maxwelltub
Member
This year I had the great pleasure of attending NAB out in Vegas. It was great to get out there and get my hands on some of the newest cameras, remote heads, and multirotor tech. I also wanted to go to meet some other multirotor experts to see what others were doing and their solutions were to some of the obstacles we all have to overcome.
View attachment 24327
The first thing I saw was the Black Magic Micro Cinema Camera. I've listed stats below and there is endless reviews with a search of this forum and the Internet. So instead of talking about every detail of the camera I'll share with you my first impressions. What first struck me was how small it was. It was hard to gauge from the pictures but this thing is tiny, the body is about 300 grams. This camera will really excel for light weight setups. Most of my jobs require C300's or bigger, but there are plenty of times when people don't want to, or can't afford those bigger cameras but do not want to be stuck with a gopro or a camera with no lensing options. This seems to really fill the gap. In this photo you can see a micro 4/3 14mm lumix, but there is no limit to glass you could put on this camera. The coolest thing about it is the expansion port which really opens up the possibilities. On the side it has a 15 pin serial port, the same that you would find on many computer monitors. This port allows you to make any number of cables, from powering the camera (12-20 vdc) to controlling all the camera functions with an sbus connection, which would allow you to map 16 channels with your standard RC futaba controller, or 4 channels with any other RC RX. This expansion port would also allow feed out analog signal or any number of cool features. (there is also HDMI out) The wiring specs are easily available, and the connector is readily available to make your own cabling. They will also sell some variations premade. At the display they had it mounted to some sort of zenmuse, maybe it was the BM pocket zenmuse. But it was balanced and working. Here is a short clip showing it action.
View attachment 24328
Other Possible applications, it as a total of 4 1/4 20 mounting screw points.
Stats from B&H
Next we had the BeSteady 4, aka "the beast" which from the company ACR.
View attachment 24329
First of all, these guys where really great and knew their stuff more then any other gimbal booth there. They were able to answer all are questions and explain all the benefits of their design, as well as honestly sharing its weakness, (although there are not many) The Movi has set the standard of what everyone compares gimbals to, this gimbal can be categorized as some where between an M10 and M15 as far as payload. Now I haven't seen it in the air, and its very hard to know what any of these gimbals will do once they are put to real life use, but this one has a lot of promise. After using a number of gimbals I know what the weak points look like. The mounting, balancing and fasteners on this all look solid. The most notable disadvantage was lack of a full cage mount, but as one of my friends pointed out, it looks very similar to the M10 cage, it might be possible to retro fit their cage to this, but I'm not sure. This gimbal does not have a GPS, which screams roll drift to me at first, but their solution is having multiple IMU's placed around the gimbal on different axis that constantly double check each other to rectify any errors or differences between the two. It has built in high resolution encoders in the custom build motors. The batteries are 3s or 4s and are made by ACR to fit into the top mounting tubes of the gimbal for clean setup. Batteries have standard jst pins so you don't need a special charger to charge. The time was substantial but I can't recall, it was something like 10-13 hours of run time. Also has an integrated screen on the back which allows you to adjust all the parameters without another device. One down side is you can't put your gains on a pot, you would have to set them up as a dual rate type of deal.
Aside from the Movi which has proven itself, this seems like an equally amazing option.
http://www.acr-sys.com/acr-the-beast/
View attachment 24330
Here was a nice Pelican Case, light weight, lockable, suitcase size, and also comes in magenta.
View attachment 24331
The elusive Synapse and Micro Freefly drone spotted at the Quadrocopter booth. No word on if the synapse will be available for sale as a stand alone unit, or the Freefly micro. I've heard rumors for a while now about this micro. Its an awesome little 2s with the Synapse/ gps and gopro. Of course we were not allowed to fly it, but it was really cool to see in person.
