Sky High

This is aerial video that I shot last Friday night of a local high school football game. This video is unprocessed because it was a great night for flying.

[link=http://www.jefcommunications.com/asx/helo/rcu/DFI/stadium/STADIUM-GAME.asx]High School Game[/link]

kg4izw

hey I cant get the link to work in Win Media player.

XStroX

Awesome Video Sky!! Whats the odds of there being a huge play for a touchdown while you were filming that. I'm assuming you still have NAV lights of some sort. I'm guessing a lot of those fans in the stands wondered what the heck that thing up in the air was. Did you have to get some kind of permission to fly that during the game? Just curious.

XStroX

Sky High

I didn't have any problems on the outside shots but on the inside I had to stay more towards the track area. Yes, I did get very lucky to capture that touchdown shortly after taking off. I really shouldn't have been that close to the playing field but the play went down before I could really find a good spot to hover. The beginning of that endzone shot was not very smooth because I was hurrying to get into place. I did have to use NAV lights, especially when I went as high as I did in the parking lot on the outside because you couldn't see the helo at all, just the lights. Their weren't absolutely necessary in the stadium but it sure helps as a quick reference and it looks cool. When that touchdown play happened, I'd say about 1000 sets of eyes were on the DF. When I came inside to the endzone area, three people told me that they had seen the lights from the home side, right side from the endzone shot, when I was really high on the outside shots. They said they thought it was a full size aircraft but really far away because you can't tell the scale. Then when they saw it moving from one place to the other so quickly, they weren't quite sure what it could be, a UFO maybe.

A couple of weeks ago, the stadium was in use so I had to go across the street where there is a complex for the younger kids to play their games. Well, there was a football game with 6-7 year olds being played. I didn't plan to stay long but just to check the functionality of a certain part. The DF took off and flew so well, I just couldn't stop and decided to keep flying and of course went up kind of high and then the kids playing in the game saw it and that was it. They could not stop watching it and pay attention to the game. Eventually, one of the parents walked over and nicely asked if I would go somewhere else to fly because they couldn't get those kids stop watching it and finish the game. We all laughed and I landed and went to another field further away. The DF is a magnet for amazement, especially for 6-7 year olds and 30+ year olds too!

XStroX

It is definately a magnet. I've flown about 5 or 6 times at a little park down the road from me next to a river. There is a walking/biking trail. I would say 75% of people that try to bike or walk past while I'm flyin stop to watch and or ask questions. Only down side to that is it puts a lot more pressure on me!! But other than my first freak accident, I haven't had a bad crash yet with people watching. Its amazing too how some will say "800 dollars!!!??!!" and others say "wow thats a good deal."

On another note, has there been any discussion about using a real digital camera that has an option to take a picture every few seconds? I swear I saw it somewhere and can't find it now.

Also, I've been lookin at these little cheap digital cameras that take 320x240 video or something like that. I don't know what that compares to though. Isn't TV resolution 640x480? Does that mean I would need to find a camera capable of recording video at 640x480 for it to compare to the wireless camera's video? I really want to get into the video thing, but I can't pay a fortune on a mobile station to record video. Maybe I should just get an old VCR TV combo, throw it in the trunk of my car and then get a car power adaptor that lets those run off the cigarette lighter. Seems like it would be pretty cheap.

XStroX

AeroRecon

Mentioning the digital camera....I attached my sony T7 digital to my DFvTi and sent if over my house this Spring. Got some great 640x480 30fps video with it. I chopped it up and put it on Google Video. A search for draganflyer usually has my video the first link. I just got back into it again and got a new 6ch radio. Gonna hook up a micro servo and use it to trip the shutter for 5mp stills with the Sony....soon....
-Allen

Blackdragan

AeroRecon,

Could you post a picture of your Sony T7 attached to your Dragaonflyer? Thanks!

AeroRecon

Ha! Duct tape! I got a wild hair and grabbed the duct tape...next thing I knew I had strapped my new T7 to the right side on a diagonal tilted down at a 45 just enough to clear the rotors from the field of view. No padding...no extra protection. Did I mention it was the new FAMILY T7 I was taking for a ride??

I took it apart after that last crash.....well, it sort of took itself apart! I just got a new 6ch Futaba system with some micro servos. I am going to 'bolt' a servo to the T7 and use it to trip the shutter. I'll see how that works. Now that I have it all working again, I will try video again too with the T7 and take some stills with a different camera and post them.

Allen

AeroRecon

I sent the first T7 flight I shot to Google video last night. Gonna have to get new LiPos before I get any more flights like this. I think they are just worn out.
[link=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9220228379954493290&hl=en]Sony T7 video over my house[/link]

Allen

TheHindmost

That video looks great! I'm surprised there wasn't more vibration evident...Did you have any kind of "steady shot" feature turned on on the T7? (I don't know that camera at all...)

I'd love to see some stills shot with that setup, maybe pointed slightly more forward instead of straight down.

Will

AeroRecon

I will post the other two I have this evening hopefully.
No stablizer at all...just duct tape. The other two are at about a 45deg angle and angled on the DF. Great shots that way. I have a micro servo I am going to attach and try some stills too. Will get some of those up too.

Thanks

Allen

vi360

I am just learning to hover the DF V Ti with hopes to fly a digi-cam someday. I did hang my cell phone for a while to see what happens with 4 ounces of extra weight under the DF and I found it easier to hover. Still not ready to try the Ti since i have not gone over 4 feet high.