FPVs

Had anyone come across cameras on remote control aircraft?
Have a look at this sequence from the states:


I can imagine a flight along the escarpment producing some nice footage.....

mnt_tiska wrote: Had anyone come across cameras on remote control aircraft?

I can imagine a flight along the escarpment producing some nice footage.....

It has been something I have been interested in for years. I know real estate agents use remote control helicopters to take photos of houses, and 10 years ago the Toyota F1 team built a remote control plane with a camera to get footage of the car around the circuit for testing purposes.

I once asked a salesperson at a shop that sells those helicopters with cameras about using those in the Berg, they laughed and told me about how it would be really hard to control with even a slight breeze, never mind the normal thermals on a calm Berg day...

Splatacat actually has one of those hovercraft like helicopters and was looking at attaching a GoPro to it, would be interesting to see the results...

Wind is defintely an issue in the Berg - but early morning in the summer is quite often calm enough - along with many a day of interesting cloud.

Fixed wing would do better than a chopper I think. Imagine the footage from flying between Mpojnwane and the escarpment or around the Column or Mnweni Pinnacles.

@Tiska: Or for that matter, between Monk's Cowl and Cathkin. I was filming some vultures from the top of Sterkhorn (in HD, but using my Fujifilm Bridge Camera - still looked pretty awesome), and I got a shot with heavy zoom of one of them flying near the cliffs, looked incredible. I can only imagine with the camera flying between them.

I agree on the fixed wing thing. Also maybe a bigger size plane with a fairly high speed. I know you get remote control planes that do 250km/h+, should negate the wind a bit. Maybe shooting in high speed to compensate for the rapid movement.

I have a small extremly robust model aircraft which is more than capable of carrying a Gopro Camera. The plane is designed as a 3D flyer. It is not setup with FPV, however flying it in the range of sight still provides great images, I have even followed a mountain biker with it, as well as pictures of a hobie sailing.

Due to the small nature of the plane it is affected by the wind, however it can fly well up to about 12knots.

With regards to interaction with Birdlife, dont tell any of the nature conservation guys, but I have been chased a few times, provides for interesting flying.

If anyone wants anything particular let me know, could maybe make a plan. I will probably take some footage of Tonquani soon.