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Lumenier QAV-S 2 JohnnyFPV SE 5” frame – best cinematic drone platform for 2024?

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 🤘

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