Model Helicopter Mount for Super 8 Camera

Post by **utilityskate** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 6:22 am

Hey guys,

Just thought I'd share my latest project ideas with you all.

Last weekend, I went with my friend to fly his model helicopter. Well he did all the flying, I just watched and shot some footage from the deck, because the things are apparently impossible to control and hella expensive. Anyway, I am now getting quite excited about the idea of filming using his model helicopter. (I mean, we've all seen the hollywood shots filmed from a real helicopter, who wouldn't get excited about the prospects of have a smooth tracking shot hovering 10metres over the water and gradually going higher and higher while reaching the barren rocky shore where the talents are locked in mortal combat............. haha

)

My project now is to find a way to mount my Canon 514XL to his helicopter. I think this would be great for when I actually start filming my short. For the 'viewfinder', I bought a cheap wireless video camera, the range is about 300 metres and the size is only around 2cm cubed for the camera + transmitter together. (Cost is only US$45 for B&W version, includes the receiver, the camera and the transformers.) Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the results of this............. I have no idea how the shots will turn out, whether the platform will be steady enough e.t.c.

If you guys have any comments, especially regarding the camera mount, feel free to share them with me. Cheers.

Scot McPhie · Post by **Scot McPhie** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 7:42 am

What a great project - love to see how it all develops -- I think the mounting might need some kind of vibration dampening on it --good luck - keep us informed!

Scot M
http://www.mango-a-gogo.com

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 9:22 am

One of your challenges is going to be remote starting/stopping the camera. I mean, you could let it run continuously, but you'd only have a couple of minutes to get the bird launched, in position, call "action", get the shot, etc.

If I'm not mistaken, some of the old Elmo or Minolta cameras had remote start/stop capability. I know I had an Elmo (or was it a Canon? Dang!) that had a microphone with a remote on/off switch built into it, so the remote triggering exists, you'll probably have to make some sort of wireless interface to trigger it (which I'm sure MovieStuff could work up). I'm pretty sure that the Minolta (or was it Elmo? or Canon? Dang!) even had an optional wireless receiver for remote triggering. Don't have a clue what the range was though.

Flying r/c helicopters is extremely difficult to do well. You might want to look into the possibility of strapping a decent miniDV camera on there and shooting video... if you get good at it you might be able to earn a decent income off of it, for stock footage, news, etc.

Best of luck!

Post by **utilityskate** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 5:17 pm

Thanks for the comments, I guess I may have something to show for this idea in 2 months.......

By the way Scott, the helis have some basic Gyro built in on them to keep them more stable. But yea, for higher frequency vibration, I will use a medium density foam to lessen that.

I did a couple drawings today (it was a slow day at the office) and I worked out that the most stable mount would be to lie the camera down flat, right between the landing skids. I would make a mount/platform to sit between the skids, then have an angle bracket to hook to the camera tripod mount. The only thing being that the captured image would be 90 degrees from the correct upright orientation, as far as my thinking takes me, this could simply be corrected during telecine by just having the recording camera oriented at 90 degrees.

Guest, about the remote activation, I was thinking to just burn a cartridge per take....... the other choice being to dedicate one radio channel for the activation and getting a servo to pull the camera trigger. Right now, the heli is already running the maximum 6 channels for the different pitch / throttle / yaw controls e.t.c. so I don't think thats an option.

Regarding the minidv cameras, I did think about that too but the problem is that the better dv cameras are all pretty big......... unless you're talking those 1CCD sony handycams. I have seen someone put one of those cameras on a large model glider (around 2 meter wingspan), the picture turned out quite well.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 6:58 pm

maybe an idea to use a camera with 24fps or 36fps to smooth out any unsteadyness...manual exposure would be a benefit aswell... eumig mini 5 has 24fps and can be purchased cheaply.

Scot McPhie · Post by **Scot McPhie** » Thu Jan 16, 2003 1:00 am

Hey by coincidence I got an email from these guys today - offering their services

http://www.helimetrex.com.au/

Scot M

Post by **marc** » Thu Jan 16, 2003 5:21 am

Watch out for those shadows cast by the helicpter.

Post by **Actor** » Thu Jan 16, 2003 9:06 am

Watch out for those shadows cast by the helicpter.

Kubrick didn't! :lol:

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 6:28 am

[/quote]

Kubrick didn't! :lol

WOOP DEE DEE!