Zoom

[jlwilder40]

So none of this camera's have zoom capabilities? How can you do inspection from a safe distance with out zoom?

 

[gwhuntoon]

Probably not necessary since the E50 is a medium focal length camera which has been specifically optimized for inspection use and being a professional rig, a trained certified pilot could fly at a safe distance and still get the shot. I guess if you have to have zoom you can always buy the H920+ with the CGO4. It remains to be seen if Yuneec will make the CGO4 available as an option for the H520, in which case, yes, the camera would have zoom capabilities. Besides, the camera isn't hand held where zoom might be necessary, it's on a flying rig.

Zoom is convenient but with my handhelds, if I really need zoom, I either swap lenses or grab the camera with the correct lens.

 

[Rayray]

If you have high enough resolution you can outdo zoom in an aerial camera (not on the ground and tripod mounted).

The E90 takes incredibly sharp high resolution pictures.
I am not talking about video, but inspection photos which of course later need to be taken off the card and analyzed.

 

[arruntus]

Probably not necessary since the E50 is a medium focal length camera which has been specifically optimized for inspection use and being a professional rig, a trained certified pilot could fly at a safe distance and still get the shot. I guess if you have to have zoom you can always buy the H920+ with the CGO4. It remains to be seen if Yuneec will make the CGO4 available as an option for the H520, in which case, yes, the camera would have zoom capabilities. Besides, the camera isn't hand held where zoom might be necessary, it's on a flying rig.

Zoom is convenient but with my handhelds, if I really need zoom, I either swap lenses or grab the camera with the correct lens.

The CGO4 will never be an option for the H520. It would be an impossible challenge to attach a camera that weighs 1200gr without gymbal.

H520 -> 1633gr
E90 -> 350gr
Total -> 1983gr

Another thing is that they take out a camera with zoom capabilities but specific for the H520 and therefore their weight will be adjusted to the aircraft. In principle 350gr maximum....

 

[PatR]

With enough resolution you don't need an adjustable focal length, or "zoom" as some want to call it. You can crop.

 

[Murray Martz]

I agree with a lot that has been said. Mostly I feel if you record video in a high enough resolution, you should be able to see what your client is looking for. With images, highest resolution is always the best choice to view. There are other options that can be done as well. You could add an external camera that does have true zoom with a wifi link. I use the SONY Cyber-shot DSC-Qx10. Only real issue is you need a calm day so the H is not moving for clarity.

 

[PatR]

That's something a lot of people don't understand. To employ zoom the ability of the camera to dampen vibration has to increase exponentially for only minor changes in focal length. If they really, really just had to have an adjustable focal length they could have it, but they would have to step up substantially with the cost of their equipment, or accept an increase in aircraft size. Until going over 1000mm the size really isn't an issue unless you fly to different locations a lot, and even a 1000mm they can be made to fit a travel case. It won't be carry on but that's just the way it goes.

 

[jlwilder40]

Thanks guys . I am confident in my flying skills and learning more about camera's everyday " adjustable focal length " .

 

[Brent D]

Some of the recent sample video of the E50 by Uwe Loewer shows signs of jello. However - this only seems evident in an extreme
zoom in... see the linked YT video at the 1:42 mark... you notice that there's what seems like (transition - edited zoom in???) to see a moth on the wall.
I notice on this extreme there is slight jello effect - maybe from vibrations...???

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[RaeThrills]

Probably not necessary since the E50 is a medium focal length camera which has been specifically optimized for inspection use and being a professional rig, a trained certified pilot could fly at a safe distance and still get the shot. I guess if you have to have zoom you can always buy the H920+ with the CGO4. It remains to be seen if Yuneec will make the CGO4 available as an option for the H520, in which case, yes, the camera would have zoom capabilities. Besides, the camera isn't hand held where zoom might be necessary, it's on a flying rig.

Zoom is convenient but with my handhelds, if I really need zoom, I either swap lenses or grab the camera with the correct lens.

Agreed. I did a roof inspection for my buddies home. You can get close enough. People have to remember, those photos can be enlarged to a degree where you don't lose resolution. The calmer the day the better the shot.

 

[Rayray]

Some of the recent sample video of the E50 by Uwe Loewer shows signs of jello

Uwe said this was an early model. Perhaps he will remake it.

 

[PatR]

Perhaps what might be helpful for some would be to research "camera resolution". A quick Google search turns up quite a few articles explaining how that works and what it does. What would also be helpful, but cannot be done on this site, is to obtain a set of pictures in 20, 24, 40, and 50mpxl resolution photos and perform a series of 'crops" on them to see how resolution affects how much you can crop a photo and still obtain acceptable resolution. I have a picture, which unfortunately I don't have permission to share, that was shot with a multirotor at altitude about 800-1000' away from an L.A. high rise building. The resolution is 50mpxl and the lens used was a 28mm prime on a Canon full frame DSLR. The size of the image is much too large to post here in any case. That particular building has an exterior "observation deck" about 60 or so floors up the public can access for an overview of the city. Because of the high resolution the photo can be cropped (therefore enlarged) to a level that permits facial recognition of the people standing on the observation deck, from 800'-1000' away! Yes, the photo was shot legally during a commercial operation You don't need zoom as often if you have resolution.

