Quadcopters?

lolage

lolage

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Ben
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Anyone know much about Quadcopters? I've been looking specifically at the DJI Phantom. Can get them in the UK for around £500 I think. I have a GoPro3 Black so would be using this on it.

Check out this video, he uses the DJI Phantom with a GoPro3 Black shooting 2.7k then he uses the warp stabilizer to make it even more smooth. Pretty good results for £500 imo?

[YOUTUBE]3Zi52uubtyg[/YOUTUBE]
 
not bad... not bad at all. Obviously needs adjusting to get the rotors out.

The sway concerns me a bit - but it's by no means unworkable. Hmm.


edit: dammit, now I'm looking at octocopters.
 
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itsdavedotnet said:
not bad... not bad at all. Obviously needs adjusting to get the rotors out.

The sway concerns me a bit - but it's by no means unworkable. Hmm.


edit: dammit, now I'm looking at octocopters.
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DJI are working on a new gimble which will give it no sway when doing turns.

What sort of octocopters are you looking at and what price?
 
itsdavedotnet said:
http://vimeo.com/60421962 this video doesn't sell the DJI to me quite so well...


sorry, I meant quadcopters!
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Do some research into the gimble they have produced for the GoPro! Not yet available, dealers in UK are expecting to hear about it in 2 weeks.

Check this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ERdty-1-TmY#t=52s

Looks pretty impressive to me! Interested to see some raw footage from this gimble but I'm guessing its going to be a lot better than the video you just posted!
 
http://quadcopter.heliguy.com/
http://www.buildyourowndrone.co.uk/
http://quadcopters.co.uk/index.asp

here a link to that gimbal
http://quadcopters.co.uk/gopro-2-axis-gimbal-for-dji-phantom-648-p.asp not expensive

I was going to get the DJI F450 Naza Ready to Fly with GPS
but a friend said he will build me one just waiting on him wish he hurry up
the body for mine is ie dead cat so props will be out the way but definitely some sort of gimbal is a must

forgot to mention I have a black edition
 
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the ghost said:
http://quadcopter.heliguy.com/
http://www.buildyourowndrone.co.uk/
http://quadcopters.co.uk/index.asp

here a link to that gimbal
http://quadcopters.co.uk/gopro-2-axis-gimbal-for-dji-phantom-648-p.asp not expensive

I was going to get the DJI F450 Naza Ready to Fly with GPS
but a friend said he will build me one just waiting on him wish he hurry up
the body for mine is ie dead cat so props will be out the way but definitely some sort of gimbal is a must

forgot to mention I have a black edition
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Cool, is the cost much different if you build it yourself? Also why is the F450 £350 more than the Phantom?

Also heres a video of the phantom with the new gimbal: https://vimeo.com/62966103

Very impressive!
 
snapper8v said:
I have a phantom and it's fantastic at taking still images. I have a GoPro 1 (HD) and I'm struggling with video stability (see thread above "video jerkiness"). The DJI gimbal hasn't been launched yet, but they are saying it will be less than $1K! I am seriously considering this gimbal http://www.hobby-wing.com/arris-cm2000-gopro-brushless-gimbal.html
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Less than $1k?! The copter is only £500...

Isn't the gimble £50ish? http://quadcopters.co.uk/gopro-2-axis-gimbal-for-dji-phantom-648-p.asp
 
Yep, it's dat isn't it. Nothing us official yet and DJI will be shooting themselves in the foot. I am flying FPV (first person view) which greatly helps in setting the shots up. The Phantom is a great entry level machine, but it does have its limits. A gimbal is a must if you're planning on videoing from it.
 
snapper8v said:
Yep, it's dat isn't it. Nothing us official yet and DJI will be shooting themselves in the foot. I am flying FPV (first person view) which greatly helps in setting the shots up. The Phantom is a great entry level machine, but it does have its limits. A gimbal is a must if you're planning on videoing from it.
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Yeah didn't realise there are different gimbles. But less than $1k is definitely stupid.

£5/600 is pretty much the top of my budget. I appreciate this isn't a lot for a quadcopter but doubling the cost just to make video stable puts it out of my budget. :(
 
less than $1k = £650....


depending on how much they shaft us non-US people, ofc
 
snapper8v said:
Ben, If you want any more advice, then by all means, drop me a PM or give me a call.

LAWRENCE
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Thanks man, will bear it in mind for when I have any questions. :)

itsdavedotnet said:
less than $1k = £650....


depending on how much they shaft us non-US people, ofc
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Yeah which more than doubles the cost of the Quadcopter at £500.
 
I've been considering some kind of UAV for a while now for taking aerial shots of accident/crime scenes (locus and road junctions etc.)

However I recently came across a site where it stated that you not only require hefty PL insurance cover & training, but also a licence, and permission/clearance every time you want to put in in the air, I'm sure there were also height restrictions mentioned, especially in urban areas.

Besides all the above, the DJI at £500 looks like a suitable product which is easy to control, but I'm not sure what additional accessories would be required to attach a video or still camera and how they could be controlled from the ground.
 
hahhhhh, the legalities of it are.... interesting. To say the least.

