I have been flying this (fixed wing) unit in total darkness and the trick to have some reference at your (home) flying point. A car headlight, or flashing flashlight to orient yourself. It helps to have a lot of clear ground in front of you to land on. What a hoot getting up to altitude well after sunset and loitering around.
This camera is on my our Emax Babyhawk II HD BNF, initially I wanted the Nebula Pro over the Polar but since my son and I frequently fly in the evenings during the week, I'm very fortunate that it came with the Polar camera. I have flown at the same time at dusk and the Nebula Pro simply cannot compete with the Polar dusk till dark. It can be pitch black and as long as there's street lights or any lightning this camera truly is shocking how awesome it is. Frequently I will take off my goggles and it has gone from dusk to dark in the 12 minutes I'd been flying and I'm always shocked how dark it is but still flyable with this camera. If anyone else flies after work when it's starting to get dark, I highly suggest you consider this camera so your flight time window (in regards to getting dark) isn't cut short. No, it's not low latency and only has 16:9 (which I prefer).but it's a good camera in the day and reigns supreme in low light.
Hey man, I didn't read the other comments to see if anybody else had mentioned it, but apparently if you hit the left and right directions on the catex joystick it will also affect the colour saturation. Great video, as per usual!! 👏
Nice job Ian! And fortunately for us here in NA, it is still in stock at GetFPV, RDQ, Pyro and NBD. I bought just the camera and transplanted it onto a VIsta to replace the Nano. A worthwhile upgrade, no doubt about it!
Thanks for explaining the white balance thing. Flying laps it does that shift in the same spot doing the same move didn't know why. Was shocked how nice the image looked mine has a weird jello thing that happens in full bright probably my setup. Definitely low light not full dark that said it's a good flyable image until the sun is gone. That was a great review you missed nothing.
I have massive issue with strong jelloing. Its not flyable for me. Its not a tuning issue, old vista works fine. I thing there a camera with bad quality.... I contact caddx.
As you say, mate, we don't have much choice at the moment so if you don't already have a system it's good enough for now until things get back to normal, or they bring out a V2 However I'm one of the lucky ones who already have the gear so I will be keeping my money in my pocket lol... Great review matey very in-depth and informative. 👍
That's why that control board does what it does. Lower the light during the day and raise the light balance at night. So getting that board is a must of you don't want that white balance during the day.
thanks for the video just had my first flight with the new dji goggles and I could only get this camera it looks amazing but I have nothing to compare it to . I've noticed that it pixels a lot around the props I don't know if this I a common thing to happen ? . I did email caddx and they did get back to me straight away about not been able to change the transmission presences . turns out you can't .. and the white balance is annoying I might see if I can turn this off . nice to see how to unplug the camera in your video thanks and a new sub
There is a post with the resistor values I have seen, its basically just different values as follows Up: 15.7k Down: 1k Left: 28k Right: 7.8k Enter: 46k
Not sure why they would discontinue 2 of the best cams for the unit.(Neb pro and the original cam)You are correct about white bal...but I am overall happy with this unit.Def want to try 4:3 perspective though..
I never had a problem with the Polar, kinda weird to see this. I actually like the colors and the overall image more than the image from the original DJI camera, if you ignore the technical drawbacks of the Polar.
The cable for this is a little short for some 7in and up builds. I have installed the mavic pro signal cable with success on the polar cam and vista unit - very easy job too. Make sure you install the tag end of the new cable on the vista side. enjoy!
Good review! I think compared to the mipi it looks slower, more latency, because it has longer shuttertimes, more motion blur. for cruising around at sunset (or dusk) it's perfect. There it doesnt shift WB too much also. Colors are a real treat to the eyes. Goes as far as: flew yesterday at sunset - looked amazing, also recorded on instaSMO - and there it looked "normal" :) Another thing I saw there: on my Polar I noticed more jello than on my instaSMO. Might come from different mounts - but I suspect the polar is more prone to jello. This sucks a bit (if polar is the rec cam) but it's a good thing if your "viewfinder" is more affected by vibrations than your HD cam. This way I could fly carefully and use the right ammount of speed and throttle to minimize jello. turns out: on my instaSMO I hardly see jello - even if I know my chimera5 is not tuned right currently and does shake a lot... greets, Mario
Are they still shipping these when pictured of the full size dji air unit, with the caddx camera, with a dji og air unit? Does the caddx system record audio since its basically just a dji fpv air unit and just a new camera option?
if i fly in moonlight i just put a little light on the ground for landing. its kind of fun and it takes really 100% concentration to fly in the night. flying at some outskirts with low light or parking areas is really fun, because you can see all light masts and smaller tree branches also. it is my best night fly camera, much better than the owl and owl 2.
