Aerial photography/video

[Arnaud]

OK, it is not a specific Airborne subject but I had to post this somewhere...

 

I've got nearly 60 hours solo on my Redback, low and slow, and have reached a slightly more relaxed stage of flying where I would like to capture quality pictures from my surroundings.

 

My Nikon SLR film cameras are quite heavy which makes it a challenge to attach them to various parts of the trike, so now is the time to jump to digital.

 

I have searched the internet for hours and visited the major photo shops in Perth and have not found one digital compact camera that could be remote controlled.

 

On a skydiving forum I read that IR remote is not working very well due to lag time.

 

The Olympus E-420 looks cute and light but I would prefer a high end compact for this application.

 

Anyone willing to share a few tips and advice regarding aerial photography/video...

 

Thanks

 

Arnaud

 

 

[bushpilot]

Hey Arnaud,

 

During 105 hours in my Redback, I took my Nikon D80S (digital) with me on maybe 30% of my flights. Simply had the strap around my neck and lense cap off.. Then when anything came along that would make a good photo, I'd take off one glove and turn the camera on, aim and click with one hand - with other hand firmly on the A-Frame base-bar... No problem at all - and many great results, from a photographic perspective.. (Like my Avatar here..)

 

 

[AlanB]

Arnaud,

 

One way around it is to source a camera that has interval timing. Set the camera to record a pic say every 1 minute and activate it before you go flying. The camera will continue to take shots until the memory card is full.

 

2 and 4 GB memory cards are getting pretty cheap these days. You end up with heaps of shots, but you can just delete the ones you don't want.

 

One such camera is the Ricoh R8. It also has a wider angle lens than most of the other point and shoot digitals, so should have a reasonable field of view when mounted out on the wing. The attached pic was taken with this method, but not with a Ricoh R8.

 

cheers

 

Al

 

 

[AlanB]

Oops. Forgot the pic.

 

Al

 

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[hihosland]

When I was flying the Aerochute I had a pistol grip to which I could attach the Olympus SLR.

 

The trigger operated the shutter via a cable release.

 

Holding the camera at arms length and firing off shots as if it were a hand gun worked very well. Having the neck strap the right length so that it was taught at about 3/4s arms length meant that by pushing out against the neck strap the arm and the neck strap formed a quasi tripod that steadied the camera well.

 

Now what I am looking for is a digital camera that is easy to use left handed. So far no luck.

 

Davidh

 

 

[Arnaud]

Thanks guys...

 

Sounds stupid but I have problems with my thick gloves (right now it is freezing here), can't even properly adjust the radio. And with the visor in place there is no way you can look through the optical viewfinder of a SLR.

 

I suppose purchasing a set of barmitts would be the first step required.

 

Nice photo Alan, you're very brave to fly over such country with a two stroke !

 

Here it is mainly very large paddocks with canola, wheat or pasture. Ideal terrain for cowards like myself...but you still have to keep an eye on powerlines going almost everywhere.

 

I'll look up the Ricoh R8; I like cameras with few gadgets but good wide angle lenses.

 

For years I have been using almost exclusively 24mm lenses, it forces you to get close to the action.

 

There is lots of potential for interesting shots with a Wizzard wing.

 

Low and slow, like on a pushbike, gives you time to appreciate things.

 

Arnaud

 

 

[tassytriker]

I purchased a ricoh r7 about 6 months ago to use on my trike wing because like the r8 it had interval shooting and wide angle lense id been using an old pentax 3 meg that takes excellent shots for viewing in pc but i wanted a better quality for prints and on paper the r7 at the time looked perfect but have found that 95percent of the shots it takes are out of focus?thumb_downive tried different focus settings and anything else i could adjust[ no shutter high speed adjustment available] where as my old pentax never missed a shot the r7 seems to slow to focus so if you find the r8 is better or no where im going wrong let me no:help:

 

regards gary

 

 

[AlanB]

Arnaud,

 

Not so brave. I was always within a glide to the Porepunkah airstrip. I'll always want a landing option no matter what or where I fly.

 

cheers Al

 

 

[Arnaud]

Has anyone out there any experience with the following equipment ?

 

POV1 Helmet Cam from www.launchhelmetcams.com

 

Elmo SUV Cam from www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au

 

The POV1 is not as good looking but has the following advantages over the Elmo:

 

-Higher definition

 

-Inexpensive extention cables between the camera and the recording device

 

-Wireless remote control ready to be velcroed on the control bar.

 

Christmas getting closer...

 

 

[Bubbleboy]

Al...great photo. My in laws use to live in Mt Buffalo up to about 3 years ago and driving between Myrtleford and their farm I use to see a Blue coloured, if I remember correctly, Trike parked in the field and flying around on occasions. Not you?

 

Scotty :big_grin:

 

 

[brothach]

I have recently started working with skydivers and they mount an SLR on top of a helmet, and a mini dv on the side. The shutter is activated with a cable release that the jumper bites down on.

 

403 Forbidden=

 

Try some of these sites.

 

cheers

 

Brothach:yin_yan:

 

 

[AlanB]

Gary,

 

I'm interested in your experiences with the Ricoh R7.

 

I know some cameras get confused with the auto focus bouncing off the undersurface of the wing.

 

However, reading the manual for the R8 (and R7) it has a manual focus mode that I thought would have been ideal for overcoming these problems.

 

Years ago I had a wing mounted camera (film type) on my hang glider and had it set to focus on the pilot. With a wide angle lens there was still reasonable depth of field to have the background relatively focussed as well.

 

I thought the R8 would be ideal, but I am having second thoughts now after your comments. Can you provide some more detail of which modes you trialled?

 

Scotty,

 

Not me. This shot was taken using Steve Ruffels trike (Eagle Shool of Microlighting) that I hired while holidaying at Bright a couple of years back. I don't own a two seater, but I do have a nanolight soaring trike.

 

My friends own an Outback that we use to tow hang gliders with at Boort, so I still stay current with "big" trikes.

 

cheers Al

 

 

[tassytriker]

Hello allan

 

I did try the manual focus mode and focused on the trike base,i also tried spot focus, area focus,multispot focus and moved the camera down in case it was trying to focus on the wing up close,its bin a little while now but from memory i tried all the focus modes and settings but the majority of shots was still blurry or not clearly focused. In the end was starting to think it was possibly because the shutter speed was to slow and when taking pictures in interval shooting mode you cant increase it? its my 3rd digital camera and as i sed the pentax i had i just bolted on and set to auto and it takes excellent shots each time just not high res for printing (3meg). The 2nd camera i purchased online and overlooked the fact it didnt have interval shooting (canon).One idea i did have but havent had the chance to try was zooming in on the trike a little to see if the camera found it easier to focus on it being as becuase of the wider lense it is further away?i_dunnomy photographic experience is limited but i did try to make it work but if anyone can see where im going wrong id be glad to hear:confused:

 

regards gary

 

 

[AlanB]

I recently purchased a Pentax Optio W60 for taking wing shots. Features include interval shooting, 28mm lens, waterproof and dustproof, 10M pixels.

 

Still experimenting with settings, but so far I'm pretty happy with it. There are some other nice features such as time lapse into a movie file (AVI),

 

The pic attached was taken from the camera mounted on the dive stick. Total weight of the camera and mount is 300g and as the lens doesn't protrude from the case side on it has a small profile.

 

$365 from The Good Guys, $35 for a 4GB SDHC card.

 

cheers Al

 

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