I've had the 12mm on the X5 since day one and I've never had an issue with it, but today I got back from shooting some video and while the camera was pointed straight down I noticed some significant vibration in the video.

I tested the gimbal when I got home and as the X5 with the 12mm approaches the downward angle, a grinding/whirring noise can be heard. I have a video of the noise if anyone is interested?

I tried it with the stock 15mm and it didn't seem to happen.

I've always flown with either the balancing ring, or a ND filter on the 12mm (never with a hood) and the lens has always appeared to be well balanced, but I could be wrong. Do you need to do anything else to properly balance the 12mm? I've weighed all my ND filters and they are between 8-11g.

It's just strange it occurring now, I've done a lot of flights with the 12mm pointed down and never had an issue before. My Inspire Pro is only 3 months old.

Here's the video. Not a great noise to hear...

So I did some further testing with different weights on the 12mm.

1. 12mm without balance ring or ND filter - Appears to be back-heavy - The noise/vibration happens.

2. 12mm with balance ring, without ND filter - Appears balanced - The noise/vibration happens.

3. 12mm without balance ring, with ND filter - Appears balanced - The noise/vibration happens.

4. 12mm with balance ring and ND filter together - Appears front-heavy - The noise/vibration happens (slightly less)

5. 12mm with balance ring and ND filter together + lens cap - Appears VERY front-heavy - The noise/vibration does not happen.

------

6. 15mm DJI Lens with balance ring and lens hood - Appears balanced - The noise/vibration does not happen.
It must be a balance issue, but when the 12mm seems to be perfectly balanced, that's when the problem is prevalent.

Plus the 15mm+balance ring+hood weighs about the same as the 12mm+ND filter. 141.64g VS 140.72g

Does anyone know how to properly balance the 12mm? It's my go-to lens, and I love shooting straight down. If I can't use it I'm f***ed.

Yes, it is a balance issue and I have been through it myself. Check and see if the noise stops when you push slightly down on either side of the gimbal (yes, there can be side to side issues as well). I ended up velcroing a quarter to the fat side of the gimbal and it cleared it up for me. I can easily take it off when not needed that way.

adamhoffman Posted at 2016-5-23 06:04
Yes, it is a balance issue and I have been through it myself. Check and see if the noise stops when  ...

Good suggestion, and I was confident it would work but I tried adding various coins to the left side, right side and even gave the back a go but it made no difference...

MrSilicon Posted at 2016-5-23 06:30
Good suggestion, and I was confident it would work but I tried adding various coins to the left si ...

You should check out this Thread : http://www.inspirepilots.com/thr ... le-lens-list.10954/

Especially the Part, where he explains "balancing" on my request.
Far more important is the weight distribution and max weight on gimbal axis.
I have no coins, velcro tape, whatever attached to my gimbal, not with the 12mm, panasonic25mm, pansonic42.5mm. Only ND Filters, as i need it and which do not exceed the maximum weight recommended in his pdf.
No Problems at all.

I'm under impression that dreaded gimbal grinding appears randomly on some X5 systems, and disappears randomly as well with no apparent reason, no matter what lens is on, balanced or not. It's was apparent with my Oly 12mm pointing down right after DJI repair service of broken yaw axis mechanism, but disappeared after recent FW update. Now is working perfectly with Polar Pro ND filter, same with Oly 45mm and variable ND filter (Promaster's). Go figure ...

EyecatcherFFM Posted at 2016-5-23 22:58
You should check out this Thread : http://www.inspirepilots.com/threads/unofficial-inspire-x5-comp ...

Useful stuff if I go ahead and get longer lenses down the track, but basically with the 12mm even with ND fileters it says I shouldn't be having a problem correct?

140.72g is well under 156g

dobmatt Posted at 2016-5-24 12:47
I'm under impression that dreaded gimbal grinding appears randomly on some X5 systems, and disappear ...

For me it's only crept in with the last few flights, long after any FW update. I'm chatting with DJI support now and waiting to hear back with a solution.

I hope it goes away by itself...

Yes, 140g ist well under the 156g. In your List, at nr 5 the noise did not happen. Why not stick with that setup? Need anything more then an ND Filter?

Didn't read the lens cap.
Another idea would be to add weight, i.e. Step up ring and nd filter as long as you don't exceed the 156g.
But first let's see, what DJI is saying.

EyecatcherFFM Posted at 2016-5-24 16:00
Yes, 140g ist well under the 156g. In your List, at nr 5 the noise did not happen. Why not stick wit ...

Ha! Because that setup had the lens cap attached

I just wanted to see if it would go away with the front being over loaded with balance ring + ND filter + Lens cap.

EyecatcherFFM Posted at 2016-5-24 16:14
Didn't read the lens cap.
Another idea would be to add weight, i.e. Step up ring and nd fi ...

Lens cap aside, it just felt wrong having the font end that heavy! I doubt the gimbal motor would last too long with it being that unbalanced.

