Quadrocopter / Octocopter?

Hey everyone, I am pretty much a N00b regarding UAVs. But I love watching those things flying through the air and that´s why I am very interested in the topic. Moreover, we have a movie company and are looking out for people who get good footage by UAVs.

However, I saw some movies of a highly expensive quadrocopter and I watched some videos by an octocopter. The videos of the octocopter were all much more stable and seemed to be better controlled. Is this a general rule? Is an octocopter simply better for producing high-quality-air-pictures?

Thanks for an answer - and sorry, I am simply a n00b. :)

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  • Hi :)

    Quads are more efficient on flight time but come at the cost of no redundandency. A Hex... my prefered... has 1 boom to fail and still able to fly. A Octocopter can loose 2... highly unlikely.. a good quad is as stable as a octocopter.. but beats a octocopter by flight time. Also the octocopter has more "things" to crash.. if your copter comes down due to a system failure, there are more "things" on a octocopter to possibly break..

    My Hex flies up to 30min with 3 axis gimbel (high speed digital servos, 3kg torque, 0.06sec for 60 degrees).. 900MHz Video transmitter system and HD onboard recorder.. the more efficient your system is tuned (Prop - Motor relation), props balanced for no vibrations... a good picture doesnt mean you need more engines.. you just need a well tuned system.

     

    Every motor you take up adds weight.. the less weight you lift with the same battery.. the longer you fly.. Octocopter have the worse Prop-Area to Size ratio... if you beginn.. build a Quad.. costs less.. you will crash it! :) Try small and light for the starter.. we did a prototype to see where we can go with weight and motors.. and reached 39gramm for a octocopter.. dont know how often it crashed.. never broke anything and is nice to fly.. my hex is 6kg.. when it comes down.. and it does that occationaly.. it costs a bit to fix all.. start small.. work your way up :)

     

    hope that helped

    J

  • Well, an octocopter has twice the motors, twice the ESCs and twice the number of props to balance! If you need to solder each bullet connector on your ESC, that's either 5 x 4 = 20 or 5*8 = 40 soldering jobs to do! Also, although an octo has more redundancy, there are also more parts to fail! And I don't know who told you that a quad is more expensive than an octo. Finally (for my post) an octo needs to be MUCH larger than a quad to be able to fit in all those props side by side! So they weigh more, you need more batteries, more money.... etc etc...

  • Hi Guys,

    I am also a noob in aerial photography. Although I am planning to start with a quadcopter with gopro3. I am looking at an aluminum boom (like 3dr quad). Is this type of quad okay for aerial filming?

  • chris,

    octocopter is better, because it has 8 motors and can carry more load. it's also safer, as in case one of motors/props/esc's fail you won't have brick falling down, but will have controlled landing.. as to stability of copter itself - it's not necessarily true.. or - not always true :)

    drop me a note, if you need some help with aerial filming - that's what i do quite often (in norway right now with both copters)

    thanks,
    jk

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