Filming from Kites, Balloons etc

[syzygy]

Recently, we've been experimenting with attaching our wireless camera to helium balloons in order to get aerial shots.

We run teh output from the receiver into our DV Cam to record. Everything is battery powered so we are really portable (apart from the heavy helium tank but if we fill the balloons at home then that's not a problem)

Anyone else playing around with this sort of thing and want to swap tips?

So far, the biggest problem we've had has been stabilising the camera so that it doesn't spin around too much. It's okay when the ballons are hanging still but as they acend or decend, things get very rocky.

Dan.

[Ollie]

i've been looking into buying a wireles camera for various projects for a while, but have been aprehensive about the results.
Have you gone for an all in one survallance type solution, or more of a bullet cam with wireless tranmitter attached?
can you recommend any good brands of bullet cams/ transmitters of an acceptable quality and range(distance)?
Any idea how well they would work on say a roller coaster, with all those vibrations?
sorry for the large number of questions at once, but it's somthing i'm keen to have for the summer.

as for the ballons, have you tried fixing a sort of tail on it so the wind keeps it roughly in one direction?

has anyone tried any of this on remote controlled planes, hellicopters? somthing i would love to try, or see some results.

cheers

[syzygy]

We're using an all in one wireless camera that Tom picked up in Hong Kong.

It works really well. Sometimes reception breaks up a little bit (mostly when the camera is being moved around really fast) but most of the time the picture is crystal clear.

The range is 100m and we've used it up to about that distance with no problems. Buildings and such in the way do cause issues though.

We'll be using with a kite and a radio controlled glider soon, so I'll let you know how we get on.

Dan.

[vjpixylight]

Space dub has had the same idea to use a powered blimp(for manuverbility) but have had problems with wind blowing it around too much:(...

We are going to someday geta RC helicopter, which will work fine, and give us that ever so elusive airiel footage that is so hard to get..(without paying big bucks for)

one thing we havn't tried are kites...anyone using a kite to get airel footage?l

[disassembler]

Pixy. Why not have someone dressed as a character with a huge ballon that walks around the audience. Could be doubly interesting

[viscountash]

funny this thread has just been started

i've just ordered 5 20ft weather ballons for this and other purposes. fully inflated they can take about 100kg [in theory, in pratice i am sure they will burst with the stresses involved on the balloon and its nossle].

i'm not going to be using remote cameras, just panasonic miniDV's with small batteries. a good wide angle lense will limit the motion from the ballon and i am hoping that two or three 'ground crew' will help to keep the canopy reasonably static. i think that if the camera is dangling off the nossle on one string then it'll be all over the shop but if used a more hot-air-balloon technique of 4 cords off the balloon then this will keep it spinning.

if the camera is not shooting on the vertical, then a linkage / counter weight assembly could act minimise the wobble - but at a cost of the wieght.

i'm shooting directly down and don't really mind about spinning so i'm OK i think. its interesting that you have had more trouble then you thought with this [syzygy] - perhaps this is the wake up i needed before i pumped ?100 of helium into a sinker of a project.

in terms of radio controlled planes / gliders / choppers get in contact with a local RC club - they're even more geeky than we are. if any one wants some RC stuff - i've got plenty and some 2 stroke engines etc from my earlier days.

this will be more difficult than you think though. engine vibration, 2 stroke fuel everywhere, balance of the aircraft, where are you shooting from, the high manoverbility of these machines doesn't go well with using them as video platforms, and of course the more than likely consequence of a nose dive resulting in seeing your camera catapult out of the now disintigraed plane.

what does sound interesting is a kite. the bigger the 'machine' the more stable the image will be. it might be easier to just forget doing it yourself and get in an enthusiastic hang glider or falconer?

> one question - where did you source your helium?

and here's some links for the math / ideas etc...

http://www.kaysam.com/
http://theartofair.co.uk
http://www.ksu.edu/humec/knsp/
http://www.kaymont.com/pages/home.html

- ash

[WordVirus23]

in the last couple months I came across these things, and I can't remember what they're called, but they would be perfect. they had built in cameras w/ transmitters, were very stable, had four rotors and were very basic, just an X of aluminum (guessing) with rotors at the ends of the X. anyhow, here are some links in my attempt to track these 4 rotor heli-cam things down:

http://www.helihobby.com/html/micro_video_camera.html

haHA! I found it... I guess it doesn't come with a camera built in, but that 1st URL would sure cover that front... anyhow, without further ado: the Dragon Flyer III (there are videos out there somewhere of it) oh yeah, its electric too.

http://www.helihobby.com/html/draganflyer_helicopter.html

[vjpixylight]

yea james we were looking at these...1000.00 bones is a bit pricey, but it would be nice...

