AverticalView camera mount

[RTRyder]

Yesterday I did the first test flight of the Averticalview camera mount on the new Hexa, I'm impressed with the results so far. Here's the raw video from a short test flight in the backyard, mount and GoPro were all hard mounted so there's a fair amount of vibration which is to be expected at this point, overall not too bad for NO vibration isolation though... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A16ub5EiIQ

I was mainly interested in how well the tilt and roll compensation work and from what I can see it's the best I've gotten from any mount I've had attached to an Mikrokopter so far. That's not to say this is the perfect mount, there are a few areas that need to be addressed, one - better mounting to give it more stability on the frame, two - the platform travel is limited and it isn't possible to rotate the camera for a straight down view as built, three - only the driven side of the platform is on bearings as delivered (I added bearings to the opposite side axle during the initial build) and lastly some of the hardware delivered as part of the kit isn't quite up to professional standards.

None of these things are show stoppers though it will take some tinkering to get it to where it all works as well as some of the more expensive mounts. The platform tilt travel can be fixed by modifying for an external potentiometer on the servo and eliminating the hard stops. The mount was designed to be used with a pan servo and currently I just have a bolt through the pan axis point holding the mount to the center of the MK frame plates and that allows for sideways flex and vibration at the platform both of which can be seen in the video. A bit of time in the shop to fabricate a better Mikrokopter specific mounting system will fix that and while I'm at it I can remedy the hardware issue like the bolt used as the axle for platform roll which can be seen sticking out from the back of the pulley.

Considering that the mount is designed to be an inexpensive alternative for a multi axis camera platform by a couple guys doing this as a hobby, I think for the price its a good value and there's potential to make this into an outstanding performer. Yes, it will take some work to get it to that point, but to me that's part of what this hobby is all about, taking a generic piece and adapting it for use in a very specific application. Is this mount for everyone? I have to say no, some won't want or be able to deal with the limitations and work necessary to adapt the mount to multirotor use and others looking for a high quality, ready to use, professional grade platform will be disappointed as well. For anyone that is willing to tinker a bit and make the modification necessary I think they will wind up with an outstanding mount for about half the price of high end commercially available equipment.

Ken

 

[Droider]

Ken what weight is it rated for?

 

[RTRyder]

Ken what weight is it rated for?

They don't actually say, there are no published specs for the mount. I had this one bulit with a 1/8 inch thick platform so theoretically it should be able to handle just about anything provided the servos can move the weight. My D80 fits on the platform no problem though I have no idea if the mount would work with that kind of weight on it. For smaller video cams and point and shoot size equipment it will be fine, if you want to put a 5D on it then you probably have some upgrade work ahead to make that happen.

Ken

 

[FixedWing172]

Ken this is great info. Thanks for posting. Is this the SLR or GoPro version of the mount? If you used the analog servos that Avertical sells do you think they are decent? Any idea how much the mount weighs? And lastly, Do you have the dimension for the overall mount height and camera area size? Thanks very much.
Stan

 

[RTRyder]

Ken this is great info. Thanks for posting. Is this the SLR or GoPro version of the mount? If you used the analog servos that Avertical sells do you think they are decent? Any idea how much the mount weighs? And lastly, Do you have the dimension for the overall mount height and camera area size? Thanks very much.
Stan

This would be the SLR version. The analog servos they include with the mount are Hitec's which I personally like very much overall and these seem to be well suited to the mount itself with the exception of there not being as much travel as I'd like on the camera platform. That could be fixed by modding the servo for an external pot as most of the high end mounts do though you'd have to figure out how to do that on your own, the mount isn't designed with that in mind.

As for the weight, I think it registered around 1.1 lbs on my little digital scale, kind of on the heavy side and one of the reasons why this one won't be going under my Hoverfly quad, even the stock Hexa works hard to fly it. Dimensions of the mount as I was given them by Avertical...