View attachment 24332
And of course the Freefly Alta. Big hit of the show, it could be seen hanging from a ton of booths. It was hard to get a real accurate assessment because we were told these were all prototypes and not production models. My biggest interest was really in the Synapse, but we couldn't see it, and no word on if it was going to be sold separately . Most of the people at the freefly booth when I was there were more knowledgable about the movi rather then actual MR operators, although GM at Quadrocopter has been flying it and said its been great during the testing period.
View attachment 24334
The other interesting points are the folding arm connection. They've used a type of double hinge method they appears to be quite sturdy. In the production model there will be some sort of tension adjustment so if the locking mechanism becomes loose over time you can tighten it back down.
View attachment 24333
The Alta gives you the option of top mounting or traditional underslung mode by using two of freeflys toad in the hole mounts. The battery tray and movi are attached though a cylinder like structure in the middle that spins freely from the frame. The dampener is on the top of the frame but works the same in either mounting position. Seemed to be solid but from my own experience I have two concerns. I've experienced an increased pendulum feeling when using the movi with the toad and the hole mount. The Alta now has two, and maybe others haven't had the same problem but this is a concern of mine. The second concern is that you must use the movi and its tripod landing gear. In light winds this isn't a problem but in my experience these legs can act like sales and negatively effect your pan. There was no reports of this being an issue when I asked about it, but I don't know if they would share that with me anyway if it was a problem they noticed. Again, this is just my opinion, I don't know if others have had these problems or if this will be a problem that will show in the Alta.View attachment 24336
If the movi is top mounted the battery tray goes on the bottom, if the movi is bottom mounted the batteries go on top. Note this picture shows bottom battery tray, the top tray has a handle and I was told the RTF will come with both.
View attachment 24335
Other things, the ESCs are mounted under the motors. I think they have active breaking, although I couldn't get a definite consensus on that. The payload is 15lbs, so you could use a m15 just not fully loaded. They have been reporting about 12 minutes with 2x 9000 mah batteries. Their website might have more accurate/ official or updated figures. I was told they choose a hex instead of a Octocopter to meet size and performance requirements. This is Freefly's first package RTF model, and it is way better then anything else DJI is selling in terms of quality and design. So if you are someone who wants a prebuilt platform, my initial thoughts are, this thing looks pretty sweet.
I did get to meet Tabb, super nice guy who has been a major inspiration to me from back when I was doing CP helis. I actually felt somewhat star struck when I first started talking to him. We talked briefly about the Movi XL which was hanging above the booth. I couldn't get a good picture, but it was massive and had had a reportedly 5o lb payload and 40K price tag. So you could use it to fly your 55lb 333 exempt fully loaded octocopter.
There was tons of stuff that were the opposite of pretty sweet. Like this thing. Which was made of light weight flimsy plastic and had a transmitter that used Frequency not allowed in the US. They also had a lot of crappy knock off phantoms.
View attachment 24337
Looks cool, but in person appeared to be a POS.
View attachment 24339
There was also this thing, which was basically two steadycam arms that you strapped to your arms and attached to a full body harness to help you hold a gimbal. It looked awesome but I don't know if I will see many of these being used in real life. KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid was not an acronym that was used in the design of this setup.
View attachment 24340
Also finally got to see one of these guys, which I believe is the most expensive RTF cinema drone you can buy. It had what appeared to by U7s and a DJI A2. There was no one there to talk to me about it, so I do feel bad picking this frame, but it seems like laughable build quality for an 80,000 dollar set up. The strongest thing it has is the integrated wire management in the gimbal. It also does look really cool, but I'd take two of Kopterworx x12 hammers instead of one of these.
View attachment 24341
This controller was a very cool concept from a company called Yuneek. It was part of a package marketed toward more Search and Rescue companies, law enforcement, tower inspections and that sort of thing. You would have to do some of your own DIY mods to make this controller work with your own set up, but the reason I am sharing this is because of the concept and what this means for future controllers possibilities. The touch screen was fully customizable. It had GUI that could display pilot telemetry, pilot camera, or gimbal camera. It could be configured for single operator use, or to work in tandem with another controller for camera op. Basically felt like you had an Ipad that would allow you to select what image, or information you wanted to see, and then arrange it on the screen. It also had built in VRX and HDMI out. Also has a GPS built in so you can set your return to home to where you are, not where you started. It was being sold with their Tornado platform, although I haven't found any other info on it online. Here is the site. http://yuneec.com/products/aerialuav/h920
View attachment 24342
Other notable Tech.
