An ancient hunting ground

[Shrimpfarmer]

My wife and I are currently staying in the New Forest which is in Hampshire near the South Coast of England. There is nothing 'new' about the place as it was founded in 1079 by William The Conqueror. He named it 'Nova Foresta', his new hunting forest. We spend time here every year but its the first time I have tried to capture it on video.

[Steve Grisetti]

This is truly gorgeous, Shrimpy!

Did you really shoot the flyover footage with that little helicopter? It looks like a Hollywood production!

[Shrimpfarmer]

This is truly gorgeous, Shrimpy!

Did you really shoot the flyover footage with that little helicopter? It looks like a Hollywood production!

yes that little helicopter is my pride and joy at the moment. I am taking it to the Lake District soon and I can't wait.

[Dave McElderry]

Very impressed! The editing and music were excellent and set the mood. Color on the GoPro is beautiful and very natural. Unlike a lot of video it's more like looking out a window than at a screen. I have a new respect for the GoPros. The scene at Hale House looked like it was covering a lot of ground in a short time. How fast will that rig go?

[TreeTopsRanch]

Yes, really well done. I see the GoPros no longer have that fish eye look. Or did you change lenses Shrimpfarmer? And what program did you use for editing?

[Shrimpfarmer]

Thanks for the positive strokes

Well I know one quad pilot who has a fancy tracker in his. He has clocked it moving at 65 mph but that was probably flying downwind. Thanks for the comments regarding how it looked. I used the Gopro Protune setting which is similar in concept to shooting RAW format photos. I then colour graded it myself to balance between the shots. I am just a beginner with this though. Its time consuming but it has great 'tinkering' pleasure.

I didn't change the Gopro lens. I shot in 1080p using a variety of frame rates to suit the lighting conditions. 25fps in the gloom and 50fps in the sunny bits. The fisheye effect is not so bad when the camera at 90 deg to the horizon. Start tilting down though and you need to lose the horizon from the shot to get rid of the fisheye effect. Its present in all shots although you can hide it.

I edited the film in Final Cut Pro X.

[momoffduty]

Stunning shots & edit! What camera did you use for the non-flying shots?

[Shrimpfarmer]

Thanks. On the ground I use a Panasonic XM900.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/8 ... order.html

[Gerlinde]

Wow, that was really awesome to watch. I can't believe how smooth the footage with the quad-heli is. That is really a unique way of filming. Outstanding job on the editing too, Ken.

I love the wild horses. Are they really walking around the village? That is really funny.

I wish you had included more of the footage on how you set up for filming at the end of the movie. Maybe some time you could show us more of the Behind The Scenes video.

[_Paz_]

I am taking it to the Lake District soon and I can't wait.

OOOOOhhhhh!!!! I can't either!

That is awesome. Absolute thrills for all of us who've spent more than a little time wishing we could fly.

Now I have a new goal in life...

So DO, please, tell us more! You stopped too soon. I wanted to see ALL the unpacking! What is the fuel? Is it easy to land? How did you get the up in the air still shots? Does this gizmo come with built in stabilizers? I'm guessing your monitor has wireless???

You did a great job. I especially like the history lessons. Got chill bumps at the site of the tree. Imagine the horror of mistakenly killing the king!

England and Alabama look quite similar. Beautiful country. Thanks for sharing!

[Shrimpfarmer]

Mmmm didn't think people would be interested in the technical bits, I only added that for something to run the music credits over. I will have to put something together to show people how it all works.

[sidd finch]

Those phantoms are the best. Did you remove the camera to add your GoPro? and are you using a 3 or a 3+?....Last Question are you flying FPV because you got pretty high up and flew for a while.

GREAT JOB

SIdd

[Shrimpfarmer]

I started with a Phantom Vision but I found the video too unstable so I switched to a Phantom 2 which uses a Gopro on a gimbal. The gimbal removes roll and pitch. They have just announced a new gimbal that also removes yaw so I will add one of those in due course.

In the film there are no stills used, its all live video.

The quad is powered by electricity, you can see me sliding the battery in. I have six of them and they are good for 20 minutes in the air each. I cannot change any camera settings in the air so I have to start recording on the ground and it runs until I land again. Once you learn the basic manoeuvres it only takes a few minutes to get the shots you need, providing you have thought about them before you take off.

I control the quad with a hand controller that transmits via 2.4ghz wireless. The furthest I have flown is 1.5km away but I know others who have been 6km away from the take off point. I can see what the camera sees in real time via a video downlink. This is displayed on a 7" monitor on the handset. A small lever on the back of the handset allows me to tilt the camera from facing forwards to straight down.

The beauty of the Phantom is that it uses GPS to hold its position and altitude whenever I let go of the control sticks. If at any time I was to lose my control link it will automatically fly back to me and land itself.

I do use First Person View to fly. Its a strange feeling at first as you totally stop looking at the quad in the air and just look at the screen. Flying FPV is quite easy. The only drawback is the very limited field of view. When your up high that does not matter but when descending into trees etc then you have to have your wits about you.

If you want to see some footage of the quads in action there is more in this video which I made with a fellow pilot.

[_Paz_]

The second film is terrific too! What a great way for your families to spend time together. And the kids will have such a great time looking at these in future. Such fun seeing little British kids mucking about in wellies! I've always loved Christopher Robin. I um, do admit, I've never been one to get my shoes wet if I can avoid it though. My son now, that was a different story. Splash! But in tennis shoes.

FPV... First Person View? Is that wearing the goggles? Do you see what the camera sees in the goggles? I suppose if you have the goggles, you don't need the monitor. I have a monitor - love it. But mine does not have wireless. I'd hate to have to buy something like that twice. I think I like the idea of the goggles. Probably more expensive than monitors though. hmmm

I'm going to look up "Phantom" as a brand name. Does everything come in a kit? Does a GoPro come with it?

Great to hear it doesn't require messy fuel such as gasoline. Do you get a 'low battery' warning? Would it crash if the battery gives out? If it came down over a lake, would it float?

Is it hard to control in high wind? I'd love to have one at the beach. Flying along with seagulls, sailboats. Seeing the sharks so close to shore. Well, maybe that wouldn't be so much fun.

I keep telling myself that I don't NEED a GoPro, so I should avoid looking at them. But BOY! This site makes it hard to do that! I loved Sidd's underwater fishing event. I keep telling my goldfish they'd better watch out. Someday I might be filming among them instead of from above! Of course, sea diving on a reef with an underwater GoPro would be cool too.

So exciting! What thrills to be able to see from so high.

Thanks for sharing!

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

I keep telling myself that I don't NEED a GoPro, so I should avoid looking at them.

Amen to that!