Shooting from a helicopter

Aw, C'mon -- you're not gonna do the skid-ride? If you're gonna fly slow or sideways, jelly-roll can be a prob with CMOS - I prefer CCD from helis. Yes, R/C is cool, but there are some legality issues and skilled operators are not that commonplace. If you've got to go CMOS, do use bungies, or one of those little hand-held Kenya-lab gyros. And if you will be shooting door-off and wear glasses, get one of those librarian-style ties to keep them near you - they will blow off. And don't wear your favorite hat, either -- you'll probably come home without it, even if you wear your headset over the top. Whatever you do, don't let anything get loose that might fly back and get sucked into the tail rotor -- pilots really hate it when that happens.... ;-)
Have fun and let us know how it goes!
 
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little bobby said:
Any tips for shooting out the back passenger door of a float plane? I'll be doing that shortly in Arizona and Alaska.
Click to expand...

You are almost better off shooting through the window. I have extensive experience with super cubs and 185s and 206s on floats and wheels. Any wind at all in a fixed wing = turbulence which of course really reduces your success ratio. Shooting out an open window or door in a 185 or 206 is murder to hold steady (even with elaborate bungees) at speeds that experienced pilots would be comfortable with. The super cub can fly a lot slower but you have really limited room to work in and a reduced frame out either side without getting a strut or wingtip in the shot. If you can live with the compromises (and usually this is all about budget) a good clean window is actually quite workable, finding one without scratches is the trick, at least in Alaska most of these aircraft are cargo workhorses and the windows get really scratched up (also consider that any super cub, 185 or beaver flying is at least 30 years old). Internal reflections become the issue when shooting through the window, and scratches really show up even at wide apertures.

Feel free to PM me if need more detail regarding shooting out of fixed or rotary in AK
 
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Yup, Tyler is now only in Savannah in GA.
Ya, shot out the Door, Wide only basically. RC and a 60D could get some cool stuff, Would need a long range I'd think, depending on what your doing.

I was in a small 4 seater, don't know the kind. I prefer nose mounts all the way. Only WSB has a HD nose mount in town, I'm told. They don't rent.
 
Here's the results of the shoot!


We were shooting for a caravan manufacturing company and these shots form the end of the film when they've been cut together.

It was a Bell Jetranger 206, ex Gadaffi personal transport from the 80's!
 
Excellent ...very smooth at a guess shooting VFR 60fps, hung from a bungee..
OIS .. on or off ?
Also how close was the chopper to the car or how much zoom did you use... questions questions but superbly done

Doh "Shot using Panasonic AF101, Tamron 17-50 f2.8 lens on a MTF Nikon Adapter, Formatt Matte Box with 0.9 ND Grad, Proaim Rails, 1080 50p on a Manfrotto Fig Rig for stabilisation and FCP Smoothcam to finish." no OIS then
 
Here's a couple more pics

Pic 12.jpgPic 11.jpg

Yes, just sat this rig on my knee with the sponge for helping out with vibration. Tried to keep the matte box out of the airflow of the rotors. Big help with the door open though. The pilot was up for getting as low as we needed. Sometime as low as 20-30ft as the caravan passed under us.
 
Nice - and congrats on that! And you made it home with your glasses, too -- I didn't, recently.....As to the 'legality' question of the earlier post, it's a bit weird here in the U.S. The FAA has declared that anything the flies untethered is an aircraft, and that anything that flies untethered for hire is a commercial aircraft. Since all commercial aircraft must have an airworthiness certificate, and since the FAA is not presently issuing tail numbers to un-manned aircraft, an airworthiness certificate is impossible to obtain. That being said, there is no enforcement being done at all, and there are a number of operators plying their trade in the open without any problems that I know of. I suspect that eventually some idiot (paparazzi, perhaps?) is going to crash their little quad into the windshield of someone's car or let it get sucked into the intake of someone's private aircraft and the gig will be up. In the meantime the FAA has formed a committee tp study the issue, which means that we will probably be safe from any ruling for ten years at least. ;-)
 
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Excellent! Especially like the shot at :38 looking back with the road receding into the distance, then the car passes under the helo- nicely done!

Looks like a pilot experienced in filming?

Love the location, too! (where is it?)

I shot out of Jet Rangers (no gun mount, just Betacam with regular then gyro lens) all through the 80s and 90s probably a couple of hundred times, and your stuff looks great!
 
The location is Buttertubs Pass in North Yorkshire, UK. A beautiful part of the world!

Thanks for the comments. This was my first helicopter shoot, so I'm generally pleased with the results.

Pilot is 70 with over 4000hrs experience when he retired from the UK army as a heli pilot all his career. He keep the heli in his garden!
 
Hi Jonathan ,

this is just what I needed.
The red cable is that a bungie cord ? if so how did you use it.

I was thinking to put a bean bag on my lap or the rig the reduce the jittering.
I did a short fly by on the 7d at nite here ...had to stay wide it was on the 24-70mm f2.8 lense...it was a valentine gift btw so no real work :)
Thanks
 
The red cable is a tether bought from a mountaineering shop. Karibina at each end. I didn't want the rig going out the door and hitting the tail rotor. That would have been a bad end to the day...
 
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