Hi there,

I've just started a series on heritage trees and i'm toying with the idea of some aerial shots.
Anybody used a mast or r/c helicopter before??
Or how about a camera mount with a cables and pulley system?

yean

Hot air balloons have given me the smoothest tracking shots imaginable. Wonderful.

I have never been in a balloon but I imagine you couldn't get a better platform for aerial filminig. I do however fly nearly every day in small planes and occasionally in helicopters. Filming from planes you must ensure that you either have very very clean windows or preferably, have the door off. If you can't have the door removed get some perspex polish and thoroughly clean the window.
Use a high wing aeroplane without wing struts and sit on the back seat for better viewing.
Get the pilot to do a gentle turn/bank and film on the inside of the turn. Banking smoothes the plane a lot more than level flight. Oh, and forget about trying to zoom. From up there it's wide angle only. The same goes for helicopters and boats.
have fun. HH

Hot air balloons have given me the smoothest tracking shots imaginable. Wonderful.

Right on. In free flight you are dependent on wind direction, although a good HAB pilot has quite a bit of control over the direction of drift through the choice of altitude. If you decide to investigate this be careful of the shysters selling rides on the Web. Contact one of the clubs in the BFA (http://bfa.net/clubs/clubs.php) and have them recommend someone in the area.

actually, i can only look at remote-controlled options. I'm shooting in singapore and it seems like the whole island has restricted airspace. i was looking at an r/c blimp or things of that sort.

actually, i can only look at remote-controlled options. I'm shooting in singapore and it seems like the whole island has restricted airspace. i was looking at an r/c blimp or things of that sort.

Years ago I did quite a lot of helicopter shoots in Singapore and they used to always insist that somebody from, I think it was the Ministry of Defense, had to always come up in the helicopter to make sure we didn't film the missile sites.

It is easier now shooting tape as they can check the tape, but when shooting film they watched every direction you pointed the camera. Several times we had still photographer's up with us and they would impound their film until they had it developed.

The funny thing was that we could never see the missile sites until the MOD official pointed them out to us.

Hi there,
The use of r/c devices contains images of potential dissaster. What if the flyer / controller sneezes or has a coughing fit? Rain, landing, other r/c users in the area? All of these could bode an end to your recording device / camera. I would suggest something a bit more robust. Potentially a fixed wing aircraft, helicopter or as mentioned a hot air balloon. For any fixed wing or helicopter work I would also suggest talking with the pilot to see how a home made bracket, support or brace could be adapted to fit onto the aircraft.

I shot white sharks from the air last year in South Africa and was able to mount a camera pointing vertically down from the underside of a small helicopter (the benefit obviously being no obstructions in the FOV whilst using fisheye lenses). With the doors off of the machine and a monitor fed through to my back seat I had some access to the camera as well as being able to visually direct the pilot. Crouching on the skids of the helicopter to adjust the camera whilst having faith in a relatively thin looking safety line and hovering over some of the most feared fish in the Ocean resulted in some great shots and a well deserved beer for the pilot once back on terra firma!

Cheers,
Mark Thorpe.

If you're getting shots of trees then it sounds like a tall crane-type device would be more flexible -- and safer -- than a low-flying helicopter or balloon.

RC aircraft takes skill to fly and, in order to get a smooth shot, would require a larger well-stabilized aircraft as well as a trained operator.

There are electric-powered helicopters but they don't have that much lift capability. You'd have to use a miniature camera with a wireless transmitter. It works OK but the qualilty probably isn't what you'd want for a project like yours.

Maybe something like this:
http://www.rctoys.com/draganflyer5.php

Or this:
http://www.rctoys.com/draganflyerxpro.php

I'd love to get one if I could afford it.

If I can , I put up a small sony clam-shell monitor for the pilot to see what I`m filming. Using some gaffa to stick the monitor where the pilot places it.remember bnc cable from camera to monitor:-) Now we easilier comunicate and the pilot dares himselfe, and flyes those few, but visual, meters closer to what you are currently filming ;-)
Odd

Another option might be a tethered gas (helium or hydrogen) balloon or cluster balloon. Any object in the air is going to try to drift with the wind so it might be possible to feed line from one or more control points to direct movement. This would be pretty low risk as far as equipment is concerned. I'll guess the authorities in Singapore won't approve hydrogen. If multiple balloons are used note that they should be at the same relative altitude due to wind direction changes with altitude and inversion layers.

actually, i can only look at remote-controlled options. I'm shooting in singapore and it seems like the whole island has restricted airspace. i was looking at an r/c blimp or things of that sort.

Check out this link, http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=128

I started R/C aerial Photography with video last year and I got all my info from these great folks here. Lots of info and everyone can give you a different perspective. I fly R/C planes and Heli great a bit and a sneezing fit has never ended in a crash or the links.

If you have any specific questions let me have em

I'd be glad to help out

You guys seen this? Fancy seeing FX1 footage shot from a model helicopter? Go here:

http://www.visualair.co.za/Video/HD_...dTheScenes.wmv

The film's no masterpiece, but it does show what's possible now that we have HDV in such a small and manoeuvrable package. The wide-angle converter used is the Bolex Aspheron, a lens I've enthused about many times on this forum.

tom.

