Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/271000
EAA Experimenter 39 Photography by Dan Grunloh Flying videos are generally better if multiple views are shown. Alternate views are especially helpful in tractor airplanes to break up the constant intrusion of the curved prop image caused by digital shutter ef ects. My trike of ers the choice of mounting on the landing gear or the control bar of the wing. In turbulence, the wing mount gives me better results because the trike wing is quite damped in the roll axis whereas the undercarriage wiggles around more. In either case, turbulent conditions do not produce good videos. We want to show the fun of fl ying, not the uncomfort- able bits. Trike pilot Barry Maggio garnered publicity when he became the fi rst LSA trike pilot to fl y up the Hudson River and around the Statue of Liberty. His "Flying Around New York Harbor" video was shot from the trike control bar, and Barry has been experimenting with a video camera mounted with a panning tripod head. Browsing through the vast number of fl ying videos online will yield examples of some unusual mounting positions that produce striking results. Paraglider pilot and AirVenture ultra- light volunteer John Vining suspended a small helmet camera from a line of the end of his paraglider wing. The camera is turned on and then laid out on the ground with the canopy for takeof . As the chute comes up on takeof , the camera is lifted and then guided by small fi ns; it follows him and documents the fl ight from a unique angle. He calls it his chase cam. Watch his delightful fi lm "Oshkosh Ultralight Field 2012." The possibilities for camera mountings are limited only by imagination. I'm surprised I haven't seen a GoPro or other tiny video camera mounted on a small pistol grip. I'd like to try having one mounted in a holster on my chest so I could whip it out quickly for opportunistic videos. Besides mounting a video camera on your powered parachute wing, a tripod pan head, or a pistol grip, there is one more possibility, the "camera on a stick" method. An exciting gyroplane video from Germany illustrates the possibilities of this confi guration and at the same time begs for comment about the apparent lack of any safety line or tether on the equipment. IMPORTANT SAFET Y WARNINGS Whenever the pilot in command is involved in taking pictures or videos, extra vigilance is required to maintain safety. It's easy to get absorbed into the picture-taking process and forget to fl y the airplane. The desire to "get the shot" can tempt the pilot to take additional risks. Having a passenger operate the handheld camera should improve the safety and the photogra- phy. All handheld still and video cameras should be tethered. It's absolutely vital for open-cockpit pusher aircraft and can be as simple as a neck strap that actually goes around your neck. I can't count the number of times I have seen handheld cameras used in open cockpits without a safety line. Mine is tethered to the shoulder harness with a carabiner link. A dropped camera that encounters the prop will surely cause a The shadow of a trike on a harvested soybean fi eld from a NEX-6 camera mounted on left landing gear. E A A E X P _ M a r 1 4 . i n d d 3 9 EAAEXP_Mar14.indd 39 3 / 3 / 1 4 1 0 : 3 4 A M 3/3/14 10:34 AM