Tell Us About Your Aerial Cinematography Setup

David Saraceno

David Saraceno

Moderator
Staff member
I am videoing with a Lumenier QAV400 quadcopter with a DJI H3-2D gimbal and a GoPro Hero 3 BE camera.

Quad: Lumenier QAV400
Motors: Lumenier 2216/1100 kv
ESCs: SimonK Lumenier 30a
Receiver: Spektrum AR8000
Transmitter: Spektrum DX8
Flight Controller: DJI Naza M v.2/no GPS module
Battery: 4s 3300mah
Brushless Gimbal: DJI H3-2D

Flight times for most aerial videography sessions run about 8 minutes.

I also have flown a Y6, with a TPPacks.com AG500 brushless gimbal, and a Sony RX100 cam.
 
Still learning with my 6 month old DJI Phantom 1 fitted with aeroXcraft 2 axis gimbal & GoPro Hero 3 Black. Will wait for the dust to settle on the Zenmuse H3-3D which seems to be having a few (expected) teething problems. Would them upgrade to the Phantom 2- though am a bit concerned over its "intelligent" battery which has been seen to switch off unexpectedly! A few faulty batteries or an inherent problem?
 
YAY, the multicopter forum is here.

I started with a Phantom and I have 2 x Naza based Vulcan frames, one of which is a Mantis, one is my own somewhat quirky custom build (I reduced the arm length to make it a compact quad).

Overall the Naza is good for a simply starting FC, but it's not as smart as competing products with open source heritage, so I also have the 3D Robotics IRIS with has the Pixhawk so I could educate myself on this more complex controller, I like this as it has effectively a built in black box that records to SD and it transmits telemetry to a PC or tablet and it comes complete with everything you need to use telemetry, it's very impressive, for me not because you can plan a mission and execute it, but because it will alert you to any problems, so if the GPS gets a glitch or a magnetic source is hindering the compass you get alerts so can take corrective action.

I've been on the receiving end of 2 fly-aways one, I recovered with crash damage, but more importantly I managed to not injure anyone, one I lost, also I witnessed a friend's Naza do the same though he thankfully recovered his, but this made me aware of potential problems with GPS and that's why I looked at competing flight controllers which also aren't perfect but have some documented safeguards. I'm also wanting to build a fun FPV multicopter likely based around the Openpilot CC3D.

I now fly almost 100% with a 3rd party GPS tracker, with typically 2 spotters, though sometimes one. I have a screen for framing shots from the gimbals and am thinking about having a backup FPV camera as well.

With the exception of the IRIS, I have Tiger motors, quality ESCs with the Simon K software, I have a Hitek Aurora 9, but will be moving onto primarily the FrSky Taranis. Battery wise I mainly use MaxAmps and I pump them full of juice using a 1150W PSU into a Hyperion charger.
 
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Fly-catchers said:
though am a bit concerned over its "intelligent" battery which has been seen to switch off unexpectedly! A few faulty batteries or an inherent problem?
Click to expand...

This has now been fixed, this was naughty by DJI, they added a battery check in the P2 (without telling users), but it made false positives which then immediately landed the Phantom, even if it was over water, even when DJI had users complaining they denied there was a problem until the complaints were pouring onto forums, after which they acknowledged the problem and removed the battery check in-flight.
 
Many thanks to Dave for spearheading this forum.

I fly the following:

DJI S800 with Z15 gimbal and "hacked" GH2
DJI S1000 with Z15 gimbal for GH3 (soon to be replaced with GH4)
Jago folding Quad powered with DJI E600 Tuned Propulsion system
Phantom 2 with H3-3D gimbal & Hero3+ with RageCams 5.4mm lens replacement

www.visual-aerials.com
 
Jason! Many thanks for starting this section of the forum. This past weekend I was talking to tim hyten about how much I missed the old days here. It is nice to be back!
 
Welcome Mark. Great to see you.

Mark is a great resource for aerial videography. He actually has more multi rotors than Boeing has airplanes.

:)
 
benniles said:
I'm curious, what are people using as there FPV solution on the DJI Phantom 2 with the GoPro Hero 3?

Do any of you have experience with the AVL58?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/998680-REG/dji_cp_al_000001_5_8gzhz_video_kit.html

What do you use to monitor the footage?
Click to expand...
The DJI transmitter works fine, but there are cheaper and arguably better third party video transmitters. This combination is fairly common (you can also buy without the receiver):

http://www.getfpv.com/5-8ghz-32ch-fpv-av-600mw-transmitter-receiver.html

The black pearl monitor is very well liked by FPV flyers that don't go the goggles route:

http://www.dronefly.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=7-Inch-Monitor
 
benniles said:
I'm curious, what are people using as there FPV solution on the DJI Phantom 2 with the GoPro Hero 3?

Do any of you have experience with the AVL58?...
Click to expand...

I also agree that there are other alternatives but I find myself using the AVL58 on my Phantoms mainly because: 1) changing channels is EASY - just push the channel button and it flashes LED patterns to show you what channel you are on. All the other 5.8 transmitters I have require the tedious process of flipping dip-switches (ugh); 2) the release of the FPV board by DJI lets you hook up the AVL58 and gimbal to the Phantom and iOSD without any soldering. Very slick; 3) with a diversity receiver (BOSCAM) it has great range (2,222 meters for me so far and I believe we can easily crack 2 miles if we have no obstructions).

