I ordered a Z3 and have been playing with it a decent amount. One major issue we have been dealing with through is lag in the camera as well as a bad video stream even when its just feet from us.

Has anyone else run into this with the Z3 yet?

I received my Z3 today and excitedly went to test it, and yes I have experienced a very fragmented video stream. It is pretty unusable. The zoom seems very smooth.

Yeah That was our conclusion so far as well. Zoom works great but the stream needs a fix pretty quick!

yikes! Mine will be here Friday... Hopefully we can get this resolved.

That sounds pretty disheartening.  How bad is the graininess of the video preview and does it show in the recorded video?

Same here,,, also noticed the gimbal remaining in place and not responding or self calibrating unless you touch it,,, upon startup will not level itself into position

Hello Sam, does the live feed work smoothly with your original X3 or X5 camera? Are they both running the latest firmware and Go app? What's the mobile device that you use?

Got mine last night and been playing with it all day

The camera did pretty well today although I wouldn't say i am amazed at this stage.

The camera gets a bit laggy at times (maybe up to a second sometimes). I turned it to 1080 but didn’t make a big difference. The vision on the ipad was not real flash, but the pics turned out not so bad although some did seem to be focused well

One problem I did have was it was a bit shaky , even when not zoomed and especially when pointing straight down. It definitely doesn’t like looking down and will shake to the point where the gimbal will come up with an error about reaching end points and will stop working. Just tilts and wont stabilise. I have it mounted to the original x3 mounts and wonder if I may need to upgrade to the stronger mounts made for the X5.

I also noted that the pics taken with RAW settings are only optical zoom and not the digital. But then i guess that what RAW is so no big problem there

Hoping that the streaming and gimbal control is all fixable with an update

Jesus... This is so disheartening. Mine will be here next week. If this is the case, I may just return it.

This is sad news! I will hold off for now.

DJI-Paladin Posted at 2016-8-18 14:30
Hello Sam, does the live feed work smoothly with your original X3 or X5 camera? Are they both runnin ...

Works fine with the X3. We tried 3 different Nividia Shield Tablets and a Galaxy S6 Edge Phone. Notcie it come and go. Footage is great when you put it on the computer but otherwise the camera is almost unflyable sometimes.

Also before I forget. Support was insitent that i try an IOS device but i only use android. Maybe someone else can chime in on what they use.

Hope this gets fixed ASAP cause we need this camera for work and i cant be showcasing it to my clients in its current condition.

Does it break while zoomed in or all the time?

I received my Z3 3 weeks ago and noticed immediately the unusable fragmented video stream. I reported it to the European DJI support, with video samples. on August 11 I received the following answer from the support:
=================
Hello,
[b]I have now heard back from the collegues.
They confirmed that this is a firmware issue. They are already working on an update, that will fix this.
Please have a little patience and update to the next version, when it becomes available.
Best Regards,
Technical Support
DJI GmbH[
====================
Today I asked what was the situation regarding this firmware and after some insistence I received this:
===================
Aug 19, 18:33 HKT
Hello,
we´re afriad we do not have any new information from the R&D yet.
I´m sorry, but we cannot tell you how much more time this will take.
Thank you for your understanding
========================
My Z3 is totally unusable, this is very frustrating.

oh man.. Mine is on the UPS truck on its way here....  not sure to return it or what.....  ugg

Yeah I figured it was a firmware issue. Where the he'll is the QC on these products DJI? You guys take forever to put em out and then they don't work properly out of the box? Did anyone bother to even plug one into the drone before shipping?

Would be nice if ALL posters that has issues also disclose what Tablet/Phone they are using. Might be different for different tablets/phones, some users might use unsupported devises?

im using Ipad Pro. Been using it with the X3 for months with no problems.Im sure this will all be sorted with the update. Other than the fact it should probably be said that the X5 mount should be used. Looks like i have to fork a another $170 for this to take some of the vibration out.
I will try and firm up the current X3 mount I have today and see how that goes.

