On-board Video Equipment?

Hi All,

I'm hoping to take some on-board video of my first Regional
competition in April - but all I have right now is a hand-held
camcorder. OBVIOUSLY that is not a safe device to use when doing any
serious flying; especially not in a contest environment!

So I wanted to ask folks if they knew of a good setup to use. I'm
thinking about a bullet/lipstick camera that I can put either in the
cockpit (on some kind of remote mount), or up on the TE probe. I want
something I can simply turn on at the beginning of each flight and let
it capture a couple of hours of video (hands-free operation so its not
a distraction during my competition).

I've found some interesting "helmet-cam" type systems (the VIO POV1
system is especially impressive), but I'm not sure if these systems
have a wide-enough lens or can focus on distant objects well-enough to
capture the actual scenery when soaring.

Any tips or ideas on equipment?

Thanks, take care,

--Noel

On Jan 28, 3:31*am, "noel.wade" wrote:
Hi All,

I'm hoping to take some on-board video of my first Regional
competition in April - but all I have right now is a hand-held
camcorder. *OBVIOUSLY that is not a safe device to use when doing any
serious flying; especially not in a contest environment!

So I wanted to ask folks if they knew of a good setup to use. *I'm
thinking about a bullet/lipstick camera that I can put either in the
cockpit (on some kind of remote mount), or up on the TE probe. *I want
something I can simply turn on at the beginning of each flight and let
it capture a couple of hours of video (hands-free operation so its not
a distraction during my competition).

I've found some interesting "helmet-cam" type systems (the VIO POV1
system is especially impressive), but I'm not sure if these systems
have a wide-enough lens or can focus on distant objects well-enough to
capture the actual scenery when soaring.

Any tips or ideas on equipment?

Thanks, take care,

--Noel

May I gently suggest that flying a first competition and in-air
photography are each tasks that take 120% of your attention and
probably not wise to combine.

John Cochrane BB

On Jan 28, 4:31*am, "noel.wade" wrote:

Any tips or ideas on equipment?

I managed to get an ACT3K for Christmas that I believe will be ideal
for this kind of thing -- but I won't be able to report back any first-
hand experience until all the stupid snow is gone. . ..

http://www2.oregonscientific.com/sho...?cid=6&scid=14

There are a few sample videos on the web, but mostly made with
motorbikes: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=yD2MufbV_To

Cheers,

Rob

Rob,

That ACT3K looks interesting but I can't find any mention at the web
page or its user manual wrt how much video it will hold. With a
storage limitation of 4G it doesn't seem it will be very much. What's
been your experience?

Is the quality good? I've seen lots of cameras that specify 640x480
resolution but they do it will CCDs that are smaller, sometimes a lot
smaller.

~ted/2NO

On Jan 28, 7:40*am, Rob wrote:
On Jan 28, 4:31*am, "noel.wade" wrote:

Any tips or ideas on equipment?

I managed to get an ACT3K for Christmas that I believe will be ideal
for this kind of thing -- but I won't be able to report back any first-
hand experience until all the stupid snow is gone. . *..

http://www2.oregonscientific.com/sho...?cid=6&scid=14

There are a few sample videos on the web, but mostly made with
motorbikes:http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=yD2MufbV_To

Cheers,

Rob

In the SSA Video Gallery, the video by Dave Newill (2nd row left) as
taken with an ACT2K. Expect the same output from the ACT3K.

POV.1 has had a couple of nice upgrades to support up to 8GB SDHC
cards and an external power feed. It has several video settings
also. It now appears possible to record up to 5h45m in the highest
setting without touching it, which would be good if used in
competition. The latest camera head has 110degs field of view. It
takes up more space than a camcorder or ACT3K.

That said, an hour to 80mins of miniDV tape yields 15GB of hiqh
quality video. These other devices are considerably lower quality for
post flight processing, but they are a lot less hassle.

Frank Whiteley

Noel,

The esteemed John Cochrane BB is right on. Adding camera duties on top
of your flying duties at your first contest invites equipment
overload. Two or three contests down the road you can consider the
wisdom of a video camera in the cockpit. The contest work load is not
to be under anticipated.

