An ancient hunting ground

[Shrimpfarmer]

My friend has goggles and I use a monitor, but which is best ? Well he raves about his goggles to everyone who will listen when we meet people. They don't suffer from reflection, they immerse you in the flying etc etc. What he doesn't tell people though is that they press into your eyes, you cannot see obstacles or who is approaching you and when you take them off to watch the quad land that your blind for a couple of minutes by the natural light as your eyes think you have come out of a cave. I have borrowed a set 3 times now but give me my monitor any day. I have made a box that slides over the sunshield that completely blocks out the light. I just rest my forehead against a small slot for my eyes and its just the same as goggles.

They are easy to fly in strong winds, its the takeoff and landing thats the challenge. If the wind is too strong though your video quality can suffer due to the G-force.

As for the Gopro I owned one for about 2 years and never used it. I hated the fact they have no video stabilisation and of course the fish eye effect. Its only now I have the phantom that I have come to respect what you can squeeze out of them. For any extreme conditions, wind rain, sand etc they can't be beaten.

A side benefit I get from the phantom is that I can also hold the phantom and film objects on the ground and the gimbal acts as a steady cam for the Gopro. Its not perfect but it holds it much steadier than I can.

[Gerlinde]

Thanks for all the additional details, Ken. That is all very fascinating. I wonder if you get a delay between the camera and your monitor. I use my iPad Mini or my iPhone as monitor with the GoPro. It is a great help with setting up the camera, but for life view it would be really challenging depending on how slow the wifi connection is.

[Shrimpfarmer]

No delay at all. It would be impossible to fly with it if there was.

[_Paz_]

What he doesn't tell people though is that they press into your eyes, you cannot see obstacles or who is approaching you and when you take them off to watch the quad land that your blind for a couple of minutes by the natural light as your eyes think you have come out of a cave

Excellent points! And people will approach you. More than once I've been focused on my monitor and then realized there was someone right next to me and I had not realized it. Happened once when I was out in the woods by a stream and I didn't hear them because of the sound of the water. He was nice enough but still it spooked me.

I like your idea of a black box. Mr. B said yesterday that I need a black cloth to put over my head! Your idea is better!

The steady cam aspects are good too. I have a terrible time holding my cameras steady and need all the help I can get. It almost looks like there are simply four springs handing down with the camera attached. Makes me wonder if something as simple as that might be an improvement over what I'm doing now.

Don't the GoPro cameras have multiple viewfinder width settings? If so, are they both fisheye?

Could the Phantom hold a 'regular' shape small videocam? Something the size and shape of your Panny?

[Shrimpfarmer]

Some people have put other cameras onto a Phantom but I would not recommend it at all. A Gopro is what its been designed for so anything bigger will affect performance and battery time. The other problem is its very difficult to get the picture from the camera into the video transmitter. The gimbal has been designed to use the data interface on the back of the gopro so it just clicks in place.

The Gopro 3 series have a multitude of camera settings and it can be a little bewildering. I have tried them all and read a lot of posts on forums made by people with a lot more experience of them than I had. Basically there is an optimum setting depending on how powerful your video editing kit is. For stunning resolution shoot in 2.7K 30fps. For more modest systems then keep to 1080p 30fps. Most camera modes have three width settings. Narrow, medium and wide. I tend to shoot in mediumfield of view to limit the fisheye.

I edit in Final Cut Pro X and I have an addon to that suite to correct the fisheye.

This is my latest film but this is without that correction. In fact my knowledge has improved significantly since I uploaded this one but hey ho, its a continuous improvement world

[joper]

Every time Ken puts up one of his fantastic Phantom 2 shows I get the urge to go out and get a drone as well.

If Ken keeps putting up these show we will all go broke.

I just have to get one I really do.

Thanks for showing us your work Ken.

Peace,
John P.

[Shrimpfarmer]

Thanks but my intention is not to bankrupt anyone

[Gerlinde]

Beautiful footage again, Ken. I like the fisheye look on some of the aerial shoots. I find it adds to the overall feel. The music fits very well too.

Every time Ken puts up one of his fantastic Phantom 2 shows I get the urge to go out and get a drone as well.

I agree!

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Every time Ken puts up one of his fantastic Phantom 2 shows I get the urge to go out and get a drone as well.

If Ken keeps putting up these show we will all go broke.

I just have to get one I really do.

Thanks for showing us your work Ken.

Peace,
John P.

Inspired by Shrimpy, I want one of these:-

Remote controlled A-380 takes to the Skies! The 16-foot-long model is powered by four small turbine engines. It wowed a crowd at a recent model aeroplane show in Hausen a/Albis near Zug, Switzerland.

http://showyou.com/video/y:-Rt9zX1rZFU

[Shrimpfarmer]

Well you will be able to sit up front in one of those. Might get a few complaints from the neighbours though

[momoffduty]

Beautiful Ken! Looks like you had some helpers about midway thru the video. Love the tune too!

[sidd finch]

Nice video work. I am impressed at how comfortable you are taking the quad and GoPro out over the water.

Sidd

[Shrimpfarmer]

All I can do is fly it to the best of my ability. If I lost radio link it would just fly back to me and land. If however a motor failed, then I would never see it or the Gopro again. Its a risk I have just accepted. To get the best shots you always have to put it at risk. The film I posted called 'Shadows Fall' was the most nerve wracking as I had to fly it almost a kilometre out to sea to fly around the lighthouse.

[TreeTopsRanch]

Spell binding vids Ken.