Beyond My Hover

Heliman450

Heliman450

Well-Known Member
Hi again! Here we go for today's latest production. It's the result of some practice with and without videoing and also of how to set up the camera to give me a field of view, which I'm currently capable of staying within. Most difficult for me right now is preventing the distance from the camera (and me) from becoming too excessive. At the moment, the camera is about one metre in front of me and the heli about five metres in front of the camera. The published video is edited down from 5 minutes 18 seconds to just over 4 minutes.

[video=youtube_share;7uRjVn4G5gE]https://youtu.be/7uRjVn4G5gE[/video]

As always useful feedback appreciated.
 
Heliman450

Heliman450

Well-Known Member
trainrider06 said:
Looking good Phil! She looks nice and steady! Looks like the pilot is in control too! :)
Click to expand...

Cheers Rodney, it gives a real buzz just to know that you can go to the field, fly four batteries' worth of time and not end up carrying a load of scrap back to the workshop. I'm finding it more difficult to plan my sessions now as I can 'play' for so much longer! I'm also finding the challenge of capturing video footage enjoyable, too!
 
trainrider06

trainrider06

Active Member
Phil there are plenty of "action cams" that one can strap to their head with a handy head mount.
Yes as our skills progress we find more time has to be invested! But it's mostly good time! :)
 
Heliman450

Heliman450

Well-Known Member
trainrider06 said:
Phil there are plenty of "action cams" that one can strap to their head with a handy head mount.
Yes as our skills progress we find more time has to be invested! But it's mostly good time! :)
Click to expand...

I know a bit about them but haven't yet seen any footage that didn't make me feel sick watching it or the heli looks more like a gnat in the distance. It's difficult not to move your head slightly and the camera magnifies it tremendously. I tried the glasses I wrote about thinking "as I'm looking at the heli, what better system". The glasses cost me almost £100 but they proved useless for what I wanted. I have an idea for future use.

I'm finding my current arrangement excellent. The tripod is at shoulder height, I stand to the left of the camera and can glance at the screen from time to time and have quickly picked up on holding the heli in what is quite a small window in the sky and it also helps tune my thumbs into a faster response to keep the heli there, too. I use the screen grid, which gives me 8 sectors around the centre to react to any movement in two dimensions, most difficult is the third i.e. distance from me, but that's improving slowly.

Bye for now!
 
trainrider06

trainrider06

Active Member
Phil you can use zoom on those cameras so as not to have dot in the sky footage...:wink: and a lot of them have the auto stabilization on them. You'll need one though as your skills progress to follow your fights.
That's a good idea though for your video as of now, brilliant way to teach yourself tight control of the heli! :)
 
Heliman450

Heliman450

Well-Known Member
trainrider06 said:
Phil you can use zoom on those cameras so as not to have dot in the sky footage...:wink: and a lot of them have the auto stabilization on them. You'll need one though as your skills progress to follow your fights.
That's a good idea though for your video as of now, brilliant way to teach yourself tight control of the heli! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for your confidence that my skills will progress, I'll put it on my list of things to consider in future. It looks like costing around $350+ to get the latest specs. I'm thinking that my next heli will be sitting higher up on the list :biggrin1:
 
Smoggie

Smoggie

Well-Known Member
The action cams on a head mount aren't so bad but you are right Phil in that their biggest weakness is that they are wide angle so unless you fly close the heli looks very small. If you used a zoom then the shaking would become unacceptable and even if you had auto stabilisation you would never keep the heli in shot when zoomed.
I think the videos I shoot with my cheap little Mobius headcam aren't too bad, but if you are on your own and you want really good quality video then the only real option is the Soloshot. The Soloshot camera automatically tracks and zooms to the model using a little tracker gizmo that you mount in the heli itself and a motorized gimbal for the camera.

Not cheap but very clever and many other uses other than RC. The new Soloshot3 has been much delayed, the latest shipping date is 'late summer': https://shop.soloshot.com/
 
trainrider06

trainrider06

Active Member
Well I'll be! What are they gonna think of next? That is a nifty device! But a gulper of a price!
But am embarrassed to say I'd be in line for one if I could afford it!
You use a mobius huh? That's pretty good video!
 
Heliman450

Heliman450

Well-Known Member
Hi Steve, as always right on the button with what's going on in the marketplace. Maybe when I get round to replacing my 9 years old Sony the latest version of Soloshot will be my 'weapon' of choice. Everything to do with our hobby moves so fast that today's stuff is out of date within no time at all. The website is in my bookmarks list for later.
 
Heliman450

Heliman450

Well-Known Member
Hi all! Shortly after my last entry, my wife asked what I'd like for my birthday early next month. My response went...... "Well, if you'd asked me that earlier, I'd have probably said a new heli......... or maybe I'd better wait a while until my skills improve and then make it a new winter project ready for next year" However, I said............ "Well, Steve just told me about this cool video system that means I can create much better videos of my heli practice and I'm certain that will help me to improve :biggrin1: "

OK, so now it's looking like I'll be moving up in the camera league first. I studied the website and it looked to me that the pro version of the robot would be a better buy being cheaper than the Solo3 and I can use it with my existing camera until I buy another camera sometime in the future. Her response was that I shouldn't bother and just get the full hit version straight off and continue using my old camera if I feel the urge to video something boring instead of my heli. WOW!

I've got a question into their query system and am awaiting a response. I wonder if it will come through before the deadline to get a discount? let's see :chickendance:
 
Smoggie

Smoggie

Well-Known Member
I'm officially very jealous!

The discount has been extended a few times due to the delayed shipping, so hopefully the money off will be still available when you press the order button. I might have to put one down on my Christmas list too!
 
Heliman450

Heliman450

Well-Known Member
Hi all, a quick update on my progress..............

Yesterday was a very good day with 6 batteries' practice time (about 54mins). Both side-on orientations are working well and I've finally succeeded in getting the nose-in attitude but have failed to keep it long enough to capture it in a shot with my existing video camera set-up. Hopefully, I can resolve both situations soon :biggrin1:

Bye for now!
 
Smoggie

Smoggie

Well-Known Member
Good work Phil. The nose in hover is a good skill to practice but is not absolutely essential to master it before progressing into forward flight and circuits. I know of a few quite experienced heli flyers (one with decades of experience) who cant do a nose in hover to save their lives, yet they can fly around doing circuits all day without any problem.
 
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