I saw a fairly large R/C helicopter on a documentary that was designed to carry a small film camera. It did a great job. The guy had it fly through a warehouse and handle other situations that would be difficult or impossible for a Steadicam or a full-scale helicopter to deal with.

Then there was a shot where it was flying under a bridge. Well, it was supposed to fly under the bridge but, unfortunately, ended up crashing into it. Maybe it could be used for a POV shot for a laser-guided bomb? :-)

As my boss used to say, even monkeys fall out of trees.

Thanks for all the input....i think i would settle for the r/c blimp. Will post some shots asap.

Good Morning Yean:

Both my son and I fly RC helicopters that are large enough to carry a camera and yes there is always the posability of a crash, but then again full size helicopters have been known to fall out of the sky. Actually the most difficult part we have found is to eliminate the vibration being transmitted to the camera carrier. The system or method we have used is to have my son fly the helicopter while I fly the camera pan and tilt. The best shots we have aquired were by using a video transmitter so we could monitor the shots as we took them.

The helicopters capable of doing this work are very large and very expensive the ones we use are powered by 23cc gasoline engines swinging very long wide blades up to a six feet in diameter.

I wouldn't give up on the idea but would suggest to see the cradentials of the pilot before you go and mount your camera to the carrier.

Search the web you will find numerous resources and guys that I'm sure would be willing to help.

Good Luck Brian

Depending on the perspective you want, a "skyjack" may work for you.Those are the platforms that workers use when installing/repair various height oriented projects.Some are able to extend to great heights,are safe for the crew and persons on the ground,able to be moved easily,etc.
http://www.skyjackinc.com/

Here's a couple of other groups related to AP:

http://www.helifreak.com/forum-83.html

http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/f25p1/

I think in the latter link, someone has some great footage of a Sony HC1 and he is a skilled pilot - pretty impressive.

This was the specific thread I was thinking of, but I don't think that the HC1.wmv file is available:

http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/t213275p1/?highlight=hc1

I've been flying the Bergen Observer and recently the Bergen EB specifically built and set up for aerial videography. We use a front mount system that we fly with a FX1, HC3, and GL2. It is completely vibration isolated.

We can fly in moderate winds to 20mph without too much difficulty.
We use a 2.4ghz video downlink for the camera person to operate the 2 axis camera mount.

The helicopters are about 5.5 feet long, weigh up to 23 pounds in flight, can fly faster than you'd ever need, and are very reliable and don't drop out of the sky.

The pilot I am training with has flown for James Bond, Van Helsing, Harry Potter, and other productions. These aircraft, when utilized by a trained professional, yield footage otherwise impossible to obtain.

I just got an offer to shoot flood footage from a hot air balloon tomorrow.
I've never been in one, not even mentioning shooting from one, so do you have any tips or experience I could learn from?
Thanks!

Balloons can typically be flown at pretty low altitudes so you should be able to shoot pretty wide. Nearly all flying is done near either sunrise or sunset so plan for the light. It's a very smooth and stable platform. Have fun and post some footage.

Some of the best stuff I've seen using an Hekacopter (electric RC heli), a stock panny GH2 and some very skilled hands:

Element 52 in Telluride, Colorado on Vimeo


Similar setup using a 5D MkII

Aerial flight with Canon 5dmk2 on a MikroKopter Hexakopter on Vimeo

Phil, what is the current status of these radio controlled platforms for commercial use? Are they still in a legal limbo with the FAA? (I noted that the guy posting 2 up is doing a balloon shoot and he's outside the USA so not of interest to him.)

I just got an offer to shoot flood footage from a hot air balloon tomorrow.
I've never been in one, not even mentioning shooting from one, so do you have any tips or experience I could learn from?
Thanks!

Before taking off, talking with everyone that will be in the balloon about holding still at times. The basket can be very wobbly (not scary wobbly, just that the movement of people shifting their feet can be transferred to your camera).

The best shots are in close proximity to the ground. From ground level on up to a couple of hundred feet. When you get up several hundred feet, everything looks pretty static and the effect is somewhat lost, although still aerial.

I've shot handheld once, and with a tripod another time. Definitely got tons of good stuff using the tripod, and asking the others (only 3 of us) to hold still at times...perfectly still...

Aerial Perspective on Vimeo

Phil, what is the current status of these radio controlled platforms for commercial use? Are they still in a legal limbo with the FAA? (I noted that the guy posting 2 up is doing a balloon shoot and he's outside the USA so not of interest to him.)


Jim - Not sure about that one. Just really in research phase of this stuff. Just getting into flying the small RC heli's for practice now. The two guys around here that have the proper gear for this type of shooting mainly do smaller productions and the shooting is usually in semi-remote areas with virtually nobody around. So they seem to operate on the "don't ask, don't tell" method.Booking heli time is super expensive around these parts ($1000 - $1200 /hr) so the RC route is very interesting to me. However, much of my shooting would be over water and in 20-30 mph of trade winds. So, I'm not sure there's any other option for me personally than sitting and hanging out of a real bird. At least until Red Bull starts throwing a bunch a money at us and we can go this route:

http://www.brainfarmcinema.com/cineflex_hd.aspx

I liked the Element 52 video, Phil. Here is some more footage taken with the 5D and Hexacopter:

Horses in the prairie from hexacopter board - Canon 5D MarkII on Vimeo

Amazing! The more I see of what those guys are doing with these things, the more I want one!