Just a quick gotcha with the Polar Camera --- I had to replace the coaxial cable on one. Did you notice on the Polar Camera how the wires seem exposed coming out of the housing? Unlike the DJI camera which has a grommet and reasonably water-proof, the Polar has issues. I purchased a normal "part 9" replacement cable, had to cut off the backplate and grommet, but I also added some heat shrink so that it is more "covered" coming out of the housing.
It’s cAlled the “starlight” meaning it’s for at night with the ambient starlight for its light source, it magnifies the starlight like the starlight scopes before it that the marines used in Vietnam. I would imagine without new settings it would be very bright during the day. Having said that, there should be a option in settings to adjust the white balance and or the brightness for day light operation.
Mine looks cleaner for real man very happy with mine. That been said some camera adjustment parameters through goggles would of been nice like orientation and so on. but it’s 100% sharper and clearer man.
Hi Mad , just got one of these cameras in the mail , I've put it in a build and it's on a different firmware to all my other builds ... I didn't want to update all my other builds , but it seems I may have too... on this new camera it doesn't let me select any old firmware.. Do you know if the latest firmware will still let me put in the 1000mw hack ? I'm afraid to update everything and be stuck on 25mw . Cheers 👍
Great camera was flying around today after dusk. Rapid white balance change is annoying... wouldn't mind if the transition could be smoothed out. I imagine now way to update firmware
19:17 the best camera you can get is the best to buy 10 seconds later: but not for now cause it is already sold out Looks like a new series like the rumors in former east germany, that you would get bananas next friday and everybody would try to get them even if they hate bananas cause then they could exchange those for other missing pieces like spare parts for the car. Next video will be called: get the nebula, it is available again followed by the Polar Starlight when that will become available again. I really like that night view even though I avoid flights in darkness cause it is really tough especially FPV and it needs a lot of concentration and brain memory too to remind you if there you be a tree between you and the drone you did or could not see. But I guess the low light footage shortly before the sun disappears might be the right spot to use it.
Transmission mode and Camera settings not available when paired?, I am unable to access the menu in the goggles when paired. Tried numerous things, change uarts, also refreshed firmware, spoke with Hobby-rc and they are puzzled also. Also re aired . I have video No osd as I did follow Bardwells video exactly as he explained, No osd , but i do see N/A on the screen. Oh and This is in a drone frame but Benched with a Good supply of cold air from a compressor keeping it cold, simulate flying. Any ideas I would be grateful.
There is no camera or transmission settings on this camera as it’s only the 60fps models. No adjustment or low latency mode. As for the no OSD this can only be related to your UART and setup on your FC. If using Betaflight you need to make sure you have configured the UART correctly and that you don’t have the Tx and RX lines swapped.
@@MadRC Sorted everything out tonight apart from 1 thing I am not able to alter the power, I have tried the naco aver and over even to the polar unit This is on 25mw and unable to access it Is this normal Thanks for getting back to me
Getting footage in bad conditions is the best footage you can get, everyone knows what to expect with perfect conditions, we want to know how it will perform in adverse conditions.
