View Full Version : The ultimate in video motion?
Mavoz
02-11-2006, 02:15 AM
Went for a bike ride today...and I came across a bunch of model airplane fanatics..with their radio controlled planes and choppers...cruising effortlessly through the sky....
....and then it got me thinking...has anyone ever considered strapping their DVX or HVX cam to one of these radio controlled birds of the air?
No doubt a silly idea...but I reckon you could get some great shots!
(Anyone want to lend me their shiny new HVX....I'd happily test the concept for you..bit of gaffa tape would do the trick) :happy:
marlenedegrood
02-11-2006, 06:02 AM
They sell helicopters with small camcorders built into them.
cheezweezl
02-11-2006, 07:35 AM
ya, i used to be one of those fanatics. a dvx or hvx would be waaayyy too heavy for any r/c plane or copter. i have seen video taken from a powered glider that looked pretty cool. if you have a big enough plane with a decent motor, you should be able to hook one of those flash card cams up to it. anything dv would be too heavy i'm afraid. those planes, even the big ones, are built from balsa or light fiberglass because the weight is so critical. i still have a big glider that i never fly. maybe i'll try something with my kid's flash cam and post the results....
MattinSTL
02-11-2006, 07:43 AM
Some of the wireless video is pretty good. A few years ago I was inspired to spend $200 on a transmitter thinking I could do the same thing on the ground... it didn't turn out so great.
Look up wireless RC video... it's surprising how good some of it looks... plus you don't need to risk a DVX. If you ran that footage through some tweaks it could probably look really good.
Most of the time you wouldn't need anything higher then a crane could achieve anyway... and that's only about 1/1000th the risk factor. If you hang out at one of those RC airports long enough you'll see a few of those things get broke.
Yamaha (something like that) makes an RC copter that can carry a DVX, but it's around $100K. I think somebody posted it on here a while back.
marlenedegrood
02-11-2006, 11:41 AM
I've seen some still images shot from Kites that are very cool. Check out this guys stuff.
http://scotthaefner.com/kap/gallery/
Marlene
RyanT
02-11-2006, 10:27 PM
ya, i used to be one of those fanatics.
As did I, but I was more into gliders. Never anything with motors, big rotating blades aren't my fancy.
A dvx would be too heavy though, although one time me and my dad went out and found this guy who strapped a wireless video camera to his plane. He had sunglasses on that allowed him to see what the plane was seeing. It was soooooooooooo sweet.
GenJerDan
02-12-2006, 12:50 PM
Maybe use a helium balloon for lift, and the normal airplane stuff for control and forward motion.
If you really felt a need to send $3000+ up into the air.
DCERVENKA
02-13-2006, 02:41 AM
$13.5k will get you started...
http://www.choppercam.net/ / http://www.choppercam.net/gas.pdf
cheezweezl
02-14-2006, 07:09 PM
to fly r/c from the plane's perspective would get me flying again.... that sounds really cool.
bc5431
02-14-2006, 09:17 PM
I particularly like the line: "NO WARRANTIES EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED" at the bottom of the pricelist, which means that if your brand new $13.5K toy does something funny (like, say, get a power spike and crash) then you are totally out of luck.
Problem with all these suggestions (except perhaps the balloon idea) would be that the camera can't pan/tilt, etc. I have seen footage from these type of small craft, and they all suffered from moderate to severe shakes and the like.
Even footage shot from real planes/helicopters suffer from this effect. This is particularly evident almost every movie shot in the '70's/80's (see, SHARKEY'S MACHINE - it's on AMC this month!).
An easier and (likely) better solution would be to use an stock footage house for footage like this. I dealt w/ them before and they do have virtually every kind of footage you'd want (and usually for not that bad a price)...
Just my 2 cents...
John
faultygoblin
03-08-2006, 07:17 PM
*Nod* risking the dvx on a homemade mount could be paramount to premature heart conditions.
I'll risk myself for a shot but for the shots something less precious, Ive often thought of getting one of these older palmcorders, gutting it and mounting it to the remenants of my rc flying days. maybe build a cradle for it with a downward view or a remote platform (secondary controller)
it be fun to tool around with but alot of the rc guys have 3ccd vid systems installed anyway which may be better to use as they know their planes well enough to handle and can probably help out and record some footage...
the usual rewards would work I imagine, drinks, food, credit, or whichever..
Someone of them probably have footage from their previous test flights..
Still have an awful lot of regulations to deal with when flying rc planes...
not that I havent crashed one or two into trees, or corn fields while overladen with an 8mm camera......
I think a copter would probably work out better though as the ability to hover and hold a birdseye shot while action played out could be priceless.. any home made rigs along these lines out there?
zakaree
03-09-2006, 01:21 PM
instead of paying the 13 grand for those little things.. save up for another few years and buy a robinson 22 (and learn to fly it) :)