wendell adkins

I recently started a blog covering the ins and outs of using remotely piloted helicopters in film-making that I hope others will find useful. http://aerial-video.blogspot.com/

Reel of shots from one of our large remotely piloted helicams. This is all HD video but we also have a working 35mm film camera. http://www.youtube.com/user/perfectperspectives#p/a/u/0/UdF9-1btWa0 Thanks!

The camera is a Northridge. All I know about the DC motor is it runs on 28-30vdc. The housing has openings that could be used to run leads through from a micro switch so that might be an option for roll out. I would have to come up with something for a tach reading as it doesn't have anything like that now. Michael, I will send some photos. Let me know what you think. We have a fleet of various helicopters. The ones we use for the larger cameras are 52-80cc twin cylinder gasoline models that are custom built and have been highly modified for this type of work. They have payload capability of over 15 lbs. They fly much better with a 10 lb. load so that is my target weight for this set up. My LED indicator in front of the video assist is on the same circuit as the camera power so it should be reliable indication that the camera is rolling.

To make the camera flyable everything must be compact and lightweight. The camera is bare bones/non reflex no electronics based on 1920's technology. It has a external CCD video camera with the same FOV as the prime that is downlinked to a receiver/video goggles to frame the shot. I am looking to add film to our existing commercial service so yes it needs to be very dependable. I don't have a deadline at the moment as it is really in development stage. The motor is 30vdc that is not crystal sync at the moment. I would prefer sync obviously if it could be had without adding to its size or weight significantly. I have come up with an LED indication of power to the camera that I think will work but I would still love to have speed, footage, battery and roll out indication. I would think it would have to be a one off arrangement. I can send photos if that would help.

Unfortunately the engine noise level is about as loud as an average lawnmower so the camera noise would get overwhelmed.

Hello to all, This is my first post so I will apologize in advance for any and all silly questions that are surely to follow. I have recently started flying an Eyemo variant on my large radio controlled helicopters. I have been doing this for several years now (with HD cameras like the HVX/HPX, EX1/EX3, 5D Mk2 and most recently the Red One) but have always wanted to give film a try so I just dove right in. I have done much research but still have several unanswered questions. I have the video assist image downlinked to my camera operators ground station who can start/stop rolling the camera remotely by DC motor. My question is, how might I get indication that the camera is actually rolling and also end of reel indication? Where can I find other gearing? I have 8, 30 and 48 fps but would like a few others? I have many other questions but I'll hold back the floodgates for now. Thanks! Wendell