Hello dear.. I have a problem with this kit..Is already installed and by default appear low latency on my dgi googles. It can Not be switched to high quality. Appear camera also in grey unaccessible ..did you have same problem. I already installed all firmware updates..perhaps camera doesn't support high quality on googles...I need help..thanks
@@MadRC thanks dear for you replay..it happens the same with MIPI runcam camera..Sure are in HQ?..however with cadxx nebula pro..all is fine from googles you can setting and you notice when switching to HQ..the image on Google is better....based on my experience I am not very sure..I am in HQ due the quality on googles resolution...thanks again 😀
It’s been discontinued and isn’t available for purchase anywhere, not even Nebula Pro which was pretty much exactly the same as OG DJI camera but less weight
17:00 IMHO that's not good test, digital compression works usually on some discrete cosine transform. If all blocks toggle between dark and light there is actually no high frequency component in each block but only DC plus some low frequency components (check how DCT or jpeg compression woks on wikipedia). You need much less data to send that frame as most of the data will be 0 after quantization. When I watched JB youtube video I got impression that JB had problems while flying thought some obstacles. In that situation every block is highly changing and much more data is needed to send all of those blocks. My guess is that in highly changing frames produce some kind of lag on processing and sending those packets over radio. On/off light test will never show it. It's good for analog but not digital. PS Of course Joshua might have bad camera as well ;)
I'm frustrated with the lack of camera adjustment by the glasses, it doesn't make sense to remove this setting as the product is being manufactured by Caddx under license. Unfortunately, for those who fly at night and pre-flight adjustment would be very welcome.
@@MadRC wrote a request to caddx. I uploaded the video on my channel. But on my Option its too much. On my Transtec Beetle it was much stronger and not flyable.
Could you please help. My son just bought me this camera kit from Hobby-Rc It only had 1 antenna in the box? I am getting a message on my v2 goggles, Low power unable to record. All batts are fully charged I just seen a post ,saying cant record with this unit and yet you are recording. Appreciate your help Cheers Graham
wow, the WB changes are just as bad as it is on mine, the camera is outstandingly good, but this behavior renders is completely useless. all the "reviewers" that had them before somehow do not experience this issues, looks at Albert kims review as example, he fly straight into lamps. and the camera doesn't just that massive. but the ones you actually can buy all have this problem, also, caddx doesn't seem to have a lens map for the lens they provide. no latency issues for me either, that's just a hype.
To be fair no camera is designed for NO light, all sensors need to magnify light, I hear they have a program that uses radar or something to create a digital image with 0 light.
Consider Caddx customer service when purchasing. My low light/polar camera has white noise in low light. After sending footage I was told that it works in the day so no return! Dear Simon Polar is a low light camera, not no light camera The engineer said this is normal because it can work normally during the day and the camera itself is not malfunctioning Thx & Best Regards Have a nice day
For the low light capability would be worth getting a Polar. Thinking the auto white balance would be less of a issue in lower light vs bright daylight. Would be interesting to see, if you happen to record any more with the Polar? Thinking auto balance would be less an issue in cine-style flying where camera angle is not going to change as quickly. Ideally it would be nice to have an option of turning auto white balance on/off, and picking from a couple of colour adjustments, as the Polar seems to have a blueish hue in bright light. Overall would agree, is a good all round camera, so is worth getting ... given not many choices at any price point available.
I have been flying this (fixed wing) unit in total darkness and the trick to have some reference at your (home) flying point. A car headlight, or flashing flashlight to orient yourself. It helps to have a lot of clear ground in front of you to land on. What a hoot getting up to altitude well after sunset and loitering around.
This camera is on my our Emax Babyhawk II HD BNF, initially I wanted the Nebula Pro over the Polar but since my son and I frequently fly in the evenings during the week, I'm very fortunate that it came with the Polar camera. I have flown at the same time at dusk and the Nebula Pro simply cannot compete with the Polar dusk till dark. It can be pitch black and as long as there's street lights or any lightning this camera truly is shocking how awesome it is. Frequently I will take off my goggles and it has gone from dusk to dark in the 12 minutes I'd been flying and I'm always shocked how dark it is but still flyable with this camera. If anyone else flies after work when it's starting to get dark, I highly suggest you consider this camera so your flight time window (in regards to getting dark) isn't cut short. No, it's not low latency and only has 16:9 (which I prefer).but it's a good camera in the day and reigns supreme in low light.
And that my friends is how you do a review .. thank you
Hey man, I didn't read the other comments to see if anybody else had mentioned it, but apparently if you hit the left and right directions on the catex joystick it will also affect the colour saturation. Great video, as per usual!! 👏
Hmm mine did not seem to do this but perhaps I missed it. That’s strange as I did spend some time messing with it. I’ll check this tomorrow.
