I'm wondering if it's worth it. It would be nice to have some other opinions here, especially from people who fly larger cameras. I've been using this on my DSLR-sized brushless CS gimbal, and while it works ok, it's pushing the limits for the gimbal motors. Also, I enlarged my CS8 to 500mm booms and 15" props, which only just barely squeezes into the car now. Shorter flight-times...etc. I've taken the camera apart and was planning to build a custom aluminum frame and carbon fiber shell, but now I'm not sure. The camera has three major sources of weight: the aluminum case, the lens mount sensor block, and the screen/battery. I have run my cinema camera without the screen plugged in, so I know it works, and probably works on the 4K too, and although it's pretty tricky, I think I could make a multi-plug that connects the screen, touchscreen, and buttons to the main board, as the touchscreen is the only way to adjust many functions, so you would need to be able to plug it in on the ground. The cool thing is, it would become a remote screen for other applications like car-mounting, and you could adjust the camera settings. (not sure how long the monitor connection could go before losing the signal) In the table below, you can see my estimated weight reduction to be 821 grams, or about 1.8 lbs off the original, making this a 2 lb 4K body. Is it worth it??? I know it would at least put it in range to work on the M5. (haven't checked if it would fit though.) The new frame would be quite a complex machining task, but at least I have the old one as a template.
G'Day Tim, Interesting project ... we have just rigged the BM4k with iris control, terradek bolt pro, and nikon 20-35mm f/2.8 lens to fly on a job this week, and the package weighs in at 3.7kg ~ 8.1lbs. So always interested in weight savings Have you considered using the existing aluminium body, and just taking it to a machine shop to put on a diet? I imagine you could remove a lot of the case material, and still maintain the structure, and if the body panels were recessed you could inlay a 0.5mm carbon piece in the aluminium frame, then you are still able to pick up all the original bolt holes .... Another option to consider may to put the aluminium housing on a diet with a mill, and then vacuum form a thin PFT case that goes over it, covering all the "diet holes" it would be fairly inexpensive and light weight to make that cover ... when compared to carbon. I would love to see a photos of the camera insides, you have got my brain ticking over on weight reduction possibilities. Cheers Chris
Hi Chris, those are good thoughts. I'm reluctant to put my case in the mill. Seems like cameras only last a year or less before there is something better out and I resell it. I want to try and preserve the resale value, I also would like to use it for ground shooting. When I look at the case, it seems pretty thin already though. I could probably shave off 200 g and keep the structure in tact, and do it all from the inside. I have a mill to do it, does anyone want to donate their camera? One easy reduction is to take the battery out. It's a 2s 3800 mah lipo, so it has some significant weight to it. It quickly ends up as dead weight if you use it for powering the camera, since it takes about twice as long to recharge as it does to discharge. I thought maybe a smaller 500mah battery in its place might be nice. Only question is if it would be charged too quickly and cause issues... Like puffing and bursting into flames!! I think I might just make a rear cover to replace the screen, and get plugs so I'll have a "remote" monitor. But then again, is that going to make enough of a reduction to matter?
There not to many of these cameras out in the wild yet, so I'll refrain from offering ours up to the milling machine .... matter of fact I think my cam op ... who owns the camera, would probably not approve of me starting to shave grams off his camera, at least in these early days ....