GoPro Hero 3 black - additional FPV camera still needed ?

ChrisViperM

ChrisViperM

Active Member
I am in the process of building a TBS Discovery, and while writing my shopping list I came across the choice of buying a dedicated FPV camera or just use the GoPro for LiveView.

As far as I know the GoPro 2 had problems to adjust to changing light situations, where a FPV cam is much more "flexible" with this...don't know yet how well the GoPro 3 Black is handling quick changes in light conditions.

Another thing I was thinking about was power....If the GoPro runs out of battery, it gets dark and you become basically blind, with a FPV Camera which is powerd (indirectly) through the flight LiPO pack, this should not happen, unless you didn't watch your amp draw and voltage (via OSD as I am used to do it)

Since I am new to these little FPV cams, I am wondering why we try to mount "normal" cameras with all sorts of vibration absorbing material (gel pads, ear plugs....) to the bird, and most FPV cameras are rigid mounted, like glued onto the frame....
Is there a specific reason for the different mounting methods.....???


Any light on this would greatly appreciated...


Chris
 

Tomstoy2

Tomstoy2

Member
Chris, I could be totally wrong here, so take it for what it's worth, but I believe it has a lot to do with ntsc/pal not being anywhere as sensative.
Interresting question, though. One that I know I would like to know the true answer to, also.
I use a dedicated fpv camera and have it bolted down.
 

DucktileMedia

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
I think you addressed all the issues. the 3 main issues you use a separate fpv cam are power, light change/low light, and it is fixed to the heli as to using a gimbaled camera. I havent tried the live out on my gp3. I bought the rc shutter cord but it is just sitting here since I jhave a separate cam. what bothers me more than anything is the ultra fish eye fov. I'm going narrow. I think orientation/attitude is much more important than seeing everything. Just my opinion.
 

jcmonty

jcmonty

Member
I have a TBS with the GP3 black and a Pixim seawolf as the FPV camera. Highly recommend it for the reasons you listed. FPV cameras generally don't need isolation. The TBS has a mounting bracket that should work fine.
 

ChrisViperM

ChrisViperM

Active Member
IrisAerial said:
I think you addressed all the issues. the 3 main issues you use a separate fpv cam are power, light change/low light, and it is fixed to the heli as to using a gimbaled camera. I havent tried the live out on my gp3. I bought the rc shutter cord but it is just sitting here since I jhave a separate cam. what bothers me more than anything is the ultra fish eye fov. I'm going narrow. I think orientation/attitude is much more important than seeing everything. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

I agree with you....and the fish-eye always kept me away from GoPro so far, but Narrow looks ok to me. Just curious if there is a difference in the FPV "feel" when the cam is hard mounted or vibration dampend. On your recent FPV flight, was the cam also hard mounted, and did you see any vibrations ?

BTW...I also bought the LCD Back-Pack for the Hero 3...its got a touch-screen, so unlike the LCD Back-Pack for the Hero 2, all settings can be done with the fingers on the screen....the preview via WiFI sucks bigtime....it lags a couple of seconds behind.

Chris
 



SMP

SMP

Member
Started out flying the GP3 Black as FPV but after a couple of funky lockups and finicky cable port issues, (both on FPV as well as using it as a standalone on a couple of our commercial gigs we deemed it just too unreliable) scrapped it and went with Pixims for FPV on all three birds.
 

K

Kari

Member
I use hero3 silver in my tbs disco and it works very very well as a fpv camera too. I don't use separate fpv cam. Don't even need battery in gopro, it powers straight from immersion tx so it weights almost nothing. No delays and works quite well even in very low ligh.
 

B

bruce365

Null
Hi Chris, the reason the gopro is mounted on vibration material is to reduce or eliminate Jello in the recorded video (depending on how good the vibration isolation).
As I understand it the gopro has a CMOS sensor which does not take a complete frame snapshot at once, it scans line by line very quickly to build a frame (30fps or 60fps or 120 in NTSC). Because the camera is moving due to vibration the lens is facing in a slightly different direction at each line scan hence the jello effect. The higher the frame rate at a certain level of vibration the less jello.
The CCTV (CCD sensor) security cameras that are used for FPV take a complete frame snapshot all at once and are therefore not as Susceptible to the jello problems a CMOS sensor has and can be therefore hard mounted.
Regards - bruce
 
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ChrisViperM

ChrisViperM

Active Member
Bruce, Thanks a lot for the detailed insight.....when ever I think I know a little bit, I am stumbled how little I know.


Chris
 



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