As somebody obsessed with FPV drones, I used to be excited to get my fingers on GEPRC’s newest Cinelog30 V3 cinewhoop, which is particularly designed to assist DJI’s cutting-edge O4 Professional Air Unit. After intensive testing, right here’s all the things you must know from my expertise—and whether or not that is the correct drone for you.
New to FPV? Take a look at our Cinewhoop Purchaser’s Information to get began: https://oscarliang.com/cinewhoop/
The place to Purchase?
Get your Cinelog30 V2 from these distributors:
Proper out of the field, the Cinelog30 V3 comes neatly packaged with a ton of extras that FPV pilots will admire:
- 1 x Spare Body
- 2 x HQprop DT76mmx3 V2 Propellers (set of 4)
- 3 x Digital camera Canopies
- 1 x 15*150mm Battery Strap
- 1 x L-shaped Screwdriver 1.5mm
- 1 x Spare Screw Pack
- 1 x Battery Anti-slip Pad
- 1 x Damping Ball Set up Instrument
- 1 x Pin for DJI O4 Professional Bind Button
Specs
- Body: GEP-CL30 V3 with 2.5mm carbon fibre plate
- FC/ESC AIO Board: TAKER F722 45A 32-bit AIO
- Motor: SPEEDX2 1404 3850KV
- VTX & Digital camera: DJI O4 Air Unit Professional
- Battery Connector: XT30
- Weight (claimed): 187g
- Weight (measured): 192g
Design
The GEPRC Cinelog30 V3 isn’t simply one other cinewhoop with a modified digital camera mount. It’s clear that GEPRC designed this quad from the bottom up for DJI O4 Professional Air Unit, with particular consideration to protecting it underneath the 250g weight restrict—a threshold in lots of international locations that helps pilots keep away from registration and different authorized hurdles.
In comparison with the V2, the propeller guards have been noticeably bolstered, bettering crash resilience. They’re nonetheless fairly a flimsy design, positively not the strongest on the market, but it surely retains the load down so the sturdiness trade-off feels worthwhile.
There’s built-in LEDs contained in the ducts, and they are often toggled through a change (CH8), already arrange within the Modes tab by default.
The O4 digital camera is soft-mounted utilizing 4 silicone dampers, which successfully eliminates jello in flight footage. Nevertheless, in the event you crash, the mount might come unfastened—and getting these silicone balls again into place is a ache, even with the supplied device.
You possibly can entry the O4’s SD card slot and USB-C port simply by eradicating the rubber cowl—very user-friendly.
Contained in the body, there’s a intelligent “6-in-1” growth board that neatly connects the receiver, LED controller, buzzer, XT30, and FC USB port—all with out additional muddle. This makes a particularly clear construct.
Battery mounting is safe and versatile, accommodating numerous LiPo sizes. I examined 4S 550mAh, 650mAh, 850mAh, and even 1500mAh, all match properly. GEPRC contains two totally different straps lengths relying on the battery dimension, which is a considerate contact.
The Cinelog30 V3 weighed 192g with out battery, with a 4S 550mAh LiPo, brings the load to 249g. Any bigger batteries like an 850mAh pushed the load over the restrict (286g) however supplied considerably longer flight occasions.
If weight isn’t a problem, I like to recommend 4S 850mAh because it provides a fantastic stability between flight time and efficiency. I can comfortably get 7 to 7:half-hour of flight time. In any other case if you wish to keep sub-250, it is best to get a battery that’s lower than 58g.
Flight Efficiency
The GEPRC Cinelog30 V3 excels at easy, cinematic flying. It delivers jello-free, stabilized footage—good for capturing cinematic photographs.
Whereas it’s nimble sufficient to zip round indoor areas or tight gaps, it’s not a freestyle beast. Push it laborious by sharp corners or dives and also you’ll discover prop wash and minor instability, which is typical of cinewhoops. It’s additionally not very steady in windy situations.
Nevertheless, it’s surprisingly quiet, making it ultimate when it’s a must to fly round individuals or in busy environments the place you don’t need to draw an excessive amount of consideration.
GEPRC did a fantastic job with the PID tune, most individuals can be very proud of the way it flies out of the field. The drone felt highly effective, hovered round 23% throttle when utilizing a 4S 850mAh LiPo. GEPRC claims as much as 8 minutes of flight with 4S 720mAh batteries, however my real-world assessments confirmed shorter occasions, sometimes round 7:half-hour with an 850mAh battery.
