A Brushless Camera Gimbal - With A Twist...

by jgrouse | October 6, 2013 | (0) Posted in Projects

And now for something totally unique....

Presenting the EZ-Gimbal With A Twist. You can now rotate your camera into a portrait orientation to enable portrait photography and panoramas.  Due to the unique three axis balance adjustment system of the EZ-Gimbal, the rotation by 90 degrees requires NO rebalancing.  You can alternate between landscape and portrait orientations without touching the cameras balance position. 

The pitch assembly has two plates which the long narrow camera base plate attaches to (with long straight slots).  With the camera in the landscape orientation you can adjust the camera fore/aft and up/down positions to set the balance.  You can then rotate the camera 90 degrees to the portrait orientation and slide the camera up/down (left/right slider when in landscape orientation) to set the balance in that orientation. With all three axis set to the cameras COG you can then alternate between the two orientations without touching any settings.  The camera rotates on its own COG.

Total width for your camera is 15cm so plenty of room for up to an NEX-7 sized camera.

Two strong and lightweight aluminium supports attach the camera tray to the up/down slider plate.  Also, the side arms are reinforced to minimise any sideways flex. 

What really stands out with this design is the ease and speed at which it takes to find the correct balance.  If you have a range of cameras that you plan on putting up in the air it won't take you long to balance each time you swap the camera over.  Also, the weight of the pitch back plate assembly counter-balances the camera, allowing you to place the camera one or two cm further forward on the tray.  This effectively places the camera's sensor much closer to the pitch line of rotation.

I'm really pleased with how it all turned out.  Having my own CNC router has made a massive difference to the length of time it takes to get a prototype created.

If you want to check this new design out (and perhaps have one of your own) please go to www.grousehousetechnologies.com.  

Also, if the FliteTest team are interested in giving it a go please let me know and I'll post you one for free.

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A Brushless Camera Gimbal - With A Twist...