Using a point and shoot

[adanac]

I'd like to be able to take decent stills from my P2. Is anyone doing this?

I'd like to be able to mount a point and shoot below and have a way of seeing what it's shooting. It would be great to be able to trigger from the ground but not necessary. What's necessary is some sort of mount and a way of seeing the frame.

 

[QYV]

complicated, you'd need a different gimbal. Have you experimented with Photo mode on the GoPro? it takes as decent stills as a medium grade point and shoot. I was surprised at how much better photo stills are from the gopro compared to screen capping video

 

[adanac]

I find the stills from a GoPro to be very poor or poor at best. Moreover, I wish to shoot raw stills.

I don't require a gimbal, just an articulating mount or perhaps even one that won't articulate, but keeps the camera in my desired position. I could make this myself if it comes down to it.

The bigger problem I'm guessing is seeing what I'm shooting. The camera I'd like to use (although I'm flexible) is the Canon G16, which has HDMI and USB outs.

complicated, you'd need a different gimbal. Have you experimented with Photo mode on the GoPro? it takes as decent stills as a medium grade point and shoot. I was surprised at how much better photo stills are from the gopro compared to screen capping video

 

[QYV]

totally understand. fwiw, without gimbal stabilization I don't think you're going to get good pics at all. The Phantom itself isn't nearly as stable as gimbal-stabilized footage would lead you to believe, if you just bolted a mount for the camera to the underside it would be constantly vibrating, that would probably mess up your stills.
anyway just something to consider... if you're going for THAT high of quality stills, I think you'll need to stabilize the camera somehow (gimbal)

anyway about seeing live through the camera... as long as the camera supports a live video out feed it could be done, you'd just need to make your own cable to patch to a video transmitter and you'd have FPV very similar to H3-3D/Gopro setup... but the tricky part is plugging in a usb or whatever to the camera and being able to get video and video-gnd to patch to the input cable on a video transmitter. but then you'd have no mechanism to trigger photos eh? probably need to set a repeat timer like gopro's timelapse mode. you've probably already thought of all this

also depending on the weight you'll probably cut into flight time noticeably. just sayin, things to consider

 

[adanac]

I think what I'm looking for is whatever someone before me might have done. I'll buy whatever system works.

I would use a timer on the camera. I can tolerate shorter flight times.

 

[CityZen]

I remember a post where someone had jury-rigged a Samsung Galaxy phone to their quad and used the screen mirroring feature to view the results on another Samsung they were holding.

Also, someone used a GoPro-to-tripod mounting bracket to attach a regular point-n-shoot camera to their quad. I think they used a self-timer to make it take pictures. The camera was upside-down, but it didn't really matter.

For taking stills, if there's enough light, you can set a fast shutter speed and not worry too much about the quad moving around. A gimbal is more needed for video.

You may still want to get a rubber vibration -isolating GoPro mount, though. Too much vibration can still mess with a camera's image stabilization.

 

[adanac]

The question is how to see what I'm shooting.

 

[Chriserl]

Something like this?

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2293112

 

[flynorth]

Hello all, this is my first post here after a period of lurking around

I have a Sony RX100 mounted on a Phantom 2. The RX100 is one of the best small-compacts, and it's light enough for the Phantom to carry.
I purchased a mount from dronexpert in Netherlands. It's not a gimbal, just two plastic plates with some electronics and servos inside. It feeds live video from the camera to a monitor clamped on the DJI remote, and I can fire the shutter with a flip of the S2 switch. Tilting the camera is possible from 0 to 90 degrees.
This works great, but as somebody mentioned high frequency vibrations can be a problem, and cause blurred photos. I usually take 5-6 photos when I have placed the Phantom in position, and at least one of them is always sharp. I have now mounted foam tubes on the landing gear too see if it can reduce vibrations.
Take-off weight with the RX100 and the mounting plate is exactly 1385 grams - a little bit on the heavy side. But flying is stable, no problem. However the heavy load drains the batteries. 10-12 minutes probably all I get.