Nice job Ian! And fortunately for us here in NA, it is still in stock at GetFPV, RDQ, Pyro and NBD. I bought just the camera and transplanted it onto a VIsta to replace the Nano. A worthwhile upgrade, no doubt about it!
Yea no brainer to replace that camera.
Thanks for explaining the white balance thing. Flying laps it does that shift in the same spot doing the same move didn't know why. Was shocked how nice the image looked mine has a weird jello thing that happens in full bright probably my setup. Definitely low light not full dark that said it's a good flyable image until the sun is gone. That was a great review you missed nothing.
Glad it was helpful!
I have massive issue with strong jelloing. Its not flyable for me. Its not a tuning issue, old vista works fine. I thing there a camera with bad quality.... I contact caddx.
As you say, mate, we don't have much choice at the moment so if you don't already have a system it's good enough for now until things get back to normal, or they bring out a V2 However I'm one of the lucky ones who already have the gear so I will be keeping my money in my pocket lol... Great review matey very in-depth and informative. 👍
Thanks for this! that lowlight performance is quite impressive! I definitely need to grab one or two for winter flights up here
Thanks man , it’s a good camera for sure. The larger pixels give it a really nice look. Just the AWB kills it for me. I hope your good buddy ?
This sounds like a perfect camera for long range cruiser.
That's why that control board does what it does. Lower the light during the day and raise the light balance at night. So getting that board is a must of you don't want that white balance during the day.
thanks for the video just had my first flight with the new dji goggles and I could only get this camera
it looks amazing but I have nothing to compare it to . I've noticed that it pixels a lot around the props I don't know if this I a common thing to happen ? .
I did email caddx and they did get back to me straight away about not been able to change the transmission presences . turns out you can't .. and the white balance is annoying I might see if I can turn this off .
nice to see how to unplug the camera in your video
thanks
and a new sub
Such a great channel! Thanks bud!
Great information as always mate!
Did you try to reverse engineer the joystick board, so we can solder up some DIY solution?
There is a post with the resistor values I have seen, its basically just different values as follows
Up: 15.7k
Down: 1k
Left: 28k
Right: 7.8k
Enter: 46k
@@MadRC Thank you, will give it a try
Not sure why they would discontinue 2 of the best cams for the unit.(Neb pro and the original cam)You are correct about white bal...but I am overall happy with this unit.Def want to try 4:3 perspective though..
Neb pro isn't officially discontinued?
thank you for your video, it help me to setup my caddx polar air unit
Off topic, but any word when/if INAV OSD will be fully supported?
I never had a problem with the Polar, kinda weird to see this.
I actually like the colors and the overall image more than the image from the original DJI camera, if you ignore the technical drawbacks of the Polar.
Agreed its actually my favourite looking camera for the DJI FPV System. its just I wish you could fix the WB
The cable for this is a little short for some 7in and up builds. I have installed the mavic pro signal cable with success on the polar cam and vista unit - very easy job too. Make sure you install the tag end of the new cable on the vista side. enjoy!
Good review! I think compared to the mipi it looks slower, more latency, because it has longer shuttertimes, more motion blur.
for cruising around at sunset (or dusk) it's perfect. There it doesnt shift WB too much also.
Colors are a real treat to the eyes. Goes as far as: flew yesterday at sunset - looked amazing, also recorded on instaSMO - and there it looked "normal" :)
Another thing I saw there: on my Polar I noticed more jello than on my instaSMO. Might come from different mounts - but I suspect the polar is more prone to jello.
This sucks a bit (if polar is the rec cam) but it's a good thing if your "viewfinder" is more affected by vibrations than your HD cam. This way I could fly carefully and use the right ammount of speed and throttle to minimize jello. turns out: on my instaSMO I hardly see jello - even if I know my chimera5 is not tuned right currently and does shake a lot...
greets, Mario
Are they still shipping these when pictured of the full size dji air unit, with the caddx camera, with a dji og air unit?
Does the caddx system record audio since its basically just a dji fpv air unit and just a new camera option?
if i fly in moonlight i just put a little light on the ground for landing. its kind of fun and it takes really 100% concentration to fly in the night. flying at some outskirts with low light or parking areas is really fun, because you can see all light masts and smaller tree branches also. it is my best night fly camera, much better than the owl and owl 2.
