Boxing Day flight

[Bill Sherren]

A short video using my new aeroXcraft gimbal fitted to my Phantom using a GoPro Hero 3. A flight over some nearby woods. Still practicing how to get the best footage from the Phantom- quite a challenge!

Boxing Day flight over ColdBlow Woods on Vimeo

To view the video in HD view via the Vimeo site of course.

cheers

bill

[Craig Chartier]

cool footage, thanks for sharing

[Roger Gunkel]

Hi Bill, the footage looks very stable and confirms my need to invest in a gimbal mount.

Although I have been producing corporate and wedding video for 30 years, I have only just started to look at aerial video. I was a gliding instructor for many years and have also been missing flying, but have never flown an RC aircraft of any sort.

My son was aware of my interest and bought me a DJI Phantom for Christmas. I bravely attached my gopro in it's protective case and tentatively took my first flight 2 days after Christmas. It was very successful and, encouraged by the ease of flying and a gentle approach, will be rapidly gaining experience. The footage I got was surprisingly jello free, although the constant gentle adjustments need to be sorted out with a gimbal mount.

I have no doubt that I will be in this section of the forum regularly looking for advice. Meanwhile, a couple of questions for you, are you using an fpv system and any kind of data link?

Roger

[Bill Sherren]

Many thanks for your positive comments.

Roger: Currently I am only flying LOS (line of sight), no fpv or any data link. Though both would be very useful for framing shots and having information on battery life etc. In the UK the CAA rules are that you need a second person to keep los view of craft while the pilot uses fpv. As I usually fly alone that would not allow me to use fpv.

Even with a gimbal you get a lot of wasted footage and I can understand why other fliers say they only use 1% of the footage they shoot! Also although I have only flown locally so far- fields/countryside I feel you need to do several flying sessions. As until you see the footage after the flying you can be completely unaware of filming opportunities that are there unseen from ground level!

Good luck with your flying/filming its very addictive and amazing what can now be achieved from consumer equipment!

bill

[Roger Gunkel]

Thanks for that Bill, I don't actually wish to fly by fpv, simply have a monitor to make sure a shot is correctly aligned once position is established.

You are of course absolutely right about needing plenty of flights to review footage and find out where to make adjustments. Practice

will also help to get me able to fly it exactly where I want :-)

I am sure I am going to get totally addicted and already I am impatient for some improvement in the weather to get it off the ground again.

Roger

[Chuck Spaulding]

Originally Posted by Roger Gunkel

Thanks for that Bill, I don't actually wish to fly by fpv, simply have a monitor to make sure a shot is correctly aligned once position is established.

You are of course absolutely right about needing plenty of flights to review footage and find out where to make adjustments. Practice

will also help to get me able to fly it exactly where I want :-)

I am sure I am going to get totally addicted and already I am impatient for some improvement in the weather to get it off the ground again.

Roger

Simply using a monitor to frame your shots is not as simple as you might think. I find that once I look at the monitor and reposition the MR to get the shot that its really disconcerting when you look up for the MR and its not where you think it should be, you can spend to much time trying to reorient yourself so I actually end up flying the remainder of the flight FPV. That's not a bad thing but I can certainly see the benefit of having someone else with you that keeps track of the MR LOS.

[Roger Gunkel]

Interesting comments Chuck that I will take onboard. Until I get as far as adding an FPV system I won't know if I find the same as you, but I am also aware that in the UK, if I take this hobby as far as earning money from it, then I will nee CAA certification. This would automatically require a crew member to maintain LOS if flying by FPV if I understand correctly.

I managed to get my second flight in a couple of evenings ago and used it to climb higher and experiment with the home lock and course lock options. Certainly made it easy to move the MR exactly where I wanted to when I couldn't see the orientation properly.

I have carried the Go Pro on both flights to give me a chance to work on the video quality. I am very pleased at the lack of Jello, although both flights were just before sunset, so no potential bright sun problems. As I get better at control, the jerkiness of movement will improve and a stabilised camera mount will make a big difference. In the meantime it is a chance to experiment with stabilising software at the editing stage. I have been using the Mercalli programme by ProDad which does a very good job and also the ProDrenalin programme by the same company, that stabilises and has fisheye removal and colour correction tools.

I'm also,looking at the possibility of using a gravity damping pivot for the Go Pro, rather than the usual gimbal route. Used with the stabilising software it could be a practical, non power using solution.

Roger