Video from the C23 and H Plus

[thoneter]

You need to talk with an aviation attorney. My interpretation would make all the photos commercial as they were reviewed to determine which were best for use for a particular commercial application. Commercial intent would have been present and demonstrated.

The attorney will refer you to the FAA. The FAA will probably give you inconsistent responses. I've been dealing with many Medicaid supervisors and attorneys for the states.

One thing I've found to be consistent is how little the gov't knows about their own regulations until they want to get more money from you. I ran a salvage yard for 20 years. We ran wreckers, low boy semis and trucks over the interstate via the viaducts. The FBI and IRS came to our junk yard and wanted interstate tax for the last 20 years.
My father found their request to be laughable and told them he could use the free bread, water and housing.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

Yes, good point.
Does the Plus loose the white balance Lock when switching between video and photo like in the TH?

I think I remember either @Mickeyboo or @Ty Pilot confirming that the Plus is able to hold on to settings in between batteries, but I don't recall any specific info on White Balance between modes... good question though, I want that answer too.

One thing I will stand by is that for optimal photo resolution with any camera, photography should be done without ND filters... so any minimal vibration transferred from the gimbal, does not show up as softness in the final image.

 

[Rubik]

I am sharing this (new TH+) for critique of the camera and settings, not the subject or editing. I'm the guy that shared the Railroad Crossing video recently that had some "issues." Now, granted, this video is not filmed in the same location (no endless gravel or railroad tracks ) so it may not be entirely fair to compare this with that one. But here you go. It's not "dialed-in" with specific manual settings. See the description under the video on YouTube. Also this is unlisted and I'm only interested in sharing it here. As usual I'm open to suggestions as to what I can do to improve my video. Thanks.

I only see 1080p video. As such, it is very clean and sharp. The moire pattern in the bricks is interesting and probably unavoidable. The camera settings look good. "Normal" setting gives you a good base image to work with. I think I would have brightened it up a bit in post and added a little more contrast and color.
Nice job.
What were the other camera settings?

 

[PatR]

Regarding white balance and photos, if you shoot photos in RAW, white balance is not much of a factor.

 

[Ty Pilot]

I think I remember either @Mickeyboo or @Ty Pilot confirming that the Plus is able to hold on to settings in between batteries, but I don't recall any specific info on White Balance between modes... good question though, I want that answer too.

One thing I will stand by is that for optimal photo resolution with any camera, photography should be done without ND filters... so any minimal vibration transferred from the gimbal, does not show up as softness in the final image.

I am seeing most of the settings are retained, especially pertaining to the camera, except for white balance of course, and that is as it should be in my opinion. Lighting can change moment to moment so I think Yuneec correctly has the white balance reset upon every restart. One thing I have found is that the Auto WB on the C23 is pretty good in most daytime lighting conditions and typically, I find I am locking the auto WB.

In regards to ND use for photos from the C23, I agree with you. We are dealing with a camera whose focus is basically to infinity and a fixed aperture, so there is no reason to use an ND for photos in most cases - it's not like we can open the aperture to get narrow depth of field by doing so. Considering these are moving platforms (even when in a hover), so where the camera is concerned, for the sharpest possible photo, let there be light and a subsequent fast shutter.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

It will likely not happen in this class of camera, but I would have been very happy, if this camera had even a dual choice in terms of aperture. Obviously, wide open would remain at f2.8... with a second aperture choice at say f8.0. While this will not eliminate all need for ND filters, there would be lighting conditions that would render them unnecessary.

But the real additional benefit would be in the quality of the imagery out the lens. Whenever a lens is tested for both for sharpness and aberration correction, the test is conducted at several different f-stops. Consistently, both spherical and chromatic aberrations are best corrected, at 2 - 3 f-stops below wide open.

Unfortunately you have to jump to a different class (and price point) camera for that.

 

[rdonson]

One of my nuisances with the CGO3+ is the lack of a lens shade to reduce flare.

Does anyone think the C23 would benefit from a lens shade?

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

I think aerodynamic issues would present themselves on a lens shade large enough to be effective... 39mm is considerably wider than the CGO3 series.

 

[Windluv]

One of my nuisances with the CGO3+ is the lack of a lens shade to reduce flare.

Does anyone think the C23 would benefit from a lens shade?

It is not nearly as bad as the CGO3+. Here

I fly directly into the sunrise and pan left with the sun to the back of the H. You can see the aberations a sunshade would resolve when the camera is direct into the sun and up to 90 degrees (11 seconds to 30 seconds in the video). It is still not to bad. I would not want this in a still frame, but for this style of video I think it is acceptable.

 

[Merhlin]

I only see 1080p video. As such, it is very clean and sharp. The moire pattern in the bricks is interesting and probably unavoidable. The camera settings look good. "Normal" setting gives you a good base image to work with. I think I would have brightened it up a bit in post and added a little more contrast and color.
Nice job.
What were the other camera settings?