I'd love to see how it performs without the IR filter. Should be among the best at that with that chunky core.
Hi, is video out work from the v2 goggles?
Fantastic
Is it possible to use the dji air unit recording with this camera? If yes, resolution will be 1080p? Audio is recorded?
Just a quick gotcha with the Polar Camera --- I had to replace the coaxial cable on one. Did you notice on the Polar Camera how the wires seem exposed coming out of the housing? Unlike the DJI camera which has a grommet and reasonably water-proof, the Polar has issues. I purchased a normal "part 9" replacement cable, had to cut off the backplate and grommet, but I also added some heat shrink so that it is more "covered" coming out of the housing.
It’s cAlled the “starlight” meaning it’s for at night with the ambient starlight for its light source, it magnifies the starlight like the starlight scopes before it that the marines used in Vietnam. I would imagine without new settings it would be very bright during the day. Having said that, there should be a option in settings to adjust the white balance and or the brightness for day light operation.
Mine looks cleaner for real man very happy with mine. That been said some camera adjustment parameters through goggles would of been nice like orientation and so on. but it’s 100% sharper and clearer man.
The best cam for night shots🤘
Hi Mad , just got one of these cameras in the mail , I've put it in a build and it's on a different firmware to all my other builds ...
I didn't want to update all my other builds , but it seems I may have too... on this new camera it doesn't let me select any old firmware..
Do you know if the latest firmware will still let me put in the 1000mw hack ? I'm afraid to update everything and be stuck on 25mw . Cheers 👍
Yes all the hacks still work.
@@MadRC legend thank you 👍
Great camera was flying around today after dusk. Rapid white balance change is annoying... wouldn't mind if the transition could be smoothed out. I imagine now way to update firmware
The camera is not bad. What about the DVR ? Is the slow SD card error fixed?
That’s a firmware issue. Nothing has changed on that.
i have flown mine once and looks good from analogy
Oh wow, glad you mentioned about the White Balance. I don't like it anymore.
19:17 the best camera you can get is the best to buy
10 seconds later: but not for now cause it is already sold out
Looks like a new series like the rumors in former east germany, that you would get bananas next friday and everybody would try to get them even if they hate bananas cause then they could exchange those for other missing pieces like spare parts for the car.
Next video will be called: get the nebula, it is available again
followed by the Polar Starlight when that will become available again.
I really like that night view even though I avoid flights in darkness cause it is really tough especially FPV and it needs a lot of concentration and brain memory too to remind you if there you be a tree between you and the drone you did or could not see. But I guess the low light footage shortly before the sun disappears might be the right spot to use it.
Transmission mode and Camera settings not available when paired?, I am unable to access the menu in the goggles when paired. Tried numerous things, change uarts, also refreshed firmware, spoke with Hobby-rc and they are puzzled also. Also re aired . I have video No osd as I did follow Bardwells video exactly as he explained, No osd , but i do see N/A on the screen. Oh and This is in a drone frame but Benched with a Good supply of cold air from a compressor keeping it cold, simulate flying. Any ideas I would be grateful.
There is no camera or transmission settings on this camera as it’s only the 60fps models. No adjustment or low latency mode.
As for the no OSD this can only be related to your UART and setup on your FC. If using Betaflight you need to make sure you have configured the UART correctly and that you don’t have the Tx and RX lines swapped.
@@MadRC Sorted everything out tonight apart from 1 thing I am not able to alter the power, I have tried the naco aver and over even to the polar unit This is on 25mw and unable to access it Is this normal Thanks for getting back to me
Thanks for sharing!
Getting footage in bad conditions is the best footage you can get, everyone knows what to expect with perfect conditions, we want to know how it will perform in adverse conditions.
I'm using mine on a ground car(crawler)
So to hear it's good in low light....it's always dark in the woods....lol...
Maybe runcam can make a decent cam hopefully
SOME LINK TO BE ABLE TO BUY IT I THINK THEY ARE A LITTLE SCARCE
Hello dear..