[syzygy]

Originally posted by viscountash

> one question - where did you source your helium?


We got a canister of helium from a little 'party shop' in Birmingham, for ?35 plus a ?50 deposit for the canister.

We've filled 80 large balloons from it so far and it's showing no signs of running out just yet.

Dan.

[sleepytom]

BOC gas (see yellow pages) will sell you all types of gas in whatever quantitys you need.

weather ballons have a large payload and can easyly support a dv camera - if you tether from multiple points you should be able to aviod spinning (although you get a less intresting shot as its very static)

you can also train swans to carry a camera -very stable and manoverable although quite time consuming to train. prehaps colaberating with a falconer or somthing could be good.

[viscountash]

thanks guys

here's my findings and some basics to share.

1 kg of helium occupies a space of 180 litres

1000 litres equals a 1m cube

gas becomes cheaper the more you buy.
a 1.81 m3 amount of gas = ?45,
a 2.61 m3 = ?55
and a 8.53 m3 = ?100

i need about 750g for the camera and about 750 for the canopy and anchor lines. 1.5kg of gas comes in at 270litres so i'll get about 6 fills for ?45. not at all bad.

in case anyones interested, i've got five of these ballons. they are perfectly spherical and can inflate from about 6ft across to 20ft - i assume they will be great for projection as they are silvery / white. transparancy isn't a bad thing and they get more transparent they larger they are inflated.

if you want to see them visit my soon to be web site and if you want to borrow them or them and me get in touch.

> how about a parachute camera as a stable option - released from a large RC plane?

[InsideUsAll]

http://www.otherlandtoys.co.uk/draganflyer.htm

Draganflyer III helicopter ?599.00

sounds pretty reasonable to me!

[stevefromNewcastle]

viscountash how much did you pay for your ballons
cheers
steve

[vjpixylight]

Originally posted by InsideUsAll
http://www.otherlandtoys.co.uk/draganflyer.htm

Draganflyer III helicopter ?599.00

sounds pretty reasonable to me!

Dave, that prices is with out the 2.4ghz wireless cam, but i agree that it is a pretty cool toy, and someday SDV will be looking to get one..;)

[viscountash]

> steve

?8 each.

bit of hunting on the net. i haven't inflated one yet, sometine over the next fortnight will prove whether i got a deal or not. i think they are old MOD stock. also try university departments and surpless stores.

there's a place not too far from you [relatively] that sells them.

try him > wadeco.org

- ash

[silk]

if you want verry slow filmed stuff then it's maybe an idea by connecting you're cam on a radio controlled zeppelin like thing..

hmmm like you're god himself :p

I am on it :cool:

[Lichtschutzfaktor56]

hey, have look at this one:

http://homebuiltstabilizers.com/blimp.html

fly the cam

[silk]

whhooOO would spend some money on connecting a couple of dv-cam's on that thing :p

[sleepytom]

Originally posted by viscountash
thanks guys

here's my findings and some basics to share.

1 kg of helium occupies a space of 180 litres

1000 litres equals a 1m cube

gas becomes cheaper the more you buy.
a 1.81 m3 amount of gas = ?45,
a 2.61 m3 = ?55
and a 8.53 m3 = ?100

i need about 750g for the camera and about 750 for the canopy and anchor lines. 1.5kg of gas comes in at 270litres so i'll get about 6 fills for ?45. not at all bad.

in case anyones interested, i've got five of these ballons. they are perfectly spherical and can inflate from about 6ft across to 20ft - i assume they will be great for projection as they are silvery / white. transparancy isn't a bad thing and they get more transparent they larger they are inflated.

if you want to see them visit my soon to be web site and if you want to borrow them or them and me get in touch.

> how about a parachute camera as a stable option - released from a large RC plane?
use hydrogen - its cheaper (i think) and lighter - you can also explode a weather ballon which is a cool clip in itself

[mondo]

ive attached a mini digital camera with video facility onto a 6ft flexifoil....switched it on............waited for a gust and wazzed it skywards.......not bad by all accounts, resolution is low though.

fixing the camera is fine.....its small, and rotation can be cut down by clever stringwork

trouble is trying to getting interesting footage apart from fields and trees spiralling around....i dont fancy flying a kite in urban areas innit!


the benefit of a kite is the controlled swoops groundwards and/or over people ducking etc etc some of the footage is useable. most not, but worth the experiment.

especially at liftoff

:-a

[silk]

yeah like one of those pro kites :P cool ....

