PanoPro One - My latest DIY pano mount project

[phil007]

This is my latest DIY pano mount project I named the PanoPro One.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3087/2820248536_1f3c4ec493.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/philwarner/2820248536/sizes/o/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3050/2820248766_2340a87e61.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/philwarner/2820248766/sizes/o/in/set-72157607061373991/)

It's the second mount I've built for the Joker and the first for my dslr. I designed, and cut the aluminum parts then had them welded at a local shop. The legs are taller than most mounts but I knew I could cut them down later but I like the extra clearence

A HS-965MG servo spins the mount using 2:1 ratio pullys controlled by a Boarduino microcontroller. When I flip the gear switch the controller spins the mount and activates the camera shutter. At about 400° it stops for a 1/2 second before the legs return to the beginning position facing forward. The rotation is under 2 seconds.

Having the controller operate the mount and camera allows me to concentrate on maintaining a stable hover and only uses one channel on the tx/rx. No camera operator, crazy foot switch is needed. A video of me testing the mount can be seen here.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3191/2819621442_0a364c5c6c_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/philwarner/2819621442/)

I ran it through its 3rd test flight today and the only things that need adjusting are the camera angle needs to go up 1-2 degrees to remove the small hole under the heli and the focus was off a little.

Here's the test image from today. 8 images were loaded into PTGui, I clicked the Align Images button and then saved the preview .mov file. No manual control points or photoshop editing was was done on this shot. I only cropped out the missing top half of the sky in the thumbnail image.

Click on the image to view the spherical pano using the Fieldofview.com viewer. The sky was quickly hacked in and I'll work on fixing it later.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/2829838546_42f452c523.jpg (http://fieldofview.com/flickr/?page=photos/17482780@N00/2829910253)

The parking lot lines make it easy to see how well the mount worked. There are only a few minor errors that are easy to fix. The tail and rotor blades will disappear using an alpha mask on the tiff files before stitching. Patching the sky and holding a stable hover at higher altitudes will be the hard part.

Phil

[nooob]

Congrats on the mount Phil! Looks good!

[dreslism]

Looks real nice Phil.

I can't quite tell, but are there any hi-tec L brackets or anything in there??

Man, that mount was hauling in the video!

[phil007]

Why yes, I'm using a L bracket™ to position the camera. Because the L bracket™ is patented I will be unable give any details on it or photographs. I don't want to risk ending up in a lawsuit with the patent holder.

Phil

[GJestico]

How do you get it to come back to the "straght ahead" position so accurately ?

[dreslism]

How do you get it to come back to the "straght ahead" position so accurately ?

I'm pretty sure it's the L bracket that does that... :-)

[phil007]

How do you get it to come back to the "straght ahead" position so accurately ?

It's a Smart Mount™! :)

I hacked the servo to use an external multi turn potentiometer on the bottom of the 3/8" shaft. The servo always knows rotation angle of the mount from reading that potentiometer.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3123/2724154894_4c42d9090f.jpg

Phil

[AZ ChopperCam]

That's awesome phil!

one thing I was wondering about.... the mount appears to "ease out" and "ease in" when spinning. Do you have any issues with the first couple and last couple shots being not as spaced out as the middle shots?

Very nice mount and smooth operation! I'm diggin' that L bracket! I know you paid big bucks for that!

[phil007]

the mount appears to "ease out" and "ease in" when spinning. Do you have any issues with the first couple and last couple shots being not as spaced out as the middle shots?

Shooting in RAW I get about 11 pictures before the shutter is turned off or the camera buffer is full. I discard the first shot and any at the end that aren't needed. The first two test runs I only had the mount rotating 360° and this 3rd test showed that rotating a little past 360° worked better for evenly spaced shots.

Now that I think that the mount is tuned in I'll need to work on improving my post production work over the next week. I can't be posting any more aerial panos with a black hole in the sky!

Phil

[dreslism]

Shooting in RAW I get about 11 pictures before the shutter is turned off or the camera buffer is full. I discard the first shot and any at the end that aren't needed. The first two test runs I only had the mount rotating 360° and this 3rd test showed that rotating a little past 360° worked better for evenly spaced shots.

