Fun With My Toy Phantom Quadcopter at DVinfo.net

Paul Wags · July 1st, 2013, 04:20 PM

Thought I would share what my little toy quadcopter has been getting up too.
Still cannot believe I need a pilots licenses and all the other $$$ tickets to fly this little toy a few feet of the ground for some coin.
As a RC model hobbyist though I can basically do what ever I want with it so it's got nothing to do about safety or privacy....just money....:-)

Mark Williams · July 1st, 2013, 05:08 PM

Nice piloting skills. I assume you are using balanced props and some type of camera vibration isolation.

Bryce Comer · July 1st, 2013, 07:30 PM

Really nice Paul,
Like Mark said, I assume you are using vibration control of some sort, but you must also be using a gimbal are you not? That was some lovely footage. The compression of Youtube didn't do anything for it, but where it wasn't all pixelated, it looked great!.
Thanks for sharing.
Bryce

Michael Bradshaw · July 1st, 2013, 07:57 PM

I find this footage very encouraging. I want to get a dji phantom and play around with this a bit.

Is it this ARRIS Gimbal that's helping you get smooth shots? I understand there's a good bit of practice involved and no wind would help a lot but I'm hoping you might share some secrets here! :)

This is really impressive for the price.

M.

Paul Wags · July 1st, 2013, 11:14 PM

Hi guys.
Cheers for comments...

Yes i am using the ARRIS gimbal, there is vibration still when flying into the wind or fast.
Slow and steady it does a pretty good job. The tilt function was a hack into the stock transmitter.
I may move the gimbal back out of the props turbulence and try some other vibration eliminating methods.

Props are stocked but balanced.

The GoPro 3 (Black) Protune 30mbps codec breaks down pretty bad with certain shots and of course the raw footage is much better than whats on youtube here.

Going to hit the waterfalls next. :-)

Bruce Dempsey · July 2nd, 2013, 03:03 AM

I get the feeling you are quite confident that your phantom will act in a predictable manner. (I'm still afraid mine will just keep going without responding to my frantic twiddling of the sticks.)
If you don't mind telling, how many hours of flight time have you logged? thanks

Paul Wags · July 2nd, 2013, 03:43 AM

Bruce, April 6th was my first Phantom flight, lost count of how many times I have flown it now. :-)

Hardly ever fly in GPS, (too risky) just attitude mode and have full manual mode to switch to if starts doing crazy things on its owns. Overhead wires and mobile phone ringing have spun it out on boot up couple times though. Still on original firmware too.

I have a mini quad (Ladybird) that I have crashed a zillion times which has taught me to fly loops, rolls and banking while turning) so flying this thing now is pretty easy :-)

Gabe Hoeffken · August 27th, 2013, 03:13 AM

Great videos, where are they shot? I really like the perspective of flying around the basketball hoop. I am learning to fly a toy quad now with the hope of moving onto something that can fly a gopro in the future. So far I use a battery or two before having to glue it back together again, but I am getting the hang of it.

Herman J. van Ooijen · September 5th, 2013, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Wags

Bruce, April 6th was my first Phantom flight, lost count of how many times I have flown it now. :-)

Hardly ever fly in GPS, (too risky) just attitude mode and have full manual mode to switch to if starts doing crazy things on its owns. Overhead wires and mobile phone ringing have spun it out on boot up couple times though. Still on original firmware too.

I have a mini quad (Ladybird) that I have crashed a zillion times which has taught me to fly loops, rolls and banking while turning) so flying this thing now is pretty easy :-)

I am curious, why would GPS be a "risky" mode?

Chuck Spaulding · September 5th, 2013, 11:33 PM

I think some believe that NAZA-M +GPS tend to fly away, not sure what the cause for fly away's but the NAZA controller seems to often have "unpredictable" or quirky flight control inputs that can be a little unnerving.

This can also make it more difficult to trust it with expensive camera equipment or flying in close proximity to people etc.