I was already plannig of moving to The Hague.... nice great beach

[viscountash]

tom > wasn't that what they did on the hindenburg?

i think i'm doing enough danger here - especially as its being shot through the middle of Bristol at 5am

[mondo]

yo viscount.
take it easy...the feds are hardcore down there early morning
:-a

[viscountash]

>mondo. for sure man. i think its goona be hydrogen after all.

[lichtspieler]

Just a tip, but if you just want to have any form of arial video. Why not go on a real plane, it does not have to be overly expensive.
Prices for about 15 min sailplane flights are about 8? here in germany.
You could also go to a dropzone near you where they drop skydivers. If there is a slot left in the plane they usually also take non skydivers for a ride. Prices for that in germany are about 25?. Skydivers also usally don't mind if want the door open during flight, so you can film better :-).
PM me if you need to find a Dropzone.

[asterix]

EASY.

Get yourself a dive camera case - for smoother/stabilised footage. Also a 2ghz av signal transmitter.

[Lichtschutzfaktor56]

High,

shooting from kits? Have a look at this arial shots:

http://www.thehaefners.com/kap/360panos/index.php?g=360pano&s=name&v=quicktime

quite impressive.

[wellREDman]

Originally posted by viscountash
tom > wasn't that what they did on the hindenburg?



no the problem with the hindenburg was they painted it with this funky silver paint,

40 years later NASA found that the chemical composition of the paint made it ideal as rocket fuel

boom

[wellREDman]

while were at it has anyone found a wireless camera solution that works in a crowded club yet?

[BeCre8iv]

These UFO kites
http://www.sct.gu.edu.au/~anthony/kites/rotor/
are well stable (for a kite) and are only limited by line-length and durability/windspeed.

The beauty is that you can just tether it and it produces its own lift, so you dont need to constantly tug on the line and bounce your camera around.

Just be aware that there are legal limits on altitude (in the UK), and the foil ones can mess with aircraft radar.

What sort of (real world) range do those wireless cameras have??

[WordVirus23]

http://www.grandtec.com/ultimatewireless.htm

I strap the transmitter to my camera and run it off the battery pack. works pretty good, I'll do a complete review of it when I return from my lil monthlong "tour"
Basically:
wireless scan converter (haven't messed with the scan converter part yet, just been using it as a wireless cam sender thingy
Scan convert features:
AC/DC operation (4AA's have lasted me two shows now)

1280x1024 max reso (even tho the outside of the box says 1600x1200

resizeable (area) zoom

save-able settings

unless the transmitter is set up directly next to the soundboard/wire jungle it transmits (mostly) clean stereo audio & video, you can only send RCA (cinch)/composite signal wirelessly, the scan convert of course has all the regular plug holes (VGA through, Svid, RCA, etc etc... it also offers a auxilary video in, so you can use it w/ any video source.... if you reversed all this, you could in theory send video to a beamer that wiring is improbable/impossible/deadly. have yet to check that out either... so far, even tho its feels cheap & plastic-y its been working like a champ

Originally posted by wellREDman
while were at it has anyone found a wireless camera solution that works in a crowded club yet?

[Bearings]

I used to fly radio controlled helicopters for about a year in the late 90's. If you are going to get one and don't want to put in a min of 6-12 months paractice before you can fly it in a figure of 8, forget it!!!!!!

One will set you back min ?700 may include some radio gear. Then there is fuel. That not cheap. ?15/gallon ish

They are hard to fly and expensivce to crash too!!!! Nearly decapitated myself once!!!!!!!

I was looking for similar footage a month or so ago and came across a company in US whose main business is slinging cameras under such a helicopter, for the film business, private eye business, etc.

Can't remember the URL though. Sorry!!


I do have a link for a website of a group of people who fire off those large rockets in the desert with a camera strapped to 'em. The high quality footage is excellent. I've downloaded them all myself and have used them. Well woth a look.

http://www.gbrocketry.com/

If anyone does find this elusive helcopter footage, let me know or post it.

Hope this link shelps.

John

[silk]

bearings : thx for the link ..really great stuff and suiteble to

[xiayu]

that is such a dope idea, to use rc helicopters for aerial footage... *sigh* i wish i had the money to venture into this...