Zenmuse Z15 5D MARK III

[Quinton]

I believe it is a firmware problem.
It looks like its locked in orientation locked mode, notice when you stop panning that the horizon levels out.
The 3 modes simply don't work on the 5D
I have asked others here but have not had any reply so have sort of given up until DJI have a fix.

I don't think DJI know exactly what they are doing at the moment, one minute they asked me to send mine back then the next minute..


"What you are experiencing is correct with the current version of firmware. So there is no need to return them to us, as we can not do anything to correct this.

As yet, we do not have a release date for updated firmware."

Just cant believe they released an expensive item like this with a major problem.

 

[Tuukkuli]

"What you are experiencing is correct with the current version of firmware. So there is no need to return them to us, as we can not do anything to correct this.

As yet, we do not have a release date for updated firmware."

Just cant believe they released an expensive item like this with a major problem.

So they gave the above as a reply to you when you complained about the horizon drift issue? Whaaaat?!??! This business is unbelievable. Will it stay like this for ever? If yes, I am going to bail out to things less frustrating and expensive.

What is supposed to be the difference between orientation-locked and non orientation-locked mode? I see no difference. The gimbal pans 360 and tilts in both modes.

 

[Quinton]

I bet your reset does not work, nor the "switch" to tilt forward/down too.
Have asked others but never got an answer.

 

[Tuukkuli]

Reset - miraculously - works. It centres the pan back towards the nose. The switch with what one is supposed to choose wether the cam looks forward/down in reset, does not work. And video rec/photo trigger does not work.

At the moment 5D seems to earn a very strong DO NOT BUY! warning. I thought that by paying a hefty premium and accepting I can only use one camera/lens combo, I would at least have had the benefit of silky smooth footage with minimal headaches. But no. The horizon is much worse than in my much cheaper Alexmos gimbal. Ridiculous.

 

[Quinton]

Reset - miraculously - works. It centres the pan back towards the nose.

Yes but does it also reset pitch/roll?
Its supposed to, but it does not work, you have no way of knowing if you are completely vertical or level on roll access.

 

[Tuukkuli]

Yes but does it also reset pitch/roll?
Its supposed to, but it does not work, you have no way of knowing if you are completely vertical or level on roll access.

No it does not reset pitch/roll. I disabled roll from my tx because whats the point? You only roll accidentally when tilting.

There is so big contradiction between what is promised on DJI´s webpage and what is delivered that it seems criminally misleading to me. There should be a class action against DJI and other bull****ters. Maybe then they could understand that what you promise, you must keep. And that incomplete products should not be marketed falsely and sold for big amounts of money.

 

[sk8brd]

you guy's updated to latest firmware on A2 or wkm and gcu right? http://www.dji.com/product/zenmuse-z15-5d/download. does the gimbal spin freely in all directions when off with no resistance? no axis should be stiff if it is then there is a cable hitting the gimbal that can cause a few issues like spinning on startup that doesn't stop and maybe weird tilt that doesn't fix itself until you hit fpv reset. these things helped a gh3 zen that was experiencing issue like you guy's are stating, no trigger, tilted cam, fpv reset not working, and endless spin at startup.

 

[Tuukkuli]

Yes, latest firmwares on Wookong-M, Gimbal IMU and Gimbal control unit. The gimbal moves freely to all directions and after adding a little tin weight to roll axis, the balance is perfect.

 

[sk8brd]

tuukkuli-wow man don't know of any other solution's that's total BS for the price. where are all the dji support members on the forum-they should be letting dji know and get this sorted out for you---yesterday..here is a prime opportunity!! 3k for a non working gimbal is the reason people don't like the company. if it's just a firmware problem then where is the fix..Don't they test their product's out before they sell them??????

 

[Tuukkuli]

Yes indeed. And not only this. My vendor told me upon replacing the gimbal that at least 30% of the Z15-5D gimbals were broken when they arrived. 30%!!! So it seems DJI dont test their products at all.

Seems to me that the ugly truth is that DJI as the market leader shamelessly sells everything they can knowing the products are not ready. In their greed they dont have the time or interest to test or develop their products to an acceptable level before starting to sell them.

This must be OK in Chinese culture. I have heard so so many similar experiences from different branches of heavy industry for example.

