My new camera!

D

Digital Viper-X-

[H]F Junkie
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Dec 9, 2000
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I've already had it up for a few flights, no time to process the video =] GoPro Hero4 black on it. I'll post some videos / pics soon.

Video of the limited clips I have so far while messing around with GoPro Studio, once the weather gets a bit warmer I'll get some decent footage and shots !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiSsFBoeh_Q

I'm going with a co-worker to his Drift day at a local track, I was given permission to fly over the track and get some footage.

Right now I'm struggling with 2.7kp60 1080p120 or 720p240
 
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What did that set you back, for the camera and the drone? Whats the flying time for the drone?
 
ashman said:
What did that set you back, for the camera and the drone? Whats the flying time for the drone?
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All together so far I'm in for about $2000 Canadian. Drone + gimbal were $899 USD, GoPro was $420 Canadian on craigslist (brand new).

With the gimbal attached, and plugged in (stabilized), I get 15-20minutes per battery before it hits 10% and auto-lands.

Without , about 20-25minutes.
 
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Very cool! I have seen that a quad-copter setup exists for full-frame DSLR's, looks like it'd be a lot of fun, but I've been a little afraid to see what those cost yet. :p
 
madFive said:
Very cool! I have seen that a quad-copter setup exists for full-frame DSLR's, looks like it'd be a lot of fun, but I've been a little afraid to see what those cost yet. :p
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You can get a barebone octocopter for about $2.5k. Add gimbal and all the other jazz, and you should close somewhere in the $4k mark with a DSLR capable copter :cool: Looking forward to you getting one. ;)

edit. and apparently, DJI doesn't even make gimbals for Nikon DSLRs at the moment.
 
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lol - yeah, I was afraid it'd be about like that. I think I'd sooner be looking for an underwater housing setup, but that's not in the budget any time soon either.

Maybe renting the copter setup would be an option. Definitely seems like it'd be awesome fun to try. I'm not in any rush at the moment though.
 
I was just working on a friends drone like that replacing the gimbal for the second time in about 3 weeks.
first one wasn't too physically damaged but the motors were messed up and stuttered so it wasn't usable as s gimbal. The one I swapped out yesterday was totally deformed and the Hero4 Black had some case damage and the lens was scratched, and the RF cover on the video transmitter board was caved in a bit and tore off the heatshrink wrapping, but it still transmits video which was good.

They want me to swap out a gimbal and fix some wiring on their optocopter that holds their Red Epic camera.
Not sure if I can do that since my hips, neck, and back are messed up so I can't really move much. the smaller drone I can fix sitting at my desk.
 
^^ Wow - that sounds like a lot of wear & tear on the gear. Did someone crash the copter, or was that damage all just from flying it normally?

I know I personally suck at flying RC copters (or pretty much any RC vehicles for that matter) - not sure how common it is to crash the higher-end ones, but I would definitely want to get a ton more practice before taking up a rig that expensive.
 
Crashed a couple of times.
I saw footage of one crash and the drone just flipped sideways and dropped to the ground.
not sure what the issue was.
 
madFive said:
^^ Wow - that sounds like a lot of wear & tear on the gear. Did someone crash the copter, or was that damage all just from flying it normally?

I know I personally suck at flying RC copters (or pretty much any RC vehicles for that matter) - not sure how common it is to crash the higher-end ones, but I would definitely want to get a ton more practice before taking up a rig that expensive.
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If setup correctly, the DJI UAVs fly themselves, this one in gps mode , I can just leave the transmitter and it will stay within a meter of where I left it. You literally have to do something to crash it.

Their flying wings series carries full size DSLRs (canon 5d m3) and they also have a gh4 gimbal. =p. I have to. Say the zenmuse gimbal rocks!

Also the Inspire one has a built in 4K capable camera, however, is $3k USD, for that price, you can set one up to use your own DSLR instead, the nice thing about their all in one setups though, is that it broadcasts to your phone, where you can also control the camera.

If I use the Wifi on the GoPro, my range is about 100-150m tops on BOTH, they seem to interfere with one another :)

I've got these 2 on the way!
GoPro Batteries & charger
Lightweight ND Filter pack for the GoPro

as well as the a propeller balancer + ROD to reduce vibrations further

Also, if anyone is looking at getting something like this, I'd advise you to check out coptershop.com , they have great service. Best I've dealt with hands down.

