draw their attention

Hope you get it straightened out!

ryan209 Posted at 2016-2-24 22:11
Ah I understand I had a similar slip up when I got mine and ended up clipping a lawn chair luckily o ...

Ok thanks for your help Ryan

marksmythe09 Posted at 2016-2-25 10:37
Ok thanks for your help Ryan

No problem, I see you got your own thread started, hopefully that will help get you the help ya need!

ryan209 Posted at 2016-2-25 16:40
No problem, I see you got your own thread started, hopefully that will help get you the help ya ne ...

I've had a couple of replays but none that will help. Just a bunch of people having their opinion without reading my thread properly

ryan209 Posted at 2016-2-25 16:40
No problem, I see you got your own thread started, hopefully that will help get you the help ya ne ...

I've had a couple of replays but none that will help. Just a bunch of people having their opinion without reading my thread properly

Hi, did you finally solve this problem? I have a new P3P, firmware 1.8.8 and I am having the same problem; Roll drift while yawing

I have the same problem P3P camera gimbal rocks ever sooo slowly off horizon