PCA: you've been going about it all wrong.

Patrick, you've been going about it all wrong. The proper platform for a stereoscopic camera isn't a radio controlled aircraft. Too unreliable, too short-range, and if you screw up the landing, game's over. What you need is an airborne platform that can land itself, and doesn't need remote guidance.

Link.

Wow, amazing footage.

I think Patrick might have a problem with finding space to store an aircraft like that though

You know, I was going to argue that the upkeep was less expensive on an RC plane, but I've seen what some of these RC fiends spend.

Pretty cool but I'm sure the eagle not that happy about it. It would be fun to put one of those on an Arctic tern though and watch it migrate from pole-to-pole assuming the camera wouldn't tire the animal of course.

Impressive footage for sure !!!

But you will notice they are using a cleaver trick, they have something fixed in frame at all times, ie the birds head or wing, in my experience with playing about with cameras on the helicopter this distracts the human eye away from the pretty shoddy quality of the landscape, with out that in shot the whole thing becomes alot less impressive.

The problem with using things like birds or helicopters for a video platform at the tiny quick movements that make, of course with a helicopter you can create wonderful systems of servos and gyros to conteract that, but the ultimate platform has to be a large slow flying plane, they can take the weight and also offer a nice smooth ride for the camera.

And of course the main advantage of RC over a mother nature based platform is that it won't try and peck your eye out every time you give it a funny look

Cheers

Cris.

Wow. Footage like that gives me shivers. I've gotta start paragliding next year...

Quote:
The problem with using things like birds or helicopters for a video platform at the tiny quick movements that make

If you watch the "dogfight" between the eagle and the other bird, you'll notice that they only give you half a clip of the eagle actually responding to the attack, and it appears to break up pretty badly. For every other aerial move, they cut to a ground shot.

Now, the question for PCA is whether he wants his aerial camera to respond properly when under avian attack. Maybe he can put a remote-controlled pepper-spray device onboard.