Using RC Hellicopter for Filming

rockerrockstar · Sep 9, 2011

I have been thinking using a RC Helicopter is a good idea for some shots. Here is one I saw. I seen some others that look good. Look on Youtube.

This one used a 7d with the RC Heli.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vIkxXUixdE

here is another rc heli shots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0QJ063A04w

here is another good one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2u2RnGUHSI

I seen this video that shows one helicopter for filming. It looks cool but it is like 14,000 dollars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TsMSIUXtik

CamVader · Sep 17, 2011

PaulGriffith said:
You know with CS5.5 warp stabilizer I think this could be legit.

I find that it handles side to side issues a lot better than fore and aft, which gets kind of lumpy.

MichaelPaul · Sep 17, 2011

For quad rotors there's always the AR Parrot, which is very stable, has a built in camera and can be flown with an iPhone. I have seen footage flown by a friend's neighbor with a lipstick camera on it that came out really nice for a test. It can also be navigated indoors without much practice. The larger heli's though take a lot of work to fly without crashing. And when they crash they break stuff that you have to repair before you can fly it again and crash it again. I have a friend going through a very expensive learning phase at the moment. I will be a long while before he trusts a camera on it. I think it was a several hundred dollar copter. Don't know model or price. I'm told though that RC heli's are a lot harder to fly than RC planes.

zim9000 · Sep 17, 2011

Holy Crap, check this stunt video out! As I was searching for random stuff on RC helicopters I came across this and was just blown away by what this guy was able to do!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kv67V63ZEo

Chrisk · Sep 17, 2011

MichaelPaul said:
For quad rotors there's always the AR Parrot, which is very stable, has a built in camera and can be flown with an iPhone. I have seen footage flown by a friend's neighbor with a lipstick camera on it that came out really nice for a test. It can also be navigated indoors without much practice. The larger heli's though take a lot of work to fly without crashing. And when they crash they break stuff that you have to repair before you can fly it again and crash it again. I have a friend going through a very expensive learning phase at the moment. I will be a long while before he trusts a camera on it. I think it was a several hundred dollar copter. Don't know model or price. I'm told though that RC heli's are a lot harder to fly than RC planes.

You can get larger quads and even 6 and 8 rotor platforms that are even easier to fly than the parrot but with enough power to lift a DSLR in a gyro stabilised pan and tilt mount. Have yet to come across one with rails and an RC follow focus tho

The most impressive thing I've seen are video goggles with head tracking that control an onboard camera to give you a true pilot's eye view from the ground.

David.rhsc · Sep 17, 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5OZCWaJBdc

Not that it has practical application for indie films (at least not in any widespread sense), it's just awesome.

zim9000 · Sep 17, 2011

Ok, that video really is awesome David! Haha. Maybe for that you could get HD video flying around with something else, then just record from the cockpit on the ground with a greeen screen around it. and past it over the video haha.

zim9000 · Sep 18, 2011

So I got my RC helicopter and went to go fire it up this morning for the first time...and nothing. First I tried a set of fully charged brand new Eneloop batteries in the controller and light did not come on. So I went out and bought new regular batteries thinking it was picky about needing true 1.5v batteries...still nothing. So that sucks, already have to send it back. I guess I will keep looking at helicopters and see about another model. Pooo

rockerrockstar · Sep 25, 2011

Are you sure you had it turned on? On some of those smaller helicopters they have a small switch you have to turn on. I am just guessing that could be it. I have no idea what your Helicopter is like.

zim9000 · Sep 25, 2011

rockerrockstar said:
Are you sure you had it turned on? On some of those smaller helicopters they have a small switch you have to turn on. I am just guessing that could be it. I have no idea what your Helicopter is like.

Yup, controller and helicopter switches were on. But the controller is the part that didn't seem to turn on. It has a LED light that never lit up once switched. I got this heli all boxed up, just need to send it back so I can get my replacement. I haven't even tried my GoPro yet, haha.