I intentionally did no processing of the video other than editing it to get the clips I wanted for a short video to study. In the future, maybe next time, I intend to process the clips in my Adobe LR , before I process the individual clips in PowerDirector and then upload to FB or YT. I just wanted, as you say, a baseline. Yes, the brick thing was weird but not overly distracting, still, I wondered if there's a way around that? It certainly did need some tweaking in contrast and saturation as the sun was under most of the time I was flying.

The Railroad Crossing video I did was done in the "gorgeous" video setting and I was curious as to whether or not that had anything to do with the funky look of the R Crossing.

I honestly don't recall what the camera settings were but when I turn it on again and connect up to the camera I'll check. I was more interested in getting the video at the time.

Thanks for your comments.

 

[Rubik]

It is not nearly as bad as the CGO3+. Here

I fly directly into the sunrise and pan left with the sun to the back of the H. You can see the aberations a sunshade would resolve when the camera is direct into the sun and up to 90 degrees (11 seconds to 30 seconds in the video). It is still not to bad. I would not want this in a still frame, but for this style of video I think it is acceptable.

Yes, not bad. There is no amount of sun shade that can protect the lens from the sun when the camera is pointed directly at it. The shade I built for the CGO3+ is attached to the ND16 filter and shades the lens from the sun at about 45-deg up. I'll have to see if that shade idea will work with the C23 ND filters. As Eagle's Eye Video points out, it may cause some aerodynamic issues if the shade is too large.

 

[PatR]

Put a sun shade on these cameras, point them to the side and fly forward at speed and you prolly won’t have a happy gimbal. The sun shade will become an exaggerated wing with an upwards lift vector.

 

[YuKay]

4k/60 footage of a sunny Greek bay with lumpy pans, from FrontierNG…

 

[YuKay]

I am sharing this (new TH+) for critique of the camera and settings, not the subject or editing. I'm the guy that shared the Railroad Crossing video recently that had some "issues." Now, granted, this video is not filmed in the same location (no endless gravel or railroad tracks ) so it may not be entirely fair to compare this with that one. But here you go. It's not "dialed-in" with specific manual settings. See the description under the video on YouTube. Also this is unlisted and I'm only interested in sharing it here. As usual I'm open to suggestions as to what I can do to improve my video. Thanks.

Nice job, Merhlin. I find the slow cross-fades confusing and distracting, especially in such a short clip and when transitioning between scenes which are similar. I would reduce the fade time a lot - and don't ignore the simple cut.

The moiré on the bricks (and on the tennis court pan at 1:20) isn't your fault but you might find on a re-shoot that it disappears if you approach at a slightly different angle. Lens filters can help with some cameras but I don't know if those available for the C23 claim to reduce these artifacts. There's a trade-off with filters though as they tend to soften the image when you may want the sharpest video possible. You could also improve the moiré in post, effectively by softening the area digitally without softening the entire scene.

 

[Graham]

One of my nuisances with the CGO3+ is the lack of a lens shade to reduce flare.

Does anyone think the C23 would benefit from a lens shade?

I find these work well in light winds on the CGO3+.
HOOD FOR YUNEEC CGO3 & CGO3+ TYPHOON H Q500 CAMERAS USING STOCK YUNEEC UV FILTER | eBay

I've been using a polarising filter on my E90 to reduce flare. It helps cut down light coming in at the side as it's longer than a standard filter.

 

[Fan Tho Mass]

Ich finde diese funktionieren gut in leichten Winden auf dem CGO3 +.

Unfortunately, this glare protection brings nothing, because the wide angle of the CGO3 + is just too big. If this results in a reduction of the lateral sunlight is not relevant, CPL is the right solution.
The wide angle of the C23 (91 °) is smaller than that of the CGO3 + (98 and 117 °) but I'm afraid that it is still too big to provoke a reduction of the light by the aperture.

Fan Tho Mass

 

[rdonson]

I find these work well in light winds on the CGO3+.
HOOD FOR YUNEEC CGO3 & CGO3+ TYPHOON H Q500 CAMERAS USING STOCK YUNEEC UV FILTER | eBay

I've been using a polarising filter on my E90 to reduce flare. It helps cut down light coming in at the side as it's longer than a standard filter.

I already have this lens shade but rarely use because it won’t fit with my Polar Pro ND filters. I don’t have any CPL filters though.

 

[rdonson]

Put a sun shade on these cameras, point them to the side and fly forward at speed and you prolly won’t have a happy gimbal. The sun shade will become an exaggerated wing with an upwards lift vector.

True but I rarely “fly at speed” especially when recording video.

 

[rdonson]

I think aerodynamic issues would present themselves on a lens shade large enough to be effective... 39mm is considerably wider than the CGO3 series.

A worthy thought. With threaded filters for the C23 I wonder if they’re stackable.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

A worthy thought. With threaded filters for the C23 I wonder if they’re stackable.

They are stackable, but i think the "parasail" type of effect from wind resistance will be visible in detectable vibration... compromising the final output.