Anyone tried mounting a larger camera?

[marko1953]

I did a bit of a search but couldn't find anything. Has anyone on here tried mounting a larger camera like the Sony A5000 on a Phantom 2 or 3? The weight is about 388g. I really like the idea of an APS-c sized sensor with 20Mp. The latest A6100 etc has 24Mp. Even if the flight time is reduced it might be worth it for still photos?

 

[rockydog]

I think the idea is a non starter......first of all, any gimbal capable of stabilising a camera that size is going to be way too heavy even if you could find a method of mounting/powering it, and secondly, if you found a way to mount it without a gimbal, how are you going to trigger the camera?

 

[marko1953]

Thanks Rockydog, I was thinking mainly just for still photos and not having a gimbal at all. These cameras have a built in intervalometer so just set it for one photo every 3 or 4 seconds. Using a high shutter speed might cancel any vibration blur.

 

[Meta4]

Thanks Rockydog, I was thinking mainly just for still photos and not having a gimbal at all. These cameras have a built in intervalometer so just set it for one photo every 3 or 4 seconds. Using a high shutter speed might cancel any vibration blur.

A few people have tried things like this: Dronexpert | Quickrelease Sony RX100 mount (Vision+)
That's expensive and I haven't seen anything like it for the P3 series.
Although you get a better camera, the tradeoff is huge with no gimbal or proper viewing or camera control.
There's not much point chasing better picture quality when you can't use the camera properly.

 

[artzamur]

Phantom 2 + Ricoh GR (APS-C with 28mm lens) = 1.432 grams - 12 minuts
All controls from RC station

 

[quaddamage]

Looking at what is known about the internal communication between drone components, I think it should be doable to use Arduino or Pi to read packets from P3X and move a custom gimbal, the same way original gimbal does. I'd say it's no more than a week of full time work.

It is also possible to transfer photo/video trigger - I did that myself in the time I had Ph2. You just need a camera which supports trigger via USB - I had Nikon, and I think all their cameras allow that.

But using the internal lightbridge to transmit video may be harder. I think it is doable, but would require disassembling a stand-alone lightbridge2 transmitter and comparing it with Ph3 hardware. That would be costly and requires at least a month of full time work.

Details on the internal communication:
phantom-firmware-tools/comm_dissector at master · mefistotelis/phantom-firmware-tools · GitHub

 

[Apilot101]

Why start with a Phantom which is not designed for a high end heavy camera? DJI has the S900 and S1000 for cameras like that. And you can get it with lightbridge. And have the satisfaction of building it.

S1000 link
DJI - The World Leader in Camera Drones/Quadcopters for Aerial Photography