Here are some examples of my photos with this setup:
http://www.arcticphoto.no/flyingcamera/

Bjørn

 

[badbrad97]

Hello all, this is my first post here after a period of lurking around

I have a Sony RX100 mounted on a Phantom 2. The RX100 is one of the best small-compacts, and it's light enough for the Phantom to carry.
I purchased a mount from dronexpert in Netherlands. It's not a gimbal, just two plastic plates with some electronics and servos inside. It feeds live video from the camera to a monitor clamped on the DJI remote, and I can fire the shutter with a flip of the S2 switch. Tilting the camera is possible from 0 to 90 degrees.
This works great, but as somebody mentioned high frequency vibrations can be a problem, and cause blurred photos. I usually take 5-6 photos when I have placed the Phantom in position, and at least one of them is always sharp. I have now mounted foam tubes on the landing gear too see if it can reduce vibrations.
Take-off weight with the RX100 and the mounting plate is exactly 1385 grams - a little bit on the heavy side. But flying is stable, no problem. However the heavy load drains the batteries. 10-12 minutes probably all I get.

Here are some examples of my photos with this setup:
http://www.arcticphoto.no/flyingcamera/

Bjørn

Those pictures are amazing. Thanks for sharing.

 

[QYV]

yea that's really cool to know Bjorn thanks!

 

[adanac]

I most definitely do not need a 600 Euro item! Still looking.

 

[CityZen]

This guy has designed camera brackets for the Phantom: http://www.shapeways.com/shops/Mortar_Art

 

[adanac]

Bjorn, how do you see what you're shooting? I asked that question 2-3 times before you posted!

Hello all, this is my first post here after a period of lurking around

I have a Sony RX100 mounted on a Phantom 2. The RX100 is one of the best small-compacts, and it's light enough for the Phantom to carry.
I purchased a mount from dronexpert in Netherlands. It's not a gimbal, just two plastic plates with some electronics and servos inside. It feeds live video from the camera to a monitor clamped on the DJI remote, and I can fire the shutter with a flip of the S2 switch. Tilting the camera is possible from 0 to 90 degrees.
This works great, but as somebody mentioned high frequency vibrations can be a problem, and cause blurred photos. I usually take 5-6 photos when I have placed the Phantom in position, and at least one of them is always sharp. I have now mounted foam tubes on the landing gear too see if it can reduce vibrations.
Take-off weight with the RX100 and the mounting plate is exactly 1385 grams - a little bit on the heavy side. But flying is stable, no problem. However the heavy load drains the batteries. 10-12 minutes probably all I get.

Here are some examples of my photos with this setup:
http://www.arcticphoto.no/flyingcamera/

Bjørn

 

[GearLoose]

This guy has designed camera brackets for the Phantom: http://www.shapeways.com/shops/Mortar_Art

I'm using a tilt bracket from Mortar Art with a Canon S100, running CHDK and the UAV KAP script so that the camera fires a shot every 2 seconds. So far it works quite well.

 

[MonsieurAnon]

Ha, it's cool to see people mentioning my stuff organically! Really glad that it's working for you GearLoose.

Another one of my customers discovered a way to shoot his rx-100 and sells my mount along with the required electronics:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_9xwHbNOB4[/youtube]

adanac; if you're still looking for a way to frame the photo, you're going to need to look into an FPV system. You'll need a video transmitter and receiver as well as a cable from and to your rx-100, and a screen on your end to see the end result. That said, I'm a fan of spray and pray / continuous shooting. It means you lift less gear on your quad, which is usually a plus.

 

[adanac]

Mentioning your stuff "organically?"

I have an FPV system on my Phantom but it goes through the Phantom. The question is how to hook it up between camera and FPV.

 

[MonsieurAnon]

Are you saying that you're using the Vision? Can you explain what you mean by it goes trough the Phantom?

 

[dptcalvin]

http://dronexpert.nl/product/dji-phanto ... converter/

Now that is cool.

 

[MonsieurAnon]

Starting from $745 more than my mounts, weighing more and not having effective dampening.