Aloha, Hoping I can get some insight on some basic questions if possible. First, quickly my use. I'm a photographer, primarily want to shoot stills. I have the Canon 5ds R (essentially the same as a 5d3), will eventually switch to Sony to get full camera control. I will be using it SOLO 100% of the time. Transporting, flying, shooting. First, is it practical to try and use a single radio? How many channels do I need? 14 workable or is 16 going to be necessary? Would you still suggest two screens, one fpv camera and one camera view? Looks like I'll need to do this, as outlined by Gary: http://forum.freeflysystems.com/index.php?threads/spare-channel-output.2417/ (Is this doable with other gimbals as well or just Movi specifically?) Second, is it safe to do so? Is the rx diversity gained by using 2 rx for Alta important? I'll be flying regularly over the ocean at the limits of the connex fusion. Obviously convenience for transport and keeping gear to a minimum is good, and I like the thought of having the flight radio in my hands at all times...but I also clearly don't want to lose/crash the rig. Lastly any thoughts on drawbacks of either setup, suggestions, concerns, thoughts, equipment to look at etc is greatly appreciated. I've gone through this over and over and have come to the conclusion that (if I can afford it) the Alta/Movi is almost ideal for me (though I'm crazy burned out and confused at this point). It's reasonably transportable by myself (I'm thinking rig in one hand, ground station in the other, and a backpack), reliable, and can give me the shutter control until I switch to Sony. The only drawback I see is traveling with the batteries but I guess if that really becomes mandatory I can work around it. Much appreciated, sorry for the length! Lyle
Lyle: You can certainly fly single operator, but one of the issues that you will face is that your workload is going to be very high if you're looking at both FPV and payload camera video. Bear in mind that the MoVI is completely independent of the ALTA -- so the payload camera on the MoVI can spin in circles indefinitely. This can be very disorienting when you are trying to fly the ALTA to produce a specific camera move and the nose of the ALTA is pointing to your left, but the MoVI/Payload camera is pointing to your right, say. What I would do under those circumstances is not pan the MoVI at all -- always keep it pointing to the "nose" (between booms #1 and #6 of the ALTA), and then fly the ALTA to produce the panning you want in the payload camera. You will still have to manage camera Tilt and FIZ if you are ultimately going to have that. But the bottom line is flying single operator can be done, but the risks are much higher -- the risk of not getting the shot that you want, and the risk of flying the ALTA into something (e.g. magnetic trees that exert a lateral force on any unmanned aircraft from quite some distance! -- not that I've ever done anything like that you understand...at least not today. Yet.) You will need two separate transmitters, by the way. There are NO electrical connections between the ALTA and the MoVI, thus the MoVI will need a separate transmitter/receiver as well as batteries. You'll also need a video transmitter to send the payload camera video down to the ground. As to transportability, the ALTA 6 is pretty light, as is the MoVI, but if you add on flight batteries, MoVI batteries, camera, transmitters, video monitors, and all the associated gear you might need, I think you might find it a little challenging to do a hike of more than a few hundred yards. It can be done, of course, but it can be challenging. Just sayin'.... Andy Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. The Ground Is The Limit™ ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert
Thanks for the response! I'm not too worried about the 'moves' as it's mostly photos, so fly to a spot, hold, shoot. So it's not doable to have one receiver on the Alta and one receiver on the movi and control both with one transmitter? Guessing I'm missing some sort of electrical connection that would be necessary there. I guess I need to just let go of that idea then. Is there a standard monitor that folks like for the ground? I can't really find any good info and people seem to vary wildly from ultra cheap to expensive. I need brightness since I'm shooting in the sun in Hawaii most of the time. Was looking at the Smallhd monitors but they are pretty up there. Any other suggestions? Thanks so much!
Lyle: The problem is that the MoVI is set up to use specific radio control channels so, while you could link (aka "bind") two receivers to the same transmitter, the next problem you need to solve is the "mapping" of channels to the ALTA (which uses channels 1 to 10) and then mapping channels 11 to N (where N is determined by the transmitter) back down to 0 to N for the MoVI. I don't know of anyone who has solved that problem. I use the Small HD sunlight visible monitors with a "dark shield" -- it doesn't reduce the sunlight falling on the screen, but, by offsetting the viewing angle slightly, what I see reflect on the front face of the SmallHD is the blackness of the shield. Hard to explain in words. If you use a normal sun-shield, it reduces the sunlight falling on to the screen but you see your own reflection in the screen.... But anyway, Small HD's are what I use. The high brightness ones suck battery power though....about 2 Amps at 12 volts. And there's a small fan in the unit to keep it cool. Andy Forensic Software & sUAV / Drone Analyst : Photographer : Videographer : Pilot (Portland, Oregon, USA): Trees=2, Ground=1, Props=11. The Ground Is The Limit™ ---------- Forensic Drone Analyst : Forensic sUAV Analyst : Forensic Unmanned Aircraft Analyst : Forensic Drone Expert