45mm on x5r for video?

Wing Commander Smyth · Sep 13, 2017

Just my 2p's worth, we've used the 45mm on 2 jobs (video/X5R) and had vibration issues. I think it boils down to your personal standard. For me it's too jerky to be happy (but we did smooth out most in post so it was used). But then client saw the raw footage and said "that's great!"....didn't even notice it, both cam op and I looked at each other and non verbally shrugged .... well ok then.

The firmware issue is really interesting to read. This could be why some are happy with the 45 for video and some aren't. Will look into this.

For the OP, you may be fine, as we noticed the issues only on fast moving tracking so GV's from a distance might be fine. I guess like the rest say.....just do a dry run first. Hope you find/found a solution!

Wing Commander Smyth · Sep 13, 2017

Oh might be worth following up by saying we were on Osmo RAW ..... so no vibration issues related to being used on a drone. Just incase people think the drone is causing excessive vibrations.

gruvpix · Sep 13, 2017

Most of the shots with the convertible and quad riding girl in this video were done with the Olympus 45mm (shot at 0:22 for example), and it illustrates the purpose of this lens. You can't really yaw, tilt or arc the camera smoothly, but when doing tracking in a straight line the lens is controllable and adds a huge level of production value to your drone shots.

Balance the lens using a step-up ring and UV/ND filter and you should be vibration free except in windy conditions.

Wolfiesden · Sep 15, 2017

niki said:
Hello,
I have X5R too and recently I've got the 45mm lens and I have a lot of vibrations when trying to shoot kind of landscape shots. In hoovering it's kinda "not stable" but at speed it's very shaky. I'm using balanced TT CF props with AmazingTech adapters, also have a custom interchangeable lead counterweights on all 3 gimbal axes. At least that setup works very well for the 15mm and 25mm lenses for video shooting.

I suppose in my case the problem could be that I'm using too heavy ND filter (Heliopan variable ND) and the overall weight is more than the recommended? Can you please tell how you balance the lens? What step-up ring and ND filter you are using, did you have any counterweights on the gimbals axes?

Thanks!

Interesting that you are having issues at speed. I am curious now. I think this may be an experience that i had on my old P3P.

Are you using a lens hood? If so I am thinking its acting like a windvane and the servo motors are getting overloaded at speed. You could test this by driving with it out the window or in the back of a pickup if you don't have a reliable wind source. If its wind and not props and such, the same vibrations will be present when sticking it out the car window as when flying under power.

The issue I had with my P3P is I had 3d printed a lens hood but i had made it too big. When I flew in a windy scenario the gimbal would flop and reset or sometimes jitter as it struggled to maintain pointing direction. Taking the hood off totally fixed the issue despite it being perfectly balanced with it on (I forgot to remove the counter weights) but not balanced with it off. So it was 100% wind, not props or any other imbalanced. It was actually imbalanced after taking it off and was more stable.

So in your case, the 45 is a longer lens (I presume) physically. Now sticking a hood out there on the end and then giving the wind a bigger leverage may be your problem.

Another thing to try is fly without the hood and see if the at-speed vibrations happen.

I may be all wet on this guess, but at least its a simple thing to test and see and eventually eliminate as a possibility.

niki · Sep 17, 2017

Wolfiesden said:
Interesting that you are having issues at speed. I am curious now. I think this may be an experience that i had on my old P3P.

Are you using a lens hood? If so I am thinking its acting like a windvane and the servo motors are getting overloaded at speed. You could test this by driving with it out the window or in the back of a pickup if you don't have a reliable wind source. If its wind and not props and such, the same vibrations will be present when sticking it out the car window as when flying under power.

The issue I had with my P3P is I had 3d printed a lens hood but i had made it too big. When I flew in a windy scenario the gimbal would flop and reset or sometimes jitter as it struggled to maintain pointing direction. Taking the hood off totally fixed the issue despite it being perfectly balanced with it on (I forgot to remove the counter weights) but not balanced with it off. So it was 100% wind, not props or any other imbalanced. It was actually imbalanced after taking it off and was more stable.

So in your case, the 45 is a longer lens (I presume) physically. Now sticking a hood out there on the end and then giving the wind a bigger leverage may be your problem.

Another thing to try is fly without the hood and see if the at-speed vibrations happen.

I may be all wet on this guess, but at least its a simple thing to test and see and eventually eliminate as a possibility.

Thanks for the reply! It wasn't with a lens hood but with pretty heavy ND filter, now I have balanced the lens without that ND filter and it's much better but still not stable enough to make a good landscape video while hoovering without the use of post stabilization. The only use for me so far is for shooting hyperlapses and object tracking shots.

ianwood · Sep 17, 2017

In order to use the 45mm, your Inspire needs to in good shape and even then there are limitations. This is the same with any longer lens on a drone. Any vibration is amplified that much more. Props, mounts, frame. There's not much you can do about the gimbal except balance it perfectly. There are good ones and not so good ones.

Then you need to change your flying to match the longer lens. Flying hard on the right stick may induce wind drag vibration. Slow pans and tilts now need to even slower. Drop the braking sensitivity down and consider flying in ATTI.