Discussions

Copter, gimbal and camera

Posted by Carel Kotze on May 12, 2014 at 8:37am

Here's one more of the many posts that I have seen on the forum. I am new in the drone world and would like some advice regarding acquiring a drone.

I have been reading many many post on the topic but cant seem to find any that fit my purpose. I am looking for a RTF multicopter with a gimbal and camera.

My budget is around $3K. I realize I am not going to get anything more than 10 min of flying but that should be enough for what I want to do. Then I am looking for a gimbal that will fit the Canon PowerShot SX260 HS.or any other GPS camera. Seems all the Rtf copters are made just for the GoPro and I need mine for mapping purposes so would like to fit a GPS camera.

I would really appreciate any feedback.

Carel

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canon, mapping, multicopter

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Replies

David Baeza September 11, 2014 at 11:32am

Hi. Any luck with gimbal for the canon sx260? I hacked up a universal gimbal but it's crap. Thanks.
Mike J May 27, 2014 at 5:47am

I've had good luck w/ the SR Pro gimbal lifting my Sony NEX; http://www.atlantahobby.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=17252&am...
- Carel Kotze > Mike J May 27, 2014 at 4:56pm
  
  Hi Mike,
  
  Thanks for the link to the gimbal. what copter do you use it with?
  - Mike J > Carel Kotze May 28, 2014 at 3:15am
    
    DJI Flamewheel F550.
nassoro May 21, 2014 at 5:35am

Sounds like we are on similar quests. I've been thinking along the lines of an X8 and mirrorless camera, but gimbals for anything other than GoPro and DSLR are harder to find. I'm thinking of something like http://www.goodluckbuy.com/carbon-fiber-brushless-camera-mount-gimb... or http://www.bambucopter.com/betview-nex5-brushless-gimbal/ or possibily the slightly heavy http://www.rctimer.com/index.php?gOo=goods_details.dwt&goodsid=..., though none are quite as RTF as I'd like. Event38 used to offer a package with mirrorless camera and gimbal, but not anymore. I'll be interested to hear if anyone else knows a good RTF gimbal under 400 g (for me 2 axis is enough).
Alan D May 12, 2014 at 9:07am

If you use a multicopter based on APM or similar, and a GoPro you can geotag the photos afterwards, from the GPS data in the flight log:

http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/common-geotagging-images-with-miss...
- Carel Kotze > Alan D May 13, 2014 at 6:22pm
  
  Hi Alan,
  
  Thanks for the advice. The problem I have with the GoPro is that it distorts the image and make it complicated when using it for mapping purposes.
  - Alan D > Carel Kotze May 14, 2014 at 6:22am
    
    OK. The same process should work with any camera, as the GPS data is stored in the APM flight log. It is matching up the images with the position from the log.
    
    I believe you can get non-fisheye lenses for GoPro's, which may be an option.