I use the Zeiss Cinemizer goggles but they are a bit pricey (still, the image is amazingly sharp and bright with its OLED screens). I hear the new FatShark HD goggles coming out any day now also use OLED screens and should be comparable. A unique alternative are the EPSON Moverio glasses that project an image on transparent goggles - much like a HUD (Heads-Up Display). These allow you to see your craft while also having the image and telemetry projected over the visual field. Very cool. Here's my review of them: http://www.visual-aerials.com/epson-moverio-glasses.html My film company shoots for EPSON and has done video promos for their developers and I can tell you the new BT-200 glasses are much lighter and have brighter and better resolution. I am getting a developer pair to test and I'll report more on those here as soon as I get them.

Lastly, I also do like flying with a monitor on occasion. I have the Black Pearl and it is convenient but, frankly, I'm less than impressed with its diversity receiver. I much prefer this quad diversity receiver used with four different antennas (mad mushroom; patch; spiral; and hybrid). As it happens, I just walked in today and found a package from Amazon with this 7" inch monitor that I have high hopes for. It is listed as "sunlight readable" which, if true, will be a huge benefit for FPV flying. The Black Pearl and others really wash out in bright sunlight so I am hoping this one performs better. It has both HDMI and composite inputs.

I'll review the monitor and the new EPSON glasses as soon as I can test both of them.
 
Cool, I look forward to your review Mark.
the Idea of a cheap monitor that doesn't wash out in bright sunlight sounds very promising.
 
benniles said:
Cool, I look forward to your review Mark.
the Idea of a cheap monitor that doesn't wash out in bright sunlight sounds very promising.
Click to expand...

Yes indeed. The operative word here is "cheap" ... I was able to find a marine monitor on ebay that is incredible with 1100 nits brightness. I got it for a couple hundred bucks, which was a steal as the unit lists for over $3,000 new. For people serious about daylight viewing I would recommend periodically trolling for "marine monitor" on ebay. I've seen a couple other FPV guys who found similar scores. I also use a Pansonic ToughBook for the ground station display when we fly our bigger copters. It's totally sunlight viewable and is a great tool.
 
Here are my two.... Phantom 2 is our first love, still enjoy using it.

Droidworx set up for the blackmagic pocket for more serious work.... This is still causing us some headaches, but is a very solid copter, if you are not keen on the larger hex/octocopters.

1902999_10152078394651915_558312034532321949_n.jpg
 
I started with a Phantom 2 w/H3-2D gimbal and stock gopro 3+ black edition. Then I saw some side by side shots of the same camera and gimbal on a DHJ F550 hex and the video footage was much more stable. Plus, if you lose 1 motor or prop on a quad, its gonna fall like a rock. Lose a prop or motor on a hex and it will fall much more gently due to the redundancy (technically you could lose 2 motors if they were opposite each other and still land relatively gently if your load wasnt close to the max thrust to begin with).

Anyway the F550 pictured below has the following gear

DJI F550 kit with black arms instead of white and a 3rd party landing gear (just ordered retractable landing gear today, cant wait to put those on!)
E300 tuned propulsion system (motors and ESCs)
H3-2D gimbal (soon to be replaced with the H3-3D gimbal)
modded GoPro 3+ Black (adding the 5.4mm non fisheye lens when it arrives in the mail)
Mini iOSD
Naza V2 + GPS
Futaba 10j
5.8 gHz 32 channel video transmitter sending to a 5.8 gHz receiver mounted to a 10" monitor.
4s 6600mAh batteries for the hex

It was my first multicopter scratch build and im pretty hooked! It get 10 minutes of flight before I gota land and swap batteries. Will be switching to spiral video antennas to get better reception until i get the lightbridge when i can afford it.

2.jpg3.jpg
 
image.jpgimage.jpgI fly an Arris M680 Hex:

DJI Naza v2
DJI iOSD Mini
DJI BTU for field settings
DJI iPad Ground Station for waypoints and such
Fat Shark Attitude v2 goggles with Trinity Headtracker and PTR camera mount
Arris Zhaoyun Gimbal w/ NEX-5n
Futaba 8FG Super for copter control
Spektrum DX6i for gimbal control
Boscam video tx/rx for the camera op
 
We fly a custom built heli with six AXI 2826/12 motors, currently capable of carrying a GH3 for 16 minutes plus return time in no wind at standard sea level. One of my team also owns a Phantom, but it's not for the more serious work. And we have a fixed wing for experimenting with survey work, but it's not an advanced one quite yet. This is an older picture, it now has a larger body and three batteries. For scale, the rotors are all 14".


ap1b.jpg
 
My Rig: OSTRC.com Zero UAV "High One", Z1400 Gimbal, Panasonic GH4, Futaba 14SG, DSLRPros Diversity FPV Monitor
 

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wannabeapilot said:
i have been trying to find reviews of the high one.

What are your thoughts on it?

Is it worth the large price tag?
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It is not a large price tag when you think about it. A zenmuse for this size camera will set you back around 3k. It comes with dual gps for redundancy, hdmi video converter, video tx, and a case. it is artf and very easy to set up. perhaps the most stable unit available out there. ostrc sells it with free futaba 14sg until may31 $550 value. It is a good bargain considering what you get.

There are not many reviews on the High one as it is new and Zero UAV doesn't do the advertising DJI does. But if you look at forums for zero uav gemini and or ys-x6 you never hear of fly aways and such. The helicopter is the nicesest I've ownd and I've owned all kinds of multirotors and CP helis like gaui and SAB. It is top notch gear. The only downfall is the focumentation is not very good. they really need a more user friendly GUI and set of instructions. But really it is easier to get going than a DJI product, there is just not much documentation of videos out there, in English anyway.
 
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