A bit more info on the 520 and camera

[keiths]

Have a feeling iPhone gave a bit more money for r&d than Yuneec

 

[gwhuntoon]

I've been using my trusty Top Flite Magnetic Prop Balancer. All I do is use a small piece of clear tape on back of the light side, then either position it further from the hub if more weight is needed or nearer the hub for less. Four out of the six blades needed a little work.

My bigger issue is when I remount my blades in the balancer and they've changed. Achieving balance with these blades seems to be a moving target and requires a lot of patience and breath holding.

 

[Rayray]

I only say this because if you truly want to do whatever it is that you do with your H as a professional service & not just a Hobby then the # you came up with out of that equation should be enough if not more to be able to buy a brand new H Pro package at the prices they where going for when you bought your not for the lower prices they are at now, this is figuring that you've downe this professionally for no less than 6 months. Because you have figure in Insurance for you, your rig & liability plus figure in how much wear & tear your bird experiences every time it flies.

I agree completely, and after running through your equation I find I'll be able to buy a new H AND a new Mustang.
I wish I had studied more in school.

 

[Eyewingsuit]

I think when it comes to stabilization on any UAV cam setup many people over look some key factors that play big roles in keeping it stable because you cannot just count solely on the vibration mount. Instead anyone that owns any UAV needs to always remember to make 100% positive that all of their blades have been properly balanced perfectly (& this is not something that anyone should need to send in to have done because if your not capable of doing this then you really need to reevaluate whether you should be even flying an sized UAV) when balancing our blades if any of you come from a RC helicopter or plane background it is not the same with our blades because if you look at our blades the pitch is variable all the way from center to outside tip so if you simply sand off material from the heavy side you'll actually be changing the pitch along with flight characteristics & even if you get it to perfectly balance as soon as you mount it back on your H & go fly you'll feel like it's flying worse than before, the proper way to not alter flight characteristics is to buy some very thin CA Glue & apply a drop of it to the light side then I like to move the blade around before it dries to kind of spread it). If you fly with out of balanced blades then seeing the vibration in your recording is by far the least of your concern cuz they will actually increase the speed of wear & tear on your motors & sooner then later make one or more fail.

Not in any of the 3 cams mentioned above but in a future to be released cam Yuneec will be releasing one that will feature a 1" CMOS Sensor which will not only give much better pics & recording in the day time but one better low light abilities. Personally rather then having Yuneec keep on releasing various cameras I'd much rather see them release their thermal cameras & then one single camera with a large 1" sensor in it that we then could be able to use it similar to the DSLR cameras of today by just pushing a button to release a lens to then be able to mount a new on that meets whatever needs we may have for that set of flight or whatever, just think about it like this in the regular camera world 2 ppl could go out & buy the same Nikon DSLR Camera but say one person is going to use his for the everyday photos & some portraits but the 2nd person is a professional court side basketball photographer. Both have a single camera but then each gets different various sized lenses that suit the purpose that each person needs them for, so subject A could own the stock lens, a portrait lens & maybe a nicer aftermarket all aroundens but subject B bought his camera as the Body only cuz he then bought a 500-1000mm lense for courtside photos, maybe he is into macro also so he buys a decent macro lens. My point being is that no matter who you may be or what your using your H for I think I'd have a consensus of everyone agreeing that they'd rather not have to carry around 3-5 different cameras so they will be ready & would much rather carry one or maybe 2 good cameras along with various lenses, this would ultimately make traveling easier, lighter & your total investment cost would not need to be so high. Because even those of you that do any kind of drone service professionally let me ask, how many times have you gotten paid vs. how many jobs have you had or how many of you have gotten paid full rate on your jobs? Even if you've been getting paid fully rate how close to having you H pay for itself are you ie (the total including any & all aftermarket mods, hop up parts including lenses & filters & any possible repair costs etc. Including any labor fees that you have spent added to the total you paid for your H then subtract the amount of money that you've earned from any & all jobs) then tell me does your final # after doing that math end up as a positive or negative # & if it's a negative # what is it? I only say this because if you truly want to do whatever it is that you do with your H as a professional service & not just a Hobby then the # you came up with out of that equation should be enough if not more to be able to buy a brand new H Pro package at the prices they where going for when you bought your not for the lower prices they are at now, this is figuring that you've downe this professionally for no less than 6 months. Because you have figure in Insurance for you, your rig & liability plus figure in how much wear & tear your bird experiences every time it flies.

