Solo gimbal noise/vibration

[jjs357]

I just heard from some folks on the Solo Owners Facebook page that performing calibrations might benefit me in my situation. Specifically a compass calibration, with the observation that a level calibration wouldn't hurt. This is with the gimbal and GoPro mounted to the Solo frame while doing the calibration. Will do this in the morning (East Coast USA time).

 

[Earldgrayjr]

Tell me about your extensive experience with 3 axis computer Gimbals first.

Irrelevant. Tell me who was saying there wasn't anything wrong with his gimbal? Seriously dude. Why be so combative?

 

[Michael Stevenson]

Earl, You are ignored.

 

[Earldgrayjr]

Earl, You are ignored.

Works for me!

 

[erikgraham]

Yes, man. The GoPro Fisheye lens is not going to work in 4K at all.

I guess you didn't actually watch the video.

 

[erikgraham]

So here's the first of a couple terrible demos of my bad gimbal.

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It really doesn't sound good. I've seen gimbals recover from that level noise after being flashed and totally recalibrated, but that really doesn't sound good at all... and 3DR hasn't released a utility for the gimbal yet, so there isn't much you can do. I'd try 3DR help one more time tomorrow, but plan on sending it back.

Of course, we should probably run this all past @Michael Stevenson first. After all, he's got a very expensive Professional 3 Axis Gimbal (a Freefly Systems Movi M5 if I recall correctly).

 

[erikgraham]

I know this is a rough watch but just a quick demo trying to get legs in the shot in 4k wide. The left leg pops in during hard angles and fast paced movements, and the prop arms will also come in during hard forward pitch of the solo. The gimbal was at 90° for this video... And notice the gimbal motor noise. I should have a fairly strong case to replace the gimbal. I just don't want to have to wait until christmas.

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Thank you for this. Much appreciated. Did you notice the legs come into frame less with the gimbal tilted down?

 

[Sampson]

Thank you for this. Much appreciated. Did you notice the legs come into frame less with the gimbal tilted down?

I forgot to test that but would bet if it were angled down you could further avoid them in the shot. Even with careful flying and selective panning at 90 I think you can get clean shots.

 

[SoloMio]

So here's the first of a couple terrible demos of my bad gimbal.

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Same issues. Mine's louder… I'll get crap for first post but been following for a while and I hate signing up for yet another online whatever so I never did. Needed to let Sampson know he is not alone. How do you guys do pm's here anyway?

 

[erikgraham]

How do you guys do pm's here anyway?

If you click their avatar picture a pop up appears. Inside that there is a link for "Start a conversation". That's what they call PMs here.

 

[SoloMio]

If you click their avatar picture a pop up appears. Inside that there is a link for "Start a conversation". That's what they call PMs here.

Thanks

 

[Earldgrayjr]

I forgot to test that but would bet if it were angled down you could further avoid them in the shot. Even with careful flying and selective panning at 90 I think you can get clean shots.

The other nice thing about 4K is that (at least I) rarely output that today. That means you can crop the image anywhere and still have plenty of pixels to output 1080 without any degredation. In the video I posted here, I cropped a couple images where I was flying aggressively and got the props, and a couple just to get centered. Same thing goes here with the legs. You can also go narrower and have less fish eye, or go wide and remove it in post, and then crop a. little in aggressive shots if the legs show up.

I really could have sworn I saw legs in 4K W before, but I guess I just took what I was told and interpretted it as that I would. I am really amazed that we have this much to work with.

 

[SoloMio]

The other nice thing about 4K is that (at least I) rarely output that today. That means you can crop the image anywhere and still have plenty of pixels to output 1080 without any degredation. In the video I posted here, I cropped a couple images where I was flying aggressively and got the props, and a couple just to get centered. Same thing goes here with the legs. You can also go narrower and have less fish eye, or go wide and remove it in post, and then crop a. little in aggressive shots if the legs show up.

I really could have sworn I saw legs in 4K W before, but I guess I just took what I was told and interpretted it as that I would. I am really amazed that we have this much to work with.

Cool with a working gimbal...

 

[erikgraham]

The other nice thing about 4K is that (at least I) rarely output that today. That means you can crop the image anywhere and still have plenty of pixels to output 1080 without any degredation. In the video I posted here, I cropped a couple images where I was flying aggressively and got the props, and a couple just to get centered. Same thing goes here with the legs. You can also go narrower and have less fish eye, or go wide and remove it in post, and then crop a. little in aggressive shots if the legs show up.

I really could have sworn I saw legs in 4K W before, but I guess I just took what I was told and interpretted it as that I would. I am really amazed that we have this much to work with.

The extra space to reframe is great, but also you can do artificial camera movement with a ken burns type effect. Make it appear you tilted your camera down, or panned from left to right. Its pretty cool.

 

[Earldgrayjr]

Cool with a working gimbal...

Yahh... Sorry... I wish I could be more help. As I think was mentioned, someone on the Solo Mod group did a complete calibration with the gimbal on and it solved their issues which sounded somewhat similar. It would be worth a try. Otherwise it looks like a call to 3DR, and possibly an RMA. Sucks if you have to but at least it's CA and they seem to turn stuff around pretty quick.

 

[Earldgrayjr]

The extra space to reframe is great, but also you can do artificial camera movement with a ken burns type effect. Make it appear you tilted your camera down, or panned from left to right. Its pretty cool.

Abosolutely

 

[SoloMio]

Abosolutely

Good idea, hadn't really thought about setting up a shot with that in mind for post.

On the gimbal recalibration… it's a crap shoot, can make it better or worse. Hopefully the new firmware will, as it is supposed to, address these problems.

 

[Sampson]

Yahh... Sorry... I wish I could be more help. As I think was mentioned, someone on the Solo Mod group did a complete calibration with the gimbal on and it solved their issues which sounded somewhat similar. It would be worth a try. Otherwise it looks like a call to 3DR, and possibly an RMA. Sucks if yiou have to but at least it's CA and the turn stuff around pretty quick.

Thanks for this. I emailed them with my video links and they suggested exactly that. They said this noise/vibration is normal at 90 but not at other angles. I think the noise is being underestimated from the video. Anyhow, I'll give it a shot tomorrow evening and see what happens. I'll post back with my results.

 

[Sampson]

I just heard from some folks on the Solo Owners Facebook page that performing calibrations might benefit me in my situation. Specifically a compass calibration, with the observation that a level calibration wouldn't hurt. This is with the gimbal and GoPro mounted to the Solo frame while doing the calibration. Will do this in the morning (East Coast USA time).

Let me know how it works out.

 

[Earldgrayjr]

Let me know how it works out.

Same here..