From camera plate up to bottom of top plate 5 inch add a inch and 1/2 for outside to outside.
From center of camera plate to rear about 4.25
Width from side to side 8.53
Camera plate is 5.8

From a quick check with tape measure they look pretty close. With the platform level you need at least 7 inches from the very top of the mount to the lowest part of the mount (tilt pulley bottom) so you need landing gear that will get the frame at least 8 inches in the air to use this mount.

Ken

 

[FixedWing172]

Thanks so much Ken. Now I just need to find some landing gear to go under my octo to fit the Avertical mount

 

[Bartman]

Ken,
How's this mount working for you? Can you list the mounts that you own or have owned for comparison?
Thanks,
Bart

 

[RTRyder]

Ken,
How's this mount working for you? Can you list the mounts that you own or have owned for comparison?
Thanks,
Bart

So far the mount works well, the problem I have is fitting it to a multirotor able to lift it and keep steady once in the air. Right now it's attached to the X8 I built using the Hoverfly board and while the X8 has no problem flying the mount the board is having issues with tilt and roll compensation as well as overall stability issues in the X8 configuration. Once I get home form my current Texas trip I'll be swapping the Hoverfly flight controller for a MK using an I2C to PWM convertor. If I can get the airframe stable with that setup I think the mount will do well.

So far I've used the Hisight II mount which is currently attached to my stock MK Hexa, the mkTR mount that I sold and replaced with a Photohigher Pro Mini, and the Avertical mount. Of all of them, the one I've had the most success with? The Hisight II if you can believe that. It's true though, it may be a basic mount with limitations but I've gotten some of the best shots I've taken using it as well as some pretty good video. The two expensive mounts have proved to be the biggest disappointments so far, neither one delivering the results one would expect for the $ spent, I expect the Avertical will deliver results as good or better than the two mounts that each cost over 2 X as much once I get it attached to the right airframe.

Ken

 

[matwelli]

hmm, i ordered one yesterday, never read this thread.

will be interesting, 500 grams is a bit heavy, will see if i can trim some fat off it, and see how well the tilt/roll works with the ardupilot ( i now have 4 ardu builds in progress)

 

[ThisSideUp]

Watching the video and having a "neighbors perspective" of whats going on. I would be think some of your neighbors would be asking themselves; "What idiot is mowing their lawn in this weather"? "Oh never mind honey, its that crazy RTRyder kid up the street"!! "Don't call the cops, he's not a real threat to anybody but himself"! LOL

 

[Borneoben]

Hey Ken

I was wondering if you had any updates on the AverticalView Mount you have been reviewing?

Did you do any further mods?

 

[RTRyder]

Hey Ken

I was wondering if you had any updates on the AverticalView Mount you have been reviewing?

Did you do any further mods?

Nothing new at the moment. I did get the mount working fairly well on my Droidworx AD6 then took it off to fabricate a better mounting system and do a couple other things to it, haven't gotten past that point due to being sidetracked with a few other things like the DJI Wookong-M flight controller and having acquired a new AV130 to use on the AD-6. I also have one of these I want to try out as well so this one and the Avertical will eventually get their turn under the WKM Y6 once I get it fully dialed in http://www.coptersky.com/index.php?...ategory_id=8&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=148.

Too many projects and not enough time to deal with all of them at the moment, the camera mounts will probably become a winter project once I get past all of the other things on the "to do" list.

Ken

 

[Borneoben]

Thanks for the update Ken

I am also watching your progress with the Wookong-M.

Do you do Aerial Photography and Filming profressionaly? or as a Hobby Job?

I am just curious as its something I would like to get into.

Cheers

 

[RTRyder]

Thanks for the update Ken

I am also watching your progress with the Wookong-M.

Do you do Aerial Photography and Filming profressionaly? or as a Hobby Job?

I am just curious as its something I would like to get into.

Cheers

Here in the USA it is currently illegal to do it commercially using RC aircraft according to the FAA so for now it's just a hobby for me. Maybe someday if the FAA ever gets around to actually defining and implementing regulations for commercial use I may pursue whatever certification is necessary provided it's not too expensive and/or demanding and do it for money, for now I'm just playing...

