Impressive new camera gimbal

I'm a big fan and supporter of open source multirotors but this is just too impressive to pass. Too bad it is super expensive and out of reach for most hobbyists. Just wanted to share this with the community and see what they have to say about the the frame, gimbal and about DJI in general. 

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Comments

  • Developer

    Martin: If the Z15 could hold a bigger camera (it is currently built around the Sony NEX 5/7 cameras), it would be perfect.

  • Developer

    Emin: I am not talking about the type of alu. tubes you typically find in a hardware store, but high grade thin walled tubes used in R/C helicopters. I have a bunch of .90 size helicopter boom tubes from HobbyKing costing $2.99. They have a 25mm outer diameter and is 830mm long. Weight is 105grams. Plenty strong, and very rigid. Compared to the price of proper 3K carbon tubes they are practically free. I am willing to add a little weight, at least for the first prototypes.

  • Distributor

    I think this is the best video I have seen to date of how a camera mount should work:

     

     

    This a WKM with the Z15 gimbal, a go pro was mounted to show the gimbal at work and the main picture is the camera on the gimbal...... not bad I think!

     

    Regards

     

    Martin.

  • Since so many people here are saying great stuff about the cinestar design I think I'm gonna give it a shot too.. guess the carbon fiber / glass fiber tubes available here would do:

    http://www.goodluckbuy.com/hobbies-and-toys/carbon-glass-fiber.html

    The clamps and belt dive wheels etc. can even be 3d printed..

  • ..John Arne,Jani...with aluminium tube there is no way to make cinestar style gimbal under 500gr,carbon fiber mold is the only way to achive that weight..Hero gimbal is 760gr,cinestar 3x with lending legs is more than 1000gr,AV200 800gr...

  • Developer

    Yeah Leif is not a good example for FTV/Video stuff. He is more than PRO on that area. Also he has paid rather huge cost while learning his skills. If I remember correctly he has lost around 10 planes in Norwegian wilderness/mountains and several hexa/octo copters. But yeah it's great to look his fast speed flying on sawmill and other locations :)

    Making basic gimbal is rather "easy" but to make it vibrationless will be another thing. We know, we have already made over 25 different variations and test gimbals and still not happy on their results. Most of the commercial gimbals have special oil cylinders/suspension gearboxes to reduce vibrations and those are rather expensive. 

    Also many of those gimbals needs plastic/aluminum blocks to mount bearings etc. Trust me, they are not cheap to make.. I know.

    But yes we can reduce prices some level from full commercial products and if design will be good enough, who knows we might even make moulds for most of their parts and after that price will be really tempting.

    Should we use motors/servos or steppers. All of those are possible to use. We already have some miniature steppers that can be used and then as I have direct contacts to many servo companies, we can get custom made servos for gimbal needs. 

    And about weight, well it has to be way less than 500gr. I would say that gimbal itself cannot weight more than 300gr or you will waste a lot of flyingtime/payload to just carry gimbal. 

  • Developer

    As I mentioned earlier, the tube/clamp design of the CineStar gimbal seems perfect. The clamps and smaller parts can be made if you have access to a CNC. Servo belt and beltwheels you find at hobby robotics stores. And replace the 25mm K3 carbon tubes with aluminum (.90 size helicopter booms) to reduce cost.

  • John: Point taken.. but then again how difficult is it to make a servo belt driven drive gimbal?

    all i'm saying is we need an open source rig of our own that won't set us back a grand.. what you've pointed out is another feature we could aim for.. 

  • Developer

    Azam: I do by no means try to discredit Leif, he is a pioneer. But those samples does not show the strengths/weakness of a stabilization rig. All shots are taken with what seems to be little or no wind, there is post stabilization done, and most shots have been slowed down. And by using a short clip editing style, you can cherry pick the seconds of really good footage.

    Again I am not trying to talk down on anyone, but the point of a good stabilization rig is to produce good results even when the conditions aren't ideal. And I can pretty much grantee that a non-dampened, direct drive servo solution does not do that.

  • Yeah, guess you need to move fast, David from rcexplorer.se already beat you to it :)

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