I attempted utilizing a 4S 1500mAh which is usually thought-about too huge for such small drone, the Cinelog dealt with it with ease, hovered at solely 33% throttle. Nevertheless it didn’t appear to supply for much longer flight time as anticipated – solely 11 minutes, presumably because of the additional weight and effectivity loss.
And if you wish to meet the 250g weight requirement, you’ll have to use a smaller battery resembling 4S 550mAh, and it ought to provide you with 4 to five minutes of flight time which continues to be very respectable and it must also enhance dealing with, agility and energy for freestyle strikes too.
Issues and Limitations
The Cinelog30 V3 isn’t designed for newbie follow flights or informal crashing. Its gentle weight body is optimized for effectivity and cinematic flying, and capturing professional-quality footage, not hard-core freestyle bashing. Nevertheless, it’s additionally extraordinarily environment friendly for a cinewhoop. With the correct battery, it could simply hit 10+ minutes of flight time, which is uncommon for ducted quads.
The digital camera comfortable mounting is very efficient, and the DJI O4 digital camera footage is beautiful. For informal pilots, there’s no want to make use of a GoPro anymore in my view—the O4 Professional delivers 4K60, glorious stabilization, and D-Log M for colour grading. I like to recommend recording in 4:3 mode for optimum stabilization and discipline of view. Be certain that to make use of ND filters although if you wish to get the very best footage: https://oscarliang.com/nd-filter-fpv/
Though the Cinelog30 has sufficient energy to hold a GoPro, I don’t advocate it except completely crucial—the little enhancements in picture high quality doesn’t justify the additional weight and compromises flight time and dealing with.
This drone additionally reveals nice potential for long-range flights due to its effectivity. Nevertheless, it lacks a GPS module out of the field. That’s seemingly a design alternative since most cinewhoop flying is finished indoors or at brief vary. Nonetheless, in the event you plan to fly far or in difficult out of doors environments, I extremely advocate including a GPS and enabling Rescue Mode: https://oscarliang.com/setup-gps-rescue-mode-betaflight/
Lastly, I’m fairly upset that GEPRC is delivery the ESC with BLHeli_32 firmware, which is not being up to date: https://oscarliang.com/end-of-blheli_32/. Much more regarding, it’s a check model, not an official launch. In my testing, the ESC labored effective, but it surely’s one thing to pay attention to in the event you’re planning to replace or troubleshoot sooner or later.
How you can Setup
Earlier than the primary flight, I did the next:
- Eliminated all labels on the drone.
- Put in the 2 O4 antennas within the antenna mount.
- Eliminated the protecting movie from the digital camera lens.
- Set up the digital camera cover – select your favorite colour, all 3 protectors are an identical.
- Positioned the battery pad on the highest plate.
- Plug in a smoke stopper, and join a battery and check the drone and see if it powers up appropriately. You need to hear the ESC/motor initiation beeps.
Firmware
- The flight controller (FC) board goal is GEPRC_F722_AIO, and it comes preloaded with Betaflight firmware model 4.5.1. For inventory CLI Diff, see right here.
- ESC Firmware: BLHeli_32 Proto: 31.9.2 (24KHz)
- ELRS Receiver Firmware Goal: GEPRC Nano 2.4GHz PA100 RX, firmware 3.4.2
Betaflight Setup
Last Ideas
The GEPRC Cinelog30 has all the time been a well-designed and widespread line, and the V3 continues to boost the bar—now with full DJI O4 Professional assist.
This isn’t a freestyle basher. Its comparatively fragile prop guards make it much less ultimate for newcomers or those that crash often. However as a professional-grade cinewhoop, the GEPRC Cinelog30 V3 is excellent—good for filmmakers, content material creators, and pilots targeted on easy cinematic flying in tight areas. The principle concern can be the check model of BLHeli_32 firmware it’s utilizing, although it’s working simply effective in my testing, it’s one thing to remember.
If you need a sub-250 cinewhoop with DJI O4 Professional for cinematic flying, that’s highly effective, environment friendly, quiet, and superbly tuned proper out of the field—this could be my best choice.
