In flight video advice

Paul Eastham · #1 12-12-2007, 10:25 PM

Hi everyone,
I've been trying to take some cockpit videos using a small Canon Powershot SD700 digital camera. It takes videos just fine handheld, but I've been having trouble dealing with the vibration problem when it's attached to the airplane.

At anything above idle power, the video image is extremely jerky. So I can get decent videos of me landing, but takeoffs are pretty much unwatchable. I believe I have the camera rigidly attached to the airframe (currently via some heavy angle attached to the channel between the roll bar and bulkhead.) The camera is bolted to the angle using the usual 1/4" bolt.

Any advice? Do I need some sort of shock-absorbing mechanism? I know I saw Doug mention something about using a sponge in one of his recent videos...

Thanks - Paul

asav8tor · #2 12-12-2007, 11:44 PM

Most likely rolling shutter artifact and is a problem with CMOS image sensors trying to capture video in the situation as you describe. Really need to use a CCD image sensor camera.

Ironflight · #3 12-13-2007, 06:25 AM

Hey Paul,

When I shot this video last week from the Val with my SD400, I was just hand-holding the camera, resting it on some fuzzy Velcro patches I have stuck on my glareshield's painted aluminum. I think your problem might be that you're trying to make it too rigid by attaching it directly to the airframe metal. When I used that little external bullet-shaped video camera, I found that I had problems if I made it too rigid....OR too flexible - I had to experiment.

But for the internal stuff, I found one layer of Velcro to give smooth results.

Paul

DeltaRomeo · #4 12-13-2007, 06:39 AM

In the video "Riding on Flash's Wheelpant v2.0" I had a small kitchen sponge (pic) between the camera and the airplane. It made a world of difference.

Easy to try, at least....

b,
dr

Sticky1 · #5 12-15-2007, 06:48 AM

There called bungee cords

Bryan Wood · #6 12-15-2007, 09:45 AM

Hi Paul,

Here is a link to a video addressing your question. This mans name is Frank and he flys out of So. Cal and shoots videos and puts them online. His website is a regular stop for me when checking what's new online. I look forward to a new one and learn a lot from him. He is an ex Air Traffic Controller and the radio work he does is smooth and he uses the system and puts it on the web. Great Stuff! He has a recent video where he picks up an IFR clearance to get into Santa Barbara and films it thru rollout. Anyway, here is a link to his "How I shoot my inflight videos" video. Obviously he isn't the final word on this but he has gotten pretty good. I have about 15 hours of inflight video that is basically un-watchable because it is just so boring. The key is to mix in you and your passenger, and maps showing where you are, etc. Basically take Rosies travel stories and put it to video and you'll do just fine. Anyway, here's a place to start.

http://160knots.com/making_video.htm

Then plan to take some time and watch some of Frank's videos. Catalina is good as are the ones that show atc interactions in the LA basin.

www.160knots.com

Best,