Are Different Gimbal Movements Possible?

[teecee]

Question - I need to make the camera on an Inspire 2 appear like it is the perspective through the eyes of a small dog. I need to make it so gimbal movements are not buttery smooth but bobbing around like a dog running around in a pack. Ideally something like the Mimic from Freely for the Movi but I see no solutions out there from DJI. We are dual operator setup but it is just not "organic" enough with the sticks. We have tried adjusting all stick settings and it is not great and if we add roll in to the mix it all goes out the window fast. Getting the best results dual operator with iPad touchscreen for camera movement but no roll possible there either. The other thought was single operator FPV IF we could make the gimbal LESS responsive (slow to correct for the drone moves) but I can't seem to find any settings for this either. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

TC

 

[Jerry Laurence]

Have you considered adding some kind of jitter effect in post production? I once used one to create a hand-held look after shooting from a tripod.

 

[The Editor]

Agreed - this is a job for post.

 

[teecee]

Yes, there will be some post involved but we need to move the camera like a dog first in the real world as much as possible in order to make it work. Side to side, roll axis, bobbing up and down sometimes. It will be impossible to pull a 90 degree pan shot from a perfectly still fluid shot looking forward. I can do this with a Freely machine and Mimic technology. Why not with DJI?

 

[Dr. Fibinotchi]

I had a Freefly M5. I can tell its a fantastic tool for what it is. Just the same the I2 is an amazing tool. I have not tried to tighten up the drift on start stop on GPS, or gimble, adjustements... but I know if I was needing/ wanting a non post adjusted shot I would take the up and down on the gimble and give it heavy relaxed adjustment so that it corrects slow and more 'dog like'...mechanical slow.(PID values low... I would quicken up the gps to give it a dog like movement of fast start and stops on the flight controller, and I would adjust the up and down (throttle sensitivity) for faster up and down a little to give it little more cinematic dog feel for jumping up on a landing etc...but not too much. I dont know if this will work for you. Just a couple of first thoughts. Id like to see a video when / if you shoot it.

-Cody

 

[teecee]

I had a Freefly M5. I can tell its a fantastic tool for what it is. Just the same the I2 is an amazing tool. I have not tried to tighten up the drift on start stop on GPS, or gimble, adjustements... but I know if I was needing/ wanting a non post adjusted shot I would take the up and down on the gimble and give it heavy relaxed adjustment so that it corrects slow and more 'dog like'...mechanical slow.(PID values low... I would quicken up the gps to give it a dog like movement of fast start and stops on the flight controller, and I would adjust the up and down (throttle sensitivity) for faster up and down a little to give it little more cinematic dog feel for jumping up on a landing etc...but not too much. I dont know if this will work for you. Just a couple of first thoughts. Id like to see a video when / if you shoot it.

-Cody

That is some good advice. Thanks Cody!

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

Wait, the perspective of a dog would be 12 inches off the ground. Why not use a handheld camera? The whole point of a gimbal is for stabilization. If you don't want stabilization don't use a gimbal.

Not sure this would be a 'feature for a gimbal.

 

[teecee]

Wait, the perspective of a dog would be 12 inches off the ground. Why not use a handheld camera? The whole point of a gumball is for stabilization. If you don't want stabilization don't use a gumball.

Not sure this would be a 'feature for a gimbal.

The "dog" is actually a car in this case and we will be moving in an off road environment at 30+ km/h. We are planning to shoot some hand held from another vehicle as well.

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

question still stands, why not use a handheld camera? Or mount a camera to Inspire without a gimbal? The movements you're after totally defeat the purpose of using a gimbal.

I doubt this is a 'feature' that DJI would implement in a gimbal setup and every setting in the app and on the bird is to achieve the smoothest possible shot, so I doubt you'd find a way to do what you're looking for from the bird, hence the posts about doing it in Post.

 

[eColumbia_449]

Have you tried using a custom DJI app. Something that will combine throttle and gimbal movements in such a way to provide the movements as you are looking for?

 

[crnee]

or just use a dog with actioncam mounted on head or chest.
why use a Inspire or gimbal?

 

[Shawn Esplin]

Dogs, like humans, have significant "camera" stabilization built in. Using a handheld or mounted camera from a car moving over rough dirt roads without stabilization would result in a lot of hard bounces and shaking that simply do not show up in our own vision unless we do something more extreme like putting our heads directly on a heavily vibrating surface.

 

[Dr. Fibinotchi]

You said you tried stick combinations. I remember there is under the go app to limit gimble travel. What if you set gimble up and down (slowed down) then put max travel of up and down to say 10 degress and with the gimble operator on the sticks (transmitter with own screen) give up and down movements like one every second. End of travel would prevent it from looking up and down too much. Gimble gain could be adjusted till its close for speed and tuned in gimble operator controller for his expo needed. As for the bobble on the ground without post processing maybe use a slight zoom lens and keep the lens off the ground as much to minimize need for a bobble installed? Similar to a farmer planting he is looking 200+ feet out not 15 feet ahead at ground to keep his rows straight. Maybe its not a bobble that one would really see much of with a sprinting dog(s). Not sure. would love to see how you end up. Adding in Audio would be interesting.

-Cody