I have a problem with this kit..Is already installed and by default appear low latency on my dgi googles. It can Not be switched to high quality. Appear camera also in grey unaccessible ..did you have same problem. I already installed all firmware updates..perhaps camera doesn't support high quality on googles...I need help..thanks
This is is a known bug in the UI, basically you are in HQ mode its just shows wrong. you can ignore it.
@@MadRC thanks dear for you replay..it happens the same with MIPI runcam camera..Sure are in HQ?..however with cadxx nebula pro..all is fine from googles you can setting and you notice when switching to HQ..the image on Google is better....based on my experience I am not very sure..I am in HQ due the quality on googles resolution...thanks again 😀
Will the POLAR work with my V1 DJI FPV goggles without upgrading the firmware on my dji fpv goggles?
Yes it will be fine.
@@MadRC Thank you!
At this point in time it is almost worth buying the OG Air Unit just for it's camera after seeing this IMHO.
It’s been discontinued and isn’t available for purchase anywhere, not even Nebula Pro which was pretty much exactly the same as OG DJI camera but less weight
@@allahhazard2621 I just took delivery of an OG one this morning. Where I live stock does not move that fast.
is this only for dji goggles?
Yea
17:00 IMHO that's not good test, digital compression works usually on some discrete cosine transform. If all blocks toggle between dark and light there is actually no high frequency component in each block but only DC plus some low frequency components (check how DCT or jpeg compression woks on wikipedia). You need much less data to send that frame as most of the data will be 0 after quantization. When I watched JB youtube video I got impression that JB had problems while flying thought some obstacles. In that situation every block is highly changing and much more data is needed to send all of those blocks. My guess is that in highly changing frames produce some kind of lag on processing and sending those packets over radio. On/off light test will never show it. It's good for analog but not digital. PS Of course Joshua might have bad camera as well ;)
I'm frustrated with the lack of camera adjustment by the glasses, it doesn't make sense to remove this setting as the product is being manufactured by Caddx under license. Unfortunately, for those who fly at night and pre-flight adjustment would be very welcome.
I have strong jello for me its not flyable. Switched back to the Vista camera and no jello....
It’s definitely more noticeable on the MIPI and Polar. 100% noticed that my self.
@@MadRC wrote a request to caddx. I uploaded the video on my channel. But on my Option its too much. On my Transtec Beetle it was much stronger and not flyable.
Hey, a Gamers Nexus mat!
Hell yea ;).
Could you please help. My son just bought me this camera kit from Hobby-Rc It only had 1 antenna in the box?
I am getting a message on my v2 goggles, Low power unable to record. All batts are fully charged
I just seen a post ,saying cant record with this unit and yet you are recording.
Appreciate your help
Cheers
Graham
wow, the WB changes are just as bad as it is on mine, the camera is outstandingly good, but this behavior renders is completely useless.
all the "reviewers" that had them before somehow do not experience this issues, looks at Albert kims review as example, he fly straight into lamps. and the camera doesn't just that massive.
but the ones you actually can buy all have this problem, also, caddx doesn't seem to have a lens map for the lens they provide. no latency issues for me either, that's just a hype.
To be fair no camera is designed for NO light, all sensors need to magnify light, I hear they have a program that uses radar or something to create a digital image with 0 light.
You did say the white balance shiFts............ of course you did, but was it what you meant? :-)
Consider Caddx customer service when purchasing. My low light/polar camera has white noise in low light. After sending footage I was told that it works in the day so no return!
Dear Simon
Polar is a low light camera, not no light camera
The engineer said this is normal because it can work normally during the day and the camera itself is not malfunctioning
Thx & Best Regards
Have a nice day
Can you email me the footage ?
@@MadRC Link sent. I’d be interested in your opinion.
For the low light capability would be worth getting a Polar. Thinking the auto white balance would be less of a issue in lower light vs bright daylight. Would be interesting to see, if you happen to record any more with the Polar?
Thinking auto balance would be less an issue in cine-style flying where camera angle is not going to change as quickly.
Ideally it would be nice to have an option of turning auto white balance on/off, and picking from a couple of colour adjustments, as the Polar seems to have a blueish hue in bright light.
Overall would agree, is a good all round camera, so is worth getting ... given not many choices at any price point available.