NAB 2016 Post

[pyrate]

See you had a great question
then derailed it by saying things that are your opinion
Lets be honest. Many people are using the gimbal without issue.... Sorry
And in case your search feature is broken, there are tons of very professional level videos shot with solo on you tube

 

[Fluxley]

sorry @Fluxley , I didnt doubt you, I just think that price point is rather absurd for a consumer...I can buy an entire Solo kit ++ for that price..basically a dummy battery AC adapter, a pelican case, and a 150-200 ft thin extension cord...oh well , good luck to them, will prbly sell to govt entities that dont care about price when spending taxpayer funds...

Yeah, I was not impressed with the price either. But, unlimited flight time would be cool!

 

[Fluxley]

Say you fly around a building or some odd shaped architecture. As I drew in this picture the shortest direct RTH path could lead a see and avoid system into a dead end.

View attachment 3148

That exact case happened to me. Luckily, I only lost the gopro before I regained control. Could really have benefitted from rewind then!

 

[User Name]

Say you are 10 minute into a flight...overkill to rewind the entire flight path! Rewinding in increments until you regain control or can execute a traditional RTH seems like a solid way not to hit things.

Ok, I was thinking of rewind as more of a smart shot, which it's not. Smart shots (MPCC) fly a bit of a spline through waypoints, so you're not precisely hitting the points. I was thinking rewind could be used to refly a specific path exactly. But that's probably just not the use case it was designed for.

I mean lets be honest the Solo gimbal isn't a good one. Unless your going to modify the gimbal for better performance, you going to see too much jello and vibration in your shot deeming it unusable for any semi-professional or higher use. Has anyone heard of a gimbal coming?

I get very small vibrations on mine, but nothing stabilization in post can't take care of. Can you show an example of jello from a Solo gimbal? I've honestly never seen that. People *are* using the Solo for professional work, and if your needs are that advanced, you're really looking at a $10,000 and up drone + camera, the Solo is a grand and a GoPro. It's unfair and a little absurd to be THAT demanding of a system that costs 10% what is likely being used for the work you're presumably referring to.

 

[Marich]

Hey guys, just wondering... am I the only one disappointed with the fact that there was no new gimbal debuted at NAB 2016 so far? And I don't mean for some infrared, mapping, site scan, or VR cam. I mean for a new video cam like a Sony, or Black Magic micro cam, etc...
I mean lets be honest the Solo gimbal isn't a good one. Unless your going to modify the gimbal for better performance, you going to see too much jello and vibration in your shot deeming it unusable for any semi-professional or higher use. Has anyone heard of a gimbal coming?

To be honest, the Solo gimbal is one of the very best I've used.
Are you sure yours is performing correctly? I've had to have mine replaced once - for free and after months of use - and am pretty familiar with it and gimbals in general.
"Jello" and "vibrations" indicate problems, i.e. a faulty gimbal.

 

[pyrate]

People fail to understand, the solo gimbal is unique in that it is controlled by the on board computer in a way no other gimbal is working to my knowledge

 

[jibcamera]

Obviously pilot error. The Phantoms are flawless.

Phantoms new sense and avoid is apparently avoiding its owners...

 

[franknitty69]

i've only seen jello on a solo that had one of of the dampening balls popped out. i have never seen jello on properly installed, fully functioning gimbal.

the NAB complainers are hilarious. solo announces something new and innovative and they respond with 3 things that solo doesn't have or doesn't do. the bitching, the moaning...it's tiresome. it really is. with mpcc and now with these new software features announced, 3dr has effectively given its users a new version of solo for free. if this was any other manufacturer, you would have to pay for a new bird. instead of acknowledging this, you complain because there isn't a bigger battery. and if someone offered a bigger battery that costs $200 you would complain about the price. and so on and so forth.

and let's be honest, most people complaining about no new camera are only using the gopro to 25% of its potential, are not even using smart shots creatively and to be quite frank, are lackluster photographers. i'm not sure what they think a new camera is going to do for them.

i for one, am excited about the new software features as well as the hardware announcements such as the lidar, tether and the flir gimbal.

 

[franknitty69]

Have you guys seen the SpektreWorks pixhawk 2 carrier board? it lets you mount all the internals of solo onto any quad frame you want with full wifi sololink capability and accessory bay access.

this may be the answer to a heavy lift option or increased flight time.

 

[Jubalr]

Have you guys seen the SpektreWorks pixhawk 2 carrier board? it lets you mount all the internals of solo onto any quad frame you want with full wifi sololink capability and accessory bay access.

this may be the answer to a heavy lift option or increased flight time.

View attachment 3152

Great find Frank, I had not seen this one.

