Cinestar ???

[Jim in Massachusetts]

I'm new to this forum and I joined because I plan to buy a multi-rotor for aerial photography and video. I hope to make money at this. I've been making money via the sale of my stock images for over 10 years, although that income is only supplemental to my other sources of income.

The Cinestar platform seems really nice and the latest Radian stabilization for video is amazing.

I've been in contact with Karsten at Quadrocopter and he's been very helpful answering my questions.

A Cinestar would be my first RC experience and I'm just making this post so that other flyers can chime in with helpful advice. (Cinestar 8, 6, RTF, kit etc.)
Part if my reluctance to pull the trigger on buying a Cinestar is that I've not found anyone to commit to being a partner (camera operator) in this venture. My wife is skittish about it.

My current cameras are a Canon 5D original, (no HDMI out) a Canon 7D, and a GoPro Hero2. I also own a Canon Vixia HF M41 camcorder.
I'd be willing to buy a lighter camera to reduce the weight.

The market I'd target would be high-end real estate, construction companies, amusement parks, ski resorts etc. I've been successful with the Web sites I've made for my other businesses.

Any comments, suggestions, advice etc, is encouraged and thanks in advance. Jim.

 

[Sanderx]

Please read the 'before you buy a multicopter thread' on this forum. If you are new to RC/multicopters and plan on diving into a 10k ready to fly system you can be disillusioned very quickly as the learning curve, required time and resources are daunting. Please read/study as much as you can about these great machines as otherwise you will be throwing away a lot of money very quickly. Start with a simple copter and learn the technology, the operation, the cost involved in repairs (as you will crash sooner or later) before you invest.

There are a lot of post about experiences on this forum so please read this before committing to getting such an expensive setup to start with. Maybe not what you wanted to hear but my 2 cents.....

 

[RTRyder]

My best advice to you is to do it the other way around, be the camera man to someone that is already a proficient pilot. You can literally spend years getting to the point where you fly well enough to get the aircraft in position and hold it there to get the shot.

If you really want to see what you're getting yourself into and are within driving distance of Mansfield, MA I'll be happy to give you a tour of the club flying field through the FPV lens of my Cinestar 6 while the Sony Nex 5N records some video or takes some stills, that will give you an idea of what it takes to fly one of these safely.

Ken

 

[seattle_helo]

Jim, please listen very carefully to what these guys are saying. It's the truth.

 

[3dheliguy]

Lol, man.. I admire your enthusiasm, were trying to help when we say don't blow that kind of money till your are a proficient pilot... It's a lot harder to come from photography side to rc piloting side and photography at the same time. I know this may seem easy, But about how long did it take you to become a photograher that could actually make some money, and the schooling and what not... Now think of the RC world like that, tons of people can hover a craft, but what your looking for results that are usable, and im sorry to say No gimbal is going to give you that. Don't let people fool you into thinking this is easy. There are alot of people in here that want what you want, but they have learned from experience it's no that easy, so the best advice you can get is listen RTRyder who has tried it all, and has the experience that can tell you the best path to take. We are just trying to help.

 

[hjls3]

Welcome Jim from Mass. I will throw out another option for you too. Buy yourself a DJI 550 and learn to fly. That is a great ship and building it, flying it and crashing it will teach you tons. When you get fairly confident you can easily fly a Hero2 and have lots of fun and get good training. You can even upgrade that ship so it can haul around a pretty decent camera like a Nex5n. Best of luck - oh and one more thing to consider - FAA not keen on you flying these ships commercially - at least not yet.

 

[3dheliguy]

Yep yep, be careful how you conduct business... It takes a bit of time to learn, and figure the ins and outs of this whole thing. So might want to give yourself some time.

 

[3dheliguy]

What you don't know yet is how much money and time those guys you are spending on those RTF rigs, and how much more money they are spending to try to get the actual footage they are looking for. So keep your head up and just start small man, your going to enjoy it much more, and you will learn the skills you will need to be in the field.

 

[Jim in Massachusetts]

DJI 550 starter...

Thanks for all the input and advice. Ken I'd like to take you up on your offer in Mansfield MA. I expect it'd be about a 1hr drive for me. I could be there any Sat or Sun morning.

