Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and looking for some advice from people who have setup / operate the Cinestar HL. I live in Melbourne, Aus and will be dealing with Aerobot in Byron Bay, NSW if we decided to go purchase the Cinestar HL. I've searched online and in this forum but I'm finding it very difficult to get the information I need. We would like to setup the Cinestar HL with a MVI MR gimbal and be capable of flying the RED scarlet, Canon 5D and some smaller mirrorless cameras with different lenses. Currently we fly the DJI S800 commercially with the Zenmuse Z15 gimbal and thus we are restricted to only filming with a SONY Nex7 and 16mm pancake lens. It would be nice to be able to use different glass on our cameras and from what I understand, it is possible to mount and balance different cameras/lenses on the MOV MR with some patients. I would appreciate any advice you would like to contribute. I understand that is easiest to install the MK flight controller however I am very familiar and comfortable with the DJI A2 controller. Has anyone had any difficulties installing the DJI A2 flight controller on the Cinestar HL? Spare parts - are they difficult to source and affordable either in Australia or overseas? DJI parts tend to go through phases of availability here in AUS and in the USA. It's frustrating when parts are on backorder when you really need replacement for an upcoming job! Which websites would you recommend for Cinestar HL spar parts? We have experience using another UAV technology made in Germany which charged extravagant dollars for small repairs (ie $1200 for a lightweight replacement motor on a quadcopter) Flight batteries - What capacity batteries are people using? Currently on the DJI S800 I use 2 nano-tech 6s 5000mAh in parallel. I assume we'll need higher capacity batteries to achieve 9-10 minute flight times with the Red Scarlet as a payload Transport - How easy are the Cinestar HL platforms to assemble and disassemble? I've seen a couple of clips online and they looks a little tedious using a drill to install the booms and making sure they are level with the central hub. Is this the case with the latest Cinestar HL? It's important that we can pack the Cinestar HL into a pelican case for transport. I'm weary of wearing our electrical contacts and mechanical parts which may fail mid-flight. Thanks again! Cheers, Justin
G'day Justin: Welcome to the forum. Aerobot's name has featured on several postings. You might want to do a forum search and read those postings. The DJI A2 has also received several mentions. In the USA, quadrocopter.com is the primary dealer for FF parts. Flight batteries: hard question, we've got forum members flying everything from 4S 6200 mAH, up to dual 6S 16,000 mAH. As to transport, there's not really anyway to deal with both (a) it must go into a Pelican case AND (b) not having to connect/disconnect the motor wires. They're somewhat mutually exclusive, I'm afraid. Andy.
My pleasure, Justin. It's certainly worth spending a few minutes searching before posting -- we've covered a lot of ground on the forum in the last couple of years,. I'm up in Tofino, British Columbia, right now. Just happened to be chatting to a bloke from Albury, just up the road from Melbourne. I think he was on walkabout...
By the way, a tip on searching this forum: Google does a nice job of indexing the bits here, and sometimes you can have better luck finding things using Google than the inbuilt search on this site. To do so, you can add "site:http://forum.freeflysystems.com” to the end of your search string to limit the scope of the search.
And suffix the forum URL with "Steve Maller" if you're looking for tales of derring-do. (That might be Brit-Speak, so by derring-do, I mean daring actions, soiled undergarments, and all the things that happen when you're living your copter-life out on the edge, hanging ten.) Andy.
How funny! Us Aussies are everywhere... Not sure if that's a good thing. I've been to Tofino a couple of years ago, such a beautiful place!
G'day Justin: Yeah, Tofino's a really beautiful place. Can't beat the scenery. The bandwidth sucks a bit though -- microwave link from Port Alberni then fiber up the west coast. Only 12 kilobytes/sec downhill, with the wind...but it's a small issue considering everything else. Yeah, I think it's a good thing that Aussies spread out around the world....good bunch of people in my experience (and I speak as a Pom). I'm sure you've got your bad apples, but the ones that go walkabout are impressive -- not a shonky one among the one's I've met. Got to do something about Fosters though.... ooof. Still trying to forget.... Andy.
Hi Andy, I don't think I've ever had a drink of Fosters, I must be missing out What brings you to Tofino? It's getting cold here in Melbourne. I live on the surf coast on the Great Ocean Road. It's almost time to buy another wetsuit for surfing in winter.... brrr... Quick question, what are your thoughts on the new Cinestar Heavy Lift? A couple of heavy lift flyers in Aus have suggested that most heavy lift frames flex and struggle to carry the combined weight of the MoVI MR and RED EPID / Scarlet. Just wandering if the issue has been improved? Justin
Fosters. Nah. You're not missing out! Tofino. Superb place for vacation (ours is almost over now). Bandwidth sucks because Telus (phone/Internet) is battling BC Hydro (who own the roadside poles). Yeah....5mm wetsuit seems to be the fave around Tofino for the winter. Some even use'm for summer. As to the HL flexing. Hmm. I'm not sure I've put enough weight on the Cinestar to see it flex -- I very much doubt the 25mm booms would flex that much so I can only assume it's the hub plates -- but what bad effects does having the hub plates flex produce? (I flew a 17m-span sailplane and the wings flexed about a meter at the tips -- great shock absorbers.) Andy.