Aerial photography using remote helicopter

[darekk]

It looks a little like an advertisement, but is horribly interesting and weird - aerial shots using kind of drone - Phantom Quadcopter:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...o_3_black.html
The device transmission range is of up to 984.25' (300m).

[GrahamH]

I just LOVE the accuracy of the transmission range, all the way down to THREE INCHES.
(I know, I know).

Graham
now looking at the link

[Donald]

Have you watched the results, so far, from Colin's new hobby?

[darekk]

Is it it very noisy ?
Such "outranged" copter can hit someone's head and kill if lost and depleted from power or gas whatevet it uses.

[Dave Humphries]

There are any number of videos on YouTube, here's a good "taster" session at 3:10s long, shows what's possible in 720HD and the kind of kit involved



Could you do me a favour please?
Could you Edit your Profile and put your first name in the Real Name field and where you are (roughly) in the Location field? - thanks.

Cheers,

[rpcrowe]

In my reseaarch for my vacation, I was looking at YouTube videos of the Galata Tower in Istanbul, Turkey. There was one video which I am sure was shot with one of these helicopters (since an ad for one popped up next to the video). Unfortunately, I did not mark the video and cannot find it again. It was of pretty decent quality but, with a lot of perspectie distortion.

[darekk]

I was thinking once about using a small baloon on the rope, but only theoretically.

[Colin Southern]

For what it's worth, I'm having moderate success with video, but stills remain a "work in progress" (results to date have been noisy due to low light).

Interestingly, my Mum's house is currently for sale and features a lot of shots from a quadracopter - I was quite impressed by them.

Shots from my far more powerful single rotor helicopter are more tricky - I think it'll be a case of quadracopters winning the stills battle and conventional RC heli's winning the video battle.

[Colin Southern]

I was thinking once about using a small baloon on the rope, but only theoretically.

There are outfits that use big helium balloons for just that - they work pretty well too.

[Colin Southern]

Is it it very noisy ?
Such "outranged" copter can hit someone's head and kill if lost and depleted from power or gas whatevet it uses.

The potential is certainly there -- I guess one could say the same about any aircraft.

Edit: "fall out if the sky" is a bad choice of words - it's more accurate to say you then have to autorotate to land, which many pilots do on every flight as a matter of routine.
As with anything in life, there are dangerous ways to approach things - and ways that are a lot safer. Case in point - RC aircraft. Yep - they certainly do fall out of the sky If the battery runs flat or they run out of fuel - but on the flip side, we know how long a battery or tank of fuel lasts and have timers set to remind us when it's time to think about landing. My helicopter constantly down-links telemetry data to my controller which monitors flight and receiver battery voltages and vibrates the controller like crazy if they drop below certain values, giving me about 90 seconds to get it back on the ground (about 5 times more than I need). The helicopter has onboard electronics to stabilise and recover it if I muck something up - and it gets an "extra thorough" pre-flight if its going to be flying over people / rooftops.

In practice, people usually stop and watch it -- do I'd like to think they'd move out the way on the tiny chance that it malfunctioned and headed towards them.

[darekk]

In practice, people usually stop and watch it -- do I'd like to think they'd move out the way on the tiny chance that it malfunctioned and headed towards them.

It can kill accidental people, in the crowd somewhere. In case of equipment detached from a baloon even in different continent. Like a falling down old satellite.
But the toy is very interesting and useful despite some dangers.

[HenkB]

Is it it very noisy ?
Such "outranged" copter can hit someone's head and kill if lost and depleted from power or gas whatevet it uses.

My wife and I, on our Sunday dogwalk, were buzzed by a (homebrew?) quadcopter. I grew up flying control line airplanes with glow plug engines but now it's almost entirely radio control, electric motors and batteries. By the time we encountered the little beast, we were hundreds of feet from the pilot. Notwithstanding, the control of the craft seemed very secure. It flew over us (returning from much further away from home base) fast and level, about 20' above ground. It then turned around and, 30' or so in our rear, shadowed us at walking pace for several seconds until I realized the sound (which was about as apparent as a bee's buzz a few feet distant) had not disappeared. I turned around and waved at it, at which point the thing turned and went off home. The pilot, I had noticed, was wearing a pair of virtual reality goggles so I can only assume that the sophistication of the control and the behavior of the craft involved a downlink from the copter to the laptop at home base. Think Avatar. Fascinating and chilling, both.

[jcuknz]

From Henrik's description I think the critical factor must be pilot experience becuase when a chopper visited our boat pond I felt extremely nervouse as it flitted around, perhaps a result of my son flying a baby version in his house ... neither inspired confidence but the quad-copter seems a better proposition for stability?

[Colin Southern]

It can kill accidental people, in the crowd somewhere. In case of equipment detached from a baloon even in different continent. Like a falling down old satellite.

Yes - it can happen. To put it in perspective though, it's only happened 4 times in the last 7 years. Admittedly that's cold comfort to the 4 who were killed, but if an official list of dangerous activities was compiled in order of most dangerous to least dangerous, RC aircraft would be well well well well down that list.

But the toy is very interesting and useful despite some dangers.

Trust me, they're NOT toys

[Colin Southern]

From Henrik's description I think the critical factor must be pilot experience becuase when a chopper visited our boat pond I felt extremely nervouse as it flitted around, perhaps a result of my son flying a baby version in his house ... neither inspired confidence but the quad-copter seems a better proposition for stability?

Quads are waaaaaaay more stable - but the flip-side is they're waaaaaaaay less manouverable.

Here's an example of what one can do in safe hands (professional pilot).

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7j4H4VAi0I

Here's an example of what happens in the hands of an inexperienced pilot ...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=93dVyQ4lBxc

99.9% of pilots act responsibly and learn in a safe environment. They still crash, but they don't hurt anyone.