If you want to snap images or record video from your quadcopter it needs to be as vibration free as possible. When you manage that you get shots like these:
But when you start googling you get the same answer all over:
1. Balance your propellers
2. Balance your motors
But I did that:
And I still had vibrations, blurry stills and jelly-looking video. After a lot of trial and error found the solution.
It doesn’t matter how much you balance your props if they’re the wrong props. You need high quality very stiff props for aerial photography (AP). So, on the same quad, with perfectly balanced props I had lots of vibrations with one set of props and no vibrations with another.
I have had best results with Gaui props and Graupner E-props.
In addition to this I made a dampening system. First I tried to mount the camera directly on a small plate that was mounted on the quad with rubber dampers. That din’t work very well:
(Dampers = red)
Then I made a long extra board under the quad. Mounted it to the quad using four rubber dampeners and mounted both the camera and the battery on that one. Wow! No vibrations with any of my cameras!
(Dampers = red)
Update:
And this is how video looks like if you don’t limit the vibrations.
eirikso 
[…] Update: A video and a story about how I got rid of vibrations. […]
hallo
Have you some older video with vibration ? Only for compare.
Thank you
Good idea. So I made this one: http://youtu.be/v6gyj0agG1o
It demonstrates the vibrations on two different cameras.
I had exactly the same problem.
Your blog is very helpful.
Thank you.
What are your dampners made of?
It’s rubber dampers. Something like this: http://www.blip.com.au/item.aspx?itemid=175
Can U please refresh the rubber dampners link?
[…] camera is mounted on a vibration dampened platform under the […]
Great article Eirikso, I have much more insight to building the smoother gimbal. I wouldn’t have thought of an independent platform that has the battery attached. It makes sense because the battery + gimbal are the heaviest parts and need to be balanced.
Plus the kit parts for landing gear is genius! Cheap, light, and strong.
If you have an Android… This application measures the Root Mean Square (RMS) and helps to reduce the vibrations….
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lul.accelerometer