The 20mpxl, 1" sensor in the E90 camera should provide better images than the E50 camera, even allowing for the increased focal length of the E50 lens. Seeing a comparison between those cameras is all that is delaying my placing an order for a 520. OTOH, I do believe I'm slowly talking myself into placing an order...

 

[Tuna]

The cameras are the last remaining piece in the puzzle - I've got every confidence in the flight platform - it's a killer combination of a top notch flight controller and Yuneec's proven drive system. Though I've seen early images from the cameras in test conditions, what I'm waiting for is to see how well they perform in general flight. They should be good, but what will truly sell the platform will be those 'wow' shots that show sharp, clean and accurate rendition of the scene. That will also answer the 'zoom' issue. Personally I'd rather see a prime lens that performs well than a zoom lens that is a compromise and yet another thing to break down.

 

[Rubik]

Walkera now has a 18X 4K zoom quadcopter for $16,000 called Voyager 4. That's almost $1k per zoom X, about what you will pay for a TH with 1X zoom.
I can imagine the maximum zoom of the Voyager 4 may only be good for high shutter speed stills due to the difficulty of holding the camera steady enough for decent video. Their promotional video is pretty impressive, however.

 

[PatR]

When you find a Walkera anything that performs as advertised, and reliably, let us know. Lord help ya if it needs serviced because it's highly doubtful Walkera will do anything for ya.

Lot's of hobbyists seem to be a little miffed the 520 has not been designed to be another consumer drone. Those who are should pay attention when they use the word "enterprise". They are telling you loud and clear they have designed this system around mission specific parameters, and home video isn't one of them. Those that understand photography know that if the resolution is high enough they don't need zoom. They chan shoot a still, capture a large area, and crop to those areas they need and have a magnified image. They don't need, or want, to look at the would through a soda straw.

 

[JCFlippen]

Bo has a piece on the Walkera Voyager. The zoom lens at the extreme end is interesting - for stills it's probably useful/useable.

The H520 should mop up a segment of the market with Douglas Spotted Eagle involved to hopefully keep Yuneec focussed. Will he I wonder get the H version of the E90 camera produced to increase sales. The H520 + E90 with my H machines as back up would be ideal for my clients.

 

[PatR]

That's pretty much how I'm looking at it, however, if I was to sign some structural or equipment inspection contracts there would be justification for the E50 as an addition.

We'll see how things go. The market is maturing and there's not a lot of reasons to target the amateur video, general consumer crowd. You can only gain market there by being dirt cheap and there's no profit in that unless volume is very, very high, which is not the case. With DJI securely holding 70%+ of that market it's like beating your head against a wall. Making that more difficult is the mentality of the DJI user base. They can't be all that bright to be buying new equipment every 6 months or so as the manufacturer dumps "new" products on the market having only minor changes as justification for the latest release while obsoleting the previous products.

Going after the "Enterprise" market and offering sub $8,000.00 equipment to get those projects done is very attractive by comparison, especially if user and project data is secure. As mentioned a few days ago, insurance companies are now requiring info from clients as to how data is secured, or if it's secured at all as part of their liability rate fee structures. They're aware they could get caught up in liability claims for unsecured data.

 

[Rubik]

That's pretty much how I'm looking at it, however, if I was to sign some structural or equipment inspection contracts there would be justification for the E50 as an addition.

I see PeauProductions has a 41-deg HFOV lens available for the TH. This is about 2X magnification compared to the stock lens. Wouldn't that be a good modification to make for inspection projects?

 

[PatR]

If shooting still photos it works great. It is one if the solutions I've been considering for a project. For video it's not so good because the gimbal, as good as it is, cannot stabilize the camera well enough to eliminate vibration at higher magnification levels. You get some jello in video. That's the part people don't understand about a zoom lens. Sure, it's fairly easy to incorporate multiple magnification levels but the gimbal has to be an order of magnitude more powerful with each level to fully stabilize the image.

 

[MM1992]

Personally I'd rather see a prime lens that performs well than a zoom lens that is a compromise and yet another thing to break down.

That's very true. One of the best things I did for learning how to take photos was using a prime lens. On a DSLR, it forces you to be a better photographer. On a UAV, it gets you a less expensive camera and more flight time. I will trade any zoom capability for fixed focal length and additional flight time 8 days a week. More robust, cheaper, and less weight, what's not to love?