I received my Z3 today. I am using it on an Iphone 6S Plus.  It sucks. I noticed it within 20 seconds.  In fairness and I dont know if this matters but I did not put on a filter.  But it's very shaky and when I was about 400 feet away from it - it was worse.

NOt sure if I should package it up and send it back or what to do...

SamEAS Posted at 2016-8-19 21:50
Works fine with the X3. We tried 3 different Nividia Shield Tablets and a Galaxy S6 Edge Phone. No ...

Sorry for the inconvenience. I'll pass it to our R&D team. And currently you can try with IOS devices.

It would be good to hear from DJI, if changing to the X5 bracket will make a difference with the shaking. I dont mind spending money if I know it is of value, but after spending $1600 AU on a camera that is a step backwards from the standard, im not so keen on forking out another $200 on a mount that may do nothing.
Its a shame more testing wasnt done before release.

AnzacJack Posted at 2016-8-20 14:51
It would be good to hear from DJI, if changing to the X5 bracket will make a difference with the sha ...

I have the X5 bracket - pretty sure that's not the issue.

Add my penny's worth , same Z3 FPV feed freezing up issue, worst of all when set to 4K video , it is not flyable in this mode , only 1080 @ 30fps mode gives a good feed.
using an iPad Air 2.
I hope this fix wont take long , at this point in time the Z3 is a waste of my hard earned.

Rinzler Posted at 2016-8-19 23:54
Does it break while zoomed in or all the time?

all the time. Even when no zoom all of these problems are apparent

My Z3 has terrible freezing and quality through a iPad mini. Also, I can only switch the ISO with the right wheel. When I click the wheel to change shutter speed, it won't select it. Only the ISO. The Z3 is off to a rough start.....

As far as everyone using the X5 mount we use the x3 and the photos and video look fine. It's the operationAL video feed that is terrible. So not sure that the X5 mount is needed.

uptowndisco@hot Posted at 2016-8-21 08:09
Add my penny's worth , same Z3 FPV feed freezing up issue, worst of all when set to 4K video , it is ...

when you say good feed are we talking regular quality video feed or just "flyable"?

So glad I looked at this before I put down $900.  I guess I will check back when they have another firmware download, since I bought the phantom 4 the Inspire 1 stays mostly in its case, I thought the Z3 would put new life in it.

robryan1720@hot Posted at 2016-8-21 23:20
So glad I looked at this before I put down $900.  I guess I will check back when they have another f ...

I love the Z3 in terms of what it can do. If they get this one problem figured out I don't see why it wouldn't be a great product! I just wish DJI would QC their products more closely.

SamEAS Posted at 2016-8-22 14:30
I love the Z3 in terms of what it can do. If they get this one problem figured out I don't see why ...

It just seems wise to me to wait until the next firmware comes out and make sure it is a firmware problem and not a mechanical problem. If it is a mechanical problem I very much doubt DJI would put out a recall.  

AnzacJack Posted at 2016-8-20 16:51
It would be good to hear from DJI, if changing to the X5 bracket will make a difference with the sha ...

AnzacJack,

testing on new Z3 is progressing well......unfortunately primary DJI testing is via responses in forums!

This has been the preferred method for testing of all software update releases to date so may as well continue it with new product releases. Most frustrating part is when the DJI reps chip in with the old "I have not had any of these issues on mine" response.

DJI stuff is great when it works but it does makes you wonder how they do their testing though especially when a fix for one thing causes issues with 2 different functions that used to work fine.  A wise man knows that when the front end promises stuff that the back end cannot deliver on, big problems are coming your way!

Good luck mate, guess I will be holding off on the Z3 purchase.