 

[sk8brd]

yeah- happens in many industries and it's a shame. well i had a bit of a run in with a dji support member on another thread about the mac software for the a2. i believe his heart's in the right place but what can he really do if this is their business model. it's a shame cause if everything worked right dji could be at the top. i'm sure it's harder to design things from scratch then just bench test unit's before its sent into the wild. its a serious wtf moment when you spend thousands of dollars on stuff that not ready for prime time. same thing happened on my early zenmuse hero's- same- $hit. needed two of em to get one to work. at this point it should not be a surprise to anyone that the possibility of getting a working as advertised 5d gimbal is slim to none and if you do your one lucky sob. as much as i was wanting to stick with the zenmuse z15 on my next build i think i'm better off holding out for the freefly movi m5.i'm not much of a freefly guy- there stuff while good is grossly overpriced. i planned the whole build around the exact weight of the zen and cam- I'm weird like that and wanted the most efficient setup as possible. don't know what to do now.:upset:

 

[jimmygixxer]

Yes indeed. And not only this. My vendor told me upon replacing the gimbal that at least 30% of the Z15-5D gimbals were broken when they arrived. 30%!!! So it seems DJI dont test their products at all.

Seems to me that the ugly truth is that DJI as the market leader shamelessly sells everything they can knowing the products are not ready. In their greed they dont have the time or interest to test or develop their products to an acceptable level before starting to sell them.

This must be OK in Chinese culture. I have heard so so many similar experiences from different branches of heavy industry for example.

We are test dummy's I've had 2 Z15 nex5r gimbal with issues and 1 S800 with motor problems and I've been told all motors will need replacing…Great

 

[Tuukkuli]

I have also the Movi M10 and all I can say is - regardless of the price go for the Movi. It has worked as intended from day one. It comes with good online documentation on how to balance it etc. It performs the same day in day out. Plus you get the possibility to install the camera/lens combo of your choice and change it as necessary.

The unit is made by US people. People who seem to understand the value of keeped promises and customer satisfaction. And stand behind their products. They have to because they live in a world where you could for example be sued for intentionally misleading advertising.

The Movi is used by film professionals and it would not be if it did not work. I am one myself and of all the products I have used over the last three years only the Movi works as a pro camera stabilizer should.

So my recommendation is to bite the bullet and get a Movi. You start using time on succesfull shoots instead if hanging in the forums increasingly frustrated and annoyed and feeling fooled.

I am not connected to Movi sales in any way nor do I get any benefit for praising it. I am just a profssional who at last has found a working solution. I also was terrified to pay the price, but it seems that you have to pay that in order to get a western world gimbal that delivers. And to get support from an company that lives in the same cultural enviroment as you. In other world they too think it is not OK to charge silly amounts of money for a device that maybe one day might work. Or not.

That being said I have only had the Movi for about three weeks but so far I can only warmly recommend it regarless of the price.

 

[Tuukkuli]

The only reason DJI can **** on their customers face figuratively speaking is because they dont have real competition. Once they will have competition - and I believe and hope they will - and if the competitor proves to be more succesfull that shouldnt be too difficult, DJI will be a very uninteresting option to anyone.

One can only imagine how stoopid they will feel at that state because they had years of time to establish themselves as the undeniable market leader without any real competition. To me it seems just an unbelievable lack of intelligence. It has to have something to do with Chinese culture. The difference is so big that intevitably it makes DJI look like a bunch of little irrisponsible children in charge of a major company. :disillusionment:

 

[Quinton]

The only reason DJI can **** on their customers face figuratively speaking is because they dont have real competition. Once they will have competition - and I believe and hope they will - and if the competitor proves to be more succesfull that shouldnt be too difficult, DJI will be a very uninteresting option to anyone.

One can only imagine how stoopid they will feel at that state because they had years of time to establish themselves as the undeniable market leader without any real competition. To me it seems just an unbelievable lack of intelligence. It has to have something to do with Chinese culture. The difference is so big that intevitably it makes DJI look like a bunch of little irrisponsible children in charge of a major company. :disillusionment:

Check this out, my new A2 behaving rather strangely..
http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?17631-Help-required-seting-up-new-A2

I have a Zenmuse that does not work as its supposed to, I got an A2 that I would not fly, and I have a Lightbridge on order, and they wonder why people have little faith in their products.
Sorry DJI but I am not a beta tester, especially with my own time/money.

