TBS Discovery - SCARY flying over Wisconsin

[Spyderarm]

Just came back from Wisconsin and thought I would post this short video of some pretty scary flying with the TBS Discovery, at least for me. Definitely some pretty fall colors, but there is just NO END to the lakes in that State. Flew over some marshes, muddy little swallowers of equipment. And lots and lots of corn fields, where, although I'm not a farmer, I'm told that if you lose your quad in the corn, it's not going to be found until the FALL HARVEST, and then, probably found first by some sort of threshing machine.

In any event- pretty nervewracking flying, but pretty. Some FPV, some LOS flying. Any tips on the setup of the Disco appreciated.

Anyway, here's the Youtube link, and a Vimeo link in case Youtube gives you trouble - Watch in HIGH DEFINITION if you can:


YOUTUBE LINK http://youtu.be/Kbx9v3td2P0

VIMEO LINK https://vimeo.com/76926840

 

[DucktileMedia]

Any reason you posted this 3 times? Nice scenery, but I couldnt watch much as it gave me a headache with all the shaking and jello.

 

[Spyderarm]

Yes, thanks for your comment - but that's basically why I posted three times - to get as much advice as possible if different people just hit a few of their own forums. But that's what I'm struggling with - this persistent vibration and jello. I've balanced props and motors several times, put the Go Pro on two different densities of vibration foam, now I'm thinking it may be radio interference from my video equipment which is mounted on the left side of the Go Pro - the side that seems to have slightly more jiggle. Any ideas? I could use some help.

 

[Rainman]

Yes, thanks for your comment - but that's basically why I posted three times - to get as much advice as possible if different people just hit a few of their own forums. But that's what I'm struggling with - this persistent vibration and jello. I've balanced props and motors several times, put the Go Pro on two different densities of vibration foam, now I'm thinking it may be radio interference from my video equipment which is mounted on the left side of the Go Pro - the side that seems to have slightly more jiggle. Any ideas? I could use some help.

To be honest I found the jiggling more distracting than the jello, however to resolve the stability issues then you really need a gimbal and that in turn is also likely to solve the jello too since the most gimbals have pretty decent seperation and damping solutions as part of their design.

I've recently converted my F450 into a TBS Discovery purely for the purposes of FPV with no gimbal. I have a DJI F550 with a Zen H3-2D gimbal and so I don't need my Disco to be another AVP platform and really just want to leave it raw and fun to fly. Looking at the way in which the Disco is desgined then you're really only left with their own brushless gimbal solution, but my own feeling is that if you really want stablised footage via a better selection of gimbals then you're probably better off to use the F450 frame and the multitude of solutions available. When I was flying my F450 I got some great footage with an Aeroxcraft gimbal but building a Disco and putting an undercarriage on it and hanging a gimbal underneath seems to defeat the point of the Disco frame layout.

Anyway, thats just my thoughts on the matter ... but back to the REAL issue here, and thats the content of your footage. It's really really nice. Lovely scenary, great compositions, nicely controlled flying and framing of the subject matter, it's a really nice job considering that you're not using a gimbal. Sure you can do something nice things with the Discovery but best to keep in mind that it's not really designed to be an all out APV platform, it's definately more focussed on general FPV and just having a blast and you'll get some nice shots whilst you're having fun. And thats exactly what you have. Nice work!

... I am still left wondering what footage you would have had if you'd shot it from an F450 and a Zenmuse underneath.

 

[Spyderarm]

Rainman, very, very intelligent posting - wow, I think you've hit it exactly. The Disco was always a compromise between Aerial Photography platform and a screaming FPV flyer, probably more FPV in its earlier version. And I have fun with both aspects. Short of dedicating two craft, I think I may be approaching the limits. It's just frustrating that I know I've seen better video from Discos - not much - but some - so I know it's possible. Thanks very much for your advice, and the comments on the footage. At least I wanted to share those images, such as they are, with people who may not see Wisconsin like that. Good luck with your efforts.

 

[Michael64]

Nothing scary about it, just have alot of work to do to the machine to make it viewable. You do a nice job of editing but you need something useable to edit first.

Michael64

 

[FlyGirl]

I liked it a lot.... There were some frames there that would make exceptionally beautiful still photos.... You can still do that even if the Disco is primarily an FPV machine

 

[Spyderarm]

Thanks, Michael and Flygirl. I've received a lot of good tips to try out on this site and others, so I'm thinking I'm moving forward. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to show the images - very pretty countryside. Good point on the still photos. I made one of the silo photos into a still - it was perfect. It's just the video that's shaky, can't seem to correct that with this one anyway. Thanks for the advice.

 

[PeteDee]

If you are even slightly worried about losing your machines then add some sort of tracking, I use a GPS Phone tracker, call it and it tells you exactly where it is, cost is about $25 plus a prepaid SIM. If I am going to be way out with no phone coverage I use my Eagle Tree telemetry to give me the last known location that the video stream could see.

All cheap insurance.

Pete

 

[Spyderarm]

Thanks, Pete, I do have one right now called the Loc8tor, out of England, I believe, a very small, very lightweight device on the craft that sends out a ping when your Loc8tor transmitter gets within about 200 feet. My EagleTree telemetry sends out last known location recorded to my DVR, and that gets me close enough. Haven't used it for real yet, but it works in tests. I'll have to check out yours, as well -thanks for the tip.