Video without a gimbal

RussA · Jun 9, 2014

Since I now have a couple of months of experience with my Phantom 1 and SJ1000 camera, I realize the importance of a gimbal. I have had fun making my videos, but I have to rely primarily on stills since the video is too bouncy without the gimbal. There is no commercially available gimbal for the SJ1000 that I know of. I saw one video on youtube that someone made using a homemade gimbal, but I have no idea how to make a gimbal. I have largely eliminated jello with the mount I devised, but it is the constant tilting and bouncing from the Phantom itself that limits the good video footage. I'm sure my flying could be better, but the geography of the SF Bay Area is such that wind is an almost constant factor, and that contributes, too. In the meantime, I am still happy with my choice of the P1 with SJ1000. The whole setup costs less than $600 (USD) and I've gotten much better at flying and editing video. Eventually I will have to take the next step of upgrading the system if I want to keep at it. Here's my latest video. Originally I didn't want to do this. I did it as a favor to a friend; but then it turned out I really enjoyed the location and making the video.

Comments and recommendations are welcome.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d108FLAsEo4[/youtube]

CarlJ · Jun 9, 2014

I don't understand why you wouldn't be able to use any number of gimbals on the market. I'm pretty sure Tarot has a mounting bracket for the Phantom 1. I think the problem would be your camera because most of the gimbals are balanced for the GoPro.

RussA · Jun 9, 2014

Yes, that is my point exactly. I don't know of a gimbal that fits the camera. I've seen detailed videos for installing the zenmuse and one for the Tarot that is not complete. I can't even put a decal on straight. There's no way I would touch a soldering iron or anything else to the circuit board of the Phantom. Unless it just plugs into a port designed to take it, even if one existed I couldn't install it. So I think my options if I want to upgrade would be to buy a Vision+ or other system with a built-in gimbal, or pay to have someone install one on my Phantom (which is a V1.2.1). Unless there's a gimbal for the SJ1000 then I suppose that would also mean buying a GoPro 3. I'm not prepared to do that now. I'm hoping for more practical advice on getting better video without the gimbal for now.

lalvar40 · Jun 9, 2014

I have discovered the same. I own a P1 v1.1. and a mobius action cam and a limited budget. If we want a real smooth video , we need a Gimbal and I do not know which one fits my mobius best ( everything is for GO Pro). Also, it means more dollars. I have done the following to mitigate shaking:
1. Use only stills and make animation on my video editor ( you are already doing that)
2. These 2 ones may be new for you:
2.1 Tape normal speed, and then edit in slow motion, it will smooth your shaking.
2.2 Use a video stabilization SW. They are not expensive ( much cheaper than a gimbal). In my case, I have Video Studio Pro X5 ( around $50-70) and it already includes Mercalli utility , which will eliminate most of the vibration, the only trade off will be to loose some video quality, but if your camera is 1080 p , it wont be too noticeable.
Hope I help,

ladykate · Jun 9, 2014

+1 on the fixing it in post. There are free editors that will do it, too (Virtualdub seems to work - a bit of a learning curve but it is like most editors). You can also do several things while flying to help. Go upwind and put it in ATTI and drift back across the site. If you can, go to a higher capture rate (don't know if your camera will do that), then slow it down in post.

When I first started, I had a GoPro on a P1 and it worked fine. Earlier last year, we had a film crew using a P1 (before gimbals or P2x) and they are including some of that footage in an independent movie that should be out later this year. They did the trick of higher capture rate along with drifting. They have high-dollar editors but the concept works for us peons, too.