Actually ... how good is the Zenmuse X5?

[Dobmatt]

The idea behind this project was to demonstrate the performance of Zenmuse X5 camera during flight in an average windy summer day. To achieve this the GoPro 4 Session cube was mounted just behind the battery compartment to provide real-life SPV (Second Person View), and both cameras were rolling simultaneously. The experiment exposed surprisingly turbulent, bumpy and shaky flight in 10-12 km/h wind. Yet the Zenmuse X5 delivered silky smooth footage ...

 

[Kilinahe Media]

Great video! What are the orange clamp things close to the legs and props? Lights?

 

[Dobmatt]

Great video! What are the orange clamp things close to the legs and props? Lights?

Nope, the clamps are for attaching the floats ...

 

[Dave Armbrust]

Your turns and camera pitch changers are what makes your video silky smooth. What are your yaw and pitch setting for EXP and gain? Did you use the DJI GO app or something else like autopilot?

 

[SanCap]

Nope, the clamps are for attaching the floats ...

Beautiful Video! Great choice of music. Any chance you have a link to those clamps?

 

[William Gaddy]

Lesson: Yeah when you top-mount anything on the Inspire, even if below load/balance recommendations, expect more unfavorable response to wind and turbulence. A big GoPro rig is definitely cause wind deflection, and cause the Inspire to have to "work more" to compensate if in P-GPS. If in P-ATTI, you're probably risking a flyaway. Been there, done that: Nice video though...

 

[AeroMirage]

Regardless if the Gopro caused more turbulence or not.... the gimbal certainly smoothed it out!!!
I think that was your point.

 

[William Gaddy]

@AeroMirage It's a great video, whether they used a gimbal or not! My only point was beware wind deflection when top-mounting anything with a large surface area -- not just Inspire but any other UAV even the bigger ones like Spreading Wings, etc. For example, the below arrangement worked well, but the data I took told me I shouldn't fly the Inspire configured like this in winds over 10 kt:



-W

 

[lake_flyer]

If in P-ATTI, you're probably risking a flyaway.

Why a flyaway specifically in P-Atti?
Never forget to switch off the Gopro Wifi. Or did you mean (the maybe more than usual) wind drift in Atti?

Never mind, you meant wind deflection hence extra drift. Yeah, you probably notice a bit more drift. I carried bulky floats and a Gopro on a tail boom, but still flyable. I would use Atti in such a config only in calm winds.

 

[AeroMirage]

Agreed, dobmatt took some extra risk with that setup.
He's a tinkerer for sure!! Pond skater another example....
A good illustration nonetheless.
I am also sure that the X3 would have had the same smoothing.

 

[William Gaddy]

Why a flyaway specifically in P-Atti?
Never forget to switch off the Gopro Wifi. Or did you mean (the maybe more than usual) wind drift in Atti?

Never mind, you meant wind deflection hence extra drift. Yeah, you probably notice a bit more drift. I carried bulky floats and a Gopro on a tail boom, but still flyable. I would use Atti in such a config only in calm winds.

Exactly right.

 

[jmelario]

The idea behind this project was to demonstrate the performance of Zenmuse X5 camera during flight in an average windy summer day. To achieve this the GoPro 4 Session cube was mounted just behind the battery compartment to provide real-life SPV (Second Person View), and both cameras were rolling simultaneously. The experiment exposed surprisingly turbulent, bumpy and shaky flight in 10-12 km/h wind. Yet the Zenmuse X5 delivered silky smooth footage ...

very nice .

 

[Aubrey Martin]

The idea behind this project was to demonstrate the performance of Zenmuse X5 camera during flight in an average windy summer day. To achieve this the GoPro 4 Session cube was mounted just behind the battery compartment to provide real-life SPV (Second Person View), and both cameras were rolling simultaneously. The experiment exposed surprisingly turbulent, bumpy and shaky flight in 10-12 km/h wind. Yet the Zenmuse X5 delivered silky smooth footage ...

Beauritiful work and insight, thanks for sharing.

 

[Dobmatt]

Your turns and camera pitch changers are what makes your video silky smooth. What are your yaw and pitch setting for EXP and gain? Did you use the DJI GO app or something else like autopilot?

Dave, sorry for late response ... I didn't mess with gains by far, but all 3 EXP settings are at the lowest value, making the smoothest curvatures possible. All within DJI Go app. It's probably the mass of the Inspire which renders such smooth panning at high speed, not really possible with Phantom.

 

[Dobmatt]

Beautiful Video! Great choice of music. Any chance you have a link to those clamps?

SanCap, huge variety of such clamping devices are on HobbyKing website, i. e. Black Anodized CNC Aluminum Tube Clamp 22mm Diameter

 

[SanCap]

SanCap, huge variety of such clamping devices are on HobbyKing website, i. e. Black Anodized CNC Aluminum Tube Clamp 22mm Diameter

Thanks

 

[Dobmatt]

Gentleman, of course anybody with common sense must realize that anything extra attached to any aircraft will compromise the performance one way or another ... Said that, either GoPro camera on ridiculous tail or floats aren't meant to be installed on my birds permanently. I'm using these devices to achieve some special tasks in my videography, that's all. GoPro experiment, for example, revealed the overall looseness of Inspire structure (watch low frequency vibrations of landing gear shoes), which may be addressed by either props balancing procedure or improvements within booms housings ... Regardless, the X5 camera is delivering, and that's confirmed.

 

[William Gaddy]

Exactly right.

By the way, for the record, the "bunny-ear" rig I posted a picture of above with the two Ricoh Theta's was spot on with free and clear GPS, I was primarily doing stereoscopic sunsets and sky shots (hence the top-mount configuration). I took it up to 30M AGL where the winds aloft were about 15 kt. It resulted in a shorter flight time on the P48 batteries (about 15 minutes), as the DJI had to spend energy maintaining station-keeping, plus an additional 300g of weight. I also tried p-ATTI in very light winds (2 KT) at a much lower altitude and I definitely got the sense that while the COG was unaltered (I used 4 analytic scales pre-flight, too, to double check), the wind deflection component definitely contributed to drift and the need to trim compensation constantly. I would definitely not fly that configuration under P-ATTI except under very controlled experimental conditions -- e.g. I have a full weather station right at 20M AGL next to my main flight area (which is a grassy clear area surrounded by tall trees) plus a portable anemometer.

 

[ajobmusee]

The idea behind this project was to demonstrate the performance of Zenmuse X5 camera during flight in an average windy summer day. To achieve this the GoPro 4 Session cube was mounted just behind the battery compartment to provide real-life SPV (Second Person View), and both cameras were rolling simultaneously. The experiment exposed surprisingly turbulent, bumpy and shaky flight in 10-12 km/h wind. Yet the Zenmuse X5 delivered silky smooth footage ...

bring back the video i watched it frequently and was a delight

 

[Dobmatt]

bring back the video i watched it frequently and was a delight

Hmm, let's call it "doctor's order", but it was the time to quit all my aerial photography activities, cancel Vimeo subscription and fold down the whole thing. I'm alive, but not kicking anymore ...