Came 7000 3 axis gimbal?

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biggins

New Member
Hello,

I'm looking for a gimbal for my hex copter.
Planning to shoot video, and photo so I figured brushless was the way to go.
I'm hoping to keep the cost under / around $1,000 if I can, so I can afford the video downlink, field monitor, etc.

After looking at the regular contenders (Cinestar, Zenmuse), I came across this unit.
Does anyone have any experience, or seen any video shot with it? Or even dealt with the company before?

The price is right, and I've found some decent "hand held" footage using the gimbal (http://youtu.be/jVWYoUYhBbs)

http://www.came-tv.com/came7000-3-axis-gimbal-camera-dslr-steadicam-video-stabilizer-p-470.html

Thanks!
 


B

biggins

New Member
Hey, yes I did get one. I am still working on assembling it, so I can't give you too much feedback. I'm not sure if it's because I lost them during unpacking, but it seems that a few of the servo wires are missing.
The frame came mostly assembled, and the rest of the frame assembly was pretty straight forward. I just got the USB cable to interface with my computer, which I'm hoping will get the other two axes moving.
 

dazzab

dazzab

Member
biggins said:
Hey, yes I did get one. I am still working on assembling it, so I can't give you too much feedback.
Click to expand...
I went ahead an ordered one. I think that I might mount it without the third axis at the start but I'll decide once I see it.
 

V

Vladimir

New Member
If you are planning to use it for video shooting I suggest a 3 axis gimbal. It makes a difference to your footage. I bought a 2 axis Freefly hoping to upgrade later. They discontinued manufacturing that model. Big mistake.
 


V

Vladimir

New Member
I don't have the exact weight but "light as a feather". All carbon fibre tubing cut and clamped together. Very hi tech for it's time but there are so many new developments out there now. The Movi from Freefly that superseded mine is incredible but way too expensive for what it is. I have been following an open source group on Basecam http://www.basecamelectronics.com/ who are building their own and sharing ideas.
 

dazzab

dazzab

Member
Fat Corgi said:
Hey Vladimir, what's the weight of the gimbal all up? No camera.
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Mine weighs 1.4Kg without the third axis installed and with a Droidworx mounting rail which is probably 150-200gms. The third axis motor and plates weight 472gms.

I've done two test flights with it over the past two days and I'm getting some shake in the roll axis that I need to work out. But all in all I'm very impressed with the gimbal. It's extremely sturdy and built well. Nice big motors and I'm sure it would handle my Nikon D600 which is a full frame DSLR. Right now I'm testing it with a Panasonic GH4 which is only 200gms lighter than the Nikon.

Once I have some tests worth sharing I'll post some photos of it as well. For a grand I think it's quite a bargain given it's three axis and came with the new 32bit Alexmos controller.
 

Fat Corgi

Fat Corgi

Member
Too heavy for a XM-8?

Does that mean the gimbal with all 3-axis working weighs in at approx 2kg? That's pretty heavy before you even put a camera on it. I like the look of that gimbal, but am deterred by the weight.
 

dazzab

dazzab

Member
If you use it with 3 axis setup you won't be using the Droidworx camera rail. I'd say it's going to be about 1.7Kg all up. It is on the heavy side but it's got really nice motors on it and a lot of it is aluminum so it's quite sturdy. By comparison I have a large all carbon fibre gimbal with smaller motors that is still 1.5Kg and not nearly as sturdy or capable of carrying a large camera. The CAME-TV 7000 is well within the payload capabilities of a Skyjib which is flying well with it, a Panasonic Lumix GH4 and two 8amp batteries.
 

