Considering F550 for APS-c sensor camera

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I fly a P2V and love it but the camera quality is lower than what I want. I want something that I put a small camera on. Something like a Samsung NX1100 or Nikon j3 etc.

For those of you with an F550 have you put a camera like this on your rig?
Is there a gimbal small enough for the 550 yet big enough for this camera?

Thanks for the advice!
 
Here is my F550 with Sony NEX 5 and 16mm lens attached. I mainly shoot stills so a gimbal isn't really needed. Since I took this shot I have swapped the camera for Panasonic GM1 with 14mm pancake lens. This weighs only 295 grams with mounting plate so saves nearly 100 grams on the weight of the Sony. The Sony is tough though =- it has survived a fall of around 20 feet onto hard ground which destroyed the landing gear with only a couple of minor scratches.

13896704313_f9f69a1524_z.jpg
 
gDallasK said:
Here is my F550 with Sony NEX 5 and 16mm lens attached. I mainly shoot stills so a gimbal isn't really needed. Since I took this shot I have swapped the camera for Panasonic GM1 with 14mm pancake lens. This weighs only 295 grams with mounting plate so saves nearly 100 grams on the weight of the Sony. The Sony is tough though =- it has survived a fall of around 20 feet onto hard ground which destroyed the landing gear with only a couple of minor scratches.

13896704313_f9f69a1524_z.jpg


Very cool. This is good info.
What kind of flight time do you get?
Do you have a way to tilt the camera angle while flying?
 
gDallasK said:
Here is my F550 with Sony NEX 5 and 16mm lens attached. I mainly shoot stills so a gimbal isn't really needed. Since I took this shot I have swapped the camera for Panasonic GM1 with 14mm pancake lens. This weighs only 295 grams with mounting plate so saves nearly 100 grams on the weight of the Sony. The Sony is tough though =- it has survived a fall of around 20 feet onto hard ground which destroyed the landing gear with only a couple of minor scratches.

Awesome, thank you! That's EXACTLY what I'm looking to do (I have the same AeroXcraft gear).
 
ResevorDG said:
Very cool. This is good info.
What kind of flight time do you get?
Do you have a way to tilt the camera angle while flying?

With the Panasonic and a 2450 mah 4C battery I'm getting 7-8 minutes - long enough for me to get up, get the pictures and get back.

I'm presently looking for a good way of tilting the camera downwards maybe 10 degrees from horizontal. I'm using an Arca Swiss tripod adapter and camera plate to attach the camera at present. It's a bit heavy but VERY secure. And it is easy to mount and remove the camera. I have a couple of small Novaflex ball joints but I don't think that they are up to the task of keeping the camera immobilised (and they also weigh around 50-60 grams)
 
OI Photography said:
gDallasK said:
Here is my F550 with Sony NEX 5 and 16mm lens attached. I mainly shoot stills so a gimbal isn't really needed. Since I took this shot I have swapped the camera for Panasonic GM1 with 14mm pancake lens. This weighs only 295 grams with mounting plate so saves nearly 100 grams on the weight of the Sony. The Sony is tough though =- it has survived a fall of around 20 feet onto hard ground - which destroyed the landing gear - with only a couple of minor scratches.

Awesome, thank you! That's EXACTLY what I'm looking to do (I have the same AeroXcraft gear).

The AeroXcraft gear is fabulous - well worth the money. I finally got to it after destroying two earlier sets from other manufacturers. Neither of them lasted very long. Maybe I need to practice softer landings!

And the AeroXcraft gear is very effective in insulating the camera from any vibration.
 
gDallasK said:
ResevorDG said:
Very cool. This is good info.
What kind of flight time do you get?
Do you have a way to tilt the camera angle while flying?

With the Panasonic and a 2450 mah 4C battery I'm getting 7-8 minutes - long enough for me to get up, get the pictures and get back.

I'm presently looking for a good way of tilting the camera downwards maybe 10 degrees from horizontal. I'm using an Arca Swiss tripod adapter and camera plate to attach the camera at present. It's a bit heavy but VERY secure. And it is easy to mount and remove the camera. I have a couple of small Novaflex ball joints but I don't think that they are up to the task of keeping the camera immobilised (and they also weigh around 50-60 grams)

Very cool. Have you tried 2 batteries? I don't know if the added weight is worth the extra amp hours but it could work out.
It looks to me like you have no fpv. How do you compose your shots?

Btw. Thanks for all your help with this. It seems like most of the uav world is focused on video, there is not much info for us still shooters.
 
gDallasK said:
Here is my F550 with Sony NEX 5 and 16mm lens attached. I mainly shoot stills so a gimbal isn't really needed. Since I took this shot I have swapped the camera for Panasonic GM1 with 14mm pancake lens. This weighs only 295 grams with mounting plate so saves nearly 100 grams on the weight of the Sony. The Sony is tough though =- it has survived a fall of around 20 feet onto hard ground which destroyed the landing gear with only a couple of minor scratches.

13896704313_f9f69a1524_z.jpg

That beast looks pretty scarry. LOL!!! It's actually awesome looking.
 
ResevorDG said:
gDallasK said:
With the Panasonic and a 2450 mah 4C battery I'm getting 7-8 minutes - long enough for me to get up, get the pictures and get back.

I'm presently looking for a good way of tilting the camera downwards maybe 10 degrees from horizontal. I'm using an Arca Swiss tripod adapter and camera plate to attach the camera at present. It's a bit heavy but VERY secure. And it is easy to mount and remove the camera. I have a couple of small Novaflex ball joints but I don't think that they are up to the task of keeping the camera immobilised (and they also weigh around 50-60 grams)

Very cool. Have you tried 2 batteries? I don't know if the added weight is worth the extra amp hours but it could work out.
It looks to me like you have no fpv. How do you compose your shots?

Btw. Thanks for all your help with this. It seems like most of the uav world is focused on video, there is not much info for us still shooters.

I do have a couple of bigger batteries (3500 mah) but prefer to keep the weight down if I can. Besides most of my flights are fairly short. Composition isn't really an issue with wide angle lenses - and most of my images are landscapes not, for example, shots of specific buildings. I set the little Panasonic to take an image at five second intervals so - if it's pointed in the right direct - I can be pretty sure I'll get the shot.

Here's an example from a couple of days ago. I actually managed to combine two shots into a panorama.

13894033534_bf691fcce5_z.jpg


There is a bigger version on Flickr - along with some other shots. Look here for those :

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gdallask/sets/72157644048513735/
 

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