If a company is not treating their customers right its only a matter of time when it will bite them.

 

[sk8brd]

Tuukkuli-sound advice man thanks!. Freefly does provide a pro solution no doubt. if i had the capital for the m10 that's the way for sure and very flexible. it's actually been my plan to get a rig built for commercial work then later on once i got some gigs going to upgrade to an octo on mikrocopter with a movi. the flexibility and reliability being paramount at that level. i think it works cause the Freefly guy's were visual production guy's first then business guy's second. There's a big difference when the testers of products are pro's vs business guy's. i don't look at dji as visual production pro's one bit their a tech company. Another thing i can't help but think about is dji's workflow when releasing product's.

i have seen dji distributor's and rc guys do reviews on the latest stuff and give it a green light. i can't help but think that the rc gear like the flight controllers and crafts should given to the rc guy's for testing. The video gear like gimbals should be given to visual production guy's for testing. i have seen reviews of early prototypes sent into the wild and the people testing are clearly rc guy's not visual production guy's. To an rc guy a slipping horizon on pan or jello may not be picked up. a visual production person would immediately pick it up in a split second. they would also pick up on how smooth the pan or tilt works and how good it eases in and out of the pan. These sometimes subtle things are hard to pick up or understand if your not into film making. The movi was in the wild for a bit being tested by Brainfarm on their art of flight movie a while before the world even knew about it. Freefly would understand these things and release something that worked the first time.

The m5 seems like the way to go but now i will need to redesign my whole rig not sure if i'm upto doing that yet. The footage by jopapa on this thread was pretty killer. The gimbal seemed to behave well. who know's though since the specs are not out on m5 i will just wait for now which sucks cause i'm trying to get started over here. Been doing photo/video for a few years and trying to go full aria- no more ground work. the only problem i saw with freefly being overpriced was not too much to do with the gimbal, my buddies steadicam setup actually cost more then the m10 but that freefly motor control set is just way over priced. the esc's for example are nothing special and the power distribution board is just a power distribution board.

 

[Tuukkuli]

Check this out, my new A2 behaving rather strangely..
http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?17631-Help-required-seting-up-new-A2

I have a Zenmuse that does not work as its supposed to, I got an A2 that I would not fly, and I have a Lightbridge on order, and they wonder why people have little faith in their products.
Sorry DJI but I am not a beta tester, especially with my own time/money.

If a company is not treating their customers right its only a matter of time when it will bite them.

I have the A2 too, but have not had the time to test it yet. And I also was going to pre order the Lightbridge, but after the Zenmuse problems, NO!
I also have little interest in being DJI´s beta tester on Lightbridge or anything else. As we have seen before, the specs on the DJI pages don't mean anything. Why would Lightbridge be any different?

Had another six flights on Zenmuse yesterday and the horizon problem persisted. It seems that horizon stays quite OK level when the copter is stationary. But once the copter moves even a little bit, bye bye straight horizon. I also re-calibrated my compass in an open field very far from anything ferromagnetic. I thought it might help. It did not.

The latest Z15-5D firmware is dated Dec 26, 2013. It is well over two months ago. I hope that it is not the last firmware DJI is going to put out because if it is, the gimbal is a complete dud. A very expensive one too.

 

[Quinton]

What mode are you in, and what happens when you lift it by hand and try and throw of the horizon, does it stay horizontal or move with your movements.
Is this not like FPV mode, its basically following your movements, and not staying level?

 

[Tuukkuli]

Not sure I get your question.. This is not in fpv mode. I have dual radio system with camera op. When hovering and panning, horizon is quite OK. When I start flying the copter and operator pans, horizon goes immediately off. There is no difference in the two other modes than reset mode. Both work the same way even though they should not.

 

[sk8brd]

Just a heads up the rumor is all new dji gimbals are going to be released at NAB in a month to accept light bridge. Looks liks no dice on having all axis's and light bridge on existing zens. So hoping for a firmware update is prolly not gonna happen thats why no dji support guys ever respond to my questions ive been asking here for a month. It was the main reason i first came on here a couple of weekw ago. If this is the case with no new firmwares its going to be major bummer for alot of people.