Helicopter for aerial Filming ?

[mcvideo]

i imagine this gets asked a lot ( but the search on here wasnt bringing anything up, unless ive done it wrong )

But i am looking for a helicopter for some aerial filming, and searches on Google just bring up alsorts of stuff that means nothing to me !

I have a small ContourHD camera which i was thinking of using as its light and small, but i also have a small Samsung HMX10 which i would rather use, but apreciate that would be a heavy option compared to the Contour, so may not be any good

I dont have a budget, but not in a good way, ie its not 'money no object' its more a case of having to pay what its going to cost, so any advice on price will be good.

So what would people recomend, and how much will it cost?

Few things to note........

It may need to be up for a decent length of time, so would imagine battery may be out of the question ?

It wont be up that high, talking maybe 20 - 30 foot

I have never flown one before, obviously i dont expect to just go out and get footage, i will get the practise in, but the easier the better i guess

Cheers guys

[chugga-bug]

I have never flown one before,

Might be wise to learn before you go strapping a camera on one.

If you're really serious, buy yourself a transmitter (DX6/7 or Futaba FF7) and Phoenix simulator. Learn to fly with that before you go buying a heli.

[raptorheli2]

welcome to the madness!

i'm putting together an AP rig right now and what way you go depends on a number of factors.

the numero uno thing is budget for this venture-what you planning on spending on this heli all up?

the second thing is-and i shall not beat about the bush-you will not be able to get good aerial footage for probably in excess of a year of flying helis and even at that your probably going to be at the basic stage. hovering a heli stationary is difficult enough-doing it at a couple of hundred feet is a different story.

what exactly are you planning to do here? business venture or just get some good video of pottering around?

whatever it is you can bet on a year to get to the stage you would even contemplate strapping on a 500 quid plus camera on it.

cheers

[Stuart]

The best vid I've ever seen.....

[ame=http://vimeo.com/15788813]HELIFILM reel 2010 on Vimeo[/ame]

[Stuart]

Please also be aware of the new rules that came into effect in Jan 2010.

UAV's

"Fourth Edition 6 April 2010
This edition incorporates the changes to legislation introduced in Air Navigation Order 2009
(ANO 2009) regarding the requirement for operators of small unmanned aircraft to obtain a
CAA permission when their aircraft are being used for aerial work, and also in some cases for
surveillance or data acquisition purposes (now termed small unmanned surveillance aircraft).
Unmanned aircraft having a mass of less than 7 kg are now covered by this new legislation,
which is intended to ensure public safety by applying appropriate operational constraints,
dependent on the flying operation being conducted and the potential risks to third parties. In
line with this change, some guidance on the additional details to be provided within an
application for permission to operate small unmanned aircraft have also been included
(Appendix 1 to Section 3, Chapter 1)."

Its imperative that if your converting or modifying your aircraft for specifically aerial work that you are aware of the new regulations, more so that you will no-doubt need to secure a "g" reg for your heli from the CAA and we suspect a set of tests will come into play that will enable pilots to secure a licence to operate in the UK. It must be noted that this only applies to the UK and the rest of europe/world work to different rules so contact your local goverment air agency.

As we suspect the majority of flyers in this sector are rotor orientated due to the ease and simplicity of equipment to carry out such works the RCHA feels its imperative that you fully understand that legally you cannot fly for this purpose unless your sanctioned by the CAA to do so, the consequences could be costly.

[Sieze2]

Just build a quad, its more robust and super easy to fly ! Here is a short video I made with mine a week ago.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FJuPJD6nTw]YouTube - quad on sunny cold day (with pigeons)2.mp4[/ame]

[GravityKills]

it's one of those topics where a)
a) there -is- a lot of information on the web.
b) learning things the hard way means learning things the most expensive way and
c) figuring things out by yourself means learning things the hard way.

it's unlikely that the responses you'll get on a topic that is being discussed to death in other places will more than scratch the surface. So... do your homework

If google doesn't show what you want, search individual web forums or manually browse through the posts, for example.

[Grant_beltcp]

For such a small camera you can get away with using a quad copter or something similar fairly easily. For someone at your stage (i.e havnt flown a heli before) the quad would be soooooo much easier to learn on. Theres also alot less issues with quad copters such as ball links working loose etc.
Its likely to be cheaper to start with aswell.
I am part the way through my newest AP rig, but in total with the camera and equiptment it's coming close to the £10,000 mark to get what i hope to be proffesional HD video.

[ame=http://www.vimeo.com/17427036]Helicopter Testings on Vimeo[/ame]

What's your video intended for? abit of fun or a commercial venture?

Good luck with it

[Gav]

I managed a fairly stable Go Pro camera mount for less than £15.00 on my 450 .

Short vid I made on my 1st Trial flight:


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PlLKG_CUYA[/ame]


I'm in the process building my own quadrocopter too as a small aerial platform, which removes/reduces problems such as vibration and the danger of spinning blades getting near people or objects. Cost of this about £100 with home brew flight controller and airframe. But this approx cost is just for the build : airframe,motors, esc props etc but not including receiver, lipo, transmitter and the odd n sods to finish the project. Not as difficult to fly as a heli is also true

good luck

[buckers]

Two cracking bits of footage there. Thanks for sharing them

[R1stu]

[quote=Sieze2;571908]Just build a quad, its more robust and super easy to fly ! Here is a short video I made with mine a week ago./quote]

What quad are you using?

[PGpilot]

"Fourth Edition 6 April 2010
This edition incorporates the changes to legislation introduced in Air Navigation Order 2009
(ANO 2009) regarding the requirement for operators of small unmanned aircraft to obtain a
CAA permission when their aircraft are being used for aerial work, and also in some cases for
surveillance or data acquisition purposes (now termed small unmanned surveillance aircraft).
Unmanned aircraft having a mass of less than 7 kg are now covered by this new legislation,
which is intended to ensure public safety by applying appropriate operational constraints,
dependent on the flying operation being conducted and the potential risks to third parties. In
line with this change, some guidance on the additional details to be provided within an
application for permission to operate small unmanned aircraft have also been included
(Appendix 1 to Section 3, Chapter 1)."

Yeah, funny how certain Police forces have been using these (unlicensed) for a while

[EtheAv8r]

As you are clearly not an experienced R/C helicopter pilot, then you should probably be looking at someting like the Gaui 330X S Quadcopter available from FastLad http://www.fast-lad.co.uk/store/gaui...1-p-12495.html and SportsMoto Sportsmoto Ltd GAUI 330X Quad-Flyer 'S' Ver and 330 X Spare Parts/UPGRADES

[pchristy]

Yeah, funny how certain Police forces have been using these (unlicensed) for a while

Yes, and they got slapped good and hard by the CAA for it!!!

[coolice]

Hey all.

I've been contacted recently by a former heli flier about flying a UAV for aerial videos so this is good information to know about myself.

This is the model I've had the privilege of getting to grips with;

Draganflyer X6 Six Rotor UAV Helicopter Aerial Video Platform

So far it's been a bit of a mixed result, excellent UAV (although I should be for the money!) but I have had some disasters like the silly canopy mounting letting go mid flight :-/ This happened with the HD camera slung underneath, we had to borrow a ladder to retrieve the model from the local park derelict toilet roof!

I'm not in-depth enough into the venture as yet to know much more, but the owner is applying for the license to operate this type of craft.
.