Need help with quadrocopter build, main purpose taking video/photo

[Michi]

Hello there,
I need some help with quadrocopter which I am builing for my friend who is working as a proffesional photograper. Since I am usually working with nitro and eletric planes acrobats and so, so I have got quite lack of experience with quads.

The quadrocopter should be able to lift up to 1kg of weight (probably there will be Cannon 7D as a main unit).

Please throw there some ideas with choice of components.
Many thanks!

 

[epic.engineering]

look for efficient motors around 900kv.. that should allow you to run props up to 10- 11 inches if you choose to..

The benefit of larger props is they typically need less rpm to produce lift. Which means less vibration if they are balanced correctly.. another bonus of less rpm is increased fight time.. that might not matter if they're taking mostly still pictures.

I like the wooden booms as they naturally absorb some vibration..

Boom length 12-13.5 inches. I feel they fly much the same at either length.. makes for a stable yet agile multi-rotor..

Controller I like the kk boards or apm2

I fly with the hobby king multi rotor control board... $20 and its awesome.. basic but awesome.. kk 2 is basically the same with the lcd.. my next board will be the hobby king mega 2.. I like the ability it has to get you out of trouble.. I often lose my orientation on my tri copter even with l.e.d and different color rotor blades. The return to home feature could save you a bunch of money in a situation like that..

Batteries I like the turnigy nano tech.. I race 1/8 buggy, and short course with them.. now I fly with them, in my micro quad and bat bone tri copter.. 2200mah gets about 10 min.. I'd recommend the 3000mah as you will be running and extra motor.

 

[epic.engineering]

I flew my bat bone tri copter over a lake last Saturday with an old kodaic camera that i had..it's about 2 times as heavy of camera of the same size now.. and with 8in props it would hover under half throttle.. but I'm using 1450kv motors..

 

[BillyO]

I'm going to jump in on this thread rather than start another one.

Can you tell me all the components you used with the Bat Bones Tri, motor sizes etc... I'm seeing a huge selection of motors, props and such and don't want to use a bunch of stuff that'll be useless later. My main intent down the road is a photography platform. The camera is larger than a DSLR, but lighter. (Sony VG10 with a 105mm lens) I'm thinking I might need something with more motors....but this should be a good test platform.

I'm hoping something larger with good flight controller helps stabilization. I've also got some ideas to experiment with and will probably need something easily rebuilt for now and later. ;-)

Anyway.....any input is appreciated. I'll post vids and photos as it gets done. Should be a fun project for an old like me. lol.

Thanks!