Fat Corgi

Fat Corgi

Member
Thanks dazzab. Although i'm not flying a SkyJib, it's a Xm-8. Thinner booms, and a smaller diameter with 13" props. Do you think it's pushing it?
you won't be using the Droidworx camera rail.
Click to expand...
Does this mean it attached directly to lower plate somehow?
 

dazzab

dazzab

Member
Fat Corgi said:
Thanks dazzab. Although i'm not flying a SkyJib, it's a Xm-8. Thinner booms, and a smaller diameter with 13" props. Do you think it's pushing it?
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I'd be surprised it would fly with that. I've got large motors and 16" props on my 8 and it's pretty close to the limit. See what ecalc tells you.
Fat Corgi said:
Does this mean it attached directly to lower plate somehow?
Click to expand...
I honestly don't know. But if you look at the photo of the gimbal you'll notice that the third axis has those rubber balls on it connected to another plate that appears to be what should be mounted to the copter. I can't see why you would use the Droidworx camera rail and those rubber balls at the same time as they both do the same thing. If you did it would hang far too low, I don't think it would actually fit. So, as you can tell, I haven't actually figured out the correct way to mount that gimbal to a Droidworx copter. My plan, if I decide to use the third axis, would be to ask here if anyone had any ideas or to contact Droidworx to get their advice.
 

dazzab

dazzab

Member
Here's my first go with the CAME-TV 7000 gimbal with a Pana GH4 12-35 lens on a SkyJib. A bit of fine tuning to do but better than I've had before. In general I'm quite happy with it.
Password is 'dsmra'

 
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G

glmccready

Member
Nice video!
Hey guys: I was looking at one of these too! I was thinking it might mount under my Cinestar, which has 25mm brackets. Just wondering if I can offset the yaw motor enough to balance it all, or I should just get the "drone" version (rubber balls and all) and mount it on a CF plate?
I'll wait for the more expensive (M5) self tunings rigs to come down in price, don't rally want to anti up 5K. Can't see buying a Zenmuse and being ties to one camera either. I'm just
a hobbiest, flying a t2i on a Cinestar gimbal with Radians and a EOS M with a DYS 3 axis gimbal. Got the DYS to learn the ropes of Alixmos, but it works pretty good for the price.
 
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dazzab

dazzab

Member
I decided to install the third axis on my CAME-TV 7000 gimbal to use in Follow mode. The first test flight was fantastic! As everyone said it really does smooth out the panning. I'm quite excited about it. Unfortunately, while I had the Alexmos board connected to my laptop, when I did a 'save' I received an error about corrupted serial data. From that point on all the board does is flash a red LED. Damn! I even tried putting a jumper on the Flash pins so I could reload the firmware. No luck. So I've sent a message to CAME-TV hoping they will replace the board. I'm not happy as I was looking forward to doing some more shooting in the snow this week. I can't find any Australian vendor who has the Alexmos 32 bit board or I'd just buy another one to have as a possible spare.
 



dazzab

dazzab

Member
I decided to go for broke and buy the Pro version of the Alixmos board from GotHeliRC after seeing their ad here. It's a bit pricey but I'm glad that I got it. I'm really sick of making cases and wiring things up. This is really a slick piece of gear and much more professional. I'm a bit worried about it as testing it by hand doesn't look as good as what I had on there before but I won't really know until the weather improves so I can do a test flight.

I'm not very happy with CAME-TV as I've had no response to my request for support where I asked if they would replace the Alexmos controller that was on it and stopped working.
 

A

adanac

Member
I'm seeing a lot of rocking in this video. Am I imagining it? I'm interested in the Came-TV 3 axis gimbal but would never be able to give footage like that to a client.
 

dazzab

dazzab

Member
adanac said:
I'm seeing a lot of rocking in this video. Am I imagining it? I'm interested in the Came-TV 3 axis gimbal but would never be able to give footage like that to a client.
Click to expand...
That's what I meant by needs some tuning. I'll be damned if I know how to get rid of it. I suspect it's related to the Droidworx quick release camera mount as it was much worse before I tried their new green hard dampeners. If I could figure out how I'd love to remove their mounting system and test again. If anyone else has any ideas I'd love to hear them. But this was with two axis only which mounts a bit differently than if you have three axis installed. I've since installed the third axis but I'm waiting on the weather to see if it works better now that I have the CAME-7000 dampening system on it as well as the Droidworx mount.
 
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