In what world does this make sense??

"CAR_IS_MI" (car-is-mi) 01/29/2016 at 14:38 • Filed to: None

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Okay so semi-car related in the fact that its pertaining to an idea for a project of sorts. I received a drone from Mr. Clause this past holiday season, a pretty nice one at that, complete with a 4k camera mounted to a 3 axis gimbal.

Anywho, the company who makes this, also makes a handheld mount for the camera, so you can use it as a 4k camera on a gimbal in places drone use would be inappropriate.

So this handheld thingy retails for $150 and is basically a plastic handle with some electronics to control the gimbal. It’s powered by 6 AA batteries and includes nothing but the handle and the bits inside. You have to hook it up to your phone via wifi (built into the camera) and supply your own batteries.

Well for $150 I said, meh. But then I was perusing the interwebs and found it at B&H photo for $80, so I bought it. Then I ran out and bought a stack of AA batteries and...

It didnt work.

So I did some research and it turns out you must use NiMH rechargables. So I ran out and bought NiMH rechargables, and a charger, and chrged them over night.

Went out this morning to try it out. First the app kept crashing, then I reset my phone and it connected, I got through 2 seconds of video and the camera dropped below proper amperage to keep the wifi going and I had to restart, by the time I reconnected the power was so low in the batteries I couldnt even get a video signal.

Dig a bit more into it, it seems the AA batteries dont have the power needed to keep a 5.8 ghz wifi signal, 4k camera, and a 3 axis gimbal going for very long.

New idea.

Same company also makes a 3 axis gimball for the gopro. the gopro would provide its own power source and wifi, and the batteries only need power the gimbal.

I go online to find the gimbal, and it costs $400. it does not include the gopro. I can buy the base drone with the same gimbal mount and a remote (no spare parts, case, etc) for $449... I can buy the drone with no camera mounts and a basic remote for ... $400.

Lets review:

Drone itself = $400

GoPro gimbal = $400

Drone + gimbal = $449

It would be more cost effective for me to buy the drone and gimbal, then I have both the gimbal, and a spare drone in case I crash mine like I did yesterday.

/rant / that is all for now, more to come.

HammerheadFistpunch > CAR_IS_MI 01/29/2016 at 14:48

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This is relevant to my interests. We’ve been talking about getting the DJI with remote gimbal system but I hadn’t heard anyone who’d used it. Sounds like its a miss.

CAR_IS_MI > HammerheadFistpunch 01/29/2016 at 15:18

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I would avoid the DJI. My reasons below:

1) Replacement parts are bought pre assembled (i.e. you cant replace just the body, you have to replace the body with the electronics and motors built in already)

2) you must use your phone as the screen, or use your phone to relay to an FPV headset.

3) Camera not included

4) upcharge because of name.

Don’t get me wrong, they make a good product, and if you’re getting into the commercial side of things that’s a different story, but, for a hobbyist, I don’t recommend it.

http://www.horizonhobby.com/media/chroma/B…

This is what I got. Blade chroma, 4k on gimbal, st-10+ controller (which has a live feed video and real time telemetry from GPS), 2 batteries, charger, spare props, and the backpack which is super useful when hiking.

It has 6 total modes starting with basic which limits your range and puts a “safety fence” in a radius of the controller so you dont accidentally crash into yourself. as you get more comfortable you can keep stability on but increase range and speed up to about 20mph, then as you get advanced it will limit pitch and yaw but you control altitude and speed, and finally, no reigns, you can do full on flips and everything, which is the mode I had mine in when I accidentally over yawed and crashed into the side of a mountain at 42 mph yesterday...

It also has 2 modes where it will track the controller so that you can do other stuff while it records you.

Highly recommended for entry to mid level use. great quality, great customer support, parts are easily had and relatively cheap.

TheRealBicycleBuck > HammerheadFistpunch 01/29/2016 at 18:45

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I have a Phantom 2, so I can provide some insight. I’m waiting for a buddy to go fly with, so I may cut this short and provide more later.

You have to be careful which version you get. I inherited this one from a coworker, so I didn’t get to spec it out.

This one is a base model with a Zenmuse gimbal, mini OSD, and a 5.8ghz FPV system. I can’t use the ground station app to set up and fly waypoints or find the quad if it goes down since it wasn’t spec’d with the right hardware. I’m going to find out this weekend if I can fly with the alternate flight modes

All that being said, it flies really well and gets great video with the GoPro. Flying with GPS is super-stable. The return to home feature saved me a few days ago when I lost it in the sun and the FPV was getting a bit flaky. That’s a super handy feature.

I'll post more later gotta go fly before the sun goes down!

TheRealBicycleBuck > HammerheadFistpunch 01/29/2016 at 21:30

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OK, I’m back from flying. We went over to a nearby school parking lot which remains lighted 24/7, so we put in some sunset/night flying.

This is essentially what I am flying. The gimbal is super-stable and the video is a good as it gets from a GoPro. If you upgrade to a Futaba T8FG, you can slow down the response to get buttery-smooth rotation rates. Without this enabled, the rotation can be rather quick.

This is the Futaba radio with the FPV camera mounted and on. The quad is sitting on the dining table, so the video feed is showing a placemat. You can also see the on-screen display. It gives information about the GPS status, the battery, an artificial horizon, horizontal and vertical speed indicators, and an indicator for home - shown as a diamond when the quad is facing it, an arrow on the left or right to let you know which way is home if it’s pointed away from home.

The quad has a couple of nifty modes to make filming a little easier. They are called Intelligent Orientation Controls (IOC) and they make it easier to orient the quad toward the subject while flying in a consistent direction. Think of trying to track a car down a street while flying sideways. There’s a mode which makes that task a lot easier.

Dave flies a Solo from 3DR. His also uses a GoPro, but he has full control of it while in the air. The best I can do is turn on the camera and set it to record before taking off. We learned a lot about other differences while flying tonight.

The Solo seems to fly faster, but the Phantom seems to rotate faster. Dave uses an iPhone for FPV, so I have the better view between the two of us. On the other hand he could use an iPad. A Phantom can use an iPad, but the way mine is configured, it cannot. Since I am using an aftermarket display, I have a bit more range and clarity.

The Solo also has some great cinematic features. For example, it has “selfie” mode. In this mode, it starts in a hover, then automatically flies up and backwards to a set distance, then flies back to the starting point. There are lots of other neat tricks which you can check out here .

Of the two, the DJI has the larger market share and there are plenty of videos, forms, etc. where you can get help. However, I found that DJI doesn’t have great customer service, negating some of that benefit. From what I’ve seen, I think the 3DR is probably the more user-friendly bird.

If you have questions, post them to Oppo and I’ll try to answer them.