Mounting a better stills camera under the Mavic

wsalopek · Dec 13, 2016

Hi guys...I have a P3P...

I think the photo and video quality is pretty darn good, but I'd like to be able to use a better "stills" camera.

Because of the crowded underside of the P3P, and because of the legs, it's quite difficult to find a mounting location for another camera...in this case, I'm talking something like an RX100 or a Ricoh GR2.

I know weight is not a big issue (or course other than some decrease in performance and flight time, which I'm more than willing to accept). And of course I also realize I'll be a test pilot, what with the center-of-gravity, etc, being altered. I have experience building a couple different multicopters, so I'm comfortable (as I can be) with that.

The problem has been a mounting location.

I'd use a GoPro mount on the Mavic, connected to a 1/4-20 tripod mount, connected to a camera (basically)...so I only need a couple square inches, preferably somewhere near the middle of the underside.

So question to Mavic owners, does it seem like there is room?

--

Thanks...

4wd · Dec 13, 2016

A gopro won't be better for stills.
You'd have to mount it on a gimbal with some way of isolating it from vibrations, and still not have a clue what it was framing.
If you want to fly a gopro it would be better to look out for an old phantom 2 or similar.

On my first Phantom one I tried a very small stills camera Canon S100 but it was quite heavy for it and a stream of photos from it hardly produced anything usable due to vibration and poor framing.

wsalopek · Dec 13, 2016

4wd said:
A gopro won't be better for stills.
You'd have to mount it on a gimbal with some way of isolating it from vibrations, and still not have a clue what it was framing.
If you want to fly a gopro it would be better to look out for an old phantom 2 or similar. On my first Phantom one I tried a very small stills camera Canon S100 but it was quite heavy for it and a stream of photos from it hardly produced anything usable due to vibration and poor framing.

4wd,

My mount would be fixed (with or without some vibration damping, we'll see), and before each flight I'd consider what angle I might want to have the camera pointed down...then kinda match that angle with the Mavic's gimbal and camera, so I'll get a pretty good idea of framing...and with the wide-ish angle lenses of the camera I am considering (note: Rx100, Ricoh GR2, not a GoPro), framing doesn't have to be super accurate anyway.

I'm also confident that while weight will be a factor, it's won't be a deal killer.

wsalopek · Dec 13, 2016

OK...found the attached picture of the underside...looks kinda crowded. I'd have to turn off VPS (I suppose), if I mount a camera under there...still worth trying.

I know I'd have to hand catch the Mavic as well. I do that almost all the time with the P3P.

And oh...it's hard to "print" with a mouse!

WhoDat · Dec 13, 2016

I think that, like some others have said, there are platforms that are better-suited for a 3rd party camera.

You'd be shooting blind, which leads to bad pics from the world's greatest cameras.
You'd need a way to control the shutter and other options (aperture, focus, etc.)
Vibrations would suck
Landings could be very bad
It would probably fly unpredictably

And other things. I guess you could solve problems 1 & 2 by shooting very close to the drone and using a smartphone app to control the camera, but the whole thing seems a bit kludgy. And the distance at which my Olympus MFT cameras or Nikon DSLRs work reliably from my smart phones is veery short.

FWIW, if very good quality photos are important, a gimbal system on an older phantom might work. Or, another option, I've seen refurbished gen 1 Inspires with pretty nice cameras going pretty cheap (eg. saw a couple for ~$1,400 a few weeks ago).

wsalopek · Dec 13, 2016

WhoDat:

1) I'd still be using the Mavic's camera as usual...not flying blind.

2) Shutter control would be "time lapse". 1 picture every X seconds...no, not ideal (like much of this), but I can live with it for the increased image quality.

3) Vibrations...yet to be determined, and again, something I'm willing to work with...plus if props and motors are balanced, like they should be, vibrations shouldn't be too much of an issue.

4) I would hand catch.

5) Fly unpredictably - maybe...I have built a couple other multirotors, adding and subtracting all kinds of weight/hardware, and the flight controller could always handle it (but yes, good point).

