http://www.youtube.com/user/dbeaty2

These don't work like that, it is a little more complicated, but you can get good results. This guy has some of the best videos on hand held gimbals, they have helped me tremendously.

My gimbal (FW 2.4b7) works about Power anything above 120 P and D anything between 20 and 40 (when P and D are not too far from each other) and I below .2

So what are the correct settings for this gimbal? Setting P and D and I high, I get very small angular error when moving the gimbal, well below 1 degree, but there is vibrations at some extreme angles and risk of the gimbal loosing control. Setting P and D to about 30 and I to 0.1 makes the gimbal much reliable.

Some say that movements when walking can be minimised with PID tuning, I do not understand the theory behind of that and have not really succeeded on that other than doing my best holding the camera altitude as steady that I can when walking. This shows up especially when walking around a static object that is in close distance: here is an exactable:



Well now, what I am saying, first it should be defined what result is wanted and that may wary between users and the new 32 bit boards with 2 IMUs may make some compromises unnecessary (I have not tested the 32 bit board yet)

It is also to be noted that tuning PID values is very different between FW 2.3 and 2.4. and that there is many other settings than Power and PID that affect gimbal working a great deal like: Gyro trust, Gyro LPF, sub-trims, dead bands, follow speed etc. Many of these are still somewhat unclear to me how they affect the tuning and I really hope the user manual would do better job explaining all the parameters and how they affect the gimbal and interact with each other. We are just trying and guessing what they are doing, who has programmed the SW really know what the parameters affect and clear explanation would really be appreciated.

And do you think that was all that affects how the gimbal works? The really most important thing on gimbal tuning is that the gimbal construction is solid enough for the weight of the camera and lens and that there is no loose play on the bearings. Pay special attention to how well the camera is attached to the gimbal and IMU location affects too. I have camera supported from two points and IMU attached firmly to the flash shoe. For all gimbals balancing the gimbal before any PID tuning is of-course mandatory.

The mass distribution of the gimbal is important too. All the mass should be as near the centre of the gimbal as possible. There is not much that can be done here normally but my advise is:

1. to make all the tubes as short as possible. Does the camera with big objective really need to rotate 360 degrees, is more than +- 60 degrees roll really needed, the gimbal tuning starts here.

2. not to place a big battery at back of the gimbal (above roll motor) but rather front of yaw motor or at the handle.

For airborne gimbal I have one additional tip. The vibration dampening affects how the gimbal works. On my experience it is better if the vibration dampening is around the gimbal mass centre. This is often difficult or not possible with the today available gimbals. but for exactable on big gimbal, attaching the multi copter battery to the gimbal above the vibration dampening would help, of course the dampening needs to be retuned for the new mass.

Here is an excable at the start of video when I move the gimbal to extreme positions, no problem moving nose up/down 85 degrees. This was not possible before. now the vibration dampening is at mass centre. The camera is GoPro. On this version I still had some problems on the vibration dampening it self but that has been solved now



What I would like to see is a users manual that well explains everything that affect the gimbal tuning and what affect it and gives a clear exactable of the tuning for the beginners. But in addition to this I think the gimbal manufactures should do their job and tune the gimbals for different cameras and lenses and provide those parameters.

Ps. one addition thing, the gimbal axis actually interact with each other, so it is not really just tunining one axis but all 3 together, though quite good result can be archived just tuning one at the time.

Well, that is exactly my point!! Where is the info from which I can learn to undetstand how to set the PID values?? Give me the clear and exactable instruction and I will happily follow them and learn in the process. But as far as it is, I am left in darkness resorting to endless experimenting without knowing what I am actually doing and if I am getting closer or further away from the sweet spot. It is time consuming excercise in futility. My gimbal is working sort of ok but how do I know if the values are the best PID values for my gimbal??Please give me clear instructions to test it or fine tune it, so I can make it the best it can possibly be. That's what I am looking for!!! Thank you very much....