I'm Sid Baldwin...........into AP for some time using different platforms (SkyCam Ireland) Gaui 330X got me hooked on Multicopters, now using UAVX Quad and want to go Y6 or X8 for AV.
Thanks for the informative posts....need to decide on a FCB, Frame, mount etc. without breaking the bank ?
Welcome Sid, good to hear you're finding useful information here.
I think for A/P use there are only a few flight controller systems currently on the market that are well suited to professional quality work. Obviously MikroKopter has been around for a while and is the gold standard at the moment though rather pricey as you're probably aware. I've heard (and seen) good things from from folks using the UAVX platform but I've never tried it myself. Another up and coming contender is the Hoverfly Pro aimed at mainly A/P work, it comes with auto leveling and altitude hold out of the box and will hopefully have GPS and postion hold soon. Hoverfly is similar to the UAVX project in that it's only a controller board although with a very state of the art architecture, unlike Mikrokopter which can be bought as a kit but is older technology.
In the almost RTF and kit category there are a couple quads from China that show promise, the Xaircraft 650 and the Lotus 580 are two that are trying to crack the A/P market, still relatively new and like Hoverfly the software is still being refined.
As for frames, well, things are changing so rapidly it's hard to keep up. Just in the last few months I've seen several new offerings come to market all across the price spectrum. My take is to buy something you will easily be able to get replacement parts for or buy two if cheap enough so if you need parts you won't be waiting for critical bits to arrive via parcel post.
Almost the same thing can be said about camera mounts though if you're doing A/P for profit, it's the one area where I wouldn't try to save a penny or two, it's just not worth it in the long run. I've been through several and by far the best one I've used so far is made by Photohigher and sold by the folks that make the Droidworx frames. Very high entry price but not so bad when compared to some of the other "high end" mounts on the market that cost nearly as much but don't perform nearly as well.
Glad to have you on board and if you have questions, just ask, that's why we're here!
Ken