Lumenier QAV-S 2 JohnnyFPV SE 5” frame – best cinematic drone platform for 2024?
Hey you guys, welcome back to the channel! Check
out what I've got on the bench today… this is the QAV-S 2 frame which has been designed
in collaboration with Johnny FPV. If you don't know who he is, he's a legendary fpv pilot
who's had a real impact on how filmmakers see fpv drones as cinematic tools. Just in case
you're wondering, no, if you buy this frame you will not fly like Johnny FPV. However, it is pretty
cool to think that your equipment is capable of getting those amazing cinematic shots, it's just
up to you to go out there and get them. For this build I'm going to be using an Argus Pro 55 amp F7
stack from Axis Flying and these new 2307 Johnny FPV edition motors from Luminer. I'm super excited
about these motors because usually when it comes to 5 inch quads we talk about whether we should go
with 22o7s or 2306s and each has its own advantages but by going with 2307 we should have more than
enough power and thrust to lift the cameras and batteries we want and the 1750 KV should give
us some nice smooth flights with 6s batteries. In this video I'm going to give you guys a real
close look at this frame, and we're going to talk about some of the innovations and design choices
that have been made.
There will be time stamps if you prefer to skip around, but before we jump in
please take a second make sure you're subscribed and hit that notification bell because I will have
more content about this drone that you'll want to see. see slowly it's going to open come on come on… This is what you get in the box with this
Frame kit. The carbon is nice and smooth it seems like it's coated these are six millim thick arms
so you're not going to break those anytime soon, unless of course you try too… the top plate has the
Johnny FPV logo embossed there on top it looks pretty cool that's a nice touch. You get loads
of machined aluminum parts and I'm excited to see how this X-plate goes together to hold
the arms in place. The hardware comes in this organizer and all the screws and nuts are clearly
labeled which is a nice touch that should make the build a little bit easier. I did notice that you
get two rear plates, it looks like for different antenna setups, whether you want a double antenna
setup or a single antenna setup and it looks like you get two camera plates for 20 mm cameras
and 19 mm cameras.
Best of all, look it's got a smiley face you do get two molded plastic
GoPro mounts a battery Mount of course some foam landing feet. I think this is an interesting
choice I actually use foam landing feet on a lot of my quads I know some people prefer TPU arm
guards but those add a lot of weight and you have to ask yourself are they really necessary because
if they are necessary well then you can prce them up, but if they're not necessary TPU is adding
a lot of weight to your frame and these foam landing feet will get the job done and they save
some weight.
You'll notice that there's no TPU in this frame kit which is pretty rare because most
frame kits that are on the market right now have a pile of TPU Parts. Instead of TPU Lumenier has
gone for aluminum carbon fiber where possible molded plastic and they've really chosen to use
premium parts in this frame kit. You get two very nice Lumenier battery straps I like these they're
incredibly strong you're not going to break them. Another nice touch are these long battery leads
which are intended for use with this captured xt60 connector which goes out the back.
I noticed
that these battery leads are long because usually I have to make my own battery leads in order to
run the lead out the back of the quad which is the way I prefer it because it gives me maximum
flexibility to fly with different size batteries without getting that lead close to the props
like it would be if it went out the side. If you've never built up a luminer frame before this
instruction manual will be a very nice surprise to you because it has has actual instructions written
in English by people who actually speak English and that's a real nice change because in our hobby
most fpv frames come with something really simple like a single sheet exploded diagram and you're
left wondering which length of screws go where how do you put the arms together but not in this
case, the instruction manual is nice and detailed very clear with steps explaining what you have to
do this this is a nice touch all right you guys I opened up my Hardware bag I've got everything
ready for step one and I'm going to start building so let's get to it all right you guys it's build
time I realize that you can't see all the details on a time lapse but don't worry I'm going to give
you guys some close-up shots in just a minute and I know an electric driver would make this process
much faster but hey I love my hand tools I just like to hand tighten to the exact torque that
I want I'm not in a hurry drone building time is my happy time here's a few tips when you're
putting this Frame together just take your time grab a bevy of your choice and enjoy the process
be careful with those screws because you get the exact amount of screws you need for the build and
you do not want a critical screw falling into the carpet also pay attention to those diagrams in
the instruction manual because sometimes the written instructions don't specify whether you
should use a button head screw or a counter sunk screw the instruction manual has you install the
the top plate in step six then mentions the air unit parts in step seven I ended up doing a dry
assembly of the frame first because I did have a problem with a missing m2.5 8mm screw also
I wasn't sure of which rear plate I was going to use normally I'd go for a rearm mounted GPS
but since we do have the option to mount a rear camera I really wanted to take advantage of that
unique feature of this Frame this is the first time I've put together a frame with Lumenier's X loock
system but everything goes together smoothly that detailed instruction manual is very nice to
have even if you're a veteran drone drone builder.