If a DJI 550 will bring my GoPro up, that sounds like a good starting point.

Anyone else have input on a DJI 550? Where is a good place to purchase one?

 

[3dheliguy]

Great smaller Hexa, buy yourself a Naza Multirotor controller, and Also buy a good transmitter something that you can keep going up like a JR 11x or futaba just remember that you want have a good amount of channels for bigger copters in the future.

 

[Kilby]

Anyone else have input on a DJI 550? Where is a good place to purchase one?

If you can at all swing it, I would suggest building your own rather than buying the off the shelf kit. It might end up cost a few dollars more, but it's a much better path IMHO. A few reasons for that.

1. The props that come with the kit are complete garbage, and are known to break at the worst possible time. You will be replacing them, so why even bother buying them to begin with.
2. The ESC's are just overpriced rebranded versions that you can get elsewhere for much less. Besides that, they come with bullet connectors built right on to the board that have been known to cause problems.
3. The motors are ok, but have an odd shaped hub to them. Personally, i would stick with a traditional round hub that allows more prop options.

Most of the new pilots that build and fly an F550 end up back on this forum complaining about 1 or all of the above mentioned items. Do yourself a favor and avoid them all together and you will have a much better time with your new toy!

Designing and building your own craft from scratch (sort of) will give you a much better foundation to grow from.



-Terry

 

[RTRyder]

Thanks for all the input and advice. Ken I'd like to take you up on your offer in Mansfield MA. I expect it'd be about a 1hr drive for me. I could be there any Sat or Sun morning.

If a DJI 550 will bring my GoPro up, that sounds like a good starting point.

Anyone else have input on a DJI 550? Where is a good place to purchase one?

RCHover in Foxboro has the F330, F450, and F550 kits in stock along with the Naza flight controllers and GPS modules, it's a 10 minute drive from the field in Mansfield, he's open on Saturday and Sunday and also stocks Graupner props to replace the unreliable DJI props. I usually head to the field early on Saturday morning and stay until 1:00 or 2:00PM depending on the weather and what my wife has on the "honey do" list for the weekend


Ken

 

[3dheliguy]

LOL... awe man im glad im not married just yet.

 

[jrlederer]

LOL... awe man im glad im not married just yet.

The Husband Store

A store that sells new husbands has just opened in New York
City, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions
at the entrance is a description of how the store operates .

You may visit the store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the
attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the
flights.

There is, however, a catch: you may choose any man from a
particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go
back down except to exit the building!

So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband.

On the first floor the sign on the door reads: Floor 1 - These
men have jobs.

The second floor sign reads: Floor 2 - These men have jobs and
love kids.

The third floor sign reads: Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love
kids, and are extremely good looking.

"Wow," she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads: Floor 4 - These
men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead good looking and help with the
housework.


"Oh, mercy me!" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"
Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads: Floor 5 - These
men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead gorgeous, help with the
housework, and have a strong romantic streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and
the sign reads: Floor 6 - You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There
are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women
are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband
Store.





A new wives store opened across the street.

The first floor has wives that love sex.

The second floor has wives that love sex and have money.

The third through sixth floors have never been visited.

 

[JCNH]

Read and Heed

Jim,
Read, read and read more and then heed the advice. I wish I had done the research and found this forum before I spent the amount of money that I did. I started out just flying an AR Drone for fun and then quickly got bored. A did a little research and picked up Flamewheel 450 and sunk the money into a Wookong M controller and had a great learning experience and a blast learning how to fly. (there were quite a few "pucker" moments like when I broke my first DJI prop). I threw a small contour camera on the 450 and loved the video from the air and I was hooked even further. I then wanted to move into something that could carry a better camera so I picked up a 550 frame and two additional motors and moved the Wookong over to the 550. I just started flying that a few weeks ago and again I'm having a blast but every time I fly I wonder how I can make it better (FPV maybe?)

The point about buying parts and building one yourself is also a great one. This way you understand how it ticks so you can fix it when (not if) you eventually crash.