Edit 1500: GoPros software for editing has some cool idea, but not great implementation :S
 
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiSsFBoeh_Q

you can see wobble in a few clips, I fixed most of it recently with firmware tweaks, also one was really bad because I used softer vibration dampeners.

This is just messing around, once the weather gets better I'll go out and get some good clips!
(Also i had it limited to 120 meters (360 feet roughly) )

I'm going with a co-worker to his Drift day at a local track in a month, I was given permission to fly over the track and get some footage. Right now I'm struggling with 2.7kp60 1080p120 or 720p240 for drift footage!
 
The 120fp would help with further stabilizing the footage in Adobe Premiere under stronger winds or worse vibrations. I'd see under what wind speeds I could get good footage with the 2.7kp60, stabilizing in software, and then outputting in Premiere at 24 or 30p.

I have a handful of shots I've thought about that can only be done with a quadcopter (I kite might work :eek:). I should really get one before they start requiring certifications and pilot licenses. :rolleyes:

Make sure to upload some 2.7k to Vimeo or Youtube.

Edit with 2.7k you also can down scale to 1080 and get a bit sharper of a picture. Once downscaled in Premiere or whatever you are using you'll need to apply a light sharpening filter to bring the detail out, but it will be better than the native 1080 recording. A lot of the youtube comparisons between 4k, 2.7k downscaling forget to apply the sharpening filter. Us photographers run into the same down scaling issue when scaling photos for posting to the web, or even printing.
 
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Premiere Pro CS6 doesn't like working with this 4K GoPro footage. Stutters badly on the timeline.
Even using a 1080P sequence, it will still stutter trying to play the 4K footage.
 
Zepher said:
Premiere Pro CS6 doesn't like working with this 4K GoPro footage. Stutters badly on the timeline.
Even using a 1080P sequence, it will still stutter trying to play the 4K footage.
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From your experience, what are the options for editing the 4k gopro?

I know with the 1080p I've done in Premiere CC some of the edits have a much bigger effect on the timeline smoothness than others. I'd assume a new GPU, for the gpu process combined with using the few hundred accelerated filters, would edit the 4k smoothly. I don't have a new GPU, so I'm stuck with only CPU processing. Been enough months, since I've used Premiere I don't really remember which filters slowed things down for me.
 
MN Scout said:
From your experience, what are the options for editing the 4k gopro?

I know with the 1080p I've done in Premiere CC some of the edits have a much bigger effect on the timeline smoothness than others. I'd assume a new GPU, for the gpu process combined with using the few hundred accelerated filters, would edit the 4k smoothly. I don't have a new GPU, so I'm stuck with only CPU processing. Been enough months, since I've used Premiere I don't really remember which filters slowed things down for me.
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the latest version of Premiere Pro CC has native GoPro 4K support, us CS6 and earlier users have to transcode to work with the file efficiently. :(

I personally haven't tried editing 4K footage, I just grabbed a clip from the Hero 4's memory card that was here when I was fixing the drone.
 
Mounted the FPV kit, iOSD (on screen display, shows altitude, speed, direction, battery life etc) + 600mw transmitter :p

7" monitor / receiver on the back end to see what I'll be shooting

 
this is the one I was working on for my friend.
drone-01.jpg


drone-02.jpg
 
your controller, is that the newer one with the gimbal tilt on the top left hand corner?
 
Yes it is, my drone is v2.0, so newer motors/esc, props and controller.

I Almost sold my drone and pre-ordered the Phantom 3 instead...

Also I mounted the anti-interference board, iOSD + Canbus connector on the inside of my drone, just keep it looking cleaner on the outside, and less chance of something falling off ^^, also, the anti-interference board has mounting holes that correspond to the mounting holes on the main PCB, so you can secure it in there nicely.

Edit: your securing pins should be mounted on opposite corners, (I know it blocks the gimbal, but if the gimbal turns that much, you have the landing gear in the shot)

my next mod will be retractable landing gear!

 
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I was going to ask about the pins, as I was installing them the first time according the directions, I noticed the gimbal would hit it, but it looks like the gimbal doesn't turn that much.
I'll move the pin to the back the next time the drone is here with me. I usually only see it when it's broken.
 
the 3DR Solo looks very interesting, considering it plugs into the gopro, and gives you full control of it through their interface.
 
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