The ALL New DJI S900 Hexacopter!

[Benjamin Kenobi]

If I can keep my S800 and Z15 under 7kg, so can you. No retracts and good quality but lightweight lipos help a lot. The S900 is 700g heavier than my S800 (from the specs, not in real life) so for me that would be losing one lipo, I could fly for almost 4 minutes with that!?! :nevreness:

It will be near impossible to keep the S900 under 7kg, but there is a slim chance it can be done with reduced flight times. If it means the difference between being able to do that £2000 job in the city as opposed to not doing it then I'm all for trying. I personally still have the old S800 to fall back on.

 

[MombasaFlash]

Ah! Mine has the retracts. Don't like working without them because the Zen only tracks invisibly in the third mode. The DJI implementation of a 'Follow Mode' is hopeless. The camera never stays still.

But using the Heading Hold Mode with no retracts means yawing the legs out of the way when panning. Nothing wrong with that in principle but it gets increasingly difficult with distance and acute angles or complex sequences.

If you check the penultimate sequence in that recently posted Showreel, it starts at altitude and way out over the harbour (which means rather a long way away), the camera comes in facing down. Just after the camera starts to pan right the copter starts descending ... and then the camera starts tilting up as well. This three axis camera move is continued right to ground level finishing with the camera pointing upwards and back to more or less where it started in the sky. It was shot one-operator - as was virtually the entire reel - and that would be exceedingly difficult to achieve with legs waiting to come into frame the whole time.

So my Good Luck for 7kg comment was sort of assuming the MR would be fully rigged.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Welcome to my world! I also use heading hold mode as it is rock solid, but I have to be ever vigilant of the bloody skids. I have pushed the rods as far back as they go to keep the lower part of the skids out the way which gives me a good 140° movement. But yes, it's a constant battle.:dread:

I do intend to keep the retracts on the S900 though. It is essentially the same weight as the S800 with retracts, but a bit less than the EVO would be. If it ends up being over 7kg so be it, that will still cover a large proportion of jobs.

And it's nice to meet another one-man operator! See, it can be done everyone! :nevreness:

 

[1lifefilm]

Phoned around a bit today trying to get some time lines on availability, nobody seemed to have much idea. What do we all think, how long until we can get our hands one?
Simon

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

First shipment is due to arrive in the UK on the 14th August. But we all remember the previous releases?!?! I hope to have it by November!

 

[tikigod19]

So the whole sub 7kg Concern.. Is it only an issue in built up areas?

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Yes, but what is a built-up area?

http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?21263-Sub-7kg-with-Movi-M5/page3

 

[tikigod19]

The very helpful guys at resource uas sent me this today when I queried this..

The definition of “congested area” is not an easy one!

When asked, the CAA said (direct quote!)

“In relation to a city, town or settlement, any area which is substantially used for residential, commercial, industrial or recreational purposes”

In my opinion this would include wedding venues especially when you have guests in attendance

-------------------

My argument (yet to receive a reply) is that I don't intend on flying near people, but merely to fly around the venue when all the guests are inside eating. Now would that compromise a built up area...?

 

[Quinton]

The very helpful guys at resource uas sent me this today when I queried this..

The definition of “congested area” is not an easy one!

When asked, the CAA said (direct quote!)

“In relation to a city, town or settlement, any area which is substantially used for residential, commercial, industrial or recreational purposes”

In my opinion this would include wedding venues especially when you have guests in attendance

-------------------

My argument (yet to receive a reply) is that I don't intend on flying near people, but merely to fly around the venue when all the guests are inside eating. Now would that compromise a built up area...?

Would the within 50 meters of any vessel vehicle or structure which is not under the control of the PIC not cover that?
Would be up to you to make it under control if they are inside.

 

[tikigod19]

So if I either kept more than 50m away or ensured the guests and all staff were kept inside would I then be OK? I know this is getting a bit of topic now so I'll try not to carry this on after this message..

 

[cbuk]

The whole congested area definition is another can of worms probably worthy of a thread of its own. As Ben mentioned 3 posts above this, I brought up the issue of the subjective definition in another thread.

 

[tikigod19]

Ah well, makes the choice a bit easier for me. I think buy the s900 with gh4, then deal with the never ending definition related problems afterwards. Is single operator an option with the s900/s1000 sized machines? All I'd need a 2nd operator to do is tilt when I say so seems silly to kit it out with a 2nd receiver and buy a 2nd radio..

 

[Quinton]

So if I either kept more than 50m away or ensured the guests and all staff were kept inside would I then be OK? I know this is getting a bit of topic now so I'll try not to carry this on after this message..

Really hard to tell as don't know the full circumstances of the area that you want to fly in or its location, as long as you follow the rules and have PFAW and the correct Insurance to cover it.
If you are doubting the job yourself then why risk it, unless you can guarantee you have full control of everything.

 

[tikigod19]

It's not a particular job I'm talking about im not qualified yet as I haven't bought my craft. This all comes down to keeping below 7kg or not for me but like others have said, not really a chat for here

 

[ZAxis]

Ah well, makes the choice a bit easier for me. I think buy the s900 with gh4, then deal with the never ending definition related problems afterwards. Is single operator an option with the s900/s1000 sized machines? All I'd need a 2nd operator to do is tilt when I say so seems silly to kit it out with a 2nd receiver and buy a 2nd radio..

For a two man operation, the camera guy decides when to pan/tilt/roll, you as the pilot just keep the multirotor in the air and follow his instructions. You can't have two people with their eyes off the aircraft.

andy

 

[tikigod19]

I'm so used to Flying solo (albeit with a spotter) and just panning with the uav not the gimbal so my question really (having never owned a z15) is would this still be doable with just a channel reserved for manual tilting? If so what tx are most people using? Is 14 channels recommended?

 

[soler]

First shipment is due to arrive in the UK on the 14th August. But we all remember the previous releases?!?! I hope to have it by November!

So who has the best deals in the UK for this. BYOD or others? I see the prices are higher than the US

 

[tikigod19]

The service I've had on email from byod has been great so far so I'll probably go for them. What radio would you guys recommend? If I only want to remote shutter (stills and video start stop) and manually tilt the camera will 8 channel be enough or do I need more?

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Go for ten channel as a minimum. You may as well use all the functions.

 

[tikigod19]

Which do you recommend Ben? Just added everything up I'm looking at just over £7,000 for the lot with qualification. Whoa