Wing Cameras!!!!!!

[flyboy1963]

Originally Posted by Pitts

Pardon me for being Captain Obvious, but no one else has mentioned something kind of important from the original photo ....

Doesn't the camera, mounted on the top of the wing, act as an effective lift spoiler? ....

The location of the camera, with spanwise flow at high AOA, might affect aileron effectiveness. You might not like how it stall/spun.

Aerodynamics is funny business. Something which looks trivial - say a simple wing root fairing - can make a big difference. You really don't know until you put it in the wind tunnel (or fly it, obviously).

Just be careful at high alpha or high speed with this camera config, ok? You really don't know what you've done to the wing, ailerons, vertical fin and rudder. A friend of mine is dead now because his vertical fin came off his RV-7A, and I really don't want that to happen to you.

hey, got this fancy camera on there, put some tufts behind it, and look out the window! ....should tell us what the airflow is like, right?

[flyboy1963]

Just did a quick trial of the NOT High Def Drift X170. Otherwise seems identical to the HD170, and the remote seems to work from all angles, at least in the house, as long as it's line-of-sight.
Kinda dissapointed with the video quality, certainly not that great for recording tuft testing as intended....or even driving in the car. it's so blotchy it's almost hard to watch.
I'll be returning this to Costco, and getting the HD version.

warning; video is just me throwing the thing on the dash, so excuse the rattling around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRGG2Kgrkvg

Overall like the camera FEATURES, although the menus take a bit of getting used to. If the camera is oriented right, you can see the status light change from green to red when you hit the remote.

It seemed to record fine on a class 4 SD card, but again, it ain't HD data quantities being transferred to it!

[rv8ch]

Originally Posted by Pitts

... A friend of mine is dead now because his vertical fin came off his RV-7A, and I really don't want that to happen to you.

Wow - sorry to hear about that. Do you have details that we might be able to learn from?

[Alibi]

Allan, I noticed from your video it was quite jerky. It lacked the smoothness of a normal video. Is this normal with these cameras or is it because of the slow frame rate?

[RV8R999]

I have the stealth Drift HD170 and have been using it now for a couple months. Turns out the firmware version it was shipped with wasn't even the stealth FW which provides several different frame rates and other updated features. Went to the Driftinnovation website and downloaded the latest F/W and have much better performance now. You might want to check your F/W version to see if it is up-to-date..

[PerfTech]

Originally Posted by Alibi

Allan, I noticed from your video it was quite jerky. It lacked the smoothness of a normal video. Is this normal with these cameras or is it because of the slow frame rate?

My video is perfectly smooth! I think your graphics card in your computer isn't sufficient to play high definition video. The frame rate is not slow at 30 per or optional 60 frames. That is what happens when I try to look at them on my little boys low end computer. Regards, Allan

[GrayHawk]

My first camera system will still be SD until they get better digital video interfaces & capabilities.

Cockpit: Panel mount - 4 channel SD DVR (SDHC card) and 10.4" XVGA monitor, camera control via RS-485, also bullet cam #1 on top glare shield, passenger side, adjustable in azimuth. Audio to DVR from intercom system.

Left Wing: Bullet camera #2 fixed on access cover beneath wing facing forward.

Right Wing: Bullet camera #3 fixed on access cover beneath wing facing aft.

VS: Bullet camera #4, top tip fairing, facing forward, wide angle lens.

Final video & audio in post production.

[Alibi]

Hey Allan, When using the wireless remote, (camera mounted on wing or tail). How can one tell if the camera is recording?

[PerfTech]

Originally Posted by Alibi

Hey Allan, When using the wireless remote, (camera mounted on wing or tail). How can one tell if the camera is recording?

The camera has a small green led on it but I cant see it from the cockpit. The remote has two buttons, on and off. I always push two times and the camera hasn't missed a beat as of yet. I tested the remote in my shop and it performed flawlessly up to 75ft or so. Regards, Allan

[Motocam360]

If you like the Contour or Drift camera, I think you will be interested to see how we've modded them to make them useful for aviation:

http://www.flightcam360.com/products...ideo-recording

Tim
http://www.FlightCam360.com