Went and flew at 60 acres today. only had time for a 20 minute test flight. the camera was out of focus and it was getting dark. This was flown with a foxtech 370 kv motor , two 5000 mah 6s lipos, APC 12x8, castle ICE 50 ESC, minum OSD and APM2.5 (data logging only for now)
This is from the logger on the ESC. and full log from ESC from the looks of it I am good for well over 3 hours flight time.
techpods in stock and shipping now. hobbyuav.com
Thanks
wayne
Comments
Has anyone used the SX460HS? I've been looking at that one, and I wonder why you'd prefer the S100/110 over that one.
Back on topic, getting antsy waiting on my Techpod!
My experience with " budget " camera such as Canon A 810. Even it is rated 16 MP. The result is far compare to the S 100. It will be great to serve as " Training " camera. After all, put an expensive camera on board and found it flown away may not fun.......
Would love to hear more about the A490 NIR.
Also, how are you guys triggering the camera?
I use Canon S 100 GPS too. I'm agree with Mike,this is a great camera. Do not fool by the MP reading, the sensor and software and lens quality that count. For aerial mapping, I'll set the shuttle to 1/1250, auto aperture, auto ISO, Fix white balance ( sunlight ) and focus set to infinity. It is very important to isolate vibration. It is supported by CHDK and I'm using intervolumeter script with very nice feature found here http://conservationdrones.org/hardware/ under camera systems. The only problem for me in this set up is if I'll fly about 100 meter @ about 45 km/h, than the camera will not able to capture image between shoot fast enough for good overlapping. The fastest interval I can get is slightly more than 2.5 seconds. So generally I'll fly at 200 meter or above.
And time I stopped putting three hundred dollar camera in the air, if I can get what I need by flashing with CHDK! Thanks! I'll start with the A2200 and A490. Did you mod the A490 for NIR, or ... nevermind, I'm being lazy and hijacking at the same time. The point for Nick is that I personally don't want to mount that massive looking (weight and dimensions) Sony in a flying lawn dart if I can avoid it. Too many mAh wasted, and too large of optics just waiting to get crunched. Not when I can get the job done with a smaller, lighter, less expensive PnS camera. Thanks to the convincing argument by Paul, I can do it for 1/3-1/6th the cost. Which means I can afford to crash more often, which means I can afford to fly more often. What a hobby! :)
holy wall of text batman!
i like the idea of chdk, i've wanted to play with it but i don't have a canon camera. in fact, all of my personal cameras are film XD
i guess i'm going to surf craigslist for a cheap camera.
@Paul - great comments, thanks. See, you don't have to agree with what I've said for me appreciate your contributions. It's a shame some of our trolls (J, Drone_Savant, etc) don't get it :P It's nice to have quality fellow DIYD members around. Do you have any favorite CHDK-compatible cameras that you have used/like to use? Specific models that is, your favorites, for whatever reasons you may have (ie, cheap and works well for your aerial work?)
Of course it is. Maybe we're not talking about the same camera.
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/digital_cam...
When you get down to it, there are a number of key features you want:
* Manual control over key photographic characteristics ... shutter speed, f-stop, etc. Very important.
* Light Weight. Every gram counts.
* Physical form allows for triggering, options for electronic shutter control is also nice
* Ability to disable auto-off feature
* Ability to take RAW is nice
* Ability to embed GPS is nice, nice, nice...
There are others, but that first one, setting shutter speed, is very important.
I have not found another camera that, in practice, in the air, even comes close. I've tried several Sonys, Panasonic, Nikon, and other Cannons. I've tried Fuji, Olympus, and Samsung. In a point and shoot package, I haven't found anything that can approach the Cannon S100, except the S110. And outside of the point and shoot class, they are, in my opinion, too heavy and too expensive.
Try this. Put your camera on a quad, pointed down, isolate the vibration in any way you like. Fly on a cloudy day. With any point and shoot except the S100/S110, you'll get 1 good shot in eight. This problem is more obvious with a quad than it is in fixed wing, but the bottom line is you will get better shots if you can manually set the shutter speed. I've tried hundreds of combinations of point and shoot settings on other cameras, Sony most of all, but I've never been as satisfied as I am with the Cannon S100. It just stands out from the crowd, head and shoulders, for this application.
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