All right you guys now I want to give
you some close-up shots and tell you how my build went. The first thing that you'll notice
once you complete your your build is how solid this frame feels in the hand. Lumenier has chosen
to use premium materials, the carbon feels great it's nice and smooth there's no sharp edges or
anything and these machined aluminum parts work great and they look great, that copper is set
off against the black and it looks just super sexy. This is an awesome looking frame one of the main
features of this frame is the X-lock system. It's a simple design that just makes a lot of sense. It
uses an aluminum X piece right here combined with two aluminum wedges on either side the X piece
holds the arms in place and as you tighten this M3 screw through these aluminum wedges the wedges
lock the arms against the X-plate then you use one more M3 screw which passes through the arm through
the standoff to lock them in place it's a really smart design because it means you can swap out
an arm just by removing this one screw and then loosening this x lock I also noticed that your
stack screws do not go through the carbon fiber arms I think that's a good design choice because
it means the vibrations from the motors which are transferred through the arms won't be transferred
to your flight controller as easily and it should make the Drone a little bit easier to tune
another big innovation with this drone is this rear assembly I'm not sure what you call this
part right here but it's probably the sexiest back end you'll ever see on an fpv drone it's
made up of four aluminum pieces and the captured xt60 connector there's two standoffs and two side
plates which give you three tilt options if I were flying with GPS I might tilt it back like this
if I were flying with a rear camera on the back I might actually change that angle depending on how
I want my camera angle to be when I first saw this I wasn't quite sure how I felt about putting the
xt60 on the actual rear plate because most frames will put it up front or in the rear right here but
after having the frame put together it makes a lot of sense to me and the reason is a front xt60 will
interfere with the GoPro when you say tilt the GoPro back and a rear xt60 will interfere in your
battery mounting space by putting the xt60 back here on the rear assembly you have tons of space
for mounting a battery the flexibility of this rear assembly is awesome you get five different
plates a standard plate if you don't want to mess around with GPS or a rearm mounted camera two
plates intended for mounting GPS units and two plates intended for mounting a rear camera these
camera plates are thicker to be able to support the weight of a camera back here and the reason
you get two different plates is one is intended for a DJI O3 Air Unit or a similar system that has a single
antenna and another one is intended for a system that has dual an antennas I think having a rearm
mounted camera option out of the box is pretty cool it really sets this frame apart I'm going
to have a lot of fun playing around with a camera back there and see what kind of creative shots
I can get here's an example of how you might use that rear camera mount of course you could Mount
the camera facing behind you but it might be cool to mount something like an insta 360 go on an arm
you could get a pretty unique shot by filming the Drone itself self flying through some sort of
unique scenery this Frame is optimized for the DJI O3 AIr Unit and it comes with these aluminum standoffs
for mounting the air unit and a soft mounting system for mounting the DJI O3 camera I like these
aluminum mounts for the air unit better than 3D prints because they're strong and simple and
they allow the air unit to breathe since it's basically just a riser to allow for better cooling
it also provides a convenient niche for your cable routing underneath just be careful not to pinch
your cables when you tighten down the mount when you're doing your build the fpv camera mount uses
two carbon plates bolted onto this aluminum side plate and it is soft mounted with these rubber
grommets you can change the camera angle up and down of course but you can also move the camera
forward and backwards which is a nice idea because if I have the camera back like this it's protected
in the event of a crash but if I want to get some usable cinematic shots from my DJI O3 camera
I might want to move it forward like that to make sure I don't have props in view the spacing of
these rubber grommets is directional meaning they provide slightly more space if they're flipped
around so you can install cameras of different thickness with the same plates the diagram and
the instructions don't specify which way they should go but it doesn't matter because they're
reversible be careful inserting those rubber grommets into the carbon camera plates because
you don't get any extras and you don't want to break one you can use the dental floss trick but
I just used a small driver these 8 mm screws do bottom out inside the camera and I'm assuming that
that's on purpose because it seems to have just the right amount of dampening but it also means
that if you want to firm up that mount you'd have to swap the screws out you do get another set of
camera plates just in case you want to use a 19 mm camera if you're using a dj3 or something with a
