Belton House - Gimbal On and Off

by ycopter | June 16, 2014 | (12) Posted in Just Fun

Two videos contrasting stablised and non stablised cameras.


Filmed at the stunning Belton House near to Grantham in Lincolnshire UK with permission from the National Trust.  Thanks to Jim C for acting as my safety observer for these flights.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/belton-house/

After many months of designing, building and tweaking, my brushless gimbal is now working well.  Sharp and stable video at all speeds and power levels.  The gimbal is a self contained unit secured with a GoPro mount.  I can change from stablised to fixed camera in a few seconds.  The GoPro 3 is held in place by two bands and is protected by a front plate, neoprene rubber and UV filter.  Pitch and roll is controlled from the transmitter.  Roll control is purely for trimming level before flight.  The camera can look down by up to 90 degrees and is controlled by a slider with a two second delay to make the movement really smooth.

 

Brushless Gimbal or no Brushless Gimbal?

On a multirotor the difference between stablised and non stableised footage is quite striking, stablisation has its place but I still love the dynamic nature and feeling of flying from a fixed camera.  Which do you prefer?

 

Stabilised Camera - Brushless Gimbal.
Large 670mm quadcopter with Openpilot Revolution.

 

 

Filmed with a fixed camera.  Front of house is filmed with my large 670mm quadcopter, the rear garden is filmed with my new design 350mm KK2 quadcopter.

 

 

 

COMMENTS

Mirabile Visu on June 22, 2014
I think I need to try to fly faster...... I'm a bit of a chicken ! It would have taken me ten minutes to fly up to Belton House.
Keep up the great work.
Trevor
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ycopter on June 22, 2014
It is best to be cautious initially, I am sure you will be able to fly faster with more practice. A heavier quad is easier to fly fast, it also helps if you have a heavy battery at the back, a slightly tail heavy quad flies with less pitch at speed. I also tilt the FPV and HD camera back a little to compensate for the pitch forward in normal flight.
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carsonpauli on June 27, 2014
WOW is all I can say... Great job!!
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ycopter on June 27, 2014
Thanks, I really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment.
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rcflyer729 on June 18, 2014
awesome video
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ycopter on June 19, 2014
Thanks
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3FliteUK on June 21, 2014
Brilliant mate, thats a very local park to us! We are just in Newark nearby and it's a place which i've grown up visiting! Enjoyed your flying, but how did you get such a nice day when hardly anyone was there?
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ycopter on June 21, 2014
Thanks and I'm Pleased you enjoyed this view of your local place. I filmed this in the evening when the house and grounds were closed to the public. Thanks to the National Trust for allowing access.
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ycopter on June 19, 2014
Thanks. I am using the following:
Motors: Quanum 2208 Precision Brushless Gimbal Motor (GoPRO size 100-200g)
Control board: 2-Axis Brushless Camera Gimbal Stabilization Control Board w/IMU

All of the gimbal parts are designed and made by me. Constructed from 1.6mm thick fibreglass sheet, the main arms are also re-enforced with 3mm thick ply.
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brandx on June 18, 2014
Incredibly flying very nice edit and music too. Brilliant.
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ycopter on June 19, 2014
Thanks, pleased you enjoyed the videos.
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Jevohn on June 18, 2014
really Great!
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ycopter on June 19, 2014
Thanks
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seedub on June 19, 2014
Nice build and nice flying. Which gimbal components (motors, controller/IMU) did you go with, or was it a kit?
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RCPilot1234 on June 19, 2014
Awesome flying on both videos! :) Really smooth! For composition I definitely think gimbals are needed at times, yet on other videos - like on your second one - they seem to hinder the experience. Five star rating!

Kind regards,
Francis :)
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ycopter on June 21, 2014
Thanks Francis. I agree entirely with your comment.
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Mirabile Visu on June 22, 2014
Very nice, as always.
Was the start of the video showing the quad approaching Belton House speeded up, or was that just showing normal flying speed ?
Cheers,
Trevor.

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ycopter on June 22, 2014
Thanks Trevor, both these videos are actual speed, nothing is speeded up or slowed down.
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Belton House - Gimbal On and Off