Current Gimbal Options for Canon 5D Systems

Mojave

Mojave

Member
I am building a heavy lift XY8 platform to do aerial photography for survey work, HDR panoramas, and possibly remote field public relations video (construction). I mostly work in the southwest US deserts; often remote locations. I need to have the system built and ready to work for a project in April. This is a self funded project so I have a limited budget.

I want the opinion of this forum on the options I have available at this time. I understand that there are gimbals in that will be available soon; I need to purchase the gimbal soon. My budget is $3,000 or LESS.

I have been seeking advice from forum participants directly and I wanted to open it up. I have been looking at the following gimbals:

DJI Zenmuse Z15 5D2 or 5D3

PhotoHigher AV 200 IDD

iFlight BetView 3 Axis DSLR gimbal
 

Droider

Droider

Drone Enthusiast
If its for mainly for stills then leave the brushless stuff alone. Servo driven gimbals are fine for stills and if you are NOT in the uK then for the occasional video then we have been using servo based gimbals for yonks. The better you can fly the more you can get away with on servos. If you are new to flying MR platforms and need all the help you can get then brushless can hide really poor piloting skills. ALL the videos reel I have posted are with servo based gimbals (AV130/AV200). If your main clientel are NOT directors of photography then save your money and get a good servo driven system which will save you hours and hours of pigging about to get them set up for your camera system.

I am sticking with the Carvec G-LOCK to control my servo driven setups as well as the one brushless system I am trailing at the moment..

Dave
 

Mojave

Mojave

Member
Droider said:
If its for mainly for stills then leave the brushless stuff alone. Servo driven gimbals are fine for stills and if you are NOT in the uK then for the occasional video then we have been using servo based gimbals for yonks. The better you can fly the more you can get away with on servos. If you are new to flying MR platforms and need all the help you can get then brushless can hide really poor piloting skills. ALL the videos reel I have posted are with servo based gimbals (AV130/AV200). If your main clientel are NOT directors of photography then save your money and get a good servo driven system which will save you hours and hours of pigging about to get them set up for your camera system.

I am sticking with the Carvec G-LOCK to control my servo driven setups as well as the one brushless system I am trailing at the moment..

Dave
Click to expand...

Thanks Dave - I am going to take your advice. I have a feeling that there are many new types gimbal designs out there in the near future; but not soon enough to have a clean track record. I am going to choose the AV200 for my first field project it seems to be a tried and true. I have decided to build a robust platform that can easily accommodate my 5D. I will start my component collection/selection and document my build here - thanks!
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
out of those my prefrence would be the av200 brusheless.... if for no other reason than for resale value. if you spend $2200 on a servo av200 you will not get more than $500 when your done with it or if it didn't work out.

There is a new controller coming to market called Phobotix that is going to change everybodys view of the brushless gimbal and fussing. it is self adjusting in every way... does pid itself, sets power, sets orientation, all you do is tune in the rc interaction to taste...... There due in the next 30 days.

I personally will never mess with another servo gimbal, the zen is to lens dependant which is fine if that's your game, but nice glass makes or breaks a camera and it's never light when it's good so the open source type brushless gimbal would make most since to me. In fact we have av200 brushless that is a backup to the mob gimbal..... The benefits is it'll carry any camera any lens and is super light, downside is if it gets crashed it really wipes it out.... they offer crash kits, but none the less, it's in new zeland and your gig is here....

good luck in your decissions I for one wouldn't mess with any chovis, been around em, total rip off, wouldn't touch that with a 100' pole...
 


kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
there is a huge thread at rcgroups about it... there is also the 32 bit alexmos coming, prommising alot more performance. tuning aint bad once you get used to it....

i feel like i spelled it wrong, but i swear that's the name. there in isreal i think..... super promissing on the hero gimbals, we will see what there like on the bigger frames here shortly
 



Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
GotHeliRC said:
If it help, we got the Iflight BetView on sale for 1499.00 :D

http://gothelirc.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=238&cat=DSLR+by+Iflight
Click to expand...


sorry to dis your post but i'd recommend people look for legitimate real world examples of footage from that gimbal before committing to buy. there have been updates and i haven't seen much of it since it's been released. i've got one here from iFlight that was for a review that never happened because the update parts were never sent.

Bart
 

Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
kloner said:
..........I personally will never mess with another servo gimbal
Click to expand...


kloner, as you would say "I get it", you use brushless for what you do. if you did what i do you wouldn't touch brushless and you'd still be highly regarded in your field. servo driven gimbals are very well suited to aerial photography and can be used for video even though they might be 95% as good as a perfectly tuned and set up brushless gimbal. But with the ability to fly ten flights with ten different body/lens combinations in as little time as it takes to swap out a lens with the body left in place on the mount, they've got far more utility than any brushless mount would offer in the same set of circumstances.

@Mojave, if you're going to specialize in photography, the servo driven mount will let you land, swap lenses without being as concerned about balance, and get back to flying again in a minimal amount of time. a good mount will roll with it and not miss a beat.

good luck with your search.
bart
 

GotHeliRC

GotHeliRC

http://gothelirc.com
Bartman said:
sorry to dis your post but i'd recommend people look for legitimate real world examples of footage from that gimbal before committing to buy. there have been updates and i haven't seen much of it since it's been released. i've got one here from iFlight that was for a review that never happened because the update parts were never sent.

Bart
Click to expand...

Not sure if you have seen this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebksf08h3Dg&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avAdZRkNM4Y (car testing by a forum member)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avAdZRkNM4Y&list=UUXrnSk3AfeFMFKDKz28GKNA
 



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