Aerial Showreel 2014

V017. Quick showreel of my best moments of 2014 recording video from a quadcopter. There are still many things to improve in order to obtain better shots and video quality, but so far I am pretty happy with the results of this past year.

The Alcázar of Segovia (Spain) Aerial

V016.

The unique silhouette and privileged location of theAlcázar of Segovia, a UNESCO World Heritage site along with the massive aquaduct and town of Segovia which both lie nearby, is several centuries old, though the location has been in use as a fort since the 12th century. Primarily Gothic with Renaissance alterations, it was originally a fortress (year 1122), but has also been a royal palace. The castle is surrounded by two rivers–Clamores and Eresma–flowing on either side. These rivers not only provide water for the greenery around the castle, but also add an extra layer of defense.

Most part of the shots are from the front view. For safety reasons I didn´t fly over the entrance of the Alcázar, where all the visitors are walking around.

Setup:

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650
Maytech 620kv motors
30A T-Motor 400Hz ESC for multicopter
13x5.5 Carbon fiber propellers
Naza M Lite with GPS
DIY visor for GoPro and ND filter 3 stops
GoPro H3+ black, 1080x60, M FOV
5200mAh 3S 35C battery
Futaba R6208SB receiver
Fatshark FPV camera
Fatshark Predator goggles
ImmersionRC 600mw Tx
1000mAh 3S 20C battery for video Tx
Gimbal Tarot T-2D
500mAh 3S 20C battery for gimbal
Futaba 8FG Super Transmitter

Aerial footage shot at the Iglesia de la Vera Cruz in Segovia

V015.

It has been a while since I recorded my last video Aerial real state, so I couldn´t wait for recording a new one! It was an early morning shot on a fine sunny day.

Consecrated in 1208, Vera Cruz was built by the Knights Templar to house a fragment of the True Cross. It is thus not really a parish church or even a monastic church, but primarily a shrine. Vera Cruz has a unique 12-sided exterior with a tower on the south side. Its shape is patterned on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where according to legend the True Cross was found by St. Helena in the 4th century.

Setup:

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650
Maytech 620kv motors
30A T-Motor 400Hz ESC for multicopter
13x5.5 Carbon fiber propellers
Naza M Lite with GPS
DIY visor for GoPro and ND filter 3 stops
GoPro H3+ black, 1080x50, N FOV
5200mAh 3S 35C battery
Futaba R6208SB receiver
Fatshark FPV camera
Fatshark Predator goggles
ImmersionRC 600mw Tx
1000mAh 3S 20C battery for video Tx
Gimbal Tarot T-2D
500mAh 3S 20C battery for gimbal
Futaba 8FG Super Transmitter

Removing GoPro fish eye

Here you can see the difference between the original footage (1080, 60fps, M FOV) and the results removing the fish eye with the lens distortion effect (value:  -15) in Premiere. In my opinion recording in medium (or wide) FOV helps preventing the jello effect and makes the footage look nicer.

Aerial Real State

V014. Recording date: 21-07-2014

Some scenes have been filmed with FPV. The GoPro Hero 3 with medium FOV, in my opinion, makes the video look better and probably helps avoiding jello and vibrations in comparison to recording in narrow FOV. I used the ND filter (3 stops) too.

Here you can see the difference between the original footage (1080, 60fps, M FOV) and the results removing the fish eye with the lens distortion effect (value:  -15). In my opinion recording in M FOV helps preventing the jello effect and makes the footage look nicer.

http://niropter.blogspot.com/2014/07/removing-gopro-fish-eye.html

Setup:

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650
Maytech 620kv motors
30A T-Motor 400Hz ESC for multicopter
13x5.5 Carbon fiber propellers
Naza M Lite with GPS
DIY visor for GoPro and ND filter 3 stops
GoPro H3 black, 1080x60, M FOV
5200mAh 3S 35C battery
Futaba R6208SB receiver
Fatshark FPV camera
Fatshark Predator goggles
ImmersionRC 600mw Tx
1000mAh 3S 20C battery for video Tx
Gimbal Tarot T-2D
500mAh 3S 20C battery for gimbal
Futaba 8FG Super Transmitter

Flying the Iron Man 650 with Tarot T-2D gimbal

V013. Recording date: 21-07-2014

After recording the Countryside aerial video I had to wait for a landing leg spare part. I reviewed the balance of the propellers and went to fly. I used the ND filter for these sceenes, but I also tried without it and could not be able to find the difference...