Still going back and forth with support. They suggested I try re-calibrate the gimbal... which was the first thing I did. I tried it again anyway. No good.

I have the same lens and don't hear that noise...get it replaced

Stephen Marley Posted at 2016-5-25 06:57
I have the same lens and don't hear that noise...get it replaced

yeah DJI support said send it back to China to get it looked at...

Does anyone know the turn around time for repairs from Australia? Ive got a month long Europe job that I fly out for late next month and I need to have it back before I take off.

I thought I had it for a second. I had a play with the GIMBAL ROLL setting and the noise disappeared.

BUT

I celebrated too soon, it crept back after a couple minutes.

Is there any way that there's something wrong with the Lens Profile? I have no idea if the gimbal adjusts slightly depending on what lens is on there?

I just cant work out why the noise doesn't happen when the DJI 15mm is on. I can have the lens with no balancing ring, with the ring, with/without the hood, with/without ND filters and every combination in between, no noise.

Every Lens has a different Wieght Distribution, that´s likely you dont hear any noise with the 15 mm.
Read the Thread that i posted carefully, its explained there!

Chnjab over at inspirepilots  :

"However the issue of "balancing" a lens has never been described by DJI nor have the limits and technical requirements for achieving acceptable weight distribution on the X5 gimble. Upon the release of the X5 and prior to even beginning to test lenses that DJI had not endorsed I carefully measured gimble geometry, pivot points, and the weight involved and controlled by each motor and the relative static state of that weight. What I learned, primarily from the DJI 15mm but reinforced with the 12mm and 45mm was that the gimble wasn't designed to see a state of complete static balance at any motor. Upon realizing this I wanted to understand why and delved into what components have been utilized, exactly how they function, and the engineering principles at work. I arrived at a theory of the function and requirements of this design which I then began to test. Out of that theory came the parameters to apply to achieve a state of what many refer to as "balance" for the combination of a given lens and the camera components controlled by the tilt motor. More exactly the static distribution of weight of the camera and a given lens combined. This was actually only the starting point as even when one achieves the predicted optimum static weight distribution it doesn't address the tilt motors ability to raise or lower the weight that is acting upon it. This is why even though a particular lens may "balance" doesn't mean it won't overheat the motors if it is tilted forward and then raised to level again. The other issue which also isn't always realized is that the camera lens assembly isn't centered on the horizontal axis control motor. This actually reinforces the aforementioned theory of function and design though also serves to limit how much additional weight may be added."

Even if the Lens "balances" perfectly in the gimbal ( no tilting,static), it doesnt mean that it´s correct and you cant damage your Gimbal.
Maximum Weight for the given Lens is the Key.

MrSilicon Posted at 2016-5-25 18:33
I thought I had it for a second. I had a play with the GIMBAL ROLL setting and the noise disappeared ...

Have you tried reinstalling the DJI app and maybe seeing if it resets the lens profile. I have the exact same lens with ND filter attached and no noise.

EyecatcherFFM Posted at 2016-5-25 17:17
Every Lens has a different Wieght Distribution, that´s likely you dont hear any noise with the 15 m ...

That's why when the suggestion was made to add weight with the use of velcro and coins to the gimbal I thought it would work, but it was the same result.

I was sent this chart from DJI


I used the 10g balancing ring but it didn't help. That's when they said to send the gimbal back for inspection.

The 12mm is a very common lens to use with the X5 and a lot of you have said that you've had no issues with it, so it must be a flaw with the gimbal.

I am happy with how DJI have gone about resolving the issue and the need to get it back to me before I fly out to Europe. They are sending a courier to collect the unit and are repairing it in Australia rather than sending it to China, with an estimated turnaround time of 1-2 weeks. Very happy about that!

Stephen Marley Posted at 2016-5-25 18:29
Have you tried reinstalling the DJI app and maybe seeing if it resets the lens profile. I have the ...

An update just came out for the GO app so maybe, just maybe the problem might go away after a re-install with the new version... Nope, still buzzing away

I'm out of ideas, happy that it's going back to DJI for a inspection.

MrSilicon Posted at 2016-5-26 11:46
An update just came out for the GO app so maybe, just maybe the problem might go away after a re-i ...

Did you get this issue resolved?

I have a brand new X5 with 12mm lens. It worked fine for the first 4-5 flights running the original Inspire 1 firmware. Even the 25mm lens worked fine.

I updated everything to the latest Inspire 1 PRO firmware (1.9.1.30) and now the gimbal isn't happy. It appears to balance fine with just an ND filter but the vibration/noise is coming from the YAW motor.

It also vibrates really bad when you tilt the camera down to about 45deg.


Pretty disappointing for a plug and play solution. Had our fair share of issues with all DJI gimbals (Z15-GH4 and H3-3D).


Cheers.

smaldo Posted at 2016-7-26 19:38
Did you get this issue resolved?

I have a brand new X5 with 12mm lens. It worked fine for the fir ...

DJI ended up replacing it. They couldn't figure out why it was doing it either.