Regards Wolfman

SamEAS Posted at 2016-8-22 11:30
I love the Z3 in terms of what it can do. If they get this one problem figured out I don't see why ...

based on my testing lately, I do not believe this is a isolated issue with the new Z3. I believe this is a firmware bug that was recently introduced that is affecting all of the cameras. cougar1 and I have been testing this out and I can say with certainty this will be fixed by DJI R&D as soon as possible.

We have many posts that have been talking about the same issue but in different ways.
I will post a quick video of what I found out today in 90-93*F

COPIED
I have been doing some experiments with this issue and cougar1 has been also doing some great testing as well.  The current firmware does not allow a good video signal or operation in the hot weather.  80*F seems to be about the limit but the RC and Video HD signals are not reliable (bug in camera FW? or something else?)

So, I have the RC at FW 1.6 the AC at 1.8 and the Go app at 2,87  (same as cougar1)

I have flown 4 flights varying temps.  ((iPad mini 4 128 gig memory nothing else running in the background))
80*
87-90*
93*

1) 13min flight no issues at 80*F
2) after 10 min of flight video drops started at 87-90*F the last 3-4 minutes the video was frozen or not useable
3)  14 min flight and the video was great until about 11 minutes today at 90-93*F
4) Flight #2 today same issue (after I let everything cool down for 15 minutes in the shade  14min flight with video freezing at the last 3-4 minutes

I believe that the camera FW has some bugs and the DJI Go App is putting to much strain on the CPU to be stable in hot (warm weather)  

Please have DJI R&D review the GO App to reduce the workload on the CPU. The iPad is really not strong enough to run the increasing demands the app has been updated with or become (bloated). I like the concept of one App does it all, but I think we are seeing the limits of the IPad capabilities to be reliable in conditions that should work. Please note that I used to run the Shou screen recording app at the same time as the Go App without any issues at all. Now it will not run anything else at the same time.

Thank you for listening

iPad:


Camera video clip, notice that I could not see to keep the jetboat in frame




Rich

RichJ53 Posted at 2016-8-23 23:00
based on my testing lately, I do not believe this is a isolated issue with the new Z3. I believe t ...

I have only seen it as an issue with the Z3 in our testing. However we did encounter a bug where the Z3 would take photos continuously when we try to take just one. Only way to get it to stop was to land the craft and power cycle it. Still photos are okay but lots of blur in some of them for not particular reason. Video is great off the SD but you cant fly when filming. Wish they would hurry up and get this patch released.

I tested mine today, contacted DJI and there customer service rep was trying to tell me they didn't sell a Zenmuse z3, that it was an x3. Ridiculus.... I just hung up the phone, and will contact b and h to see how to go about a refund.

RichJ53 Posted at 2016-8-24 16:00
based on my testing lately, I do not believe this is a isolated issue with the new Z3. I believe t ...

well its winter here in Australia and I can assure you temperature has nothing to do with all the issues I am having, which seems to be the issue that everyone is having.

SamEAS Posted at 2016-8-23 02:30
I love the Z3 in terms of what it can do. If they get this one problem figured out I don't see why ...

I just bought Inspire 1 V.2 2 weeks ago for this very camera. All these UAV manufacturers charge steep pricing for untested products. I now own a bird I won't use until FW update. Arrrgh

AnzacJack Posted at 2016-8-26 15:36
well its winter here in Australia and I can assure you temperature has nothing to do with all the  ...

Guys are these just video issues or stills as well as I only require stills for now

Our still come out okay but again we had an issue with the camera getting stuck on taking a photo so that it would just continuously take photos until you landed and power cycled the phantom. Video transmission for stills is better but still not where I would expect it to be for a 900 dollar product. STILL NO WORD FROM DJI ON WHAT IS GOING ON.

Sorry not Phantom - the inspire.

BIGDZ Posted at 2016-8-24 20:39
I tested mine today, contacted DJI and there customer service rep was trying to tell me they didn't  ...

I am gonna hold out just because I have clients that already love the idea and want to see it work. Last time I be the tester for DJI. This is getting to be ridiculous.