To answer one part of your question, my H paid for itself in about 45 minutes. Insurance, T&L included. It's all about understanding the job, the data, and the client, with a background in making it all easy for them. A typical real estate gig should pay for itself in 8 flights at very most. Construction....pays for itself in seconds, in many cases. Intelligent worksites pay very well, and mistakes are horribly costly. A drone pays for itself almost immediately.

 

[PatR]

I knew you were nuts when I first saw your forum name

What many don't know is that very high end aerial camera systems use a totally mechanical gimbal, no vibration dampening at all, and remove vibration effects electronically. The cost is astronomical, but that's why the aerospace companies are using your money to foot the bill. A low end camera, mounted, runs close to $70k


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[John Dube]

I may have missed it in one of the posts. Above it was stated the CGO CI is designed more for commercial or a dedicated use, not for general public use. I have not seen anyone discussing the improved CGO3+. Then enhancement on the CGO3+ as I understand it is a new narrower focused lens to reduce the distortion on the outer edges. I believe this will be Yuneec's upgrade for the general users not needing the 50mm lens scheduled for the CGO CI.

 

[John Dube]

The sensor is only one aspect. Codecs can be tweaked, lenses may be more closely matched to a sensor's properties, internal processes tweaked and improved. Being hung up on a sensor (that is the same sensor most every UAV uses) and feeling like it's not a big deal to swap out the lens and mount is simply being unaware of how a system
For example, changing out a GoPro lens from the native 5Mp resolve to an 8mp or 10 Mp resolve dramatically changes the camera, provides significantly more clean image to the codec, which in turn provides better processing.

It _all_ starts with the glass. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't understand camera modules. Here is an example shot from the prototype CGO CI, as I used it on a GSM and Microwave tower. the 520 is 6 meters from the object.

It's also important to understand that the 520 and its accompanying software aren't designed for the casual photographic pilot. Several features are changed out that are designed to fit the needs of commercial operators, not casual flyers.

Eyewingsuit, did you also test the mapping software planned for release with the H520? Will it also be compatible with the earlier H? What was your opinion of the app?

 

[Eyewingsuit]

I may have missed it in one of the posts. Above it was stated the CGO CI is designed more for commercial or a dedicated use, not for general public use. I have not seen anyone discussing the improved CGO3+. Then enhancement on the CGO3+ as I understand it is a new narrower focused lens to reduce the distortion on the outer edges. I believe this will be Yuneec's upgrade for the general users not needing the 50mm lens scheduled for the CGO CI.

John,
Thanks for pointing that out. There really isn't a "new CGO3+, but rather a new camera module called the CGO-Pro. Different lens and tuning. I do have a proto of it. If I can get some time to make a comparison in the next day or two, I'll give it a go. Weather hasn't been wonderful until today. It is indeed a big step forward in improvement over the previous iteration; the 3+ as we all know it has been quality-challenged since day one. Now that Yuneec has brought some real photographers on board, changes are being made. Yuneec is listening, and listening carefully to what users have to say.

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

I may have missed it somewhere in the posts. But while reading about the concerns of the CGO CI not being for the general users, I have not seen where they discussed the CGO3+, the improvements +

John,
Thanks for pointing that out. There really isn't a "new CGO3+, but rather a new camera module called the CGO-Pro. Different lens and tuning. I do have a proto of it. If I can get some time to make a comparison in the next day or two, I'll give it a go. Weather hasn't been wonderful until today. It is indeed a big step forward in improvement over the previous iteration; the 3+ as we all know it has been quality-challenged since day one. Now that Yuneec has brought some real photographers on board, changes are being made. Yuneec is listening, and listening carefully to what users have to say.

Thank you Eyewingsuit. Looking forward to you results.

 

[BlackHawk]

The only thing that really matters to me is the specifications on the new camera. The topic keeps diverging and its very surprising that even yuneec refuses to address this question directly after the fact that the product has been revealed at CES. I can definitely understand if the silence is on a speculative or under active development product. Isn't CGO-CI to be released by end of this year? I hope its not vaporware .

 

[PatR]

Eyewingsuit,

Regarding an improved CGO-3+. Unless Yuneec changes the sensor I'm guessing those that so choose could make pretty much the same improvements to their existing camera on their own and end up equal or better than buying a new camera. Swapping out the stock lens for a PixAero and changing the sharpness level by communicating with the camera through its WiFi does a very fine job of improving imagery. The lens upgrade could be sent out and get done for ~$250.00 and a user can handle the sharpness settings in the comfort of their living room.

Would that be a fair assessment?