Aerial Photography

[AleG]

Lately I've been playing with aerial photography, this videos were shot using a GoPro HeroHD camera. I'm planning on upgrading to a Sony Nex 5N as soon as they come back in stock... well, I hope they are back in stock someday.

Let's see if I can embed Vimeo videos here...

Flying around Koh Phi Phi:

Koh Similan at sunset:

http://vimeo.com/36937828

Edited March 17, 2012 by AleG

[AleG]

A couple more.

Koh Kood:

http://vimeo.com/31259263

And Koh Tachai:

http://vimeo.com/36757237

[Godfree]

Holy cow! They're beautiful. Much better than the Thailand Tourism videos. How did you do it?

[koknia]

Agree, beautiful.

[astral]

How did you get up there?

Sprout wings?

[AleG]

Holy cow! They're beautiful. Much better than the Thailand Tourism videos. How did you do it?

Thank you.

The camera is mounted on either a radio controlled multicopter or an airplane, you can see the shadow of the first one at the end of the Koh Phi Phi video and you can get a glimpse of the airplane at around 0:15 in the Koh Tachai video.

The aircraft have a video transmitter, so I see through the onboard camera on video goggles. It's quite thrilling.

I made the airplane watertight so I can fly it over water without worries, or even splash it down for a landing, the multicopter on the other hand is not only not waterproof, but I'm quite sure it would sink like a rock.

This video was shot with the airplane only, you can see a water landing at the end of this video.

http://vimeo.com/37721715

Well, I may just round it up with another video taken on the same dive trip to the Similan Islands, this time at Koh Bon. This one was shot entirely with the multicopter.

http://vimeo.com/37293147

[Daffy D]

Wow! Very Cool

[necronx99]

Excellent!

[Familyonthemove]

That's very impressive! How big is the plane - it's seems to go quite high? The landing looks interesting - if you switch to a Sony, I guess you'll need a waterproof housing?

How about the Lumix FT3?

[AleG]

That's very impressive! How big is the plane - it's seems to go quite high? The landing looks interesting - if you switch to a Sony, I guess you'll need a waterproof housing?

How about the Lumix FT3?

The plane has a wingspan of just under two meters, but disassembled it fits in a relatively small volume.

It´s not so high actually, the wide angle lens gives that impression, I guess. The highest I've taken the plane so far is a bit over 200 or 250 meters over Koh Similan. Once I replace the radiocontrol system for a new one (the one I have has range issues) I could go much, much higher and farther away.

I've already checked about underwater housings for the Sony Nex 5N, it's actually quite cheap and since I dive and like to do UW photography once I find the camera I'll also buy the housing.

[AleG]

Last weekend I eloped to the tiny island of Rayang near Koh Mak, the weather wasn't very good, overcast most of the time and windy, and the lens tended to fog up... so I'm looking forward to go again and try under better circumstances.

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On the plus side the new radio link I installed on the plane seems to be working well and I've flown out to a range of about 1.5 or 2 km. It should have a maximum range of at least 10 to 15km but then I would have to build a directional antenna for the video link.

[Polanskiman]

Hello there. Photography being my passion I have always been interested in aerial photography although never really got into it. I did make some inquiries with some companies based in France in the past but it all seemed very expensive and therefore I didn't pursue it. I have also been interested in flying reduced models airplanes in the "far" past. I did build from scratch a few serious model airplanes out of balsa when I was in high school but studies and then work got the best out of me.

You talk about an airplane and a multicopter. Would you mind giving some further information. Types of planes? overall budget? etc etc...

Any information or recommendation that could help me finally achieve my purpose would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Edited May 29, 2012 by Polanskiman

[AleG]

Hello there. Photography being my passion I have always been interested in aerial photography although never really got into it. I did make some inquiries with some companies based in France in the past but it all seemed very expensive and therefore I didn't pursue it. I have also been interested in flying reduced models airplanes in the "far" past. I did build from scratch a few serious model airplanes out of balsa when I was in high school but studies and then work got the best out of me.

You talk about an airplane and a multicopter. Would you mind giving some further information. Types of planes? overall budget? etc etc...

Any information or recommendation that could help me finally achieve my purpose would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Commercial "platforms" can be very expensive, but I like to build my own aircraft to meet my own requirements and because I enjoy designing and building them.

An overall budget, for the aircraft I have is around 40 to 50 thousand Baht, including all the radio control stuff, video link, video goggles, camera, etc, etc... but excluding the actual airframe.

Of course there's a lot more to it than simply acquiring the components, there's quite a bit of technical knowledge required and flight training needed.

[Polanskiman]

Hello there. Photography being my passion I have always been interested in aerial photography although never really got into it. I did make some inquiries with some companies based in France in the past but it all seemed very expensive and therefore I didn't pursue it. I have also been interested in flying reduced models airplanes in the "far" past. I did build from scratch a few serious model airplanes out of balsa when I was in high school but studies and then work got the best out of me.