Nice job, they are looking good.


Now that I think that the mount is tuned in I'll need to work on improving my post production work over the next week. I can't be posting any more aerial panos with a black hole in the sky!


Yes, please take care of those black holes!

I am pretty sure that if you just add another L bracket to your mount that the black hole automagically disappears.

[phil007]

Yes, please take care of those black holes!

I am pretty sure that if you just add another L bracket to your mount that the black hole automagically disappears.

Ahhh HA! So that's the secret...a second L bracket to eliminate the dangerous black holes. What would happen with a 3rd L bracket???

Because the black hole was scarying people I updated the spherical version here (http://fieldofview.com/flickr/?page=photos/17482780@N00/2829910253&tags=equirectangular). I'll have the hole paved over and edit better sky during the weekend.

Phil

[rerazor]

Very cool!!!!!!!!!

Why does it have to return back to the original postion after rotation?

What kind/grade of Aluminum did you use for the tubes?
How did you bend them? Simple hand bender?

That mount hauls...... :)

I like the trademark "L bracket"

[Tabbytabb]

Looks good Phil. That mount really does haul!




Tabb

[phil007]

Why does it have to return back to the original postion after rotation?The multiturn potentiometer attached to the 3/8" shaft is limited to 5 turns.



What kind/grade of Aluminum did you use for the tubes?6061-T6 1/2" Tubing



How did you bend them? Simple hand bender?Imperial 1/2 in. tube bender from Grainger. Mfr. Model 370-FH $55



That mount really does haul!I wanted it to keep up with the camera 5 fps. If that was too fast I could slow the mount down to a 2-3 second rotation and switch the camera to 3 fps. What I'd like to add is a digital compass that would activate the shutter every 60°.

Phil

[Tritan]

Veeery nice mount !!!

That mount cant have costed you too much money?

[SeaHawk]

whoaaa, 2 seconds to rotate over 360. That is very fast. Post a vid if you can, it has to look pretty impressive with that spin rate. Nice job on the home build.

[dreslism]

whoaaa, 2 seconds to rotate over 360. That is very fast. Post a vid if you can, it has to look pretty impressive with that spin rate. Nice job on the home build.



Gary there is a video click on the picture in the first post. It is impressive!! Bad a$$.

[dreslism]

Veeery nice mount !!!

That mount cant have costed you too much money?

I'd guess $599.

[SeaHawk]

oops. I guess should start reading instead of just looking at all the photos. Cool video, cooler design. Hope it works well.

[aambrose]

Nice simple and effective design Phil! What shutter speed do you need to use with that kind of rotation speed?

Thanks!

[dreslism]

Nice simple and effective design Phil! What shutter speed do you need to use with that kind of rotation speed?

Thanks!

Phil said above "I wanted it to keep up with the camera 5 fps"

[nooob]

Scott

Tony was asking for shutter speed not FPS.

I believe Phil was shooting at 1600. Phil Is that correct?

[aambrose]

I read that but I'm not interested in frame rate.....I want to know what type of shutter speeds (1/2000?) he's using at that blazing fast rotation speed.

Edit:
Rosauro - thanks for the info. 1/1600 still seems like it wouldnt keep up with that blistering rotation speed. ;)

[phil007]

Tony,

Here are the camera settings.

Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/1600 second = 0.00063 second
Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 56/10 = F5.6
Exposure Program = manual
ISO Speed Ratings = 400

I think the focus was off a little and I'll need to try a few other settings. After I get about 5 more aerial panos under my belt I should know the optimum settings for my camera/lens/rotation speed combination.

I won't be flying for about a week because I need new bearings in the Joker's Actro motor. The top bearing is hitting 195°F after a 3 minute flight with the camera gear. I'll pull out the bearings tonight to see what size I need to order.

Phil

[dreslism]

Scott

Tony was asking for shutter speed not FPS.

I believe Phil was shooting at 1600. Phil Is that correct?

Doh! Yes, I can't read this morning.

Sorry!

Tony's still harping on shutter speed and pano rotation speed again... :-)

The sample pano in the first thread actually looks pretty darn sharp to me...