quadcopters
ahoy photog and filmer peeps,
anyone ever had a go of one of these bad boys or something similar?
Im thinking about getting one and strapping the Drfit to it for some Art of Flight esque shots this year.
Checked out a lot of stuff on the web about that particular one plus a few other brands and theres a shit tonne of info, and from that it sounds as though they are reasonably easy to get the hang of.
For sub $300 (once you get a 4 channel radio system) it seems like a reasonably cheap bit of aerial fun.
stay rad
trent
you can buy them that already have HD cameras built into them for that exact reason.
they are even smart enough to hover by themselves so you can set up your shot and then ride through it.
wow 
That would be cool if you could be bothered lugging it around with you. I would imagine you wouldn’t want to fall on it… I guess if you’re totally focussed on filming rather than boarding it would be alright….
I would rather have somthing strapped to me then fly down the mountain without thinking about it 
RC is what got me into mini cams in the first place.
You need a quadcopter with plenty of lift and a long flight time.
Generally you get no more than 5min carrying 200g.
The are quadcopters that are built for this purpose, they have GPS, giro mounted targeting camera mounts and long flight times. They are so good you set them up take off but don’t need to fly them (the gps locator keeps them in the air and giro mount keeps the camera on target) They are $15,000 for the cheap one.
Anything under $1,000 is just about worthless IMO.
The best (and cheaper) way to do it is with an RC blimp.
In any circumstance a slight breeze is you enemy. Unless you buy a $30,000 quadcopter - they handle a breeze even a gust of wind!
From my experience with RC (I’ve owned 6 heli’s, 3 nitro trucks, and a lot of electric cars/buggies) - IT WILL BREAK, you need time and the ability to do repairs in the field otherwise it will be a waste of time and money.
Hey Trent, have you seen this edit? So sick.
yeah i did see this, its one of the reasons why i started looking at them in the first place. Its soo rad!
Ive been looking at kits that area available and i reckon you could build a pretty dcent one like in the the above clip for a reasonable price.
Off to ebay for me 
I’d like to know how they did the panning in this clip. The heli obviously stays fairly still while the camera pans quickly vertically. I’m guessing they have a separate servo controlling the camera.
I watched this a while ago. Might be of interest to you.
Just watchin some of the vids on it, and it looks like it would do the job unreal!!!!!
But like spaz mentioned, and even the stats show (Wind speed no greater than 4 knots), and ya gonna have some troubles!!!!!
Spare batteries would be a MUST!!!!!
I’d like to know how they did the panning in this clip. The heli obviously stays fairly still while the camera pans quickly vertically. I’m guessing they have a separate servo controlling the camera.
Yeah, I’ve seen similar setups like this that have a separate servo for that!!!!! There was a clip somewhere on YT that showed it in action, but I couldn’t find it!!!!!
These things are so sick. I wish I had the time/skill to pursue it.
Oh, I know you fly rider but have you ever tried to fly a Heli? They are so overwhelming and difficult!
This is another reason Quad copters have become popular - simple to fly. With a 6/7 channel, single rotor you can hold any angle while flying any direction - you just need the skills. 600+ size RC helis start to handle wind speeds.
I’ve been looking into this a lot lately too! Quad’s are not the best IMO, the auto levelling can wreak havoc with your camera unless its on a good gyro stabiliser, you can get a lot of vibration in them too, and the whistler heli edit you can see in the borders how much they had to correct their footage by the warping in some shots!
Check out these guys:
http://copterkidsllc.com/
I’m looking at getting a t-rex 700 early next year and building a rig to house a servo driven 7D. pretty amped for it!
In the meantime, been practicing on a sim called Phoenix RC - u need a transmitter for it, but its regarded as the best sim to practice on and you can fly first person view, add wind, mountains, snow, water all sorts. crashing was never so cheap…
700 should be good but what camera are you gonna use (weight) and invest in a good battery (good ones are lighter, more power and smaller), also buy the best motor you can find.
As long as you have some experience in RC or are supper handy you should be ok and have an idea of what your in for.
Simulators are ok for training your brain to start thinking about 3d flight and 6 channel control but it wont teach you to fly heliRC, you WILL spend more time repairing and waiting for parts to arrive. Don’t be sucked into buying a Al head, you want that sucker to break when you crash (YOU WILL CRASH) get plastic blades and digital mirco scales. There are so many hopups your gonna need.
Or
If you are really serious about getting footage from a heli use the t-rex as a trainer then go nitro on a big sucker. You flight times will increase X10 (lucky to get 5min carrying 200g on the 700)
#1 join a heli RC club, it will fast track everything you can teach yourself.
Owning RC is about building/repairing not driving/flying.
That’s a great reel, fmf. There’s some awesome shots in there.