In persuit of the best camera mount for the Syma X8C

[DanC]

I got an X8C as my first quad, never flown before so I've spent the last couple of months learning and practicing, a lot. I actually have two X8C's, because of this.

One thing you'll find every single X8C owner are saying is that the stock camera is rubish, it looks nice but there's no way you can get decent photos or video with it. So I've got myself a RunCam2, which is really nice and really lightweight.

Naturally my next step is to come up with the best mount to reduce vibration and jello as much as possible, hopefully I'll get rid of it completely. I plan to document this process in this forum.

My first attempt at this was based on DJ Soul Force, with some of my own modifications. As you will see from the pictures bellow, the result is good and the video quality is a huge improvement from the stock camera, mostly because of the RunCam2. So even though the result was good, I think I'll keep trying until I find the best option.

This was my original diagram:

 

[DanC]

This is the buildout:


I decided to put a velcro strap as opposed to velcro directly to the card and the camera.

This will be the base, the idea is that the small piece fits into the stock camera's slot, and the bigger one is attached to it with zip ties.


This is the two pieces as I attach them and the base to which I'll stick the bigger card piece, the foam has a hole in the middle to allow for the ties and also to try and reduce the overall weight a bit.




The small card slides in place.


Fits perfectly!

This is the mount all assembled out, the piece where the camera goes has a ~5 degree tilt downwards.


Final product mounted on the X8C.



The overall weight including camera is just shy of 69 grams.


I did some flying and took a few videos and the quality is decent, and the flight performance is not degraded, if I get a chance I'll try to upload some of the video I took and paste a link here.

The jello was gone but there was still some vibration, specially if it's windy or if I decent to fast so I think I'll try to make another one. This time I'll base it on Nigel Paquin's Credit Card Mount 2.0. I'll post back when I have it done.

 

[DanC]

Here's a video I took with the mount showed above, it's a big improvement from the stock camera no doubt, but I'm still not happy .

 

[Jackson]

Interesting approach. But doesn't look any better than Soul Force's much more simple approach. With his it was basically jello free until the his X8 would start make some periodic, weird clacking noises, once the clacking stopped it was fine again.

 

[DanC]

Interesting approach. But doesn't look any better than Soul Force's much more simple approach. With his it was basically jello free until the his X8 would start make some periodic, weird clacking noises, once the clacking stopped it was fine again.

Nope, not better at all! I think where I went wrong was at the mount point, in the way it attaches to the base of the Quad. I thought it would be clever to reuse the stock camera slot, but that single and narrow point of contact actually made it worst. I call this one a fail.

Last night a built another one, based on Nigel Paquin's Credit Card Mount 2.0. Did a quick test flight today with 2m/s winds and the results are so much better. I'll post some pics and video later.

 

[RENOV8R]

Cool, this is like an episode of Mythbusters!

 

[Jackson]

Nigel Paquin's Credit Card Mount 2.0.

What a weird dude. Why would something used for soundproofing be the 'perfect' material? Let's see, hot glue then paint, then Mod Podge. Yea looks great now.

 

[RENOV8R]

What a weird dude. Why would something used for soundproofing be the 'perfect' material? Let's see, hot glue then paint, then Mod Podge. Yea looks great now.

hahahaha "All ya need is a hole punch and a big ol' knife" Actually, I've seen lots of variations of this design and it would work OK, but personally I wouldn't trust my expensive camera to be held on with just a piece of velcro

 

[Jackson]

but personally I wouldn't trust my expensive camera to be held on with just a piece of velcro

That's why they make duck tape.

 

[DanC]

What a weird dude. Why would something used for soundproofing be the 'perfect' material? Let's see, hot glue then paint, then Mod Podge. Yea looks great now.

Well yeah I left the Mod Podge out of my build! The soundproof part, I guess because sound proofing materials are meant to absorb vibration, sound is vibration after all.

 

[DanC]

Melamine Foam + Credit Card Camera Mount

Here is my second attempt at the camera mount, for a RunCam 2 on a Syma X8C. I couldn't be bothered to take progress pictures to be honest. But I'm attaching a few to show the final result.



I'm actually quite happy with the results, specially considering that I have not balanced the propellers at all! Have a look at 1:30 where the camera gets a bit off centered (I didn't tie the velcro tight enough), the left leg shows up a small bit there, and you can see the amount of vibration on it, that to me is excellent proof of the amount of vibration that the mount is absorbing.

I did not use the Mod Podge stuff, don't even know what that is or where to get it. Also, I use stock legs and the space bellow the Quad is limited so the foam piece is thinner than the one on Nigel's video. I also didn't give it an angle at the foam piece, instead I gave it a 5-6 degree angle to tilt the camera down at the plastics ties, so the front tie is a bit longer than the one at the back. All together it comes up to 86g which is still light enough. I guess I could bring the weight down almost half of that if I built it at half credit card size, but I think one of the reasons why this works better is because of the size, in particular the way it mounts with velcro to the entire body, that somehow distributes the vibration instead of focusing it on a smaller contact point.

To this point:

hahahaha "All ya need is a hole punch and a big ol' knife" Actually, I've seen lots of variations of this design and it would work OK, but personally I wouldn't trust my expensive camera to be held on with just a piece of velcro

I used heavy-duty velcro that can hold up to 7Kg, I actually think it's a bit to much, you have no idea how hard it is to take it off! If I just pull it of I'm certain I'll break it and the foam will just tear apart, so I have to slice it through with a credit card, slowly and carefully.


So there you go, so far this is winning. I'd love to hear other peoples ideas and recommendations.

 

[Jackson]

Vid looks good. WTH is that black goo? You did use Mod Podge, tell the truth now.

 

[DanC]

Vid looks good. WTH is that black goo? You did use Mod Podge, tell the truth now.

Hahaha no man! It's just hot glue smudged on the sides of the foam and then spray painted it over.