The 3DR Solo is awesome. Its in a market I don't pay to close attention to, but I really enjoyed talking to the people at the 3DR booth. They know there stuff, the platform seems much more thought out and future proof then the phantom. The Cable Cam function was awesome to see, and their orbit around a point works much smoother. Many of their sensor inputs are redundant so there are more failsafes then anything else in its category. Also having redundant sensor makes for more accurate, reliable and stable readings. They have plans for future upgrades both hardware and software including obstacle avoidance, parachute failsafe, and other camera gimbals. You have more control over your gopro from the ground compared to the phantom. The gimbal also has little threaded holes where you can add provided weights to balance any of the gopros in the line up. So you don't need to buy a new gimbal if you get a new gopro. Telemetry is stored on both the TX and the Solo. The battery stores a lot of useful info as well. People always ask me what I think of the phantom, (which i'm not a fan of) now I have a great alternative to send them to instead.
The Freefly Mimic was cool, but even cooler is the fact its already build into the Movi controller, just need firmware update. Which means you can put your movi controller on a tripod and use the pan handle to control your gimbal.
These are the accounts of my personal hands on experience at NAB. The thing with the forum which is great but also tough is much of this comes down to personal preference and experience so its very hard to really learn with out doing or trying gear out. It was great to get hands on with some of the best gear available for UAV photography. All in all Vegas was mostly just boring work stuff. It was cool to see all the new tech, meet some good people and see what the world has to offer in our rapidly advancing industry.
View attachment 24343 View attachment 24344 View attachment 24345 View attachment 24346 View attachment 24347
View attachment 24327
The first thing I saw was the Black Magic Micro Cinema Camera. I've listed stats below and there is endless reviews with a search of this forum and the Internet. So instead of talking about every detail of the camera I'll share with you my first impressions. What first struck me was how small it was. It was hard to gauge from the pictures but this thing is tiny, the body is about 300 grams. This camera will really excel for light weight setups. Most of my jobs require C300's or bigger, but there are plenty of times when people don't want to, or can't afford those bigger cameras but do not want to be stuck with a gopro or a camera with no lensing options. This seems to really fill the gap. In this photo you can see a micro 4/3 14mm lumix, but there is no limit to glass you could put on this camera. The coolest thing about it is the expansion port which really opens up the possibilities. On the side it has a 15 pin serial port, the same that you would find on many computer monitors. This port allows you to make any number of cables, from powering the camera (12-20 vdc) to controlling all the camera functions with an sbus connection, which would allow you to map 16 channels with your standard RC futaba controller, or 4 channels with any other RC RX. This expansion port would also allow feed out analog signal or any number of cool features. (there is also HDMI out) The wiring specs are easily available, and the connector is readily available to make your own cabling. They will also sell some variations premade. At the display they had it mounted to some sort of zenmuse, maybe it was the BM pocket zenmuse. But it was balanced and working. Here is a short clip showing it action.
Other Possible applications, it as a total of 4 1/4 20 mounting screw points.
Stats from B&H
- Active Micro Four Thirds Lens Mount
- Resolutions Up to 3840x2160 at 30 fps
- 10-Bit 4:2:2 6G-SDI Video I/O
- Ultra-Compact Design
- SDI Remote Control Protocols
- PTZ Serial Output & B4 Data Link
- Built-In Talkback
- HDMI Monitor Output, 3.5mm Audio In
- Built-In Color Corrector
- Canon LP-E6 Battery Slot
Next we had the BeSteady 4, aka "the beast" which from the company ACR.