When these guys tell you that you need to know how to fly well, they aren't kidding. The Wookong is great for steady flight and to hold in GPS mode when so it makes it much easier that some of the older controllers but you'll still be spending so much time watching where you're flying you won't really be concentrating on the photographer's perspective. So long story short....It's a lot of work, a lot of fun, addictive and expensive.

I'm in southern NH and will be heading to Mansfield next weekend to check out the activities and hopefully gain some more knowledge too.

Best of luck to you. Have a blast!

Jim C.

 

[Jim in Massachusetts]

So now I'm going for a DJI 550 and the questions is... buy a kit or RTF? I'm confident in my ability to assemble it and I can solder. However, setting up the radio and tweaking everything to make it fly right is my concern. I may call the hobby store that Ken recommended.

 

[hjls3]

jim you could certainly document your build and setup here on this forum. along the way im sure you would get some great help. also, there are some great videos online to help you out. take your time, ask questions and i bet you would have no problem.

 

[Bowley]

'setting up the radio and tweaking everything to make it fly right is my concern.'

This along, with the ability to fly a craft from an external perspective, is the basic foundation of what you are aspiring to do so its best to get the understanding sooner rather than pulling your hair out later on.
Just take it step by step and read and understand the manuals.

 

[RTRyder]

Jim,
Read, read and read more and then heed the advice. I wish I had done the research and found this forum before I spent the amount of money that I did. I started out just flying an AR Drone for fun and then quickly got bored. A did a little research and picked up Flamewheel 450 and sunk the money into a Wookong M controller and had a great learning experience and a blast learning how to fly. (there were quite a few "pucker" moments like when I broke my first DJI prop). I threw a small contour camera on the 450 and loved the video from the air and I was hooked even further. I then wanted to move into something that could carry a better camera so I picked up a 550 frame and two additional motors and moved the Wookong over to the 550. I just started flying that a few weeks ago and again I'm having a blast but every time I fly I wonder how I can make it better (FPV maybe?)

The point about buying parts and building one yourself is also a great one. This way you understand how it ticks so you can fix it when (not if) you eventually crash.

When these guys tell you that you need to know how to fly well, they aren't kidding. The Wookong is great for steady flight and to hold in GPS mode when so it makes it much easier that some of the older controllers but you'll still be spending so much time watching where you're flying you won't really be concentrating on the photographer's perspective. So long story short....It's a lot of work, a lot of fun, addictive and expensive.

I'm in southern NH and will be heading to Mansfield next weekend to check out the activities and hopefully gain some more knowledge too.

Best of luck to you. Have a blast!

Jim C.

I'll be at the NEHC Phenomenon in Mansfield Friday the 14th and Saturday the 15th, unfortunately I won't be able to be there on Sunday as well. I'm scheduled to do a multirotor seminar at 3:00 PM on Friday and 11:00 AM on Saturday, the remainder of the time I'll hanging out at a 10 x 10 popup in the south field where the scale heli activity will be taking place. I'll have the big Cinestar 6, a Mikrokopter or two, the TBS Discovery, and the QAV500 on hand. The Cinestar will be flying during the Guiness world record attempt on Saturday @ 2:00 PM to video the event from the air, at other times I'll be flying the multis both LOS and FPV. The FPV flights will be displayed on a monitor or two for people to watch as the quad flys around the edges of the field and high overhead to get a view of whats going on.

Anyone close enough to make the trip to Mansfield will get a great show by the pro RC Heli pilots trying to outdo each other flying wild 3D and if you hold a current AMA membership you can bring something to fly if you'd like, there will be onsite registration as well as on the web here... http://www.nehelicrew.com/pre-register-phenomenon and you can find out more about which pro pilots will be attending, directions to the field, and the over $9000 in raffle prizes that will given away over the course of the event... http://nehelicrew.com/

Hope to see some of you there.

Ken

 

[3dheliguy]

Awe yeah, I was suppose to go to this event for a shop Demo, but it was a bit to expensive for us. RTRyder, I just wanted to let you know I checked out some of your vies on YouTube, and just have to say they are amazing... Good stuff nice and smooth almost looks like you slowed down the footage crazy.

Hey I will be attending the Helifreak fun fly coming up in October, you traveling at all over Yonder...?...