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Octocopters on the horizon

Posted by Datta Groover on October 7, 2015 at 9:07am

Anyone know what Octocopters are on the way to carry a full-sized DSLR?  I know the DJI S1000+ and the 3DR X8+, but I want to know if there is anything on the horizon from these or other companies.

I would hate to invest in one of these, only to find out a much better model comes out the next month.  

I plan to go for this next spring, so I won't buy immediately in any case.

Any clues?

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Tags: 3dr, dji, octocopter, s1000+, video, x8+, coming, development, soon, upcoming
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Replies

  • Moderator
    Bill Piedra October 11, 2015 at 7:29am

    Here's one that I built last July.  It flies pretty, but I don't recommend the Teradek Clip.  

    • Datta Groover > Bill Piedra October 11, 2015 at 8:13am

      Cool.  What gimbal are you using for the 5D?
      What's your (remote) controller?
      Apart from the Teradek, how does it work?  What do you wish you had gotten for your video stream?

      • Moderator
        Bill Piedra > Datta Groover October 11, 2015 at 8:16am

        The gimbal is an Aura 2.  The radio is a FrSky Taranis.   The 5D is actually a pretty heavy camera.  It would perform even better with a lighter camera.  Tuning the gimbal takes some time.

        • Datta Groover > Bill Piedra October 11, 2015 at 5:52pm

          Thanks. I've been thinking about that.  I love my 5D, but most of what it is good at is on-the-ground stuff, and low-light.  Neither is my need for a drone.  I may go with risking a $500 Sony 5100 rather than a $4K camera (with glass), especially since in the ways it matters to me there isn't that much difference.

          I also use a Taranis for my Phantom 2 and it's great.

  • Rob_Lefebvre October 9, 2015 at 8:46am

    I currently have a Pixhawk powered Octocopter that cuts the perfect line between price and quality.  I would recommend the combination to anybody, and have thought about selling them RTF I believe in it so much (and anybody that knows me, knows that is saying a lot). Tarot X8 frame, with iPower motors, and Hobbywing Xrotor ESC's.  It flies about 20-25 minutes with a Sony Nex on a gimbal, using just two 6S 10,000 LiPos.    iPower iFlight motors are excellent value, very high quality without the brand name and high price of T-motors.  Hobbywing ESC's are probably the highest quality, best performing ESCs on the market, yet are very nicely priced.

    I actually work with a guy locally who has a Carboncore X8 using T-motors motors and ESCs and he is looking at replicating my setup as he feels it performs better.

    • James > Rob_Lefebvre November 9, 2015 at 1:39am

      What is the take off weight for your tarot?

      Would that build work with 4s batteries or would it be way underpowered?

    • Michael Rempel > Rob_Lefebvre November 4, 2015 at 5:08am

      Hey Rob. have you compared SunnySky motors to the iPowers? I hear good things about both. I am saving up to get the X8 kit myself, pretty much exactly as you suggest.

      As far as gimbals go, the biggest problem is balancing them out. The control systems should integrate with the flight controllers too. At least as far as providing real time clock for sync. If I get some time to work on it when I get a system I might have a go at it. I have a background in automation design for industrial systems. It would be much better to have repeatable flights for filming. And it would be good if the systems had better instrumentation with less lag all round. Too many so called programmers working on these systems dont realize or acknowledge that lag and error are the same thing. Even when the system cannot respond fully to a correction in 10 or 20ms, it wont respond to anything at all until the correction is made. So detection speed is still paramount even if the result cannot be expected to materialize for a few hundred ms. And you correct much less if you correct quickly, regardless of momentum or other lag factors. If the principle works on 10 to 100hp motors swinging a few tons of steel it works on carbon fiber and flying in wind.

    • Sigitas Ciapas > Rob_Lefebvre October 9, 2015 at 9:15am

      Rob, 

      What gimbal did you apply for Sony?

      Did you tried Tarot X6 frame? 

      • Rob_Lefebvre > Sigitas Ciapas October 13, 2015 at 6:27am

        I'm using an iFlight gimbal:

        http://www.amazon.com/version-iFlight-Aerial-Gimbal-RX-100/dp/B014P...

        Like every gimbal relying on open source gimbal control firmware: It works mostly OK. Some of the time.  This is the weakest part of the system by far.  I've been waiting 2 years for these systems to mature, but still no sign of it.  They continue to add new features, without adding the one thing they need to truly perform: GPS integration into the AHRS.

        The gimbal mechanics are good.  It's the software that is lacking.

        The only other option are very expensive closed source solutions, such as Movi or Zenmuse.

        • Datta Groover > Rob_Lefebvre October 13, 2015 at 10:38am

          Thanks for that.  Great info.  Hopefully by the time I'm ready for the gimbal, there will be some breakthroughs (either in pricing of DJI's or Movi's or better software for the iFlight).

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