| Aerial Photography:
I've always fancied the idea of
doing aerial photography from a model, so I have
been experimenting with various methods of taking
videos and still photos.
Click Here to have a
look at the still photos Page.
Aerial
Videos:
I First fitted a digital video
camera to my Thunder Tiger Raptor Radio
Controlled Helicopter and took some video footage
of the local flying fields:
Onboard
Digital Camera
Helicopter:
The
Camera Setup:
A Kodak
MC3 Digital Video Camera attached to a
Thunder Tiger Raptor 30 size radio
controlled helicopter
(Most of
these links take you to the YouTube
website in a new window. If it opens it
in this window click the Back button to
return here)
|
| The
Flying Field in Aberystwyth |
| The
Flying field in Tywyn |
Plane:
This was
using a Mustek MDC 4000 in video mode on
a Prangster EPP aeroplane:
|
A Quick Tour round the field
(3MBs)
|
Live
Video Footage
The next attempt was much more
complicated. I tried using a mini
wireless video camera on the plane to
transmit a signal back to a reciever in
my car which was attached to a video
recorder powered by an inverter from the
car battery. I have 2 cameras:
|
| The first camera is an 800Mw 2.4 Ghz
with a separate transmitter. I first
tried this in a high wing trainer, but I
had problems with too much light getting
in the lens, so that the pictures were
only recognisable when the camera was
pointing down: This
clip shows Tywyn Beach and the road next
to the running track (662KB)
|
| Soon after this the plane went out of
control and crashed. I worked out this
was due to a poor connection in the power
supply to the camera interfering with the
radio, so I removed all the plugs from
the camera and soldered all the
connections. I then fitted it to a
Prangster EPP 3D aircraft, which is
indestructible (I have tested this and it
is true, it went in from 200 feet and
buried itself in the ground which broke
the prop and ripped a bit of the tape
covering, took 15 minutes to fix it. I
had a job digging it out of the ground).
This is the second attempt, but still
having problems with too much light in
the lens: Video of
Aberystwyth
Video of Tywyn
I also attached this
camera to a helicopter, which worked
better:
Video of
Aberystwyth from a helicopter
|
| The second camera is a 200mw 2.4 GHZ
camera. It is really tiny, as it is just
2 cm x 2 cm x 2 cm. This is fitted to the
front of a Twinjet, which is a foam
aircraft powered by 2 480 electric
motors. The camera is powered from the
8.4v battery pack. The quality on the
ground is not quite as good as the 800mw
camera, but it is much smaller and
lighter, easier to fit, and doesnt have
the same problem with too much light
getting into the lens, so overall the
results are much better. The camera is
under the duck tape behind the black nose
cone. You can see the aerial sticking out
of the tape:
This clip is of
a flight round Tywyn
And Again
This clip is a
flypast down the runway at Aberystwyth
|
Flying
Around My Kitchen
My latest attempt to stave off boredom
involved attaching a transmitting video
camera to a Piccolo electric helicopter
and flying round my kitchen. The extra
weight of the 9 volt battery and the
camera made the heli a bit difficult to
fly, but I managed it in the end, though
the landing was a bit of an arrival.
The camera is the black
square underneath the battery
Click Here for
the video
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| Keep checking, experiments will
continue |
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|
