Best batteries

[Flyinarmbar]

Hello all,newbie here, great site! I have recently purchased a dji 450 for aerial photography. It has naza lite gps, 1000kv ntm prop drives, 10" props, tarot t2 gimbal running go pro hero 3 and 5.8 G video and a futaba t8j. It came to me with 3 cell 11.1v batts. Two 3000 mah zippy batts and a turnigy 5000 mah 3 cell. As of now, I am using balanced plastic 10" props. My flight times with the 5000 seems too short as when I plug it in I lift off,get situated with about a minute of low flight( 6' to 12') then I shoot up to about 100 ft and after about 20 seconds the red light blinks letting me know to lower to safer heights. I fly about roof height until depleted. A total of 7 mins flight time. With the 3000 zippy, I get about 5 mins. Are there better quality brands to buy for more flight time? I understand the more mah, the heavier. Any ideas on brands for maybe a 8000 mah battery. Also do I have to use 3 cell or can I go to 4 cell. It uses the yellow TGY xt69 connectors to batts.
Also will smaller prop blades give me more control and be smoother? Say 8" or 9" what would I be sacrificing?
Any help is much appreciated. Thanks all!

 

[gtranquilla]

The force of gravity, being nearly exponential, means that the amount of battery capacity one needs to provide the needed flight time very rapidly increases in accordance with any increase in your MR - AUW, i.e., All-Up-Weight. Some factors help to optimize flight efficiency as weight increases:
1) Slower rotating but larger diameter propellers
2) Higher voltage batteries
3) Lower KV motors designed to handle the higher voltage

Also at some point the law of diminishing return kicks in such that total flight time is only marginally increased when the batteries are oversized. To get a handle and greater perspective on how these factors interact, you need to get immersed in using eCalc for Multirotors. And finally the wild card in these scenarios are batteries with overstated capacity and/or C rating.