As somebody captivated with FPV drones, I used to be excited to get my palms 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 the whole lot you could know from my expertise—and whether or not that is the fitting drone for you.
New to FPV? Try 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 recognize:
- 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 Software
- 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, enhancing crash resilience. They’re nonetheless fairly a flimsy design, positively not the strongest on the market, but it surely retains the burden down so the sturdiness trade-off feels worthwhile.
There’s built-in LEDs contained in the ducts, and they are often toggled through a swap (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, should you crash, the mount might come unfastened—and getting these silicone balls again into place is a ache, even with the supplied device.
You’ll be able to 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” enlargement board that neatly connects the receiver, LED controller, buzzer, XT30, and FC USB port—all with out further muddle. This makes an especially clear construct.
Battery mounting is safe and versatile, accommodating numerous LiPo sizes. I examined 4S 550mAh, 650mAh, 850mAh, and even 1500mAh, all match nicely. GEPRC consists of two totally different straps lengths relying on the battery measurement, which is a considerate contact.
The Cinelog30 V3 weighed 192g with out battery, with a 4S 550mAh LiPo, brings the burden to 249g. Any bigger batteries like an 850mAh pushed the burden over the restrict (286g) however supplied considerably longer flight instances.
If weight isn’t a problem, I like to recommend 4S 850mAh because it presents an excellent steadiness 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, you must get a battery that’s lower than 58g.
Flight Efficiency
The GEPRC Cinelog30 V3 excels at clean, cinematic flying. It delivers jello-free, stabilized footage—good for capturing cinematic pictures.
Whereas it’s nimble sufficient to zip round indoor areas or tight gaps, it’s not a freestyle beast. Push it arduous by way of sharp corners or dives and also you’ll discover prop wash and minor instability, which is typical of cinewhoops. It’s additionally not very secure in windy situations.
Nevertheless, it’s surprisingly quiet, making it ultimate when it’s a must to fly round folks or in busy environments the place you don’t wish to draw an excessive amount of consideration.
GEPRC did an excellent job with the PID tune, most individuals can be very pleased with 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 instances, usually round 7:half-hour with an 850mAh battery.
I attempted utilizing a 4S 1500mAh which is often thought of 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, probably because of the further 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 first rate and it also needs to enhance dealing with, agility and energy for freestyle strikes too.
Concerns and Limitations
The Cinelog30 V3 isn’t designed for newbie apply 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 fitting battery, it might probably simply hit 10+ minutes of flight time, which is uncommon for ducted quads.
The digital camera tender mounting is extremely efficient, and the DJI O4 digital camera footage is beautiful. For informal pilots, there’s no want to make use of a GoPro anymore for my part—the O4 Professional delivers 4K60, wonderful stabilization, and D-Log M for colour grading. I like to recommend recording in 4:3 mode for optimum stabilization and subject of view. Be certain to make use of ND filters although if you wish to get the absolute 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 needed—the little enhancements in picture high quality doesn’t justify the additional weight and compromises flight time and dealing with.
This drone additionally exhibits nice potential for long-range flights due to its effectivity. Nevertheless, it lacks a GPS module out of the field. That’s doubtless a design alternative since most cinewhoop flying is finished indoors or at brief vary. Nonetheless, should you plan to fly far or in difficult outside environments, I extremely advocate including a GPS and enabling Rescue Mode: https://oscarliang.com/setup-gps-rescue-mode-betaflight/
Lastly, I’m fairly dissatisfied that GEPRC is transport the ESC with BLHeli_32 firmware, which is now 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 concentrate on should you’re planning to replace or troubleshoot sooner or later.
The right way to 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
Ultimate Ideas
The GEPRC Cinelog30 has all the time been a well-designed and common line, and the V3 continues to lift 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 learners or those that crash ceaselessly. However as a professional-grade cinewhoop, the GEPRC Cinelog30 V3 is great—good for filmmakers, content material creators, and pilots centered on clean 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 bear in mind.
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 is able to be my best choice.