View attachment 24329
First of all, these guys where really great and knew their stuff more then any other gimbal booth there. They were able to answer all are questions and explain all the benefits of their design, as well as honestly sharing its weakness, (although there are not many) The Movi has set the standard of what everyone compares gimbals to, this gimbal can be categorized as some where between an M10 and M15 as far as payload. Now I haven't seen it in the air, and its very hard to know what any of these gimbals will do once they are put to real life use, but this one has a lot of promise. After using a number of gimbals I know what the weak points look like. The mounting, balancing and fasteners on this all look solid. The most notable disadvantage was lack of a full cage mount, but as one of my friends pointed out, it looks very similar to the M10 cage, it might be possible to retro fit their cage to this, but I'm not sure. This gimbal does not have a GPS, which screams roll drift to me at first, but their solution is having multiple IMU's placed around the gimbal on different axis that constantly double check each other to rectify any errors or differences between the two. It has built in high resolution encoders in the custom build motors. The batteries are 3s or 4s and are made by ACR to fit into the top mounting tubes of the gimbal for clean setup. Batteries have standard jst pins so you don't need a special charger to charge. The time was substantial but I can't recall, it was something like 10-13 hours of run time. Also has an integrated screen on the back which allows you to adjust all the parameters without another device. One down side is you can't put your gains on a pot, you would have to set them up as a dual rate type of deal.
Aside from the Movi which has proven itself, this seems like an equally amazing option.
http://www.acr-sys.com/acr-the-beast/
View attachment 24330
Here was a nice Pelican Case, light weight, lockable, suitcase size, and also comes in magenta.
View attachment 24331
The elusive Synapse and Micro Freefly drone spotted at the Quadrocopter booth. No word on if the synapse will be available for sale as a stand alone unit, or the Freefly micro. I've heard rumors for a while now about this micro. Its an awesome little 2s with the Synapse/ gps and gopro. Of course we were not allowed to fly it, but it was really cool to see in person.
View attachment 24332
And of course the Freefly Alta. Big hit of the show, it could be seen hanging from a ton of booths. It was hard to get a real accurate assessment because we were told these were all prototypes and not production models. My biggest interest was really in the Synapse, but we couldn't see it, and no word on if it was going to be sold separately . Most of the people at the freefly booth when I was there were more knowledgable about the movi rather then actual MR operators, although GM at Quadrocopter has been flying it and said its been great during the testing period.
View attachment 24334
The other interesting points are the folding arm connection. They've used a type of double hinge method they appears to be quite sturdy. In the production model there will be some sort of tension adjustment so if the locking mechanism becomes loose over time you can tighten it back down.
View attachment 24333
The Alta gives you the option of top mounting or traditional underslung mode by using two of freeflys toad in the hole mounts. The battery tray and movi are attached though a cylinder like structure in the middle that spins freely from the frame. The dampener is on the top of the frame but works the same in either mounting position. Seemed to be solid but from my own experience I have two concerns. I've experienced an increased pendulum feeling when using the movi with the toad and the hole mount. The Alta now has two, and maybe others haven't had the same problem but this is a concern of mine. The second concern is that you must use the movi and its tripod landing gear. In light winds this isn't a problem but in my experience these legs can act like sales and negatively effect your pan. There was no reports of this being an issue when I asked about it, but I don't know if they would share that with me anyway if it was a problem they noticed. Again, this is just my opinion, I don't know if others have had these problems or if this will be a problem that will show in the Alta.View attachment 24336
If the movi is top mounted the battery tray goes on the bottom, if the movi is bottom mounted the batteries go on top. Note this picture shows bottom battery tray, the top tray has a handle and I was told the RTF will come with both.
View attachment 24335
Other things, the ESCs are mounted under the motors. I think they have active breaking, although I couldn't get a definite consensus on that. The payload is 15lbs, so you could use a m15 just not fully loaded. They have been reporting about 12 minutes with 2x 9000 mah batteries. Their website might have more accurate/ official or updated figures. I was told they choose a hex instead of a Octocopter to meet size and performance requirements. This is Freefly's first package RTF model, and it is way better then anything else DJI is selling in terms of quality and design. So if you are someone who wants a prebuilt platform, my initial thoughts are, this thing looks pretty sweet.
