Nikon J5 mirrorless camera on 3Dr Solo - ch7 shutter

[makatanav]

yes, carbon fiber
good to hear, so digital servo is a way to go
I`ll make a second frame, couse experimenting and moding this one, alreeady do't like how it looks now

 

[Robpower]

Yes, my mount has a few extra holes, once I set up the digital servo and happy, will print a final version and a spare

 

[Robpower]

Update, ended up using a different servo, couldn’t get my one to program. We use Hitec hs-7955TG digital servos on our targets at work so I programed one of those, it fitted in my mount. Weather has been all over the place here in Aust, but finally flew this morning.

All smooth, no glitches or weird things, i get 90 degree movement on my mount so the camera has plenty of range, shutter servo works fine.

I think I am finally done, have what I want, now to print out some final mounts without all the extra holes I drilled during development. This has been a fun project.

Next thing..........batteries, so I can keep this flying

 

[makatanav]

good to hear that
mine servos have arrived, but haven't tested them yet, will try to figure out this week
hoping to do the project till end of this year

Hitec hs-7955TG 65 grams semi heavy but looks serious

 

[Robpower]

good to hear that
mine servos have arrived, but haven't tested them yet, will try to figure out this week
hoping to do the project till end of this year

Hitec hs-7955TG 65 grams semi heavy but looks serious

Yes the servo is over the top but we had them in stock, the servo programmer worked with them, 20g heavier than my other servo , flies fine.

Good luck with yours, hope you get it all working.

 

[makatanav]

1. tested bouth servos yesterday and indeed they are smoother than analog servos.
started dremmeling carbon for nev mount and then thought maybe will use second servo insteed, becouse it seems more practical if cameras hot shue mount will withstand the load (actually is very strong) - so no mount needed at all willl add some security wire for camera and manage cables and ready to go.




2. looks like alos found the issue ( almoust 100% sure) for strange behaviour when triggering shuttter on ch7. In Solo app Function "Rewind" was enabled, and as I finnaly found out, it allows drone fly backwards the same pattern you flew befor when pressing and holding Pause button down for a while. Haven't tested yet, bet will fly on weekend

 

[Robpower]

Very impressive. I looked at the hot shoe mount in the early days and nearly went that way but the Nikon J5 doesn't have one. You mount looks great.

Interesting with the rewind function, I would of never thought of that. Glad to hear you got that sorted.

I printed up 1 set of new mounts and installed them yesterday, flew last night, all good, I have enjoyed this project and looking back at the first time I mounted a camera on the GoPro mount....its come a long way. Here is a pic from last evening over our property (only low res)

 

[Robpower]

@makatanav how did the flight go?

I did a quick flight before Christmas, took off flew to 100 metres above our house, hovered and turned the drone 360 degrees taking 7 photos, a rough stitch together in photoshop and if you are on Instagram i have posted it, or here is the link (only a low res image, scroll right onceyou have opened the link)

Pano image Nikon J5 3DR

 

[makatanav]

Thanks for asking - already better.
Shot all at 1/800, but seems need a bit faster shutter speed
the drone still tends to tilt right, so the horizont is not straight

 

[Robpower]

Thanks for asking - already better.
Shot all at 1/800, but seems need a bit faster shutter speed
the drone still tends to tilt right, so the horizont is not straight
View attachment 9770

Nice image, looks cold. My horizon is not quite straight either, i am going to do another level cal, but its not woorying me too much and can straighten in photoshop.

1/800 sec should be fine, you can try 1/1000. What is the apeture setting? If you shoot shutter priority the apeture will be set automatically.

 

[makatanav]

Yes, -6 degress
I shot in shutter priority at f/2.8 (for this image aperature was alread f/3.2 and ISO 125, so if not exceeding some ISO 400, it still good to go) - i could see image shaky on phone screen
I did level calibration on location, so it's not verry accurate - will try to calibrate on perfectly straight surface

 

[makatanav]

One question - are you using Solo or Solex?
Will upgrading to Solex improve something for us as DIY photographers, or it's more for native gopro and video?

 

[Robpower]

My apeture is a bit higher , probably due to the 1 inch sensor in the camera. I do get a little shake sometimes through tablet screen on controller but 1/800 seems to cover it ok. Some of my late eveing shots are at ISO 1000 but again the sensor is ok and I remove noise in photoshop.

I have solex and solo app, I just use the solo app as all I need it for is the frame a shot and see where I am flying. I use solex if I am using my GoPro on the other Solo.

-6, how long do the batteries last? Here in winter we get -5 and I know if I fly and as soon as I gain altitude, the batteries drop a bit.

Glad to see everything working for you and you are getting images, I just need to fly more now

 

[makatanav]

For Ricoh GR sweet spot is something around f/4.0 for corner to corner sharpness, but wide open is actually pretty sharp
OK understand, so no need to go for Solex.
actually, haven't measured - returning home when hava some 20+%, but will check on next flight
have free now till 02.01.2019, so will hawe some flights, adjusts, tests

 

[makatanav]

had a flight febore new year - gray weather, snow, rain.
will remove the servo for shutter release, becouse mine 3DR bahavior stayed the same- don't know or understand the reason why
tested in low altitude in front of me - sometimes, when pressing pause button for 2 sec, raises altitude, sometimes drops, some times stay still - most times drops or raises, so no relieble for me - will try to use intervalometer instead.

SOOC:

Retouched:

 

[Robpower]

had a flight febore new year - gray weather, snow, rain.
will remove the servo for shutter release, becouse mine 3DR bahavior stayed the same- don't know or understand the reason why
tested in low altitude in front of me - sometimes, when pressing pause button for 2 sec, raises altitude, sometimes drops, some times stay still - most times drops or raises, so no relieble for me - will try to use intervalometer instead.

SOOC:View attachment 9810

Retouched:
View attachment 9811

Love the image, great scene, well done. Strange you are still having the issue with the shutter servo, do you have another servo you could try to eliminate it.

I have 3 complete mount set ups now with 3 servos and no trouble at all.

I have had a couple of weeks off and the weather has been terrible 40 + degrees celcius and windy. Had a couple of short flights, hovered above house and took multiple images to create a 360 pano, processes raw files in lightroom and stitched in photoshop. Here it is, scroll right to see it all

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[makatanav]

My guess, it's not servo based problem, couse already with other servos and mount was the same problem. I even resoldered +5v/ ground to main board instead in taking from gimbal conector. Maybe bad soldering on PIN19
Great pano, saw already in other thread.

 

[Robpower]

My guess, it's not servo based problem, couse already with other servos and mount was the same problem. I even resoldered +5v/ ground to main board instead in taking from gimbal conector. Maybe bad soldering on PIN19
Great pano, saw already in other thread.

Sounds like its not servo then. I wonder what happens if you disconnect the servo, fly the bird and long press and short press the pause button. Would be interesting to see if the bird gains or looses altitude.

Sorry, I forgot I had posted the pano on another thread, glad you like it.

 

[makatanav]

I wonder what happens if you disconnect the servo, fly the bird and long press and short press the pause button. Would be interesting to see if the bird gains or looses altitude.

that's, what I`ll test tomorrow

Yesterday added damping balls, alloy standoffs ar bit to high (had spares, 35mm), but ordered shorter ones (20mm black), will exchange when arrive.
Will see how this mod improves camera stability

 

[Robpower]

I actually removed the inner part of the old fixed go pro mount and mounted directly onto the plate again with a 3mm thick adhesive foam to provide good dampening for the camera. I still have the other mount just in case I want to go back. This seems to work fine and the camera seems more stable especially when there is some wind.