Really struggling with stable footage when flying my 5d Mark III

[brentfoster]

Hey all,

Wondering if someone out there may be able to help a little.

We are flying a craft with a Photohigher AV200 gimbal and a droidworx AD-8 Heavy Lift Airframe.

We fly our Canon 5d Mark III camera, and have been testing the craft out using a 24-105 IS lens as well as a 24 1.4, and 35 1.4 lenses.

Our footage is SO, SO shaky. I am the first to admit, I am not yet a perfect pilot, but I do feel like I am flying quite smooth, and fairly well. It seems like the gimbal can't keep up...

Any tips, tricks, suggestions?

Thanks so much in advance,
Brent

 

[jetbootz]

sell it all immediately . anything with a servo is obsolete. buy a z15. accept slightly less quality by using a nex7 or GH2. but in return get a gimbal that actually works. just my experiences...

 

[brentfoster]

definitely hoping for something that may be a little more helpful than sell it all immediately.
Is there a better gimbal to go with? We'd really like to stick with the Mark III as that's the machine we use for all of our other work.
Cheers

 

[ChrisViperM]

Hello Brent

In order to help you, we need a few more info's: What flight-controller, what gimbal stabilisation, what props are you using....?

In the meantime there is a few things you can do to reduce the "shaky" behavior of your bird:

If you didn't balance your propellers, do that as a first step. Unbalanced props cause a lot of vibration (poison for any electronics) and can be done with little efford.....
If possible, try to have your COG (center of gravity) as close as possible to the real center of your bird.....that way you make sure that the work-load of the motors is evenly balanced.
Whatever flight-control you have, never use the built-in gimbal stabilisation....it's always very basic and you will never get any pro-looking results....
If you can't get your existing hardware (gimbal) to work and you have to replace it (should be your last option), one of the best servo-based solutions is a Cinestar 2- or 3-axis gimbal in connection with the Radian gimbal stabilizer. It also takes some time to tune, but it's possible to get great results....but first you need to get your Copter as stable as possible.
On the gimbal itself, always try to balance your camera as close to perfect as possible....on all three axis. It's the hell of a fiddling job....but once done properly, it helps a lot to get great footage....

I hope this is some help to start with....

Chris

 

[xerofly]

Hey all,

Wondering if someone out there may be able to help a little.

We are flying a craft with a Photohigher AV200 gimbal and a droidworx AD-8 Heavy Lift Airframe.

We fly our Canon 5d Mark III camera, and have been testing the craft out using a 24-105 IS lens as well as a 24 1.4, and 35 1.4 lenses.

Our footage is SO, SO shaky. I am the first to admit, I am not yet a perfect pilot, but I do feel like I am flying quite smooth, and fairly well. It seems like the gimbal can't keep up...

Any tips, tricks, suggestions?

Thanks so much in advance,
Brent

Hi Brent,
Iam building the same combination for Mark 3....are you using skyline RSGS Gimbal Stabilisation...what is your Flight Controller... I really want see some videos of your Rig...what props?

I think Chris has told you everything what you need to do...

Cheers

 

[DucktileMedia]

Also balance the camera on the gimbal itself. Take the belts off to really see where it wants to be. Balancing props and motors is a must. You really shouldn't be flying a 5d until you have everything ironed out. Put a dummy weight in their for testing. No point in dumping $4500 of camera for nothing.

 

[jetbootz]

definitely hoping for something that may be a little more helpful than sell it all immediately.
Is there a better gimbal to go with? We'd really like to stick with the Mark III as that's the machine we use for all of our other work.
Cheers

yep I know , I was just trying to save you extra time money heartache hassle and frustration. I mucked around with servo based gimbals for utterly ages ( over 3 yrs ) and never got anything close to acceptable. the day I turned the z15 on it worked and produced superb video. what more can I say ?

If you want to hang on to the mark III then I suggest you sell the AV200 ASAP and go for one of the new DD SLR gimbals that will be out soon. see here :

http://vimeo.com/61511254

again, I wasn't trying to be cheeky , only trying to help from what I learnt....

 

[xerofly]

yep I know , I was just trying to save you extra time money heartache hassle and frustration. I mucked around with servo based gimbals for utterly ages ( over 3 yrs ) and never got anything close to acceptable. the day I turned the z15 on it worked and produced superb video. what more can I say ?

If you want to hang on to the mark III then I suggest you sell the AV200 ASAP and go for one of the new DD SLR gimbals that will be out soon. see here :

http://vimeo.com/61511254

again, I wasn't trying to be cheeky , only trying to help from what I learnt....

Hi Jetbooz,
i have placed an order for AV 200 with Skyline. .....I don't think they would take it back.....when would this Gimbal be out in the market...

cheers

 

[DucktileMedia]

The av200 is a good gimbal. I'd stay away from that skyline though. Haven't you seem the 200+ page thread of frustrated users? Maybe they got it figured out. Just know that there is no easy solution. The Zenmuse seems to be the only thing to work right out the box but no dslr support.