You talk about an airplane and a multicopter. Would you mind giving some further information. Types of planes? overall budget? etc etc...

Any information or recommendation that could help me finally achieve my purpose would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Commercial "platforms" can be very expensive, but I like to build my own aircraft to meet my own requirements and because I enjoy designing and building them.

An overall budget, for the aircraft I have is around 40 to 50 thousand Baht, including all the radio control stuff, video link, video goggles, camera, etc, etc... but excluding the actual airframe.

Of course there's a lot more to it than simply acquiring the components, there's quite a bit of technical knowledge required and flight training needed.

Knew the hobby was cash draining but didn't expect that much. What do you mean by "excluding the airframe"? You mean the plane itself? How much would you add up to that estimate?

Yes obviously I need to start learning flying beforehand with cheapo stuff so not to waste money!!

[AleG]

Knew the hobby was cash draining but didn't expect that much. What do you mean by "excluding the airframe"? You mean the plane itself? How much would you add up to that estimate?

Yes obviously I need to start learning flying beforehand with cheapo stuff so not to waste money!!

Airframe is the plane/multirotor without any electronics, motors, bateries, etc, etc..

Mind you, that's what the stuff I'm flying now costs, there are other options that take a much smaller bite.

For learning to fly you can get started with a simple airplane for 5000 baht or less.

[Polanskiman]

Airframe is the plane/multirotor without any electronics, motors, bateries, etc, etc..

Mind you, that's what the stuff I'm flying now costs, there are other options that take a much smaller bite.

For learning to fly you can get started with a simple airplane for 5000 baht or less.

I see, so your plane with electronics and all the stuff included would cost around how much?

Edited May 30, 2012 by Polanskiman

[AleG]

Airframe is the plane/multirotor without any electronics, motors, bateries, etc, etc..

Mind you, that's what the stuff I'm flying now costs, there are other options that take a much smaller bite.

For learning to fly you can get started with a simple airplane for 5000 baht or less.

I see, so your plane with electronics and all the stuff included would cost around how much?

No idea really, probably a lot because it took two or three months to hand craft it.

A similar sized, run-of-the-mill airframe for aerial photography that you could buy should cost at least 5 or 6 thousand Baht, but it won't have all the perks of my plane, like being able to land on water, being very easy to disassemble into small components for transport, etc, etc...

[AleG]

I haven't had much time to travel or fly lately, my latest videos back from June...

Flying at the Cinnamon Resort in Koh Mak, shooting some friend on the pier.

And another with the airplane this time. Since it was so cloudy I thought it may be interesting to fly up to the clouds.

Next month I'm going to Indonesia and hopefully I'll be able to shoot some good footage there.

[Daffy D]

Amazing footage

You must have nerves of steel to fly your expensive lovingly built plane so far away

Any chance of picture of the plane / planes?

Thanks for sharing.

[AleG]

Amazing footage

You must have nerves of steel to fly your expensive lovingly built plane so far away

Any chance of picture of the plane / planes?

Thanks for sharing.

It's meant for flying far, if it gets lost so be it.

The plane is meant for traveling, so it disassembles in pieces no bigger than 50x20cm

And here it is assembled, total wingspan is 1.9 meters.

Here it is in flight.

As I mentioned, the plane is waterproof, so it can land in the sea, here is a helpful divemaster picking it up.

The tricopter is an ugly duckling, but very reliable.

[Daffy D]

Thanks

[AleG]

Here's my latest video, shot in Indonesia in the Komodo National Park three weeks ago.

Be sure to watch all the way through, the next to last shot is great.

[angiud]

Absolutely amazing! I was thinking something similar with my son, loving so much RC copters and planes. Please keep us updated, mostly if you choose to put the wings to a bigger camera

[Daffy D]

Awesome!

Was that a fish Eagle checking out the plane?

And landing on the cabin roof.

How cool s that

[AleG]

Awesome!

Was that a fish Eagle checking out the plane?

And landing on the cabin roof.

How cool s that

If by checking you mean defending its territory or looking for a meal, yeah, I think it was checking it.

Here´s a new video from my last trip, a bumpy ride over the Kawah Ijen volcano in Eastern Java.

[AleG]

I finished editing the aerial video shot with the R/C airplane during the trip to Indonesia, enjoy the view at Komodo National Park.

Edited December 3, 2012 by AleG

[angiud]

Wow another amazing video. Bravissimo!

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Thaivisa Connect App

[Chao Lao Beach]

Really amazing and motivating. Thanks

[AleG]

Last month I had the chance to fly around a bit close to Chumporn and Koh Tao during a trip to remove "ghost nets" from reefs.

Edited July 24, 2013 by AleG

[Chao Lao Beach]

Really great stuff, at 2:35 over the rock islands, I presume is your plane, what camera (or cameras) are you using these days?