What is the L/D penalty of outside mounted GoPros?

On Monday, 5 January 2015 09:06:58 UTC+2, Heinz Gehlhaar wrote:
But the outside camera will miss the sounds you hear and we all fly by. Also we wont get to see the instruments, and you cannot annotate in real life.
BTW: Thanks for all your uploaded videos.
Heinz

There are a couple of solutions to record cockpit audio with an externally mounted camera.

1. The easiest/cheapest solution is to record sound in the cockpit using a cheap smartphone or dictaphone and then sync it with the video post production.

2. Another option is to stream the audio from the cockpit to the external camera via bluetooth or Wifi.
One such solution is the Sena Bluetooth Audio Pack for GoPro http://www.sena.com/product/cameras/...opackforgopro/
The Sena solution requires no post production audio syncing and it even allows you to mix the GoPro's internal microphone with external audio input.

My biggest gripe regarding action camera's and flying is their very limited battery life.
The last thing I want to be doing while flying is fiddling with nonsense when I should be looking outside the cockpit.
20,000 mAh battery pack + 128GB SD card = switch on recording on the ground and switch it off after landing. Then edit the video post flight.

Bruno,
You just posted a video of some Wave flying using two cameras in your cockpit. That was awesome. For me that was all I needed. Some great wing flex with two perspectives at the same time is perfect.

Surge, I agree about crappy battery life in the cameras. I solved this problem with a solderng iron. It voids warranty, but FYI you can hardwire your go pro/sony cam into a 12v to 5v stepdown and run it off the glider battery.. This way you get endless video. I think Paul @ Cumulus has some 5v battery options as well...anway, I'm doing this currently and have landed with 5 hrs of extremely boring, continuous flight video of flatland soaring....I need to move to the mountains!

On Tuesday, January 6, 2015 9:34:02 AM UTC-5, PBA wrote:
I'm doing this currently and have landed with 5 hrs of extremely boring, continuous flight video of flatland soaring....I need to move to the mountains!

Serious question. Did watching the video change your enjoyment of flatland soaring? Or were you starting to get bored with it before you took the video?

Flubber,

Serious answer: I love flatland soaring and I'm not bored with it by any means. Video taping my own flatland flights has increased my passion and satisfaction with soaring immensely. I was just comparing my 5-hr local flatland soaring video to B4's edited, 1-hr, monster XC, mountain flight. Boring in comparison

Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas posted. The idea is to have possibly 4 cameras running during any given flight that I can draw footage from to tell the story of that flight. I'm just trying to continue to up the game since equipment is making it more possible to tell stories and show what we are experiencing up there in the skies better than ever before.

My biggest problem with these lipstick cams is that the field of view is still too narrow. The one that Andy mentioned is only 140 degrees. The Hero3 is 170 degrees. I am finding that wider is better for helping the audience feel they are there.

Thanks,
Bruno - B4

Howsitgoin, Bruno!
Nice videos. (and hopefully some year I can get to Nephi for one of your camps, but work always gets in the bloody way)
For a laugh, do you think anyone asked these questions when a wing-mount camera required lead weight on the other tip?
Jim

On Tuesday, January 6, 2015 8:21:17 AM UTC-8, wrote:
Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas posted. The idea is to have possibly 4 cameras running during any given flight that I can draw footage from to tell the story of that flight. I'm just trying to continue to up the game since equipment is making it more possible to tell stories and show what we are experiencing up there in the skies better than ever before.

My biggest problem with these lipstick cams is that the field of view is still too narrow. The one that Andy mentioned is only 140 degrees. The Hero3 is 170 degrees. I am finding that wider is better for helping the audience feel they are there.

Thanks,
Bruno - B4

I've had good luck with wide angle and fisheye conversion lenses (up to 180 degree FOV). Like this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc... on_Lens.html

An example video with a fisheye lens converter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aDJLDQ-5QU

The GoPro produces a fair amount of barrel distortion that may be less desirable on external shots with the glider wings, etc. in the frame - depends on what you are looking for. You can fix the distortion in post with the right software tools but that's a time-consuming pain.

There are all sorts of lenses with their own FOV and degree of distortion so it's easy to change.

3 GoPros out in the breeze will make your ASW-27 into an ASW-19 more or less. Use of aerodynamic fairings can reduce the drag by a factor of 3-5.

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

9B

Bruno-

Forgive the bit of thread drift....

What mount is that you have on your glareshield in your latest video? Always enjoy watching your video!

On Tuesday, 6 January 2015 18:21:17 UTC+2, wrote:
My biggest problem with these lipstick cams is that the field of view is still too narrow. The one that Andy mentioned is only 140 degrees. The Hero3 is 170 degrees. I am finding that wider is better for helping the audience feel they are there.

Thanks,
Bruno - B4

I personally don't like the wide angle shots as one gets too much extension distortion (objects close to the camera look too large relative to objects in the distance which appear too small). On top of that there is the horrendous barrel distortion to take care of.
It however does makes the video look more impressive as it gives the impression of higher speeds as distance objects grow in size rapidly before flashing by.

For me the idea setup would be a GoPro shooting at 2.7K and processed to remove the barrel distortion, image stabilized and then cropped to 1080p to reduce the FOV.
One product which can do all of the above for the price of an aerotow is ProDad ProDRENALIN http://www.prodad.com/home/products/...2316,l-us.html

Maybe someone would like to make GoPro fairings for glider pilots.

On Tuesday, January 6, 2015 at 9:59:38 PM UTC-8, Surge wrote:

Maybe someone would like to make GoPro fairings for glider pilots.

Like this?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw1...ew?usp=sharing

9B