Blogs

FPV gimbal for zoom camera

Posted by Greg Dronsky on January 7, 2015 at 4:42pm

3689633079?profile=original

It’s nice to fly around with your copter or plane, watching the surrounding area with a live view. Anyone who tried FPV knows that feeling. There is much to see with the regular equipment, but if you want to see some detail from a higher altitude, there is a problem. Normally it’s good to have a wide angle camera, to see the surrounding space. But what if you want to watch a particular spot, like your house, or something interesting happening few miles away in detail, without making a lot of flying with your drone? 

We found very little neat solutions for that, that’s why me and my buddy Jacob are working on a low cost project of a FPV gimbal for zoom camera.  
This is an early 3D printed prototype of a simple to use FPV zoom gimbal. It is designed to get along perfectly with almost any coper or plane.

3689633026?profile=original
3689633047?profile=original
3689633094?profile=original

If you want to zoom on something while flying it’d better be stabilised, thats why 3 axis gimbal is put to work. The body is designed to work with most of FPV zoom cameras, analog or HD. As a controller we are using AlexMos, slim version to cut the mass. All of the cables are hidden inside of the body which makes it really nice and handy.


3689633169?profile=original

The whole gimbal with camera weighs 305g, we think thats really nice result.
For now we are making some iterations to reach optimal body design, but later we’re going to test things like object tracking with Raspberry pi and OpenCV, and a HD Light Bridge transmission. 
What are your opinions on this? Do you think it would be useful for your FPV needs? 
If you’re interested in this project write a comment or send me a private message on DIYD, we’d love to hear some feedback!

Soon we should have some footage from an actual flight! 
Cheers!
Tags: fpv, camera, gimbal, project, zoom
E-mail me when people leave their comments –
Follow

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

  • Greg Dronsky January 20, 2015 at 11:18am

    Not yet Nikoli, but the update will be soon. 

  • NIK.YAP January 20, 2015 at 9:15am

    Anymore updates ?

  • Franc January 12, 2015 at 7:28pm

    im designing a full quad with 123D and my 3d printer, i'd love to intergate you gimbal on my design int he future!

  • Franc January 12, 2015 at 7:27pm

    can i buy the file?

  • Greg Dronsky January 12, 2015 at 4:00pm

    @Jim G we should post some more info this week.

    @Hamish the axis are centered, as well as the centre of gravity. We are going to post some videos from tests.

  • hamish January 12, 2015 at 11:18am

    Looks great, lovely project.

    Does it stabilise OK when zoomed in/ zoomed out? I'm asking because the centre of gravity changes, which made my gimbal very sad indeed when I tried something similar.

  • Jim G January 11, 2015 at 11:30am

    @Greg Dronsky, Looking forward to it and as previously posted i am very interested in your product please let me know either by pm or other means. 

  • Greg Dronsky January 11, 2015 at 11:24am

    We are working on a easy to use, plug and play version for sale. I will post some additional info as soon as possible.

  • NIK.YAP January 11, 2015 at 5:20am

    I'm very interested in this gimbal. For sale?

  • Sam Junior January 11, 2015 at 3:08am

    is this Gimbal going to be for sale soon?

This reply was deleted.