My Ricoh GR camera mount for the DJI Phantom 2 continues to evolve. The first version used the top vibration dampener plate of the Phantom 2 Vision (the dampener assembly is available for $10 from dealers), a bottom plate laser cut for me by Keri Wilk, and an inexpensive Giotto mini-ballhead. I wrote about the first Ricoh GR setup not long ago.
The setup worked, but I wanted to pull the camera up a bit closer to the body of the Phantom, so I started working on a second version of the mount. I attached the original GoPro mount from an old Phantom to the vibration dampener and designed an adapter piece to be printed using a 3D printer. The adapter piece connects to a GoPro tripod mount. It looks like the concept will work, but it needs one more pass to be more useful. The next version, which is printing as I type this, moves the tripod hole so the camera can be centered (the tripod hole isn’t centered on the bottom of camera). It also recesses the camera an additional 5mm, and has a cut-out where the back of the camera hits the adapter so no buttons are pressed in when it’s attached.
I hope this new mount results in fewer vibrations. Update: I just went out for a test flight, and this mount is rock solid, in the air! Accessories that are not well balanced often result in shaky flight—the quadcopter will literally shake while it is in the air, leading to bad accelerometer readings, and ultimately, fly-aways if you aren’t a competent pilot and are trying to rely on GPS.