00hex

Very cheap cameras that advance the film automatically are available, I think about $20. This is probably cheaper than disposable if you take enough pictures.
I strapped one underneath a Duraplane Trainer 40. Vibration wasn't that much of a problem, I put some foam rubber between the camera and the plane. The only problem was that it was really hard to aim.

Tall Paul

I've done both video and still photography from r/c planes..
Check out the pages at my site:
http://www.angelfire.com/indie/aeros...hotoPlane1.htm
This was done with a wing-mounted CANON ELPH-LT on a Kadet..

Shortman

My Feedback: (21)

cool site paul, and nice aerial photography

dr_wogz

My Feedback: (3)

We've got a guy at our feild, with a VR setup.

He has an onboard ccd camera relaying the signal to his 'eyewear'. It's all 'realtime' and he's been flying quite a bit like this. He also hooks up the recieved signal to a small TV so we can all watch his flight.

Pretty impressive, seeing a guy wearing something over his eyes (like Gordie LAforge from Star trek) looking the other way formthe airplane.

jpf5911

Hey MZ!

I guess we all take off and land at flying fields, but yours is really . . . well, a FIELD!!

JPF

onrecess

My Feedback: (2)

I had an Extra Easy and bought the camera mount. It is about $15. It is just bolted to two blind nuts on the belly so it would fit most anything. It swivels and tilts any direction. They recomend a (manual advance) disposable. I bought the lightest motor drive cheapy camera I could find. Worked great and the pics were cool. Two minor problems. A few pics were bad from vibration. I would try to use a piece of foam between the camera and mount. The mount has a servo mount. It takes only a minute to set up and bolt on. With the heavier (batteries) motor drive camera the plane was pretty heavy for a MDS 40, but flew okay. A little scary for a new guy (I had recently soloed), but I could take 36 pics in one flight.
I believe it was RCM had an article once on making a camera plane where they just cut a hole for the lens and sensor and put the camera inside a couple of planes (a 40 size and a 25 size). I could probably find it if I tried.
The pics of our field were neat. I even have pics of me taken on fly-bys.
Lots of fun.
Andy

dr_wogz

My Feedback: (3)

I'll see what I can do for ya...

You might find somthing on your club page: www.brossair.com
But it might in french, hope that dosen;t discourage you..

Yeah, go to: http://www.brossair.com/english/index.html and click on 'D gratton' at teh bottom, and yes, his page is in french (but the pictures are nice! Send him an e-mail as he does speak (broken) english!

dr_wogz

My Feedback: (3)

Forgot to mention my bit as well...

Hanger 9 has a 'camera' option / addition for any plane. It's what we used for aour shots. Yeah, a disploseable is required, and a standard servo. Held in place with an elasticm or bolts, can't remeber.

Go with disposables, as they can get a little 'oiled'

pnugene

Hi folks, anybody know of a nifty way to trigger the shutter with a four channel radio where all four
channels are already occupied? Just wondering if I could install one in my Kadet LT-40 w/4 channels.
Is a .46 enough power to handle the additional hardware?

--------------------------------------

Do you own your own shoes? A mind is a terrible thing .......

dr_wogz

My Feedback: (3)

The hanger 9 camera moutn and the disposable really don't add that much weight. A little, but not much, a little drag too. you will have to slightly trim for the extra.

As of the trigger, I think you'll have to rig up a linkage to activate the trigger, say, when you idle down. But I think that might get a little complicated though.. Or an extra servo on a 'Y' harness. Don't hook into any of your control surfaces though.

pnugene

Hi Dr. Wogs,

Are you saying maybe Y harness to my throttle servo and trigger the camera shutter with throttle position?
Would it work ok to trigger at max throttle rather than minimum? I might waste some film that way, but
so what? I screwed up when i opted to buy just a 4 channel transmitter, 6 channel is much more versatile
and not that much more expensive......penny wise and pound foolish, that's me.

Regards, Randy.

--------------------------

Ya know, I remember back about 17 years ago...........no it was yesterday!!