I tested the max tilt for the GPS mode,  and it is quite fast. In Atti mode the quad makes some funny movements due to not 100% prop balance I guess. Too much wind affects as well the general behaviour, or it does this weird movements by itself...

The GoPro is in Medium FOV, but removed the fish eye in post.

Setup:

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650
Maytech 620kv motors
30A T-Motor 400Hz ESC for multicopter
13x5.5 Carbon fiber propellers
Naza M Lite with GPS
DIY visor for GoPro and ND filter 3 stops
GoPro H3 black, 1080x60, M FOV
5200mAh 3S 35C battery
Futaba R6208SB receiver
Fatshark FPV camera
Fatshark Predator goggles
ImmersionRC 600mw Tx
1000mAh 3S 20C battery for video Tx
Gimbal Tarot T-2D
500mAh 3S 20C battery for gimbal
Futaba 8FG Super Transmitter

Contryside aerial with Tarot Iron Man 650 and Naza M Lite with GPS

V012. Recording date: 03-05-2014

After the last huge crash with the FY450, I decided to start a new project with the Tarot frame Iron Man 650, and lower kv motors, different ESCs and bigger propellers. See here the mayden flight.

In this video I test the gimbal Tarot T-2D with the new firmware (v1.5) and modified gains to try to reduce vibrations and making the tilt movements smoother (see previous post). Tiny yaw movements still pending to be improved...

It was a windy day and I could not risk to get closer to the water or to a different location, as the quad was still doing some funny movements from time to time. And because of the wind I still get some vibrations, specially when the movements are faster, or I´m not quite slow when ascending or descending.  I also reckon that using the GPS mode does not help to get rid of vibrations...

Despite of this I think the results are not bad. By the way, I can´t really make the online video look as smoother as the original one, I still need to play around with the Premiere settings in order to obtain some better footage when I upload it. Actually it looks nicer from a smaller screen :).

Music by Matthew Mullane.

Setup:

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650
Maytech 620kv motors
30A T-Motor 400Hz ESC for multicopter
13x5.5 Carbon fiber propellers
Naza M Lite with GPS
DIY visor for GoPro and ND filter 3 stops
GoPro H3 black, 1080x60, N FOV
5200mAh 3S 35C battery
Futaba R6208SB receiver
Fatshark FPV camera
Fatshark Predator goggles
ImmersionRC 600mw Tx
1000mAh 3S 20C battery for video Tx
Gimbal Tarot T-2D
500mAh 3S 20C battery for gimbal
Futaba 8FG Super Transmitter

Some issues during the flight with the Tarot T-2D gimbal and the Naza controller

It is still a bit confusing to define the origin of some of the issues I have had for this test flight with the Tarot T-2D gimbal.

In one hand I am having vibrations in footage in two different scenarios:

• When I speed up forward
• When I tilt the gimbal up or down

Maybe it was too windy, and because of the GoPro visor and the wind resistance, the tilt suffer and fails. And I guess that speeding up produces more vibrations, but there should be a way of avoiding this. There are a lot of shoots that require high speed, and obviously there are lots of days with some wind, so there should be a way of solving these problems.

Regarding the tilt problem, I have been reading some posts that advise to install the 1.5 version to avoid the vibrations and shaking produced by the gimbal motors. 

Here you can see how to update the latest firmware (download the 1.5 version here), and this video is great to play around with you gain settings and check the behavior after that.