 

[pyrate]

I am real happy about all the new software
must admit, I had hoped for some interesting news on cameras, but the year is young.
Other vendors let me down too, Panasonic, Z Camera, Gopro to name a few. But hey it is all good. I still have not flushed out all the existing potential with solo and more is on the way

 

[Rusty Jones]

Have you guys seen the SpektreWorks pixhawk 2 carrier board? it lets you mount all the internals of solo onto any quad frame you want with full wifi sololink capability and accessory bay access.

this may be the answer to a heavy lift option or increased flight time.

View attachment 3152

I like!! , but don't want to sacrifice a Solo for it.. I thought 3DR said they would be offering something like this???

 

[Soloing]

Tethered is still covered by FAA requirements. in order to be exempt from FAA requirements, there must be a cover OVER the drone, ie; tent. The unlimited flight time is a major benefit.

[edit- rich beat me to it]

Where did you hear that!? Once you attach a tether to a drone, it is closer to a kite than a UAV.

 

[STMPNGRND]

Where did you hear that!? Once you attach a tether to a drone, it is closer to a kite than a UAV.

unfortunately it's true..stinks FAA changed their mind on this as just a year ago it was OK.

excerpt from Hoeverfly's 333
"18. For tethered UAS operations, the tether line must have colored pennants or streamers attached at not more than 50 foot intervals beginning at 150 feet above the surface of the earth and visible from at least 1 mile. This requirement for pennants or streamers is not applicable when operating exclusively below the top of and within 250 feet of any structure, so long as the UA operation does not obscure the lighting of the structure."

 

[Soloing]

unfortunately it's true..stinks FAA changed their mind on this as just a year ago it was OK.

excerpt from Hoeverfly's 333
"18. For tethered UAS operations, the tether line must have colored pennants or streamers attached at not more than 50 foot intervals beginning at 150 feet above the surface of the earth and visible from at least 1 mile. This requirement for pennants or streamers is not applicable when operating exclusively below the top of and within 250 feet of any structure, so long as the UA operation does not obscure the lighting of the structure."

Wtf!? Didn't know that! Thanks for correcting me!

Edit: After giving it another thought, I realized that this is (just) the FAA's "reply" to Hoverfly's exemption, right!? One might take it as "if you want to fly tethered, you have to do this or that". But that doesn't mean that you need an exemption under section 333 in order to fly tethered!? Or does it!?

I would like to see the regulations themselves that state, that tethered flights still require an exemption...

Thanks.

 

[STMPNGRND]

Wtf!? Didn't know that! Thanks for correcting me!

Edit: After giving it another thought, I realized that this is (just) the FAA's "reply" to Hoverfly's exemption, right!? One might take it as "if you want to fly tethered, you have to do this or that". But that doesn't mean that you need an exemption under section 333 in order to fly tethered!? Or does it!?

I would like to see the regulations themselves that state, that tethered flights still require an exemption...

Thanks.

As far as officially sanctioned commercial ops everyone still needs a 333..tether or no tether :-(
Bummer, just last February I was told something very different by a person from the FAA UAS office(wont post name publicly). He gave the company I worked for at the time the green light to add aerial video classes to our youth summer camp programs without needing a 333 as long as the vehicles were tethered, flown under nets or indoors. Things change fast!

 

[STMPNGRND]

I would like to see the regulations themselves that state, that tethered flights still require an exemption...

Thanks.

Well that's the rub. NONE of this is in any regulation anywhere only in rule interpretations by the FAA and NTSB that do not align with their authority or explicit lack there of granted by congress in regards to model aviation.

Until the PRM that was announced last Feb becomes am actual rule it's just 333s exempting model aircraft from full size aircraft regs. But no sense opening up this topic again here......

 

[Soloing]

...But no sense opening up this topic again here......

Agreed. Thanks for the info.

 

[John hill]

One wonders down the track if they are going down the corporate road what will happen to the domestic support ? One does think about what is going to happen after the next couple of updates with the promised new smart shots?, is that the last of it then or what?
Hope not, I must admit competition must be savage but at what level I can only think of about 4 other machines that are competitive a lot more have promised but they haven't eventuated.

 

[J R]

One wonders down the track if they are going down the corporate road what will happen to the domestic support ?

Yep, I guess I'd better get a main board and another gimbal. I've already invested in 8 new motor pods, a new shell, 5 batteries, 6 sets of props and 2 GPH4B's. If the main board or the gimbal goes out and 3dr stops supporting this thing at the consumer level, I'll have a whole bunch of unusable inventory. Certainly not good news for me as a non-professional enthusiast.

Jerry