Anyone using a Xiaomi Yi camera?

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Hi there,

anyone using a Xiaomi Yi action camera instead of a GoPro on the Zenmuse gimbals?

Do they fit ?

The Xiaomi looks a pretty good camera and can give the Gopro a run for it's money..

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No one?.. ok....
no,but I have a SJ4000 and I upgraded the plastic lens with a glass GoPro lens.
ive heard the Xiaomi is a little bigger than the GoPro or the SJ . it may not fit some gimbals.
Wayne
 
Indeed, I've seen a youtube vid with a DYS 3 axis gimbal and he had to file the top of the gimbal camera mount to get it to fit.
But unlike the Zenmuse you can change the PID's and motor strength to accommodate different equipment.
 
I saw a side by side comparison, it is awesome for the money, slightly taller than gopro. Overall the quality of the GoPro Black was a bit better in a variety of scenes. In the YT video I saw, it had a slight green tinge, but overall for the money I would buy it!

Let me check my history and see if I can find the comparisons.

*edit*

I cant find the right video, but here is another comparison, which was very helpful

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Here is the size comparison in the video

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A bit late to the party.
I received my Xiaomi Yi yesterday, and set it up with my Samsung Galaxy SIII. All is well.
Today, I received my DJI Phantom 2, and am charging the battery & the controller.
Tonight, I will order a 2D gimbal.
Happy to exchange experiences once I have them!
Any gimbal ideas? I am leaning toward the Walkera G-2D Gimbal, and realize I'll need to "twiddle" a bit to get things going.
 
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OK, bought an eachine gimbal. Seems to "bench check" OK. Used rubber bands (ha-ha) to attach Xiaomi Yi. Next step is to mount to my gimbal/Xiaomi Yi to the Phantom 2. I am using an external LiPO battery to power the gimbal. Any comments on weight/balance for this configuration?
 
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As you can see, there are some minor issues with the gimbal. First, it seems to be mounted further back than the Zenmuse gimbals so you see a lot of the Phantom 2. Second, when you accelerate forward, it seems to adjust too much and again shows a lot of the Phantom. Third, the pitch control from my transmitter seems to allow it to travel too far (both up and down) and it reaches it's limit and then sort of bounces. Whatever I try in the DJI Assistant in the gimbal tab doesn't seem to have any effect. It was 45 bucks so I'm not all that concerned and I don't plan on selling any videos or pictures any time soon.

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Here is another one where you can see the issues more as I was going faster. It's also earlier in the day so a bit brighter. It was also windier in this video.

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My setup:
Phantom 2 v2 (base model)
eachine light 2D brushless gimbal
Xiaomi Yi Action Camera
Turnigy 1000 mAh, 20C 30C, 3S, 11.1v LiPO battery (used to power 2D gimbal)

Weight (approximate values):
Phantom (w/Battery & Propellers) 1000g
Xiaomi Yi Action Camera 71g
eachine light 2D brushless gimbal 160g
Turnigy 1000 mAh, 11.1v battery 79g
--------
1310g

I am slightly overweight, as DJI rates the Phantom 2 max takeoff weight at <1300g.

No soldering necessary!
I used velcro to attach the gimbal battery to the underside of the Phantom 2 as depicted below.
I used rubber bands to attach the Xiaomi Yi Action Camera to the 2D gimbal.

Results:
The extra bulk of the gimbal/battery/camera results in a bit of sluggish response compared to the clean Phantom 2 configuration. The sluggish response is more noticeable under windy conditions. The flight time is reduced from 20+ minutes in the clean configuration to just under 15 minutes. (I start flying with a full battery charge, or 4 Green bars, and land when the second bar starts flashing, or one-and-one-half Green bars.) There is occasional gimbal "wobble" in the 1080p video. I have not yet changed any gimbal values via the SimpleBGC program. Overall, as a survey/surveillance video platform, it works well.

Future:
I plan to post a brief video later this month.
Fiddle with the 2D gimbal settings via SimpleBGC GUI v2.2.
Open up the Phantom 2 to attach the pitch control cable from the Naza to the 2D gimbal.

gimbal_battery_1.jpg
battery_velcro_0.jpg
with_camera.jpg
with_gimbal_powered_on.jpg
 
I have since ditched this entire setup. I went through two cheap Chinese gimbals before giving up. They were incredibly unreliable, only one would connect to the Basecam SimpleBCG GUI software. The one that did, had some firmware version on it that wouldn't allow me to adjust the settings and kept complaining about something (that I can't recall). Despite my efforts, I was not able to upgrade the firmware. The gimbal also went crazy when my transmitter was off, in addition, it had a hard time holding a steady position. Finally, I had it connected to my Naza controller so I was able to tilt with the controller dial, but it does not hold position when you let go of the dial--you have to hold the dial and it allows too much travel. This means that you will run into the stop and the gimbal gets very jumpy if you move the dial too far in either direction, which is very easy to do and then the gimbal gets confused and takes a few minutes to recover (sometimes it doesn't recover). Overall, I think these are junk and sent them back.

Prior to sending it back, I connected a whole FPV setup as well. I was using this cable: http://www.amazon.com/Niutop-Output...&qid=1438976900&sr=8-1&keywords=fpv+xiaomi+yi

FPV worked well (when wifi was off and after I turned it on in the app) and transmitted okay. The only issue I had was that the camera stats (microSD card, battery level, recording status, etc.) were not displayed on the FPV view. I'm not sure if that was because I was not powering the camera and running on its own battery or if the DJI iOSD mini was stripping that information out of the transmission.

I did like the Xiaomi Yi camera though, but it doesn't fit in the Zenmuse gimbals designed for GoPros (GoPro is mini USB out, Yi is micro plus the Yi is a different size physically). It's not as good as a GoPro Hero 4 Black, but it is 1/5th of the price and I wasn't very nervous sending it flying through the air attached to my Phantom. Overall it is a great camera for the price.
 
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> plan to post a brief video later this month
See Vimeo
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Note the video plays at 720p, while the original is 1080p.
 
I hope i am not too late replying on this. I made a 3d printed mount for Yi camera that would fit the zenmuse perfectly.. up for orders.. just email me at [email protected] and the first attachment is wrong sorry
 

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Take a look at the Git2 by GetUp Action Cams. I have been researching cams and this one seems to be the best of the bunch. It even has gyro stabilization.

GIT2(Pro Packing) - GitUp Action Camera
 
hi my friends.i am new member at this forum.nice to meet you.i have made my quad with zenmuse h3-3d compatible
take a look to my video
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hi my friends.i am new member at this forum.nice to meet you.i have made my quad with zenmuse h3-3d compatible
take a look to my video
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how do u do the wiring?
 
I use the xiaomi yi camera but not on the drone. I have to say that it's not bad especially if you enable the autoexec.ash hack.

You can set a 2k resolution and go up to 50mpbs of bitrate.
 

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