In order to take more stable footage, I have ordered a motorised brushless gimbal which attaches to the quadcopter and keeps the GoPro stable during flight no matter how the quadcopter moves. However, while I am waiting for that to arrive, it seemed like a good excuse to have some fun with some faster banked turns and record some on-board footage with the GoPro. As I was using the 'blue mode' on the quadcopter it left most of the controlling to me which was particularly good for filming. The 'green mode' although more fool proof, does constantly correct itself automatically and these tiny alterations are massively magnified in the shot.
Couldn't resist the TopGun soundtrack!!
Did you see the shadow of the quad on the grass at around 1:15 seconds - how cool is that!?
Having experimented with filming from the quadcopter, I really wanted be able to capture the type of footage only quadcopters are capable of filming. In theory, filming with a quadcopter allows for flowing footage, over things that would normally require some sort of crane or gib. I deliberately chose something 'boring' and normally uninspiring. A fallen tree-trunk in the middle of Richmond Park should do the trick! I simply flew over the top it, whilst rotating the quad through 180 degrees., keeping the tree-trunk as the main focal point of the shot.
Filming a fallen tree-trunk like they do in the movies!
I needed to buy a carry case for the quad, so did a little research and most were either too bulky or not good enough quality. This was going to be carrying over £600 worth of kit - it needed to be good!
Having found a case to be exactly what I wanted, I managed to strike a deal with the supplier and bought a batch of these ultra protective cases! They are superior in quality to any of the others I have seen - and because I bought in bulk, I can now sell them on eBay at a discount:
The dimensions are 51.5cm x 41.5cm x 20cm. Unlike some of the other cases available, it is within the Easyjet hand luggage allowance and can be stored in the overhead compartment and not thrown around in the hold! (This is of particular benefit to me as I have a friend who lives in Swizerland that I frequently visit)
These cases are awesome! They are made of tough, rugged, durable black plastic, and have four layers of foam of various thickness inside them. Two of the foam sheets are 'egg crate' shaped (see picture) and two are 'pick and pluck' so it is entirely customisable to what you would like to carry with your quadcopter.
I could only work out two layouts for the 'pick and pluck' foam in order to carry the quadcopter and the Transmitter which I will e-mail to anyone who purchases one. The 'pick and pluck' foam squares although attached, can pull out easily with your fingers - so no cutting required. I only have a couple of battery packs at the moment, but will simply remove a few more blocks if I buy any more (plenty of room!). I also use I blue metal lipo charger which easily fits but so does the standard charger.
The Blade 350 QX fits in lengthways with GoPro attached without removing the rotor blades as displayed in the pictures. There is also a layer of regular 'thin' foam sheeting on the bottom underneath the skis, and 'egg crate' type foam on the inside of the lid in the configuration shown. This means none of the quadcopter is in direct contact with the the plastic box for added protection. There are no stickers on the box which could give away what you are carrying. Although there is a small rectangle on the lid for you to add your own if you so wish. Finally there is a dial which you can turn to seal or release the pressure from the box - which is slightly over engineered!!
I went out for an hour on the bikes with my Dad this morning and took the chance to try the new helmet mount for the GoPro. The mount straps on to your helmet and the GoPro clips in! As long as the surface is relatively smooth, the shot stays reasonably stable.
This is just a couple of clips of the footage it recorded earlier today. Good Colour and fairly stable!
So having familiarised myself with the controls of the quadcopter, I plucked up the courage to attach my GoPro to it. The Blade 350 QX can fly in 3 modes, green, blue and red. Green is best suited to photography as the quad is very stable, automatically correcting itself and always following the direction of the stick no matter which way the quad is orientated. Providing the green light stays solid (indicating that it has GPS lock) and knows where it is, it will also fly in vertical columns. This means if the quad is sitting on the ground, just by moving the left stick up the quad will elevate to the required level, keep itself stable, and maintain it's location even in windy conditions. The rudder can adjust the angle of the quadcopter ensuring the camera is taking the right shot. The GoPro was set to time-lapse mode again, automatically taking a photo every 0.5 seconds.
I also experimented with shooting some video from the air. I knew the footage was going to be shaky as I haven't fitted a gimbal yet (which will keep the GoPro completely stable no matter which way the quad moves). However, I thought the footage was going to be much worse than it turned out. The previous video was of the quad flying in blue mode, constantly requiring stick inputs and correction. The video below was almost only controlled with the left stick, accelerating the quad to a given height then using left or right rudder to orientate the quad through 360 degrees before reducing the throttle and lowering it to the ground again.
You can hear the quadcopter compensate for the wind by constantly correcting itself
Quadcopter battery charged, tick! GoPro battery charged, tick! Massive open space where I'm unlikely to hit anything, tick!!! Time to have some fun! Mounting the GoPro on a tripod in the middle of an open field, video mode set to widescreen at 60fps (as this thing is quick!), I hit record and got some cool shots flying towards, away from and around the GoPro!
Having captured some pretty cool clips that I could cut together, I wanted to take some high-res photos of it hovering and accelerating off into the distance. Ideally I wanted to hit burst mode when the Quad came into shot, but I ran out of hands as I was flying it at the same time! So I set the GoPro to time-lapse mode where it takes a photo every 0.5 seconds automatically so I could concentrate on flying the Quad at some crazy angles and not hitting the tripod!
Solid blue light indicates stability mode with GPS lock on
Red blades at the front helps with the orientation of the Quad when far away
If I had angled the GoPro towards the sky it would have captured more vivid colours
The Blade 350 QX hovers quite well once trimmed
This is almost at full tilt as the Quad accelerates into the distance!
Originally I wanted a Quadcopter to be able to capture some awesome aerial footage with my GoPro and I looked at buying a DJI Phantom. However, the RC Geek in me was so impressed with the sheer performance of the Blade 350 QX that it's as much fun to use without even attaching the camera to it (GoPro mount included in the box with the QX model). Having received excellent customer service from Neil at Hurricane Models who originally showed me the Blade from Horizon, I bought it from them who were kind enough to 'bind' the model to the spektrum radio gear and enable GPS lock mode, which allows the Quad to 'return to home' at the flick of a switch - demonstrated at the end of the video above. I thoroughly recommend!
Having watched the Tour de France in Essex, I timed a short holiday to France itself so I could watch the TDF Time Trials in Perigueux near Limoges. Having waited for about 2 hours in Essex, all I managed to capture was a 30 second video of the Peleton flying round a bend. The format of the TT was very different, with the riders setting off a few minutes apart from each other. This meant in theory they should be a lot easier to capture individual photographs and videos as they rushed passed. With the GoPro set to Burst mode I was able to shoot 10 x 10 megapixel shots per second! I have compiled my Photos in this short video below:
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