July 1st, 2013, 04:20 PM	#1
Paul Wags Ruler of the DownUnder UnderWorld Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Cairns- Queensland - Australia Posts: 248	Fun With My Toy Phantom Quadcopter Thought I would share what my little toy quadcopter has been getting up too. Still cannot believe I need a pilots licenses and all the other $$$ tickets to fly this little toy a few feet of the ground for some coin. As a RC model hobbyist though I can basically do what ever I want with it so it's got nothing to do about safety or privacy....just money....:-) ARRIS Brushless Gimbal Phantom Quadcopter Camera Tilt Control - YouTube ARRIS CM2000 Brushless Gimbal Second Flight With Some Agro Flying - YouTube Phantom Quadcopter Fun In The Tropics ARRIS CM2000 Gimbal - YouTube __________________ www.quadzombies.com www.flykam.com.au www.rotorpix.com.au

July 1st, 2013, 05:08 PM	#2
Mark Williams Trustee Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Deep South, U.S. Posts: 1,526	Re: Fun With My Toy Phantom Quadcopter Nice piloting skills. I assume you are using balanced props and some type of camera vibration isolation. __________________ Mark videos: http://vimeo.com/channels/3523 Stock: http://www.pond5.com/artist/mark29

July 1st, 2013, 07:30 PM	#3
Bryce Comer Trustee Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Rossland, British Columbia Posts: 1,024	Re: Fun With My Toy Phantom Quadcopter Really nice Paul, Like Mark said, I assume you are using vibration control of some sort, but you must also be using a gimbal are you not? That was some lovely footage. The compression of Youtube didn't do anything for it, but where it wasn't all pixelated, it looked great!. Thanks for sharing. Bryce __________________ There's never enough hours in the day!

July 1st, 2013, 07:57 PM	#4
Michael Bradshaw Regular Crew Join Date: May 2010 Location: Newtownabbey, UK Posts: 66	Re: Fun With My Toy Phantom Quadcopter I find this footage very encouraging. I want to get a dji phantom and play around with this a bit. Is it this ARRIS Gimbal that's helping you get smooth shots? I understand there's a good bit of practice involved and no wind would help a lot but I'm hoping you might share some secrets here! :) This is really impressive for the price. M.

July 1st, 2013, 11:14 PM	#5
Paul Wags Ruler of the DownUnder UnderWorld Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Cairns- Queensland - Australia Posts: 248	Re: Fun With My Toy Phantom Quadcopter Hi guys. Cheers for comments... Yes i am using the ARRIS gimbal, there is vibration still when flying into the wind or fast. Slow and steady it does a pretty good job. The tilt function was a hack into the stock transmitter. I may move the gimbal back out of the props turbulence and try some other vibration eliminating methods. Props are stocked but balanced. The GoPro 3 (Black) Protune 30mbps codec breaks down pretty bad with certain shots and of course the raw footage is much better than whats on youtube here. Going to hit the waterfalls next. :-) __________________ www.quadzombies.com www.flykam.com.au www.rotorpix.com.au

July 2nd, 2013, 03:03 AM	#6
Bruce Dempsey Major Player Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Atlantic Coast Canada Posts: 599	Re: Fun With My Toy Phantom Quadcopter I get the feeling you are quite confident that your phantom will act in a predictable manner. (I'm still afraid mine will just keep going without responding to my frantic twiddling of the sticks.) If you don't mind telling, how many hours of flight time have you logged? thanks

July 2nd, 2013, 03:43 AM	#7
Paul Wags Ruler of the DownUnder UnderWorld Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Cairns- Queensland - Australia Posts: 248	Re: Fun With My Toy Phantom Quadcopter Bruce, April 6th was my first Phantom flight, lost count of how many times I have flown it now. :-) Hardly ever fly in GPS, (too risky) just attitude mode and have full manual mode to switch to if starts doing crazy things on its owns. Overhead wires and mobile phone ringing have spun it out on boot up couple times though. Still on original firmware too. I have a mini quad (Ladybird) that I have crashed a zillion times which has taught me to fly loops, rolls and banking while turning) so flying this thing now is pretty easy :-) __________________ www.quadzombies.com www.flykam.com.au www.rotorpix.com.au

August 27th, 2013, 03:13 AM	#8
Gabe Hoeffken New Boot Join Date: May 2005 Location: Maui, Hawaii USA Posts: 23	Re: Fun With My Toy Phantom Quadcopter Great videos, where are they shot? I really like the perspective of flying around the basketball hoop. I am learning to fly a toy quad now with the hope of moving onto something that can fly a gopro in the future. So far I use a battery or two before having to glue it back together again, but I am getting the hang of it.

September 5th, 2013, 11:33 PM	#10
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,104	Re: Fun With My Toy Phantom Quadcopter I think some believe that NAZA-M +GPS tend to fly away, not sure what the cause for fly away's but the NAZA controller seems to often have "unpredictable" or quirky flight control inputs that can be a little unnerving. This can also make it more difficult to trust it with expensive camera equipment or flying in close proximity to people etc.