I did get to meet Tabb, super nice guy who has been a major inspiration to me from back when I was doing CP helis. I actually felt somewhat star struck when I first started talking to him. We talked briefly about the Movi XL which was hanging above the booth. I couldn't get a good picture, but it was massive and had had a reportedly 5o lb payload and 40K price tag. So you could use it to fly your 55lb 333 exempt fully loaded octocopter.
There was tons of stuff that were the opposite of pretty sweet. Like this thing. Which was made of light weight flimsy plastic and had a transmitter that used Frequency not allowed in the US. They also had a lot of crappy knock off phantoms.
View attachment 24337
Looks cool, but in person appeared to be a POS.
View attachment 24339
There was also this thing, which was basically two steadycam arms that you strapped to your arms and attached to a full body harness to help you hold a gimbal. It looked awesome but I don't know if I will see many of these being used in real life. KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid was not an acronym that was used in the design of this setup.
View attachment 24340
Also finally got to see one of these guys, which I believe is the most expensive RTF cinema drone you can buy. It had what appeared to by U7s and a DJI A2. There was no one there to talk to me about it, so I do feel bad picking this frame, but it seems like laughable build quality for an 80,000 dollar set up. The strongest thing it has is the integrated wire management in the gimbal. It also does look really cool, but I'd take two of Kopterworx x12 hammers instead of one of these.
View attachment 24341
This controller was a very cool concept from a company called Yuneek. It was part of a package marketed toward more Search and Rescue companies, law enforcement, tower inspections and that sort of thing. You would have to do some of your own DIY mods to make this controller work with your own set up, but the reason I am sharing this is because of the concept and what this means for future controllers possibilities. The touch screen was fully customizable. It had GUI that could display pilot telemetry, pilot camera, or gimbal camera. It could be configured for single operator use, or to work in tandem with another controller for camera op. Basically felt like you had an Ipad that would allow you to select what image, or information you wanted to see, and then arrange it on the screen. It also had built in VRX and HDMI out. Also has a GPS built in so you can set your return to home to where you are, not where you started. It was being sold with their Tornado platform, although I haven't found any other info on it online. Here is the site. http://yuneec.com/products/aerialuav/h920
View attachment 24342
Other notable Tech.
The 3DR Solo is awesome. Its in a market I don't pay to close attention to, but I really enjoyed talking to the people at the 3DR booth. They know there stuff, the platform seems much more thought out and future proof then the phantom. The Cable Cam function was awesome to see, and their orbit around a point works much smoother. Many of their sensor inputs are redundant so there are more failsafes then anything else in its category. Also having redundant sensor makes for more accurate, reliable and stable readings. They have plans for future upgrades both hardware and software including obstacle avoidance, parachute failsafe, and other camera gimbals. You have more control over your gopro from the ground compared to the phantom. The gimbal also has little threaded holes where you can add provided weights to balance any of the gopros in the line up. So you don't need to buy a new gimbal if you get a new gopro. Telemetry is stored on both the TX and the Solo. The battery stores a lot of useful info as well. People always ask me what I think of the phantom, (which i'm not a fan of) now I have a great alternative to send them to instead.
The Freefly Mimic was cool, but even cooler is the fact its already build into the Movi controller, just need firmware update. Which means you can put your movi controller on a tripod and use the pan handle to control your gimbal.
These are the accounts of my personal hands on experience at NAB. The thing with the forum which is great but also tough is much of this comes down to personal preference and experience so its very hard to really learn with out doing or trying gear out. It was great to get hands on with some of the best gear available for UAV photography. All in all Vegas was mostly just boring work stuff. It was cool to see all the new tech, meet some good people and see what the world has to offer in our rapidly advancing industry.
View attachment 24343 View attachment 24344 View attachment 24345 View attachment 24346 View attachment 24347
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