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Aerial Photography and Video > Question for Jeff Scholl
 
 
Dave Barbera
Heliman
Location: Hubbardston, MA U.S.A.

Hi Jeff,

You mentioned in a previous post that you have the Canon EOS 300D and you posted a picture of it on your helicopter mount. Are you using that camera for your most recent (awesome) pictures? If you use that camera it is clear to me that the video out only gives you a view of pictures you have already taken. So how do you aim the camera with a video down link? I assume that you take a picture and then look at the preview of the just taken picture and then make adjustments and take another picture. Is my assumption correct or do you have some cool trick to get around this limitation?

Thanks for your help!

Best Regards,
-Dave
12-06-2003 Over year old.
 
 
fitenfyr
rrProfessor
Location: Port Orchard, Washington

Not Jeff but..

Dave,
I have flown with Jeff and operated his camera setup so I will answer what I can for you. Jeff sometimes is not on here for a few days.
If you look to the left of all the images on Jeffs site you will see what equipment he used to capture it. The top will say Aerial and then it will denote 300D and the settings. Most of their Aerials in the last couple months have been with the 300.
Jeff uses a remote shutter release that is something new I have not seen yet for the 300D.
He either shoots from the downlink (when it works. ) then reviews the pictures after the flight (either in the camera or on the computer).
He will also just "shoot from the hip" with the camera by purely flipping the switch and looking at the results later. This is how I ran it for him last summer at the fun fly. All of the pictures you see on this page http://www.gravityshots.com/heli/snohomish2003.cfm were shot by Jeff with his Joker. They were all from the hip. We did do a couple together, but not these. I would flip the switch on the camera tx when I thought we had a good angle. Mostly I just flipped the switch every couple seconds. It was a blast to see what we got. The downlink was installed and worked till just prior to takeoff then it shut down for some unknown reason.
The beauty of digital is you can fill a memory card in one flight and so maybe you get 10 shots out of 100 that are usable. Delete and shoot again.

I will assume by you couple posts that you are trying to find a way to get a TTL view on the ground?
I don't think you are going to be able to do this without going to a downlink system on any camera.
You may be able to hook a downlink tx into the video out of some of the other "point and shoot" digitals out there though.

Jason Stiffey
Fly Fast....Live Slow...
12-06-2003 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Dave Barbera
Heliman
Location: Hubbardston, MA U.S.A.

Thanks for replying Jason!

Quote 
He either shoots from the downlink (when it works. ) then reviews the pictures after the flight


Does his downlink use a separate camera in tandem with the 300D when he is using the downlink or is the downlink hooked up to the 300D?

Quote 
I will assume by you couple posts that you are trying to find a way to get a TTL view on the ground?


That is the exact correct assumption.

Quote 
I don't think you are going to be able to do this without going to a downlink system on any camera.


I'm not sure I understand this statement. I have a downlink system.

Quote 
You may be able to hook a downlink tx into the video out of some of the other "point and shoot" digitals out there though.


I believe this is what just about everybody that uses a downlink system on this forum does. It seems Jeff is the only one that uses a digital SLR that posts pictures. I used the tip you mentioned (I hadn't looked at his sight much before) and the condo shot taken on 12/03/03 at Big Mountain was taken with the 300D. I assumed that he had some remote way to frame that shot. Do you know if that shot used the downlink system or was it "shooting from the hip". I'm sorry for being so wordy and thanks for the help.
12-06-2003 Over year old.
 
 
fitenfyr
rrProfessor
Location: Port Orchard, Washington

Who knows.

Dave,
Jeff shoots alot by himself I know, but he also has his "camera operator" (ok his girlfriend. ) with him sometimes. How he shot the lodge I don't know. Knowing Jeff I would think he had a camera operator along for those due to the area he was shooting not giving him a ton of options for a safe landing in event of an emergency. Jeff is very cautious about where he flys and how he operates IMO.
The downlink is a seperate system using another small CCD camera.

He will find this and fill you in on the rest of the details I am sure, but I can assure you the seperate cam with the downlink is the only way to go if you want to use the 300D or any digital SLR.

Jason Stiffey
Fly Fast....Live Slow...
12-07-2003 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
MPAElite Veteran - Location: Australia -
Not everyone uses a downlink for shooting.

Jeff has it down to a finer art.
Practice like anything and youll manage it.

To date Ive had a camera operator but no more so Ive just started solo shooting and its not a snap but its looking better after a few goes.

I took these today, as you can see its hit and miss.




Tried to avoid the bright roof from mid day sun and get some shadows in there but I'm too far away from the buildings.
(And have wires dangling where they shouldnt)

All my early prospects blew out, its Sunday, I should have know better, hills are full of tourists.

Steam engine pics .bzzzt...throngs of people.
2 seperate Lakes, chock full of punters.
Went to Emerald football oval to get a shot over the rail, police helicopter and ambo's there patching up some poor bugger so no flying there.
By the time I headed back home empty handed it was mid day so I pulled up at this industry park for some last ditch snaps.
Shouldve just kept my foot on the throttle, too bright, no clouds, Im sunburnt on one arm from all the driving around.

Hotter tomorrow but Monday so Ill head back if I dont have to work.
More practice on the solo shooting Ill get the knack soon enough.
Not for everyone but has benefits.
Plus, I get to operate the camera now how I_want it .

Rgds
12-07-2003 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
jeffscholl
Key Veteran
Location: Whitefish, MT

Hi All!

95% of what I've been doing is in fact shooting from the hip.
I find this is the simplest method if the material is stationary such as real estate or landscape.

Is it efficient? Absolutely not. However after awhile you start to understand height and camera angles to consistently get what your after. Just have to remember that flying the heli is the first priority and
firing the shutter is second.

The condo shoot turned into a 2 day event to take advantage of the different sun angles. (9am and 3pm) Since it is still early for ski season I had an empty parking lot both days. (after x-mas this won't be the case so I was excited to be able to complete that job early on)

Having said all that I will agree that a downlink is a valuable tool especially when the content is moving and timing is critical.
I use the SpiderMite with the Panasonic cam purchased from:
http://www.blackwidowav.com

Cheers,
Jeff
12-07-2003 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Dave Barbera
Heliman
Location: Hubbardston, MA U.S.A.

Quote 
95% of what I've been doing is in fact shooting from the hip.

Now I'm even more impressed.

Quote 
Jeff has it down to a finer art.

When you said that, I didn't realize you meant it literally.


Quote 
I use the SpiderMite with the Panasonic cam purchased from:

That is what I was looking for, thanks for the response.

Quote 
The downlink is a seperate system using another small CCD camera

Ditto.
12-09-2003 Over year old.
 
 
yb2normal
Senior Heliman
Location: Broomfield, CO

One comment I'd make about Jeff's choice is that while the Spidermite is the smallest possible transmitter you could put on your helicopter, the 50mw or even the 200mw transmitter would give you greater/more reliable range when coupled with the 8dbi circular polarized patch antenna, and for not much more cash that a setup based on the Spidermite. That was the main reason the Digi-live is based around the 200mw transmitter.

As a real life comparison, if your helicopter can lift an extra pair of 9v transistor batteries, it can lift a 200mw video system.

Regards,
Bill
12-10-2003 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
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Aerial Photography and Video > Question for Jeff Scholl
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