What I have solved for sure is the initial shaking of the gimbal motors when the quad is still on the ground, but there are still some vibrations left when moving the quad forward and backward (tilting the camera) as you can see in this video I have recorded:

I have also seen what it seems to be a general problem with the Naza controller and the barometer when the sun hits directly at the left side of the controller. I don´t know if this is my case, but just for prevention I´m using some black tape for covering its sides. This is one of the videos you will find in YouTube with this issue:

The last issue I have been experiencing, is some stability issues with some of my batteries.

KyPOM Battery 2200mAh 25C 11.1V

 When I charge them they seem to be all right (3.20v per cell). But when I fly, the quad has a high tendency to pitch, roll, or both, and It´s really difficult to control. It normally ends up in a non-soft landing. It seems those batteries are faulty, I´m following this page to try to discover what is going on...

Placing the Tarot T-2D gimbal with GoPro Hero 3 on the Iron Man 650

After the successful mayden flight of the Tarot Iron Man 650 (apart from landing!), now it is the moment of placing the Tarot T-2D gimbal with the GoPro Hero 3.

As I don´t want the propellers neither the quad legs to appear on camera, I have to place the gimbal on the front of the quad. As this unbalances the whole quadcopter, I have to redistribute some items on the top plate. This means placing the GPS of the Naza on the front, the gimbal battery on the middle, and the main battery on the bottom of the top plate.

I have set up the end point of the gimbal in the transmitter, so when the camera is looking to the front the propellers never appear on camera. But what if I lean it to the front to much because I go fast forward? and if the camera is facing down and I lean it to the right or left? In the angle is too wide then the propellers or the legs are very likely to appear on the footage. I will test it soon.

Now the weight of the quadcopter has gone up to 2,18kg with the bigger battery (Turnigy 3S 5000 mAh). I don´t spect it to fly now for 13 minutes, but hopefully it reaches 10 minutes easily.

I will put the visor as well to avoid the shadow of the motors on camera.

Tarot Iron Man 650 - Gimbal Tarot T-2D

Redistributing the elements on the top plate

Iron Man 650 with Naza and FPV

Front view of the Iron Man 650 with Tarot T-2D gimbal

Top view of the Iron Man 650 with Tarot T-2D gimbal

Weight of the Tarot Iron Man 650 with T-2D gimbal and FPV

UPDATE:

I was not convinced about the gimbal position, so I´ve used longer tubes to place the camera further from the center of the quad. Now it is much more difficult to have the propellers on camera when going forward, or the legs when the camera is facing down and moving from side to side.

I have several batteries of 2200 mAh, that gives me just a few minutes of flight, so I have made a serial wire so I can join two of them having 4400 mAh.

I have also purchased a 45C 5200 mAh Blue Monster battery with 4S instead 3S which is what I usally use. I will test it to see the difference. I expect to have more flight time despite of the weight of the whole quad that goes now up to 2,35 kg more or less.

Because of all the mess described above, I have had to redistribute the weight so the quad is balanced. I´ve put a rear battery plate that seems to do the job.

Hopefully tomorrow is not raining and I can go out there and see what happens...

Blue monster 5200 mah battery lipo

Serial wire for lipo batteries

Tarot Iron Man 650 Battery holder

Tarot Iron Man 650 Folded arms

Tarot Iron Man 650 Gimbal Tarot T-2D GoPro Hero 3

Tarot Iron Man 650 Top plate

Maiden flight Tarot Iron Man 650 with Naza M Lite GPS

I coudn´t wait longer fot the maiden flight, but I´ve to admit that I was a bit scared since this is the first time I build one quadcopter from scratch.

I am impressed about how smooth the flight is with this setup. I have tested the GPS mode with course and home lock, and the Atti mode. All of them work perfectly.

I felt so confident that I tried some FPV. I think this is the first time I don´t have jello or vibrations on the real time video, with the other quad was almost permanent.

As you will see on the video, I put 3.40 in the lipo voltage alarm, and tested it to the limit to see how far I can go without loosing power. Bad idea, I had a small crash. The tubes I put for protection worked a little but not enough, as the propellers hit the ground while spinning. After this, I tried the voltage alarm at 3.50 and landing without risking.