similar antenna you probably want to install that rubber grommet into the carbon fiber plate first
then pass the UFL connectors through the hole You should also consider using zip ties otherwise
this antenna will be loose if you hit a branch it could pull the antenna wires right out of the
air unit these molded plastic GoPro mounts can be a little bit hard to install you have to push it
down and then forward and it will snap into place securely but take your time too much force could
damage the plastic or even crack the carbon plate and you do need to install that carbon spacer on
top top of the plate, not underneath it once you get this mount installed you want to make sure
that the hole for the screw is perfectly lined up with the Press nut in the carbon plate if you
don't send that screw in perfectly straight you'll be putting sideways pressure on the press nut and
it could pop out of the carbon and you could even strip out a screw to be honest with you guys I
have some mixed feelings about these camera mounts they're simple I think they look nice and I do
think that molded plastic mounts can be stronger than TPU mounts also I think it's going to be
awesome to get some creative shots with this rear camera mount back there but and there is a butt
they can be such a pain to install I really had to take my time to get this mount to fit into the uh
the plate with that spacer it was really difficult and that could be a real disadvantage if I wanted
to remove it and install it quickly for example let's say I wanted to use this rear camera mount
and I need need to move my battery all the way to the front in order to balance center of gravity
in theory the single screw design of this camera mount should mean that it's easy to remove and
install but in practice it can be really difficult to get these to pop into the carbon plate let
me know what you guys think about these molded plastic lockin camera mounts as opposed to say
a standard TPU Mount which one do you think is better I do think that having a rear GoPro
Mount as well as the one up front is a very cool idea and it sets this Frame apart from
a lot of the other frames that are out there also the xlock system is super Innovative and
I wouldn't be surprised if you see a bunch of frame manufacturers copying this design in the
next few years I love the style of this Frame you can really tell that it was born from real
hardcore fpv Pilots they don't add a bunch of bling that you don't need like TPU landing feet
and those plastic motor guards that break in a crash anyway but they do give you a generous
portion of quality and Innovation this Frame isn't perfect and there are a few small details
that luminer could have done a little bit better for example they could have been a little bit more
generous with their Hardware they pretty much give you exactly the hardware that you need to complete
the build but that means that if the guy that's in charge of filling up that Hardware bag makes a
mistake you could have a real problem I did have a problem with the missing screw my Hardware bag
had an extra M2 8 mm screw instead of the two m2.5 8 mm screws that you need to install this rear
plate fortunately I had some extra 9mm m2.5 screws which actually fit the rear plate a little bit
better I'm sure this is because I'm working with an early sample and it won't be an issue with the
final production units but be sure to check your Hardware bag luminer support is really great and
they'll definitely take care of you if something like that were to happen my suggestion for Lumenier
would be to include an extra type of each screw in the hardware kit that way a single missing screw
won't keep you grounded.
Another thing I wonder about is how much weight you might be able
to put on this rear camera plate for example can you use a full GoPro or are you limited to
something like a GoPro bones or a naked GoPro and the reason that I say that is all that weight is
going to be supported by these m2.5 screws which are going through an xt60 connector it does seem
super solid it's not going anywhere but I wonder if that could be an issue in the future if you're
using a heavy camera another small detail is that the hardware they give you is not pre-read locked
I only mention this because some other frame kits do provide pre-read loock screws so it would have
been nice to see this here because there's so many aluminum parts it's not a big deal but I would
recommend using thread lock when you put your frame kit together with any screws that go into
aluminum this Frame is full of Premium materials and it has some very cool design Innovations you
can tell that the designers at luminer spent the money where it counts like the aluminum rear
structure and the xlock system and they don't waste your time with bling that you don't really
need all right you guys that's going to wrap up my review of this Frame kit I will be doing a build
video with some test flights that'll be up on my channel soon so please make sure you subscribe
so you don't miss it I really appreciate you guys being here feel free to leave me a comment
if you have any questions about this Frame or anything else I always do my best to answer them
all right thanks for watching see you in the next Don't forget to subscribe 🤘
