I just finished my first actual useful flight trying to do something productive with my DJI Phantom. Very impressed with how it works, although I've done a fair number of modifications to it. Everything you see in the video was shot with a GoPro Hero 3 Black, 1080p30. All the flying was done in ATTI mode, except the exterior shot which was in GPS most. Wind was at about 4-5 knots.
I'm running the ARRIS CM2000 Brushless Gimbal from Hobby-Wing.com, must say that I'm really impressed with it - after a few hiccups getting it going, it works flawlessly. I did drill out the vertical alignment screws a bit so I could balance the camera better, which helped quite a bit. Power is tapped from the built-in battery using the cable they have stashed in it from the factory.
I also replaced the built in TX/RX with a Futaba T8FG Super setup - I wanted the extra range and flexibility it gives, plus being able to continue to use S.BUS is a nice plus. I use the servo mirroring that the RX automatically does for the gimbal control (pitch and roll) instead of enabling it in the NAZA as I've seen other do.
Running the stock plastic blades - I have CF blades, but I crash on a regular enough basis I haven't the courage (or fool heartiness) to run them yet.
Comments
I hadn't used the NAZA stuff before, and it seemed like a good way to give it a 'sanctioned' try... I'd rather that my incorrectly chosen ESC or frame would bias my thoughts about their FC's - overall it's hands down the most dead simple of the ones I've played with, and the Phantom is a pretty durable beast. I crashed into some pipes in the ceiling of our other warehouse, and it fell 30 ft onto cement - and while the gimbal roll motor shaft broke, everything else was fine.
I'm building a new Arducopter using the Spidex v2 frame (with integrated brushless gimbal), so I'll be interested to see how that performs as well... Fun times! :)
nice flying. wondering why you went with a dji phantom if you heavily customised it? being that the main plus being that it is ready to fly?
Thanks! I'm really pleased with how well it turned out... I'm getting everything setup to do a similar one at our other location, which will hopefully be even better. It's funny that none of the customers shopping around really said anything about this crazy quad flying everywhere - a couple came over, asked what it was, commented on how cool it was, and then continued shopping. :)
I can definitely see this being used as an ad. I am ready to come on down and visit.