I'm not a lawyer, so I won't go into them here, there's plenty of legislation and coverage out there. But especially for any commercial use whatsoever, it's not easy...
 
You really need to check out RCGroups forum.

As with most things, it's very easy to spend lots of money very quickly (sounds familiar with photography). A google of Alexmos will bring up plenty of brushless gimbal info for you, especially on YouTube... it's been an interesting development time over the last 6 months or so for sure.

As mentioned, for commercial purposes there are hoops to climb through and certificates to gain but as a hobby there are less restrictions. FPV restrictions are still there though which are quite tight in the UK.

The Phantom is too small for real work tbh, there are other alternatives that are not stupid money and plenty of Chinese CF frames out there now.
 
Why? Autonomous vehicles definitely require legislation! Have you seen what half a dozen carbon fibre 15" dia props can do to you?
People think of these things as toys, they are not and they require safeguards.
There was an incident recently at the filming of X Factor in London when an octo dropped from the sky with a Zenmuse gimbal (£3k gimbal) and missed the crowds but ended up in the Thames. Some of these frames can weigh in at over 4Kg so can end up well and truly lethal should they come in your direction.
DJI recently updated there Nazza flight controller and firmware, as it turns out there are bugs in the software/firmware which has led them to pull the update for safety reasons. Accidents do happen so legislation needs to be in place to minimise risk to the public.
 
lolage said:
Yeah didn't realise there are different gimbles. But less than $1k is definitely stupid.

£5/600 is pretty much the top of my budget. I appreciate this isn't a lot for a quadcopter but doubling the cost just to make video stable puts it out of my budget. :(
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Buy an Alexmos control board and IMU, buy a couple of rewound brushless motors (iFlight for example), bend a few bits of aluminium and Bob's your uncle. (y) No need to spend lots on the gimbal to get great results, especially if just for a GoPro sized camera.

I'll add a link here shortly
Edit:
Link to one of many threads on the subject...
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=24854016&postcount=3604
 
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Have a look her... http://www.multi-rotor.co.uk Lots of useful stuff on there and plenty of friendly people on line.
I just sold my quad with the intention of building myself a large hexacopter for filming
Just need the cash......

Allan
 
snapper8v said:
To fly commercially, you need to sit a two part CAA course/exam which costs in excess of £2k! At the moment, I'm not making any money, but just making potential clients aware of its capabilities.:
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That seem similar to the information I found online, with the addition of having to apply for clearance/permission every time you want to fly it (I'm assuming this would depend on altitude), and I think there were a couple of other conditions mentioned.

And it was also mentioned that (for obvious reasons) clearance/permission won't be given to fly anywhere on a flight path within a certain distance from an airport
 
visagephoto said:
And it was also mentioned that (for obvious reasons) clearance/permission won't be given to fly anywhere on a flight path within a certain distance from an airport
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In which case, either Lawrence was a naughty boy or it's not true - take a closer look at the photos!


I'm more interested in how he got a commercial licence to shoot 3 and 4!
 
Don't premiere and final cut have video stabilisation built in so you can reduce some of the wobble? It's in imovie and I think YouTube also have it. Worth trying a few software solutions too.
 
srichards said:
Don't premiere and final cut have video stabilisation built in so you can reduce some of the wobble? It's in imovie and I think YouTube also have it. Worth trying a few software solutions too.
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Yes they do, but are a little too pricey if you don't already have the software plus, as we all should know, it's best to get the results in the camera to start with rather than relying on computer software :). If you add titles and allow Youtube to stabilize, then the titles are all over the show!
 
snapper8v said:
Yes they do, but are a little too pricey if you don't already have the software plus, as we all should know, it's best to get the results in the camera to start with rather than relying on computer software :). If you add titles and allow Youtube to stabilize, then the titles are all over the show!
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There is a camera steady shot for light cameras called the smooth shot. Wonder if you could modify one of those to fit the quadcopter? They're about £70 or so.
 
snapper8v said:
Photos 3 & 4 were taken during a quiet spell. I had a friend acting as a spotter, plus I was well below the legal maximum height of 400'.
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I wasn't asking about your permission to fly from the CAA.

Where you were taking the images from requires a commercial licence. It's nothing to do with aviation.

Did you acquire one?
 
snapper8v said:
To fly commercially, you need to sit a two part CAA course/exam which costs in excess of £2k! At the moment, I'm not making any money, but just making potential clients aware of its capabilities.

Since purchasing the DJI Phantom in February, I have spent £200 on FPV equipment. This includes transmitter from the GoPro so that I can see live footage, monitor and upgraded antenna. I have now purchased a brushless gimbal which has cost just over another £200, but will greatly enhance the video footage. I already had a GoPro, but if you need one, then add around £250-£300.

The beauty of it all is that it can be transferred to a larger machine at a later date when the work floods in :LOL:

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These shots are great, and the other vids using the quadcopters, I've got the Gopro 3 recently, and now I'd love one of those quads to compliment.(y)
 
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