I have flown for around 13 minutes, smooth one, with the turnigy 3S 5000mAh. Not bad I guess. For the next flight I will try with the gimbal and the GoPro to check the difference.

Maiden flight Tarot Iron Man 650

Maiden flight Tarot Iron Man 650

Maiden flight Tarot Iron Man 650

Maiden flight Tarot Iron Man 650

Maiden flight Tarot Iron Man 650

Setup:

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650
Maytech 620kv motors
30A T-Motor 400Hz ESC for multicopter
13x5.5 Carbon fiber propellers
Naza M Lite with GPS
GoPro H3 black, 1080x60, N FOV
5000mAh 3S 20C - 30C battery
Futaba 8FG Super Transmitter
Futaba R6208SB receiver
Fatshark FPV camera
Fatshark Predator goggles
ImmersionRC 600mw Tx
1000mAh 3S 20C battery for video Tx

(III) Quadcopter project with frame Tarot Iron Man 650, Maytech motors 620kv,T-Motor ESCs and 13'' props - Part III

This is the third and last part of the new quadcopter project. If you haven´t see the first and second ones, you can see them here:

1. First part of the project
2. Second part of the project

I´ve finally finish the quadcopter with the frame Tarot Iron Man 650, Maytech motors 620kv, T-Motor ESCs, 13x5.5 props, Naza M Lite with GPS, the Futaba Futaba R6208SB receiver, and the Immersion RC 600mw Tx.

On the top plate I have put some velcro for the main battery so it doesn´t slide to the sides, apart from being holded with another velcro around it. The gimbal battery will go on the top plate as you can see in the pictures (yellow one, 500mAh). And also the GPS fits in the top plate and is isolated from the rest of the components.

The appearance of the quad is amazing, it looks really proffesional. It is quite big, but when you fold it completely it is really easy to carry anywhere. I guess I will try to make a do-it-yourself suitcase. In case you are interested, the measures are  100cm x 30cm x 25cm (width - heigh -  depth).

The total weight (without gimbal, battery gimbal, and GoPro) is 1.805kg.

Tarot Iron Man 650 - soldering main power supply

Tarot Iron Man 650 Top plate

Adding velcro to the batteries for the top plate

Tarot Iron Man 650 - placing the Naza GPS

Tarot Iron Man 650 - placing the Naza GPS

Tarot Iron Man 650 - T-Motor 30A - Naza M Lite GPS - R6208SB

Tarot Iron Man 650 - Maytech 620kv - 13x5.5 Tarot carbon fiber props

Almost done...

Tarot Iron Man 650

Tarot Iron Man 650 half folded

Tarot Iron Man 650 fully folded

Tarot Iron Man 650 fully folded

Tarot Iron Man 650 fully folded front view

Lipo voltage alarm

FPV battery holder and power connection

Tarot Iron Man 650 - FPV battery holder with battery

Some foam to protect the legs

Finally... Ready to Fly!!!!!

Remember to run the Naza software again to do all the setup. If your propellers do not start at the same time, follow the following video to solve it:

I have added some tubes for trying to avoid the propellers hitting the ground if there´s a crash...

Propellers protector

Propellers protector

Propellers protector

 And now let´s go to the field and see how it goes!!

(II) Quadcopter project with frame Tarot Iron Man 650, Maytech motors 620kv,T-Motor ESCs and 13'' props - Part II

After building the first part of the project, I have progressed a bit more with the Tarot Iron Man 650. I have cut the wires of the motors to add some extra wire so they can go inside the arm tubes and reach the T-Motor 30A ESCs located on the middle plate.

I have decided to keep this middle plate as clean as possible, so I´ll only leave here the electronics (except the Naza Versatile Unit that goes underneath so it can be seen while flying). All the extra wire is laying on the bottom plate, and the batteries will go on the top plate that is not placed yet. I still don´t know where I´m placing the FPV and gimbal batteries though, and the GPS of the Naza M Lite.

