MadManRC - Radio Control Aircraft

MadMan's
Radio Control Helicopters/Aircraft

DJI Phantom quadcopter and GoPro Hero3 Black Camera setup:

Got this on 4/2 at 3:00 pm and did the first test flight and video from 5 until 9. Did
3 videos with not much to see.

After hearing about 'Jello' while filming and shake issues with this setup, I balanced
the blades carefully on a Dubro balancer using white vinyl tape. The only other
modification I made from the stock setup was to put two servo grommets on the
attachment point for the GoPro camera. I had to drill out the holes just slightly and
use 3mm hex head bolts that were just slightly longer than the stock screws to
install it.

The videos below are my first and certainly don't have anything interesting other
than images of my neighborhood. The small publish size does NOT do the camera
justice, but it does show that the camera is extremely capable as is the Phantom
platform when blades are balanced and a simple vibration isolation grommet that
comes free with servos in used. So far I think filming in 720p @ 60 or 120 fps and
then slowing it down to 75% speed gives good results.

DJI Phantom quadcopter and
GoPro Hero3 Black Video
(640x360 small .m4v file type -
62mb)

DJI Phantom vid 2 - Wait
until the light is GREEN, the
system has warmed up and all
satellites acquired.

DJI Phantom vid 3 - Leave protunes off on the
GoPro and picture is infinitely better.
Protunes requires post-processing and really
flattens the look of your video color.

TIPS 1: Simple Servo City pan/tilt setup modified
for horizontal installation on the DJI Phantom.
Click this link or run the imbedded wmv file.

Tips from a Newbies Perspective:

I am not short on RC experience and was early into micro's and electric setups for helis, but this end of the hobby is very
different. Gyro's and telemetry have come so far that one can literally fly out of the box never having flown before.
After a 2 year break to get into some other things, I come back to what looks like basically the Terminator movies - only
very reasonably priced (Go China!).

In that regard, before there were machines that flew for you, I used to give honest assessments of products and do
videos that followed my progress and hopefully stopped people from making some of the same mistakes I did. I will
probably do it again because popularity breeds on-line hobby stores who, through no fault of there own, cannot give the
level of support that's needed. It takes tons of on-line research to figure it all out if you don't fly a lot at a club where
others have this equipment. Hopefully, the vids will be useful or are interesting to some.

I should start by doing unboxing video's on all the equipment I have purchased and talking about how nothing comes
with instructions or all the parts you need to actually USE the thing anymore (I mean my Fatshark Attitude SD's didn't
even come with a way to power them!), but I won't.

Instead, what I will do over a few tip vids is provide reviews/ideas that might speed the demise of what it was like in the
early days of electric micro helicopters, where vendors could take a $.20 carbon rod and sell it for $10 to newbies with
money to burn. I'll praise the products that provide value and function and criticize the ones that don't.

The first tip vid might not be a unique idea, but certainly is a cheap pan and tilt system alternative for head-tracking and
the Phantom vs. the $80+ pieces of plywood or $250 strips of 1mm carbon plate alternatives that are on-line.

Mike

Canon 60Da 1 minute exposures, 100 ISO,
F/5.6, FL 35mm. Flying the Phantom at
night

Just for Fun:

Videos from when RC machines didn't fly themselves - me and friend in 2006 with the ultimate nightmare
heli - the Hornet! Left: Close Call. Right: Empty Pool. Click the link or run the imbedded WMV file.