Cinestar 8 and Hoverfly Pro

[Benjamin Rowland]

Here's a link to our new reel shot with a Cinestar 8 and Hoverfly Pro board:

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Two things to mention. First, most of the shots have no post stabilization. Second, the shots were all done while flying in manual mode.

I think you guys will dig it.

Benjamin Rowland
Yonder Blue Films
www.YonderBlueFilms.com

 

[Efliernz]

Lovely stuff especially the well-timed panning at the airfield.

Pete

 

[DucktileMedia]

Do you mind me asking why you chose HFP over MK or DJI? I am thinking of going that route as well so I am curious.

 

[PaNt]

OOoo great....!!! I am waiting to answer to IRIAERIAL question... Did you have any problems with setup??

Whats your equipment?? from lipo to props to motors??
HF pro has gps but the gps is not so good till now right??


Thank you!

 

[Benjamin Rowland]

I chose HFP because of their great customer service and ease of initial setup. I haven't tried the other boards, but I checked them out on the web and looked at their manuals. Also, I found a few folks that were really happy with the Cinestar / HFP combo. I wanted to spend more time flying, less time in front of a computer, and having support just south of me was a nice bonus.

As for the rig, It's a Cinestar 8. Most of the footage was with the 2 axis gimbal. The shot of the red BMW and the black Kia were with a 3 axis gimbal. The motors are quadrocopter. The props are APC Slowfly. I'm going to order some Xoar props soon. The lipos are Quadrocopter and Maxamps. The gimbal runs on Spyder batteries from ProgressiveRC - great folks! We use two Futabas - 8fg super. The Futabas are excellent! Most of the wire was from ProgressiveRC. I bought an iCharger from them also. The camera is a Panasonic GH2. Wireless downlink is a Iftron, with an HDMI converter board rigged to it that I bought off eBay. The ESCs are Turnigy Plush 40A.

I've been very happy with all of the parts that went into building this rig. I'm fine tuning things still, but I like the fact that I can do that in the field without a computer. I'm just starting to test out auto leveling - which I'm impressed with so far. I still need to take some time to get altitude hold working - I wish that was a bit easier, but maybe it's just because I haven't taken the proper time to get it set up correctly. I've been too busy flying! And as you can see, the rig flies well in manual mode, the added features are just gravy.

all the best,
Benjamin Rowland

 

[PaNt]

What about the props?? 14x4.7 ???

I think i am going to do your setup...

About GPS??? what do you think?? will you get it worked??

IF you can tell me what is your payload and what is your flight times?? and what mah lipos?? 4s or 5s??

 

[Benjamin Rowland]

14 x 4.7 APC slowfly
No GPS right now
Carrying a GH2 on 4S 6200mah and I get 7+ minutes. I'm testing the 11,000mah Maxamps right now.

 

[DucktileMedia]

You were flying in manual mode for all those shots?

To clarify, is manual mode full manual or is that semi-assisted? I think I remember them calling attitude mode manual mode. Not sure why.

 

[Benjamin Rowland]

Fully manual. No auto-leveling or altitude hold.

 

[RTRyder]

You were flying in manual mode for all those shots?

To clarify, is manual mode full manual or is that semi-assisted? I think I remember them calling attitude mode manual mode. Not sure why.

With the H/F Pro you can turn A/L and A/H on and off via TX switches. I found it actually flys best in manual mode which begs the question why spend the $ for the extra features if you're not going to, or don't need to use them? I think the Sport board I have is fine for a manual mode APV controller and it is essentially the same electronics without the bells and whistles.

Ken

 

[PaNt]

Hmmm Great...!

I will go with the same setup as you

But i might use 2x 4s 5000 and 5s 8000 for more efficient setup..!

The escs are stock right not flashed?? any problems with temperatures??

 

[DucktileMedia]

With the H/F Pro you can turn A/L and A/H on and off via TX switches. I found it actually flys best in manual mode which begs the question why spend the $ for the extra features if you're not going to, or don't need to use them? I think the Sport board I have is fine for a manual mode APV controller and it is essentially the same electronics without the bells and whistles.

Ken

I totally agree. If the units auto-leveling and GPS dont do a good enough job to be useful while filming then what's the point? At the same time I dont think this is the case. I know Bart has found results in the assisted mode that he said rivaled MK. No big winds but I have seen some of his video where the tree tops are showing what looks like 10-15mph. No one seems to have a solid report on the performance of the new GPS units. i wonder why that is. I hope they can make a comeback and prove they have a worthy competitor for the other top names.

 

[Benjamin Rowland]

It's a testament to Hoverfly that manual mode flies so well.
I'm testing out auto-leveling mode, and I like it, but I need to fine tune it a bit more before I use it on a shoot. I also need to practice flying in that mode because it is different.

 

[KellyR]

Ben,

Great footage! I'm new to multirotors & was curious about the legalities of this kind of work. I thought that the FCC was still debating the rules & regs of commercial multiroter use, but as of now it was illegal to have a business of this type. Has that changed?

 

[Benjamin Rowland]

My understanding...

The FAA just doesn't want you cracking 400 feet above ground - their airspace. Also, you need to fly line of sight. This may all change when an actual law is on the books.

Now if you live in California... There seems to be a crackdown for whatever reason in California. But California is almost like a country within a country. The laws and government are different there - sometimes in conflict with federal laws / government. Don't get me wrong, I like California, and the people are great there. But it feels like a different world when I'm there. That's the nice thing about living in the Unites States though, each state is different.

Enough politics - time to get out and fly.

all the best,
Benjamin Rowland

 

[PaNt]

What about 11000 lipos?? Whats the fligt time??

 

[owlhh]

Hey guys how does hovetfly pro compare to DJI wk systems?

Does anyone know where to get a dynamic motor ballancer?

 

[Ron2020]

...The camera is a Panasonic GH2. Wireless downlink is a Iftron, with an HDMI converter board rigged to it that I bought off eBay...

Fantastic footage, Ben. I'm new to this, and the camera stuff is a bit fuzzy to me.
Can you explain a little about your camera setup?
Do you have the Panasonic camera record 1080P HD video directly onto its memory card while in flight? How do you compose the shot? I mean, how do u know where to point the camera so the subject is captured? Are you doing some kind of monitoring of the shot on the ground?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

ron

 

[Benjamin Rowland]

We're recording on the GH2. The GH2 is hooked to an HDMI converter via HDMI cable 18 inches long. The converter takes the HDMI signal and converts it to Standard Definition. That SD signal is sent to an Iftron transmitter. An Iftron receiver on the ground receives the signal and passes it along to a LCD monitor. Everything is powered by Lipos via cables I soldered together.

You can read more about the HDMI board here: http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?3694-If-you-need-an-HDMI-converter...

You can see a few behind the scenes shots here (ignore the ugly wiring, I'm cleaning it up): http://www.yonderbluefilms.com/blog/2012/5/10/testing-settings.html

Good luck,
Benjamin Rowland

Fantastic footage, Ben. I'm new to this, and the camera stuff is a bit fuzzy to me.
Can you explain a little about your camera setup?
Do you have the Panasonic camera record 1080P HD video directly onto its memory card while in flight? How do you compose the shot? I mean, how do u know where to point the camera so the subject is captured? Are you doing some kind of monitoring of the shot on the ground?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

ron

 

[Ron2020]

Thanks very much for helping me understand...that's a great setup!
May i ask why u went with the Iftron transmitter?

Which HDMI to SD converter do u use?

thx
ron