Rixter

To Yamahogger (I think I like Phil better!)
My partner and I operate an aerial photography and video LLC. We shoot from a large gas powered R/C Heli and our cameras are mounted in a gimble that will pan and tilt 360 Deg. My partner flies the heli while I do the camera work. I aim the camera with a second transmitter while wearing a video headset receiving the video signal from the heli. While most of the equipment we use really isn't important to your question, our video transmitter frequency is. We transmit on the 2.4 Ghz band and find it to be adequit for our operation. There is a good review on a miniature color video camera and a video Tx and Rx combo using the 2.4 band at R/C Universe. The camera/Tx weighs about 1/3 ounce, runs on a 9v battery and is a little larger than a quarter. The receiver is about the size of a walkman and runs on 12v. The URL is http://www.rcuniverse.com/reviews.ph...ew&reviewid=47 It is not the same equipment we use but sounds promising. Hope this helps.
PS I wouldn't recomend using this set up for a RPV (remotely piloted vehicle) as a little video receiver interference (not uncommon) would cause a big jump in your sphincter factor (probably put it up around 9+). Let your buddy fly the model and you go for the ride. Also, the review dosen't get into the use of a video head set, but it can be pluged into the video out plugs of the receiver just like the camcorder they used. Head sets are available from most electronic stores and mail order catalogs.

to r/cspender,
I don't know what your idea of "low budget" is but this video equipment being reviewed sells for less than $300.00. That's a little more than a disposable camera and an extra servo, but ya get some pretty neat shots and you don't have to develop the film!
Rixter

Mikes machines

I use an Aiptek digital pen cam. I rubber banded it to the side of a .40 trainer under the wing with foam to
damp the vibrations. It takes good pictures at mid throttle. To fast or too slow and it puts waves in the picutres.
$79.95 at Circuit City. Best Buy has them too.

Rhandal

Thank You RCairport!

We now have a place in the discussion board of RCairport exclusively for RC aerial video and photography. I understand the moderator of the board is a professional in this field and will offer a lot of help. Let’s carry on this discussion in that board and keep it going with new topics.

See you there.

Rhandal
remote-i
www.remotei.com

Rixter

Yamahogger,
Sorry about the poke at your handle. It was done in fun and not to be taken seriously. I love bikes, have owned a few (ya even a Yamaha), but never a Harley. Nuff said.
The pros and cons, let's see.............pro, we get to make money doing something we really enjoy doing, con.. we have to register our business with the state (LLC, type S, general partnership, sole proprietor ect. etc.). Pro.....We get to rub elbows with a whole new crowd (not that we would ignore the old one!), con....we get to file with the IRS for our EIN. Pro....we can write all of our expenses off our taxes, con.......we have to keep good records file monthly reports and file a schedule C with the IRS (as an LLC we must also file a form 1065). Pro....We get to write off some neat trips (we did the aerials for this years Joe Nall and the IRCHA Jamboree for SKS Videos and a lot of demos for Bergin) con....we have a pretty good chunk of change at risk every time we put our bird in the air. BIG CON....since the Trade Towers attack it is very difficult to buy liability insurance (you are not covered by your AMA insurance while participating in any comercial venture). Most comercial liability policys for R/C aerial photography were cancelled. There are many more pros and cons (fresh air and sunshine...a three cent set screw spitting out of your tail rotor drive) but I think this should give you enough to think about.

Are they hard to learn to fly? Well, I'm just learning. It is a little harder than learning fixed wing because you have to really wake your left hand up. Also you need to become very familiar with your radio because as your skills progress you need to use your mixing switches much more than with fixed wing. The tail rotor is on the left stick so you control yaw much the same as with rudder, but throttle is mixed with the collective so blade pitch increases as you increase throttle giving a whole new meaning to "throttling up". The right stick controlls pitch and roll much the same as fixed wing and is fairly easy to manage in forward flight, managing it in a hover does take practice. Luckly for me that my partner is a great pilot so I have a good teacher.