Inspire...yes...that's an attractive choice, but if I could get as Mavic to work with a GR2, I could have even BETTER images than an Inspire, and of course spend a whole lot less money (than having to buy two drones).

--

Bill

johnsimatos · Dec 13, 2016

Why not just get a second hand inspire 1 x5? They're so cheap now

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

wsalopek · Dec 13, 2016

johnsimatos said:
Why not just get a second hand inspire 1 x5? They're so cheap now
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

John,

Still would like to combine a Mavic with a better camera, but yes, the Inspire is an option. Can you show me where you saw a good price?

Thanks...

Bill

johnsimatos · Dec 13, 2016

I'm not sure where you're located but a lot of people selling inspires on Australian gumtree and other forums, take a look at the inspirepilots forum as well.

Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

Mako79 · Dec 13, 2016

Have you thought of doing panoramics with the existing setup (litchi can do panos)???
Take a few images with locked camera settings and stitch like 6 photos to become 1 massive high definition photo.
OR save the headache and just simply upgrade to P4Pro that has a sensor similar to the RX100 sony 1 inch sensor??

wsalopek · Dec 13, 2016

Mako79 said:
OR save the headache and just simply upgrade to P4Pro that has a sensor similar to the RX100 sony 1 inch sensor??

Mako,

The P4P is an option for sure. I'd just really like to see if I can make this work on a Mavic.

-

Bill

Grey Wolf · Dec 13, 2016

The mavic camera is pretty darn good!
You will be hard pressed to see the difference.

WhoDat · Dec 13, 2016

That's what I'm hoping.

But I'lll be honest in saying that I don't know squat about landscape stills. Portraits are another story, and I have a few of those setups. Still, the best camera is the one you have on you. My Oly Micro Four Thirds with a little 45mm easily does 3/4 of my portrait work, even though I have Nikon SLRs with a big 80 and a couple other lenses. The big setups might shoot ~5% better, but they're 4x as bulky and at least twice the cost. MFT is good enough, and it's what I have around when I'm not snapping iPhone pics... LOL

I'm OK with portraiture, but I'm just not good enough with landscape photography to use a 5-10% difference in quality. Heck, for me my P3S snaps decent landscape pics. If the Mavic does better than that, I'm good to go, at least for now. Being a landscape new, I'm still exploring composition. So flying around and snapping pics at some random intervals probably wouldn't do anything for me. I'd rather explore focus and composition.

If the Mavic snaps landscape stills that are noticeably better than my P3S, I'll be thrilled.

Grey Wolf said:
The mavic camera is pretty darn good!
You will be hard pressed to see the difference.

seanmclean · Dec 13, 2016

If you want to fly a better camera, fly a larger drone.

EasyV · Dec 13, 2016

4wd said:
A gopro won't be better for stills.
You'd have to mount it on a gimbal with some way of isolating it from vibrations, and still not have a clue what it was framing.
If you want to fly a gopro it would be better to look out for an old phantom 2 or similar.

On my first Phantom one I tried a very small stills camera Canon S100 but it was quite heavy for it and a stream of photos from it hardly produced anything usable due to vibration and poor framing.

I'd love to see something the quality if an s100 under a dji drone. Big fan of the Powershots, with an idle S90 and a 100 lying about

wsalopek · Dec 14, 2016

Grey Wolf said:
The mavic camera is pretty darn good!
You will be hard pressed to see the difference.

Grey,

Yes it's true, that if your main audience views your pictures on the web, that many of them will be just fine with the Mavic's quality, and even with the quality of cell phone pictures, which can be quite "good".

But when a person looks closer, or wants to make prints, esp larger prints. or wants to show their images to folks who look for those qualities in an image that only a larger-sensored camera can provide, then the Mavic's camera, again, as good as it can be depending on the distribution method and the audience, can definitely be improved upon.

Otherwise there would be no market for DSLR's and such.

--

Bill

wsalopek · Dec 14, 2016

seanmclean said:
If you want to fly a better camera, fly a larger drone.

Sean, I may not have to...the Mavic, if I can find a place to mount a camera, will do the job just fine.

The cameras I am talking about weight less than 300 grams...no problem, almost certainly, for the Mavic.

--

Bill