There´s a couple of pieces of drinking straws to hold the Futaba R6208SB receiver antennas in place. The camera of the FPV is located on the very front of the bottom plate, between two metal pieces of the frame that fits perfectly the wide of the camera. I have put some foam under it in case it helps reducing vibrations.

Tarot Iron Man 650 - Naza VU BEC - bottom

Iron Man 650 - T-Motor 30A - Naza and ESCs connection

Iron Man 650 - Naza - Maytech 4228 620kv motors

Iron Man 650 -  Futaba R6208SB - antenna holder

Tarot Iron Man 650 - Naza and Futaba receiver connection

Top view - Iron Man 650 - T-Motor ESC - Naza GPS - R6208SB

Rear view - Tarot Iron Man 650 - Naza Versatile Unit

Tarot Iron Man 650 - T-Motor 30A 400Hz

So, what is next? Things pending to be done are:

• Placing the Immersion RC 600mw transmitter,
• Placing the Naza GPS unit,
• Placing the top plate for the main battery,
• Figuring out where to put the FPV and gimbal batteries,
• Soldering a T-Dean for connecting the main battery,
• Running the Naza software for the set up,
• Placing the propellers.

To be continued!!

(I) Quadcopter project with frame Tarot Iron Man 650, Maytech motors 620kv,T-Motor ESCs and 13'' props - Part I

After the last big quadcopter crash I have decided to start a new project instead trying to fix the current quad. I have been flying this FY450 with the same setup for almost a year now, and I had several crashes and other failures that makes the quad not able for shooting good video footage at this point.

I´ll try to build this multirotor from scratch, which is also a good way to learn how everything works. I pretend to use a lighter frame, and better motors, rotors and ESCs. I will reuse, from the current quad, the Naza M Lite with the GPS, the ImmersionRC 600mw video Tx with the camera, and the same Futaba R6208SB receiver.

Naza M Lite GPS, ImmersionRC 600mw, Futaba R6208S

The components

For this new project, and after some research, I have chosen some components that hopefully will help to:

• Increase flight time,
• Better support of the total weight of the quad plus gimbal, camera, etc.,
• Shooting smoother video footage.

This components are the following:

• Frame Tarot Iron Man 650 foldable
• T-Motor 30A 400Hz ESCs
• Maytech motors 620kv
• Tarot 13X5.5 Carbon fiber propellers

T-Motor 30A, Maytech motors 620kw, 13x5.5 carbon fiber propeller

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650 foldable

T-Motor 30A 400Hz ESCs

Maytech motors 620kv

Tarot 13X5.5 Carbon fiber propellers

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650 foldable

Building the frame is easy following the instructions sheet. It looks resistant and well finished.

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650 foldable

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650 foldable

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650 foldable

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650 foldable

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650 foldable

Frame Tarot Iron Man 650 foldable

It is important to level the motor holders, so they are as horizontal as possible.

Leveling the motor holder

I´m using now a propeller balancer with magnets, I used to do it in a rudimentary way, but I have to say that this balancer works great.

Propeller Balancer with magnet

Size comparison between the frame Tarot Iron Man 650 foldable and the frame Whirlwind FY450. The components on the Iron Man are just for illustrative purposes, I don´t know yet where I am placing them.

Size comparison Iron Man 650 vs Whirlwind FY450

Connections

Now it´s time for soldering. As you can see in the following pictures, I have soldered together the ESCs and the Naza BEC positives to the red thick wire. The same process with the negatives. Then cover it with thermoretractable tube. This two main wires will be connected to the main battery. The gimbal and the FPV will be fed from their own batteries as usual.

I think the following way of soldering two or more wires together is pretty good, I have done it just like you can see here:

Soldering the T-Motor 30A ESC and the Naza BEC

Soldering the T-Motor 30A ESC and the Naza BEC

Placing the T-Motor 30A ESCs, and the wires inside

Before soldering

After soldering

Maytech motor 620kv soldered with wire extensions

Maytech motor 620kv and frame Tarot Iron Man 650

I´ll try to finish it in a couple of days!!

Follow the second part here!