Are they expensive? Depends what you buy. Which cost more, a Tower Dazzler ARF or a Cardin 30% Edge? You can get a nice .30 size arf heli with engine for around $300.00 and they fly pretty good. If you want to compete you can spend thousands. Probably one of the best bargins in the competitton heli field today is the Bergin gasser. Quite capable of 3D yet sells for around $1,300 including the Zenoah G23. One thing different about a heli and fixed wing is repair. With fixed wing you spend little money and lots of time on a repair. With a heli it is the opposite. You spend more money and little time. You can rebuild a "totaled" heli in one or two evenings. So, do you want to spend your money or your time?
Rixter

Rixter

Hi Mikes Machines,
How long can you record with your pen cam? Do you think you could get rid of some of the "waves" if you isolated the pen cam from vibration IE wrap it in foam or a gel pack? How good is the video? I've seen these in the store before but never thought of using them on one of my models.
Rixter

Mikes machines

Mr Rixter,
The pencam is only good for a couple of minutes maybe 90 seconds. I never got a chance to try the low resolution mode. (unplanned meeting with the earth). The quality of the video was surprsingly good for a $79.00
camera. I just about had the vibration thing figured out but then I got a hit from a stray source and down it went.
I used white radio insulation foam around the camera then rubber banded it to the side of my plane with a kitchen sponge between the two. With the engine in the mid rev range it was getting pretty good. The day of the crash I had bought an engine mount with rubber dampers. I never got to try it, then the weather here got cold so its on the back burner for a while. The camera survived the crash. The last picture it took was of the weeds in the field it crashed in. You cant beat the price or the size of the camera and you can take something like 50 pictures without reseting.
Mike

Rob 750

I have an LT 40 and a very expensive aerial picture setup. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the fusilage, and ran a cable inside of a feed tube from the opposite side of the rudder servo (not used) to the bottom of the plane and ty-wrapped one end to the landing gear support. I took a cheap digital camera (RCACDS1005) that I bought at office max for about $50 and made a holder out of scrap balsa and ply. Then I notched the top of the fuse where the wing sets and rubber-banded the plane and holder to the bottom of the plane which is right at the CG. It is perfect because it is so easy to remove and very cheap to operate, you can take pictures all day and all it will cost you is maybe a couple of AA batteries, because you just delete the pictures that aren't good--assuming you have a PC. I wouldn't really suggest using that camera, even though it is cheap and small- you get what you pay for and some of the pictures were a little blurry, cameras are much better and cheaper now.

crasher1

My Feedback: (31)

Depends on low you wonna go. My engineering class found a cute set up, all wireless 3 video camera set for 169.00, @ gadgethome.com, thinking that we could use it on our trainer, nitro car or heli we have, thinking that this would open up new ave's. for educational discovery. Will keep you guys abreast of future advancements as they unfold or crash depending on how well they pass their sim final[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Darkbird

My Feedback: (7)

Just went to that site. the range on that system seems to be only 100 feet. That really not that useful for Radio control aircraft. Thier "long range" system is still only good for 700' and this still seems to be very limited. Does anyone have a link to someplace that sells an airborne video system that comes more or less comeplete and ready to go? A mutli-camera system would be really cool if you could get decent range out of the system.

Rixter

Hi Darkbird,
Try this URL http://www.rcuniverse.com/reviews.ph...ew&reviewid=47 . I described the system earlier in this thread.
Rixter

Darkbird

My Feedback: (7)

Thanks for the link rixter! Not only am I likely to buy the eyecam, but I may buy that dragonfly III! I think I would like to try following one of my indoor rubber powered planes around the gym we fly in. Not to mention all the other possible uses.

sandy collins

(second try)
Hello Darkbird: Your msg is pretty old, but new to me! Contact
SUPERCIRCUITS (800-335-9777) for blk & white, or color mini cameras
designed for model airborne tv--if you are still looking! Amateur
radio license is required but worth it. I've been advised to stay away
from no-license eqpt so spent a few weeks getting licensed. Color eqpt
is best @ ~2 mile range and can be used in anything that flies. Set
available now is ~$500. (color), about a c-note less for B&W. Check
out Amateur Radio sites for location & recommendations for acquiring
a no-code license. Easy enough for an 82 year-old to pass. Contact me
at <[email protected]> if you have questions.

Rhandal

Here is great place to get your camera wireless system, ground station and anything related to aerial imagery.

www.remotei.com/risystem.html

Rhandal