 

[jhardway]

there are people doing good stuff not using the zenmuse. I guess its a matter of how much work you want to put into it, the Zenmuse has had a great run and we have seen great stuff with it, my problem with the Zenmuse its camera specific !!!! (one of 3 models soon 4 GOPRO), and technically its lens specific. what happens when the next best camera comes next month to say, or if you are doing a job and the production company wants to use a certain type of camera, and they do.

I like many am trying to figure it out, but to have to go to a $3500 camera mount kinda steers me away. I starting to look towards the CS camp, for not just the gimbal but the vibration reduction system is very smooth. As of Gimbal control I am currently playing with a HoverFly and Tarot. The HoverFlyworks, however at the end of the day I am not sure if I want to keep it, just a personal preferences.

Soon there will be a whole slew of breathless gimbals hitting the market, it just a matter of time, Chris has it all right along with Iris about the belts, we are fortunate to have a good forum like this where the people on here do know there stuff, and are very willing to help.

For Kicks if you go to the Tiger Motors site on the left hand side they have a section "coming soon - gimbal Brushless Motors" http://www.rctigermotor.com/ Make me wonder what they have up there sleeve, because why would you advertise something for is not out there ??? YET!!!

cheers

 

[gotaerialllc]

Hi Brent,

If you are using the clear plastic 90deg things that the droidworx frame comes with then that is probably one of your problems. I found that using any heavy camera while using that caused things to shake. Take a look at this video and you will see some photos that show how i just built something complexly different.

With all that said i did just order a heavy lift skyjib8 with the vibration mount and i have high hopes for that.

Im flying the Hoverly Fly, av200 and skyline (no pan) and it works great!! I love the hoverfly and personally i think its the best flight controller for smooth production filming.

 

[BradM]

yep I know , I was just trying to save you extra time money heartache hassle and frustration. I mucked around with servo based gimbals for utterly ages ( over 3 yrs ) and never got anything close to acceptable. the day I turned the z15 on it worked and produced superb video. what more can I say ?

If you want to hang on to the mark III then I suggest you sell the AV200 ASAP and go for one of the new DD SLR gimbals that will be out soon. see here :

http://vimeo.com/61511254

again, I wasn't trying to be cheeky , only trying to help from what I learnt....

What happens when you are asked to fly a FS-100, 5D3 or any other camera that the z15 doesn't support?

 

[gotaerialllc]

Just wait until the NAB show and all the other new mounts coming out. Every manufacture is scrambling to get a brushless or brushed mount going and it seems like fpvmodels.com is probably the closest.

I get good results from my av200 and av130 but as technology gets better im sure those mounts will be obsolete

 

[tahoelight]

Or those telling you to sell , or not buy, what is currently on the market is obviously not working at the moment. The AV200 can put out very usable footage with the skyline. I still get better footage with my AV200 and skyline than with the other systems I have tried. I would not be working without it and there is still no timeline for when these brushless gimbals will be out on the market, and working out of the Box yeah, it could be right after NAB but I doubt it. There is still a ton of Public beta testing to happen.

For the original poster, like others have said, balance props (hubs too), balance motors, balance both together dynamically, COG of heli and gimbal and camera all play a factor. Then after that, add some anti-vibration material if needed. If you still can't get usable footage, something is still wrong. How smooth is your flying, are your flying skills up to par, how about the camera operator. I have given the gimbal control to new operators with horrible results, so a good camera op is important.

If you have balanced everything, yes I takes days and days, and still have issues, then come back and ask specific questions. We are here to help.

I am looking forward to a brushless gimbal, but certainly not sitting and twiddling my thumbs and waiting.

 

[DucktileMedia]

From my experience shaky footage like this can't be from flying skill or cam op. that could make things wobbly and ugly but no pilot can input fast enough to vibrate a Heli. The motors are the main thing generating vibration. The only other 2 sources are your gimbal and vibration induced from high wind or flying fast. Weird esc motor combos can do erratic things that will seem like a non balanced Heli. But motor prop vibration is constant for a certain speed. So a really good test is to slowly increase throttle and slowly decrease throttle. Watch the video and see where the vibes are happening. If you are over propped you will suffer from low disc loading which Dji can't deal with. Hoverfly seems to be better with this but any fc will do better if your Heli takes off at 50% throttle minimum. If you are taking off at 30-40% you have way too much lift. I use the same analogy everytime I explain this. If you give the wings of a condor to a pigeon it will glide great but if it gets hit with a gust of wind it's all over.

 

[brentfoster]

First off, I just want to thank everyone for all of the amazing feedback. What a great forum. I can't wait to continue to learn from everyone of the years.
Infinite Jib near Toronto, Canada built our rig. They've been amazing to work with. If you want to see an image of the rig in flight, you can have a look at the cover of my Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fostervisuals

Thanks again for all the help. We're going to be spending some time this week refining things, and look forward to seeing the outcome.

-B