Curious if you can take the gimbal and camera off the P3S. I have a friend who wants to learn and practice Atti mode and would like to not have the Camera/Gimbal involved in any crashes incase that happens. He said he'll be doing this in a field but only 10-20 feet up. Still that's high enough to break the Camera/Gimbal. I think removing these is a great idea, but I don't know if they'll come off, and can you still fly it?

sounds like your friend needs to buy his own quad to practice.

WD9EON Posted at 2017-1-3 11:26
sounds like your friend needs to buy his own quad to practice.

He has his own quad. That's why he wants to take the camera and gimbal off. Doesn't want to have to replace them.

Short Answer NO!
Have them use the simulator mode to get a feel of the bird.

Microcyb Posted at 2017-1-3 11:42
Short Answer NO!
Have them use the simulator mode to get a feel of the bird.

Ok thanks, I never thought of that. (simulator)

In fact you can take the gimbal off and it will still function perfectly fine however its a real pain to get it back on again. The problem I find is the simulator is actually nothing like flying it in real life. Its never real time and there's always a lag from you tilting the sticks to the aircraft actually responding (Like 0.5s lag). There are also things such as wind and surroundings that will also play an effect that won't be available in the simulator.

Yes the hardest part is removing the safety pins and not breaking them next remove the 4 grommets carefully unplugging the connectors. Even on the standard those things are almost three hundred bucks so yeah I understand they do have gimbal guards to that connect to the landing gear to keep you from banging  in the camera

Another thing to try is get a Syma xc5 or something and it's very similar to Addie mode on the Phantom I've had all different types of drones

Steve-76 Posted at 2017-1-3 13:16
Another thing to try is get a Syma xc5 or something and it's very similar to Addie mode on the Phantom I've had all different types of drones

I'll have him get one of the toy quadcopters that doesn't have GPS, like the Syma xc5 as you said. Good idea.

Hi,
Yes, your P3 will fly without the camera. Actually it flies much better without the gimbal and camera weight. If you get a second P3 without camera you will enjoy the perfect "trainer". Way better than the sim.

If you take the camera of the P3S you will not have any telemetry as the WiFi radio is in the Gimbal unit on the P3S.   The biggest issue I could see is no warnings of any sort be it low battery , compass error , atti mode etc.

You can ... but why would you?
It's a stupid idea - see my comments here: http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... 5&fromuid=10818

yes, it flies fine without the camera.
  Just no fpv.

Hello Jake, you will not able to re-link RC with aircraft without gimbal. It's not recommended to take the gimbal camera off.

You can fly the quad without gimble and camera not true its hard to take of or even put back on also the lights on craft will show you if you in gps mode or atti mode
you may void warranty but i did it an it stays in beginner mode. this is something that dji should of done to all there quads the option to take off the camera
again its not hard its easy i never see anyone brake the pins before
I don't understand why these people are saying things like its stupid idea or its hard to do.
like i said the quad will show you if your in atti mode with yellow light s2 switch to the middle gps mode swith to the top
would you like for me to show you a video on how its done how to take off gimble and camera show the quads lights in attti or gps withthout gimble
and also not true you cant relink to air craft wonder were these people get there info from

I bought a used P2 off ebay for practice before moving up to more expensive drones. Used it for while then sold it and got my money back

Horus Posted at 2017-1-4 11:17
You can fly the quad without gimble and camera not true its hard to take of or even put back on also the lights on craft will show you if you in gps mode or atti mode
you may void warranty but i did it an it stays in beginner mode. this is something that dji should of done to all there quads the option to take off the camera
again its not hard its easy i never see anyone brake the pins before

"I don't understand why these people are saying things like its stupid idea"

I'll spell it out for you (again):
You are just asking for trouble trying to learn to fly without the camera.
It's a very foolish thing to do.
Rather than making things safer, it's making it a lot harder and more risky.
You can't see all the telemetry and error messages that make flying safer and easier.
So you have no idea of speed, height, distance, battery level etc, etc.
Put your camera back on and use the features that DJI put there to help you and you might have some idea What your Phantom is actually doing instead of guessing.

Would you learn to drive a car or fly a plane by blacking out the windscreen and covering the speedometer and instruments?
That's what you are trying with your Phantom.

Yes you can but I don't recommend you to do that

oK  maybe some of us would like to fly it and not destroy the cam. maybe fly it in the winter, if the camera was on it wouldn't take long before the camera would go out because of water or humidity
im sure DJI wouldn't say anything about that just replace the thing.
maybe some of us are afraid to fly the thing because there afraid of destroying the camera by hitting a tree or something like that.
maybe some of us look at it and say wow what a nice Quad i would like to fly it without camera to learn how to go left or right go in a circle up or down. i don't think you need a camera to do that right.
But once i learn these things then i will put camera back on and fly like the rest of them and enjoy capturing video and picture.
but people who take the camera off are stupid right dum idea only you know better we all should live in your circle and that's ok.
and if i was just asking for trouble so be it who are you to criticize anyone. you can ban me from the site but im sure there many thinking the same way i am

Gee, a P3S is $399 now.
Fly it. Learn how to handle it. If you crash it, big deal.

Horus Posted at 2017-1-4 19:49
oK  maybe some of us would like to fly it and not destroy the cam. maybe fly it in the winter, if the camera was on it wouldn't take long before the camera would go out because of water or humidity
im sure DJI wouldn't say anything about that just replace the thing.
maybe some of us are afraid to fly the thing because there afraid of destroying the camera by hitting a tree or something like that.

Well I like your idea. As I have flown for decades and I haven't had any cameras on any of my crafts until 3 years ago. And I don't mind flying without a camera and the App at all. Although I hear the connectors are really tiny and there are people screwing up the connectors. So if that happened, that would really suck.

Horus Posted at 2017-1-4 19:49
oK  maybe some of us would like to fly it and not destroy the cam. maybe fly it in the winter, if the camera was on it wouldn't take long before the camera would go out because of water or humidity
im sure DJI wouldn't say anything about that just replace the thing.
maybe some of us are afraid to fly the thing because there afraid of destroying the camera by hitting a tree or something like that.

"maybe some of us are afraid to fly the thing because there afraid of destroying the camera by hitting a tree or something like that."

Your irrational fear is making you think a foolish idea is a good one.

"maybe some of us look at it and say wow what a nice Quad i would like to fly it without camera to learn how to go left or right go in a circle up or down. i don't think you need a camera to do that right.
But once i learn these things then i will put camera back on and fly like the rest of them and enjoy capturing video and picture."

Of course you think that - but you haven't a clue and imagine you know better than anyone with experience.

"but people who take the camera off are stupid right dum idea only you know better we all should live in your circle and that's ok.
and if i was just asking for trouble so be it who are you to criticize anyone. you can ban me from the site but im sure there many thinking the same way i am"

I can't ban you from anything.
But I was trying to give you the benefit of a lot of experience including teaching beginners to fly Phantoms.
The Phantom is much easier to fly than you imagine and your idea to take off the camera is unnecessary and will make it harder to learn to fly.

But I don't care what you do.
If you want to do something stupid against advice, that's up to you.
I can see that I'm wasting my breath on you but I'm putting in an alternative opinion so that beginners don't get the idea to copy you.

WOW! what a touchy subject. I got the answer and passed it on to him. He has since picked up a JJRC H8C, no GPS so he is fine and will be able to handle Atti mode if it happens with his Phantom. I want to thank everyone for their helpful replies. In conclusion I have learned and passed on: Do not take the camera/gimbal off, just get a cheap toy drone to practice Atti Mode with. Thanks again everyone.