Ken

 

[Stacky]

Ken, there are a lot of companies in the US doing this commercially. I understand that its currently illegal so any ideas on how these companies are getting around this? Is the law simply being ignored?.

 

[Macsgrafs]

Ken, there are a lot of companies in the US doing this commercially. I understand that its currently illegal so any ideas on how these companies are getting around this? Is the law simply being ignored?.

I hate to post this in a public forum but I'm amongst friends so here's how to get around it.
Say you are shooting a large building/house/mansion. You offer internal shots for $$, external for $$ & internal+external+FREE aerial for $$$$$

Ross

 

[Efliernz]

Much like a friend who has a private pilots licence. He isn't allowed to be paid as a pilot but his passengers regularly pay for all his fuel...

Pete

 

[RTRyder]

Ken, there are a lot of companies in the US doing this commercially. I understand that its currently illegal so any ideas on how these companies are getting around this? Is the law simply being ignored?.

To put it bluntly, yes the FAA and its decree are being ignored, I think mainly because no one has yet been prosecuted for it although many have been threatened with it if they continued to do business. I have personally talked with a gentleman that was shut down by the FAA, they threatened him with extremely high financial penaltys if he did not stop (on the order of $10,000 per day as I recall), and they went as far as calling his insurance provider and demanding they cancel his coverage because he was operating illegally as they put it. A few high profile instances such as that got enough peoples attention that a number of the big operations shut down and a lot of smaller ones went "underground" though that was at least 5 years or so ago.

Due to the lack of any real teeth to the FAA statement of commercial operations being illegal, the lack of clarity surrounding how to become "legal", and the interval of time that has passed, a number of people have gone back to operating commercially on the basis of "nothing has happened to anyone yet so I'll risk it" thinking. Personally, I don't want to attract undue attention by government agencies, nor do I want to be the test case for the FAA in a court of law to see if their position can be enforced or not. There are many willing to take that chance, more power to them, I'll wait and see what happens. My current employment provides me with more than ample compensation and it's not worth risking that for whatever amount I might make doing commercial APV under the current state of affairs IMO.

I hate to post this in a public forum but I'm amongst friends so here's how to get around it.
Say you are shooting a large building/house/mansion. You offer internal shots for $$, external for $$ & internal+external+FREE aerial for $$$$$

Ross

The government has an ample supply of lawyers and also makes the rules, I would not depend on that strategy to keep my a** out of the fire, they would simply argue the operation is one in the same entity and it is engaging in a commercial operation using remotely piloted aircraft, the judge would more than likely agree.

Ken

 

[Bartman]

in reading through the FAA's positions on this it appears that they are concerned about operators utilizing FPV to fly beyond visual range without a spotter and with no knowledge of airspace or full scale aircraft operations. the small people flying line-of-sight at low altitudes don't seem to be the focus of the FAA's concerns. we may get caught up in this process at a later date but I don't believe we are seen as worthy of their attention.
be smart. use common sense. stay below 400 ft. stay away from airports and know how to operate your equipment in safe manner.
bart

 

[Bartman]

as for the averticalview camera mount questions, i bought one not too long ago and i've been a little disappointed with its performance. what you get for the money is a kit consisting of a bunch of G10 flat parts and a bag of hardware which isn't isn't entirely well suited for the task. for example the bearings are about as cheap as they come with open races/balls. they provide fully threaded bolts (1/4" bolts aren't 1/4" at the threads) to go through the bearings so there's a lot of freedom for the bolts to wiggle in the bearings. The camera plate is supposed to be heavy duty for a full DSLR camera but they rout out so much material (a la av-200) that there's flex in the camera platform with heavier camera/lens combinations.
i could go on but won't. if you want something to experiment with it's fine for up to a Canon T2i without the heavy lens. I've modified mine extensively and now i'm building a completely self designed mount since my modified avv.com mount has become so heavy.
i don't believe any of the mounts that are out there are perfect so the prices generally reflect how much work is left to do to make them do what you'd like after you finish the initial assembly of them.
at about $350 for the averticalview.com mount (vs. $800 or more for the photohigher mounts), that a lot of stuff for you to do.