John Seaborn A8

wrote:

The esteemed John Cochrane BB is right on. Adding camera duties on top
of your flying duties at your first contest invites equipment
overload. Two or three contests down the road you can consider the

Do some of you you even read a question before answering to it? Noel
explicitely asked for something he "can simply turn on at the beginning
of each flight and let it capture a couple of hours of video".

On Jan 28, 12:13*pm, John Smith wrote:
wrote:
The esteemed John Cochrane BB is right on. Adding camera duties on top
of your flying duties at your first contest invites equipment
overload. Two or three contests down the road you can consider the

Do some of you you even read a question before answering to it? Noel
explicitely asked for something he "can simply turn on at the beginning
of each flight and let it capture a couple of hours of video".

Both of the folks who replied clearly read the post and clearly
anticipated the problems that a newbie wouldn't. Imagine the
scenario... Sitting on the grid 10 minutes before launch. Time to
turn on the camera. Let's see if the little green light comes on.
Hmmm... no little green light. I wonder why that is? Let's check
the connections to the battery. Damn... I wonder if I forgot to
recharge. I'll just stroll back to the trailer to get the backup.
Hmm... I know it's here somewhere. Hey, why are all those guys down
on the line jumping up and down?

I'm sure Noel is smarter than that. Unfortunately, that's "resting
IQ." Contests seem to make us all dumber by 25%, and suddenly we're
not nearly as smart as we thought we were.

There are so many things that can and will go wrong at the first
contest. Do you really think that playing Warren Miller of the Sky
is a smart use of what little brain capacity may be left?

Sometimes the pundits really do know what they're talking about.

Respectfully submitted,
P3

All -

I knew I would get some replies with concerns about safety. First: I
thank you for your input and caution. Please understand that I will
be taking all of this into account; and its always good to hear
_friendly_ reminders about these factors. :-)

My intention, as stated, is to do something that is "fire and
forget". And I will NOT be compromising the race in order to catch it
on film. The idea is to use the footage as an educational /
motivational tool for other young XC pilots, IF I can. I'm an IT
person when I'm not flying, so I'm very comfortable with the
technology and I think I can rig it all up a few weeks before-hand and
not have it be a distraction.

If I don't have it all set up and tested before I trailer down to
Warner Springs in April, I will NOT attempt to set it up at the
competition site. Furthermore, if the camera doesn't work the first
time I press the power or record button, it will be discarded /
ignored. The competition itself is undoubtedly top priority - I'm
there to have a safe and fun time flying; I'm not there to be a
filmmaker.

Paul - thanks for the info; I'm looking to spend $500 - $800 (maybe a
little more if I find something to-die-for; but NOT $1600). :-P

Also, for any system that needs a "head unit", I can use a remote
camera and plug its output into my camcorder (secured and unreachable
behind the seat). The camcorder is a hard-drive-based one that can
record for a pretty good length of time; but I'd rather not deal with
it if I don't have to.

Thanks all, I appreciate any further suggestions,

--Noel

P.S. Since most people don't know me that well, let me explain my
attitude towards technology and distractions in the cockpit:

I'm the kind of IT guy who yells at everyone to stop playing with
their PDAs and flight computers, and to keep their eyes OUTSIDE! :-P

I fly with a PDA myself, but all I do is glance at it occasionally to
determine 3 things (in this order):

1) Am I where I think I am?
2) Does the computer think I can make it to any airports/landout spots
(i.e. "What's my escape route right now")?
3) How far is it to my desired waypoint?

I set my systems up so that this is all "no-hands" operation, and I
rarely, if ever, monkey with the PDA in flight (usually only when on
casual flights and the Wx is not what was forecast, so I change my
waypoints to fly in a different part of the sky). Even then, I only do
it while in straight-and-level flight when I'm not near other gliders
or aircraft... and I only go "heads-down" for 5 - 10 seconds at a
time. That means these small changes can take a couple of minutes;
but I've had a couple of near-collisions while flying powered aircraft
- so I REALLY value "see and avoid"!

Now, back to cameras... any thoughts?

--Noel