In a web post last week called "Little Dronies on the Prairie," we showed some still images of a test flight with one of Java Post Aerial Photography's newest UAV units.

During these test flights, we put our UAVs through their paces and get a sense of their flight handling and capabilities.

One photo (seen below) showed that we were having some leveling adjustment issues with the Gremsy 3-axis camera gimbal (that's the bit that sits under the spinny parts of the UAV and holds the camera level during flight).

As you can see above, the rural Saskatchewan horizon appears to be tilting hard to starboard. But that's why we do the test flights: to discover what technical tweaks need to be made before we put the UAV into active service for our clients. In order for Java Post Aerial Photography to operate UAVs safely and effectively, a great amount of time is spent between flights doing regular maintenance and upgrading. It's not just a matter of take it out of the box and start flying. Not if you want to do it right.

So, our UAV tech wizard, Trevor Bennett, took the camera gimbal back to his office and put it up on the hoist, so to speak.

Okay, it's not so much a hoist as it is a piece of pipe clamped to two portable camping tables. But it works! All aspects of the gimbal's 3-axis movement can be tested, without having the UAV "drone" part involved.

Trevor uses his phone to access the gimbal's remote app and adjust the unit's set-up parameters.

If you look closely, you can see that we have removed the actual camera from inside the gimbal frame and temporarily replaced the camera with a couple of computer hard drives wrapped in white tape. We don't need the actual camera to do the testing, and the two computer hard drives weigh about the same, so Trevor can make extreme moves with the gimbal if required, without worrying about hitting the camera on something.

On the carbon fibre tubes at the front of the gimbal, Trevor has placed a carpenter's level. This allows Trevor to check that the gimbal's electronic settings match the "real world eyeball" reading. You could say Trevor is doing his...ahem...level best.

We'll leave Trevor to get back to work at "Trevor's Gremsy Gimbal Garage." He's got some gimbal testing to do.

To see some examples of the work done by Java Post Aerial Photography, CLICK HERE.