NAB PhotoHigher, Droidworx, DJI Short Review with a few PICS

WOWWWWW What a great trip. There was so much to see and do, that I should have stayed at least another day. I spent most of yesterdayin the Droidworx booth, Helping Linda out so she could take a break. That turned out to be amazing, I had a great time chatting with everyone, anda nswering their questions. I was able to meet with Kimberly from PhotoHigher,and later on with Sydney from DJI. Meeting with the owners/mfg of the products that I resell was very rewarding. It was really nice to be able to finally meet them all in person. I can tell you, they were a pleasure to meet with, and are extremely friendly. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to do business with.


Kimberly was Busy nonstop, His and Linda's booth was packed all day. Kimberly had two of the Hero series gimbals that really impressed me. I cannot wait to see some finished products in the months to come. The GYRO Stabilization board was dead on. I couldn’t believe the stability coming from that small board. He said we should be receiving one next week for Beta Testing. Once the Beta testing is complete, He will then begin to take some dealer orders. I have gotten a couple emails regarding these boards. Sorry, But I will not be taking any ones money up front to reserve these boards. Once I have a definite order on its way to me, I will then offer them on a first come first served basis. I am very excited to see the final product delivered. I have a feeling we all are going to be very pleased with these gyros. Here are a couple pics from the Photo Higher booth of my favorites


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Droidworx had a booth that was Super Dialed. They had a newer Octo that incorporated a quick Connect/Disconnect landing gear/ Camera gimbal set up. It also had an updated mounting bracket that had Vibration dampeners built in. It also had a sweet looking cage, and updated landing gear which looked really good. All around, I really liked the quality of this model .For some reason the Name of it is drawing a blank. Linda said it would be approx 12 weeks till it’s released. Sorry for the crummy pics, I should have gotten more of the whole copter. I was more fascinated by the quick connect design though hehehe.


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Last stop was the DJI Booth. They diffidently have allot going on there too. The S800 looks like it will be a great hit, and should be a solid performer. As many have stated, the Zimuse was ultra smooth. They said they were projecting a Target MSRP of $11,000 for the S800 (ARF with Wookong) including the Zimuse. If so, I think that would be one heck of a deal. The S800 looked very well laid out. It has ESC's installed under the motors, and a spot on the Distribution board where all motor servo wires plugged into. There was very little wiring around or in the frame. It mostly looked to be incorporated into the frame and arms. I am very excited to get my hands on one of these copters. They also had their new Ground Station on preview. The prototype was hooked up to one of the Zimuse gimbals and a Sony 5D. It was very accurate and smooth. They told me projected MSRP was $6000 for ground station. That included the Video downlink with heads up display on the monitor. Here are some pics snapped at the DJI Booth.

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All in all, this show was a blast. There was soooooo much more to see and do. Unfortunately I did not have enough time. I would have loved to spend more time with everyone there. Next year I will be sure to make ample time and pace myself. I will also be sure to get better pictures. I predict a large group of us all meeting up next year. I can’t wait for the following months to come, because I am certain we are going to see some great thing hitting the market. I will be sure to post reviews, As soon as I have some of these products in hand. Until then, everyone take care.

Patrick

http://aerialmediapros.com
 


Droider

Drone Enthusiast
Nice stuff Patric thanks for the photos.. u would have thought DJI would have made a neater job of the build though.
 

jes1111

Active Member
I'm still trying to work out what the function is of those machined aluminium pieces rearward of the camera plate on the new PH gimbal. Does anyone know? Also, I understand it is using direct drive BLDC motors? - are they sourced from DJI? (The DJI setup looks similar.)
 

BorisS

Drone Enthusiast
The alu plates is nothing else than a workaround for mounting the Z15 at the moment.

I think this video indicates it, since in this one they have is zip tied and mentioning its 90% finished.


originally is was mentioned that the technology comes from DJI but i guess not. Since PH is stressing it that its not :)
 
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BorisS

Drone Enthusiast
Im happy about the new prop mount approach i just sick of these 6mm threads going to sh#t after a couple props on props of actions.
 



BorisS

Drone Enthusiast
Hi Boris,

I meant the alu plates on this mount:
View attachment 5413

ah sorry PH gimbal. No clue. The only thing i could guess is that these new gimbal setups need a completely balanced cam thus COG is very important, agree with Ken somewhere on those lines. If you compare to DJI they are more specific to their Gimbal models being compatible with a nex or gh2
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Im happy about the new prop mount approach i just sick of these 6mm threads going to sh#t after a couple props on props of actions.

