Miguel Bunster Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Hi I am doing pickups on a RED camera and half a day is in this helicopter company.... www.celebheli.com has anyone worked with them? any opinions would be great.... As well I shto the movie on Super Speeds but for the aerial stuff I am looking at other lenses and haze filters... depends on budget but any recomendations? thanks M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Any time I've shot aerials on 35mm we've used a 25mm to 250mm Cooke, but I guess it would depend on how wide you want to go. A zoom in this case makes more sense than a prime, unless you want to use an extreme wide angle lens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allen Achterberg Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 just remember helicopters fly best with a lighter load, and communication is extremely difficult and key. Steadyness of the helicopter depends on how well the blades are trimmed and thats something you have no control over. Speak with your Pilot and talk. Once I took a toy helicopter along so before we took off I could describe specific shots to him. If your pilot says a shot is too dangerous trust him. Dont push safety. Check with your pilot to make sure he specifically has flown for camera men, if he hasnt then communication will be even more difficult. The company seems fine, they have fair credits but you shouldnt rely on that or what anyone on this board says to their credit. You need to speak with the company and more specifically with the pilot so that you can gauge his experience and trust. call them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Bunster Posted September 5, 2008 Author Share Posted September 5, 2008 thanks guys. I am talking with the pilot tomorrow for sure and explain him the shots. As well planning to shoot 4k but framing for 2k so in post they can do some stabilization and in some shots shoot at 30fps or so to smooth when working on a longer lens. Best M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Bunster Posted September 5, 2008 Author Share Posted September 5, 2008 yea i was thinking of the 250mm zoom but the pilot ask me not to use it because the way the setup is done the lens would be sticking out the door and may interfere more than help so it looks like i may go with a shorter version. As well shooting 4k 2:1 but frmaing for 2k 2.40 so that will give me less field of view and make it a tighter shot...oh well... thanks m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 (edited) yea i was thinking of the 250mm zoom but the pilot ask me not to use it because the way the setup is done the lens would be sticking out the door and may interfere more than help so it looks like i may go with a shorter version.As well shooting 4k 2:1 but frmaing for 2k 2.40 so that will give me less field of view and make it a tighter shot...oh well... thanks m You'd need a helicopter mount for the 25mm to 250mm and these normally have a shield to protect against against the slipstream. The 35mm cine zoom lenses are too large to hand hold in a helicopter unless you're planning on using one of the shorter ones for Steadicam use. Edited September 5, 2008 by Brian Drysdale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sheehy Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 yea i was thinking of the 250mm zoom but the pilot ask me not to use it because the way the setup is done the lens would be sticking out the door and may interfere more than help so it looks like i may go with a shorter version.As well shooting 4k 2:1 but framing for 2k 2.40 so that will give me less field of view and make it a tighter shot...oh well... thanks m Anything sticking out the door is going to get buffeted quite heavily by the slipstream... you'd be unlikely to get anything usable like that. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Banks Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 Do you know what mount you'll be on? The Tyler Mount has the ability to adjust how far the arm sticks out the side of the door. But if you're shooting on any gyro-stabilized mount you'll be best off keeping it out of the wind as much as possible, and there's a good deal of wind! You will probably find it best to strip off the matte box (someone correct me if I'm wrong) but I found it to be unnecessary considering the amount of wind it was catching. Other than that, filming out the door is quite difficult to keep steady. You'll have to be incredibly focused on operating, and I would recommend trying to rig up a monitor for either the director or appropriate person to watch to act as a second pair of eyes. Also as someone mentioned already, communication is key. Check to see what kind of headsets you'll be having and make sure they're voice activated and not push-to-talk. You'll get the most out of this if you look over your route or fly-area and come up with several "moves" that you want to capture, then go over those in detail with your team before you take off. If your pilot is experienced with filming, then he'll probably already be fairly familiar with certain moves such as elevation changes or circling. If not, you might have to be especially explicit with all variables of your envisioned shots. Depending on what lens you're on, moves might have to be exaggerated to achieve the desired effect. Depending on how much time you have in the air, you may be too busy trying to grab shots to give a lengthy explanation of the move you're trying to go for (if things aren't going the way you planned), which is why it is critical to be as explicit as possible in the beginning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Bunster Posted September 6, 2008 Author Share Posted September 6, 2008 Called the pilot and look serious, Is a 4 person chopper so me plus 1, the camera mount and the pilot. IS a 4 hour flight over LA and PCH. In LA the pilot told me 400 feet is safe, some times could be 300 but 400 is safer so we will do that. On the PCH we can get really low to get closer to the car. AS well using a 10-1 zoom thats 14 inchs long and the pilot feels good about it so its not steaking out the door. We got a flight route so all good...now I was trying to get a UV filter with a 100% filtering of UV and couldnt find one! prf....so jsut got a 10% one.... Most probably I will be operating of the monitor and shooting different speed, between 24fps and 48 fps... Now with the RED any thoughts on shutter ebcause of the lateral movement, specially when we are in the PCH going fast. Should it be better a higher shutter? thanks m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hallman Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Called the pilot and look serious,Is a 4 person chopper so me plus 1, the camera mount and the pilot. IS a 4 hour flight over LA and PCH. In LA the pilot told me 400 feet is safe, some times could be 300 but 400 is safer so we will do that. On the PCH we can get really low to get closer to the car. AS well using a 10-1 zoom thats 14 inchs long and the pilot feels good about it so its not steaking out the door. We got a flight route so all good...now I was trying to get a UV filter with a 100% filtering of UV and couldnt find one! prf....so jsut got a 10% one.... Most probably I will be operating of the monitor and shooting different speed, between 24fps and 48 fps... Now with the RED any thoughts on shutter ebcause of the lateral movement, specially when we are in the PCH going fast. Should it be better a higher shutter? thanks m Miguel, Productions have been putting the RED in our Wescam gyro stabilized systems with great results. It's a little more expensive than trying to go hand held, but you'll end up with significantly more usable footage. Most people find that because they can get their shots the first time, they end up using less helicopter time. Since the helicopter is the big expense, in the end they spend less overall. The 10:1 lens is pretty standard, and we can supply one as well as the RED camera if needed. Best of luck on your shoot. Tom Hallman Pictorvision 818-785-9282 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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