7 inch quads are great, but they are tricky. It’s much harder to make them fly smoothly than 5-inchers. It’s just more demanding in term of stiffness, propellers, vibrations, jello and so on. After almost one year of fighting with all those issues, here is my list of 7 tips and tricks how to get a smooth HD video footage on 7-inch quads. Bear in mind that almost all of those tricks apply for 5 and 6 inchers too. They are maybe not that important for great results there.
The tricks are:
1 – the proper frame with nice thick arms. Forget about 4mm thick arms for 7 inch quads. It does not work like that
2 – Propellers and motors have to match each other. You need big motors to drive big props. You can not skip the physics!
3 – Tuning! Yes, you have to tune your 7 inch drone. The chance that default PIDs and filtering will be spot-on is rather very slim
4 – The weather – for a smooth flight you need smooth weather. Wind creates turbulences and turbulences destroy a smooth video
5 – Time of a day – yes, there is a reason why noon is not the best time to fly around
6 – Camera and ND filter on it
7 – The speed – the slower you fly, the smoother the HD footage will be. More speed equals more vibrations and you are cooked!
My TBS Source One https://quadmeup.com/excellent-fpv-shopping-list/source-one-7-inch-long-range-cruiser-quad/
More here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOUQ8o2_nCLnCC9o57MJH_nhWuT7K6aq2
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Recommended hardware:
Alfa Monster 7 inch http://bit.ly/2Tjd182
BN880 GPS http://bit.ly/2OxW5by
Matek F722 Wing http://bit.ly/2AzlYCZ
Matek F722 SE http://bit.ly/2r5OAPo
Runcam Eagle 2 Pro http://bit.ly/2MXKhmv
BN-180 GPS http://bit.ly/2VqHuSF
ESP32 LORA32 http://bit.ly/2BjG47d
Paul, I lost my link to your reply. A simple INav configurator enhancement, since it already knows how to read files (INav FC updates) it would be a simple thing to add reading a waypoint file, I have been programming since the late 70’s yes it is simple. What I’m looking to be able to do is not be locked into expensive bulky FC’s for mission planner, something more simple like INav, it fills a bring gap. It seems to be in line with the objective of INav as in INav-igate? NO? Being able to create a waypoint file with another tool and read in by INav allows me to do detailed flights and repeat them over and over tweaking along the way. Not asking for much.
Dang it you should have made this video two month earlier … im so spoiled from the 5″ Drones where you can just slap random stuff together and it still works great. I thought a 2208 1700kv would be good enough. I was planning on running 6S but after this video i know that 1700kv is very high for that. Do you think i could still slap a 6S pack on it and just Limit the max throttle but keep the 6S power for Stabilisation? Maybe if i use a light prop?
Edit: Does iNav work good with acro 7″ or should i use BF?
Ótimo vídeo, você poderia colocar suas taxas de PID para tentar. Eu tenho um iflight xl7 e um monstro alfa. o iflight xl7 tem braços de 5 polegadas e vibra muito.
My tips: 1. Use RIGID frame design. The most common mistake of almost all people trying to “scale up” their quads going from smaller ones like 5″ to bigger like 7-9″ or even 350-450 sizes, is that they use the same carbon frame design which originally was developed for race quads, adapted to relatively small and high freq vibrations. You just can’t simply scale up the same design to go for bigger props. No, you can do it, but till a certain point, after which the required thickness of carbon plates would make the entire frame as heavy as a brick. So, the idea is that if you’re looking for a smooth video from a bigger quads, you should go with a classic frame design, i.e using carbon tubes (round or square). 2. Balance your props and motors. This is still important, despite of less sizes. Don’t use cheap props, as they sometimes are not symmetric (blades are different in shape) even though the prop itself could be perfectly balanced in static, while being dynamically unbalanced as hell. 3. Mount your camera firmly to the frame. Don’t use any kind of vibration absorbers or dampeners, as they could have their own resonances and oscillation frequencies. 4. Try to choose your setup (by choosing certain motors and props) in such a way, where the battery weight is 2/3 of the AUW. This will give you maximum possible flight time and will even further decrease possible vibrations (the added weight is the best way to reduce vibrations, because of the added moment of inertia). Your setup should be slightly “underpropped” in relation to the AUW of the quad. 5. Use cameras with high speed of sensor scanning. The faster the cam scans its sensor, the less is the chance of seeing a jello. 6. And yes, tune your pids.
As a result my 450-size quad produces a silky smooth video right out of the camera (runcam split mini) which looks like it was shot using a gimbal. No additional stabilization required. And moreover is flies more than an hour 😉
Hi, Pawel. I maidened my Alfa Monster 7 inch yesterday on stock BF settings to see how bad the HD footage would be. HORRIBLE yello 😂 Are these filter settings a good starting point for a cinematic 7 incher?
set dyn_lpf_gyro_min_hz = 70 set dyn_lpf_gyro_max_hz = 350 set dyn_notch_range = LOW set iterm_relax_type = gyro set iterm_relax_cutoff = 7 set dyn_notch_min_hz = 100 set dyn_lpf_dterm_min_hz = 70 set dyn_lpf_dterm_max_hz = 150 set dterm_lowpass2_hz = 120 set d_yaw = 0
Nice tips, thanks for the share. Looking forward to trying out 7″…. I just wish there were more frame choices with 6mm arms. All these crappy 7″ frames with 4mm arms…Like the XL7. I love my XL5 frame, but I’m not getting the 7 inch version all to your credit.
I would very much like your take on tuning a 7 inch kwad in BF. I feel like you are the current expert on 7 inch smooth kwads and I think it would be very helpful to get your perspective. Please consider doing a video on this! Thanks!
Thanks, always enjoy watching your videos. What did I learn? That a brick has better aerodynamics, building a brick as we speak!
Dobry materiał 🙂 Szkoda że nie posłuchałem jak gdzies radziłes na fb zeby uzyc wiekszych silników. Na 2306 7 cali hq tak mi ttelepie kwadem ze momentami hypersmooth w gp7 nie ogarnia 😀 Jakie motory polecasz ? myslalem nad Avenger V2 2507 1750KVktore widzialem u Ciebie ale moze cos znalazles nowego ?
Any frames with 6mm+arms youd recommend?
Is the Skystars G730L a good 7” drone for cinematic FPV? Looks good value on Banggood.
I think you were trying to say “Motion Blur”