Making a lighter M8 - For my Leicopter project

CrisR

CrisR

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As some of you may have seen on another thread, i'm looking to get an M in the sky on a custom multi-rotor copter. I'd like to do this with an M8 - i have one, but it's pretty much mint, and while i'm 95% confident no harm would come to it on the final setup, there's always that chance.

So, i'll be looking to get a real beat-up M8 just for the Leicopter, smashed screen, dented to crap, all that stuff. Whatever makes it as cheap as possible while still being operational photographically.

At around 600g, it's not the lightest body, and so i'm looking to replace parts with 3D printed replacements.

I will be removing the bottom plate, and setting the bottom switch to an always-on state. The top plate would be the other main area of weight saving - it's meant to be around 20% of it's weight, so a 3D printed replacement with mounting points added to the side would be ideal.

One thing i'd like to do, however, is model the top plate before i go down this road. I know it will save weight, but i'd like to work out how much and it's cost first.

So i was wondering if there was anyone with a spare M8 top plate that i could borrow for the purpose?

It'll be a while until i pick up my second M8 and i'd like to model a bunch of options ahead of time.

I'll be updating on www.leicopter.com for those interested 🙂

Cheers

Cris

Ps. No, i'm not gonna use a mirrorless like the NEX3 i already own 🙂
 
Hi Cris,
interesting project but a heavy Leica M (plus glass) to be lifted by something that weights only 750 grs sound a bit illusory to me, just my $0.02. I would give it a try with plastic P&S set to "aerial mode". It will come down anyway.
 
Why use a Leics? This could be the use that a lightweight, plastic mirrorless body is waiting for !! (with an adapter for Leica glass if you really think it will help)
 
Icebear: The quad isn't 750g, the current build weight of my first quad is 750g. The final build will be closer to 1.5kg, with each of the motors producing around 1kg of lift.

I'm using this setup to develop a reliable, stable system that can be scaled up to lift the Leica and gimbal, possible a flat hex or an X8 for redundancy and compactness.

I'm certain that the current "heavy lift" systems are OTT because they're lifting 3kg of kit. To say "it will come down anyways" isn't true.

MartinP: I have an NEX3, i prefer the result from my Leica.

Sleepyhead: Thank you 🙂

Jack Conrad: I'm afraid i don't have that sort of cash!

Hiyawaan: Thanks!


So, all that said, any ideas where i might be able to borrow an M8 top plate from?
 
Maybe instead of shaving off a 100-150g off the camera, it would make sense to scale up the quad as much as you can. I´m guessing the problem is not getting the camera off the ground but having enough stability in flight. The camera is a big lump of asymmetrically shaped mass that you probably can´t balance ideally. And you won´t have maximum lift whenever the quad is leaning, tilting, turning or simply trying to stay upright when it´s not balanced well so you need some reserve anyway.
 
FrozenInTime said:
You could also remove the rangefinder and OVF - it's not much use to you up there.
You would then have the worlds first Leica MD-8.
Click to expand...

This was my thought. Replace the entire top plate and RF with a smaller, lighter flat plate that removes those optics replacing them with your wireless transmitter (if you are trying to send images back to the ground live) and servo/trigger array.

This strikes me as more of a "because you can" project that filling an actual need though. I would think the compromises from the standpoint of focus/framing control and stable shooting platform would handicap the image quality far enough to make the difference between this and a Nex 5N negligble - especially for the cost and weight difference.
 
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