Canyon Walls

A short walk by the canyon walls on a cloudy day. I should have removed the ND filter, the lack of light makes the objects look not well defined.

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

Welcome GoPro Hero3

Welcome GoPro Hero3! I sold the Hero2 for buying the Hero3. When flying multicopters, and I guess RC in general, every extra gram of weight matters. You don't normally have too many minutes of fligh time, so reducing it to the limit is something to have in mind.

The GoPro Hero3 is not only smaller and lighter. It allows also to record at 1080 and 60fps, or if you need to really slow down the footage, 720 and 120fps is a great choice! There's plenty of info about the rest of the spectifications of the camera on the Internet, the weight and the recording modes were my main reasons

This article of Abe Kislevitz about the GoPro Hero 3 is really worth it. 

This is an example of how to place both the FPV camera and the GoPro in the wood stick I put on the front of the quad. This is an easy way of getting rid of the motors on camera, and facing it down or any other direction.

I still have to replace the propeller of the last crash :) As you can see, these are cheap and also very resistant, but after some crashes they finally brake! :)

Picture from above :)

Starting with FPV with Fatshark Predator and ImmersionRC

August 2013. Now it's time to go one step further and start flying in FPV.

It took me a while until discovering what exactly to buy, reading and asking in forums. As this is not a cheap upgrade, I did want to get it right at once.

So I finally bought the following components:

• Fatshark Predator pack. It includes the goggles, a camera, and a 2S 1000mAh battery.
• ImmersionRC 600mw video transmitter, including 5.8GHZ antennas.
• Immersion RC Spironet circularly polarized antennas, 5.8GHZ.
• 3S 1000mAh 11.1v LiPo battery for the video transmitter

 

 

 

 

With these you have everything you need in order to start flying in FPV. You can also choose not to buy the goggles and purcharse an LCD screen, there are cheap ones out there.

As this frame is a bit small, I've to place one of the batteries unterneath the frame, so I've bought a plastic landing gear from banggood to avoid the components touching the ground. And it is also a good idea in case of having a crash, because it will absorb most part of the impact avoiding brakings.

 

So everything put toguether looks like this

Notice that the wood stick allows me to put the FPV camera on the front, and gives me space to mount the GoPro just behind it with the GoPro mount. So the camera is inside the landing gear (not in the picture now).

 

 

The wire connections of the FPV system are easy. The camera has one wire, that goes to the right side of the transmitter (video, positive, ground). The battery is connected to the black and red wire that goes to the left side of the transmitter.

It is really important, both for the goggles and the video transmitter, to attach the antenna at the first place, and after that connect the battery. Don't do it otherwise!

I also find useful the velcro strap ties, for batteries or whatever you need.

Short quadcopter aerial footage

V001. Recording date: 28-07-2013

This is one of my first flights with the quadcopter. I think the original footage is 720x60, and wide FOV. After watching the vibrations, the jello of the video, and the propellers on camera, those problems became my main priority for the following videos.

Setup:

Frame Whirlwind FY450
BL-2830/11 1000kv rotors
20A SK ESC
10x4.5 Plastic HK propellers
KK2 controller board
GoPro Hero 2
3300mAh 3S 20C battery
Turnigy 9XR transmitter
FrSKY V8FR-II receivet

Anti-vibration solution with moongel

From the wikipedia, Moongel is a translucent blue, sticky, gel-like substance produced by the drum practice products company RTOM. It has been incorporated into several products and come in packs of four which can applied to a drumhead or cymbal to diminish the higher overtones. It also has become a popular studio technique due to its dampening properties. Therefore, it allows for drummers to get a "punchier" sound of out their toms.

I read people use this as a solution as well for reducing vibrations. So I went to a music store and bought a small box of Moongel. It contains four of five pieces of it.

So the trick here is to put two or three of this pieces inside the GoPro housing, trying to have the Moongel all around the camera so it doesn't touch the housing directly. It's a bit tricky, but play with it! :)

 

 I've also added that wood stick at the front of the quad in order to be able to have different point of views while flying.

I'll see how the whole thing behaves!