Boris,
you've said this before but I don't understand how you can think that two 3 or 4 mm screws with socket heads can be better than a 6mm shaft with a nut that you can grab with a 10mm wrench (spanner for you UK folks). are you crossing threads or starting the nuts with something other than your fingers? I haven't stripped one yet and I'm constantly assembling and disassembling things. Some of my motors have been on and off of five or six different frames already with all sorts of different props mounted and removed.
the only benefit I can see is that the small screws couldn't loosen from the spinning of the motor because they're not directly on the axis of rotation. Other than that I see those little screw heads stripping the first time you try to torque them down.
a lot of this stuff looks nice but also unnecessary. we'll see how it all works after a few of them are out there with some hours on them and real footage (not 3 second clips in perfectly calm winds.) is being uploaded.
No doubt that the folks at the major companies are putting in a lot of effort and making some interesting progress (and they're mostly very nice people to boot!) but there's a lot of bling that may or may not improve the basic need of a smooth and stable ride for the camera. This all goes back to my "Please read before buying" thread.
Bart
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
one other thing Boris, these copters do crash from time to time. the design of the prop hub puts all the strength in the plane of the propeller (which is odd in-and-of-itself given the lift is perpendicular to that, but it's a detail) and with it all being carbon fiber, any impact to the propeller in a tip over or other bad landing is going to put a lot of stress on the motor shaft. at least a central shaft with a nut gives the prop a chance to slip in the hardest impacts possibly saving the motors. bent prop shafts may become more common as people continue to migrate towards very stiff props and very rigid mounting schemes.
 
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BorisS

Drone Enthusiast
hahaha like said before it could only be me being a maniac on the 6mm threads :) I just don't like it if I can take the tip of a prop and i can force it to move once the 6mm nut should be holding it already, which doesnt happen with all props mainly with the 10 x 5 graupner and the 11 gram 12 x 3.8 from the MK shop, combination with the tiger threads.


Most will probably not even notice this i just dont have a good feeling flying like that !
Especially on the tiger motors with the extra black finish i just have the feeling the thread are as precise and as clean as axi threads and give less friction.
Concerning bent shafts after a crash i cant comment on because i never crash :) no i got to have it in my hands to comment on it. I don't really know how they made it happen but simple two screws that probably don't have to be forced and not letting the prop slip seems an interesting approach to me at the moment.
No nyloc contour nut washer etc stuff, which i guess you were indicating with the positive aspect you can see in this approach.

Ive been through most of the products bart spending quite a sum I hope it doesnt sound too arrogant, to keep me entertained to a certain level on the side from normal work. I am completely aware that a lot of stuff is huffing and puffing and will have to proof itself (besides that some of the stuff never did ! ), like any other product that gets launched.

At the moment all I know is that I i am happy that i ordered the whole kit for around 3500 $ S800 plus Z15G. Like always i will have a honest approach once I test it not protecting my investment or admitting if I fell for grabbing the shiny stuff once more :)

Boris


 
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BorisS

Drone Enthusiast
I really don't know and cant make it up in my mind to tell the truth probably due to the lack of mechanical experience in my background.

But comparing

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the traditional setup were eventually the Propmount/thread is directly attached to the motor bell, the question now is if in case of a crash the thread compensates or due to leverage ( hope thats the right word) actually stress the bell and the shaft even more.
To me it just seems as a unnecessary accessory if you can have the prop directly mounted onto the motor. I dont know tell me in which way i am wrong.

I cant tell from the picture below if the shaft is actually following through the prop it looks like it though.

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Boris
 


Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
the difference in offset above the motor bell between the two arrangements is probably negligible. the original XAircraft motors that had the prop up off the bell and not really supported by anything was probably the worst I've seen.

the graupner props are very hard plastic and yes it's hard to keep them from having some give even when firmly tightened. i was using two very small drops of thick CA glue to keep them from spinning and it worked great. the glue would release the prop for removal without much effort.

we'll see what happens. i'm entering the business now so of course i see benefits to my approach but i'm always paying attention to what others are doing and i'm willing to admit if i'm wrong or if someone's tricks are better. as the forum owner and a soon-to-be vendor I keep a lot of my comments to myself in order to be fair to the people that are also trying to make a business of this little industry.

Bart
 

tstrike

pendejo grande
The DJI guy (not Rob) did say they were going to redesign the props for the 450 and 550 but he didn't elaborate. I agree with Bart and think the 2 small screws while giving a lower profile to the motors, will be the first thing to get lost or stripped out.
 

BorisS

Drone Enthusiast
how do they do it with the F440 550 at the moment top screw and some wired props to it nut formed in the shaft or ?
 

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