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Has anyone come up with a good pilot cam mount?

Joined
Dec 5, 2013
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I'm wanting to mount a pilot cam 5.8ghz on the outside of a spare nose cone I purchased for the occasional use. Ideally, I'd like a printed white plastic "angle" that could be velcro'd to the nose and give a flat side to Velcro a pilot cam to. I don't want to mount it on the inside so close to the electronics. Not having cad skills or access to a printer I am trying to think of a creative non-metallic solution and thought I'd see what if anything you guys have come up wth. Searching the I1 forums has really turned up nothing.
 
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I would like an unbiased review of the kit mentioned above. I am not interested in re-inventing the wheel with my new Inspire 1 Pro and think this kit looks sweet (not modifying the nose cone especially, and plugging into the existing ports etc). The kit also looks very reasonably priced. I would love to hear from someone who has used it to know if I should plan on it for the near future. I am already set up for dual operator, and am concerned how I will feel flying this bird without a camera view? Thanks in advance for any and all opinions!
 
I did the mod to mine. For about 1/2 the price than the DSLR pro kit.
You need:
A FPV camera ~$25 mines a 2.8mm lense 600tl
A 5.8ghz transmitter. I paid 60 there are cheaper ones.
5.8ghz SMA Antenna's. ~$40
Wire and shrink tube
FPV diversity monitor. I got the Fly sight Black pearl off eBay for 80 with battery.

I gained power for the set up from positive and negative terminals on the main power board (below the battery terminals.)

I simply drilled out the nose cone. There's a perfect moulding spot to centre the drill.
I used some epoxy to secure the camera in place.

Point the camera up more than you think. I had to re do my install as it pointed too far down once installed.

I installed my in a clean way and you can't tell it have the added camera except for the small lens in the nose cone that is mounted flush and the tiny antenna that sticks out the back of the rear LED cover.

As for a review:

it's a must. I had a crash the first day operating with dual operators with out it.
Coming from flying phantoms for years.
We where shooting motocross at lower altitudes and I was politing. As the camera was swinging around constantly it was easy for me to become disorientated in where I was heading. I had to fly 90% by line of sight.
I thought the bird was closer to me that it was and it smashed into a tree. All I heard was an "oh no." From the camera operator.
Thankfully only two props was the total damage. We where back up in sky in 5 mins. This time a little higher and moving a lot slower.

It gives the pilot a proper representation of where the bird is and where it's heading. Even when the camera is shooting behind or beside. My pilot and I have nailed every shot since the instal while before it was 50/50. Plus we fly in close proximity of objects and haven't had an issue.
I now have full faith in my pilot flying my bird while before it was always in the back of my head.

I can see why the Inspire 2 has it.

I'm currently trying to figure out how to mount a 2 axis FPV camera like the Inspire 2 onto my Inspire raw.
Currently only one of my inspires has the second camera installed. The second on is going to get it. Every time we put it up we both (camera and pilot) wish for the second screen.
 
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Thanks for this Mitch - really appreciated. I was kinda hoping that it was a discretionary add-on, but clearly it isn't. That new program - AutoPilot - had me hoping that with some forethought, you could get away without it (maybe still two operators, but the pilot has less worries). Probably be OK for simple, slow scenery shoots, but like you described, not for shooting something fast moving that can't be predicted. Anyhoo - thanks for the help. The DSLRPro kit doesn't even drill the nose cone, instead attaching the camera at the join below the nosecone. And I love that they plug right into an existing port (no soldering at all). They provide a downloadable procedure on their website which is pretty simple, but yours sounds very in line with theirs. Good luck with the second install. Would love to hear further on how it goes. It will be a while still before I attempt mine (still haven't even flown it as I live on the Canadian East Coast, and it is frozen and really windy here currently - not conducive to first flights!). All the best!
 
I did the mod to mine. For about 1/2 the price than the DSLR pro kit.
You need:
A FPV camera ~$25 mines a 2.8mm lense 600tl
A 5.8ghz transmitter. I paid 60 there are cheaper ones.
5.8ghz SMA Antenna's. ~$40
Wire and shrink tube
FPV diversity monitor. I got the Fly sight Black pearl off eBay for 80 with battery.

I gained power for the set up from positive and negative terminals on the main power board (below the battery terminals.)

I simply drilled out the nose cone. There's a perfect moulding spot to centre the drill.
I used some epoxy to secure the camera in place.

Point the camera up more than you think. I had to re do my install as it pointed too far down once installed.

I installed my in a clean way and you can't tell it have the added camera except for the small lens in the nose cone that is mounted flush and the tiny antenna that sticks out the back of the rear LED cover.

As for a review:

it's a must. I had a crash the first day operating with dual operators with out it.
Coming from flying phantoms for years.
We where shooting motocross at lower altitudes and I was politing. As the camera was swinging around constantly it was easy for me to become disorientated in where I was heading. I had to fly 90% by line of sight.
I thought the bird was closer to me that it was and it smashed into a tree. All I heard was an "oh no." From the camera operator.
Thankfully only two props was the total damage. We where back up in sky in 5 mins. This time a little higher and moving a lot slower.

It gives the pilot a proper representation of where the bird is and where it's heading. Even when the camera is shooting behind or beside. My pilot and I have nailed every shot since the instal while before it was 50/50. Plus we fly in close proximity of objects and haven't had an issue.
I now have full faith in my pilot flying my bird while before it was always in the back of my head.

I can see why the Inspire 2 has it.

I'm currently trying to figure out how to mount a 2 axis FPV camera like the Inspire 2 onto my Inspire raw.
Currently only one of my inspires has the second camera installed. The second on is going to get it. Every time we put it up we both (camera and pilot) wish for the second screen.
 
Mitch - just wondering based on the new Connex digital camera part of the thread, what kind of range are you getting from your analog set-up?
As a nooby to the hobby, I don't understand why the DSLRPro set-up doesn't work as designed? Did they just use such poor components in the kit or is there some other aspect of the Inspire 1 that dramatically interferes with the new transmitter set-up? Are you still using your set-up as originally built and defined here or have you further modified it? Anything you would do differently if you did it again? Thanks in advance - all the best.
Ken
 

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