Aerial Helicopter Shoot using RED/Eclipse

[Phil Bates]

Artbeats recently did an aerial shoot in Hawaii using Pictorvision's Eclipse and thought I would share for those interested.

This was my first time using the Eclipse which is a fairly new gyrostabilized gimbal. We did a full day of shooting, touring the islands from Kauai to the Big Island. The goal was to shoot scenics, establishments and cities. We captured 400 shots of which around 200 are amazing and will be published on our site as soon as we can. We shot 4K 16:9, 30fps using the RED RAM, then 4K HD when we switched to the RED hard drive.

This was the first time a RED 18-85mm lens was used on the Eclipse and it worked great! I had access to the Optimo 25-250 but I wanted a wider focal length. Here it is installed on the Eclipse:

Here is the Eclipse on the helo the morning of the shoot. The guy with the big smile is Doug Holgate, my camera operator. (an awesome aerial DP!)

We had a few problems with dropouts and flicker, but those were minor, and the flicker --which affected very few clips-- is fixable. I think the flicker had something to do with radio interference affecting the servo gear on the iris (I've seen this happen before on other aerial shoots). I don't believe the dropouts were drive related but still suspect the radio. If you have any experience with something similar I would love to hear from you.

Here is one of the frames from the footage over Molokai.

I am extremely excited about this footage and will be previewing some of it at NAB. I'll be at the Artbeats booth, South Hall upstairs next to Avid.

The Pictorvision people were very helpful, especially the tech Eric Dvorsky. I heartily recommend them, just give yourself plenty of time for rigging.

Phil

 

[Shawn Nelson]

Wow!!! Phil, this is incredible, I definitely want to see this.

Did you put any filtration in front of the lens? It seems you'd want at least a threaded circ pola.

Btw, I you do this same thing for forest and mainland mountain flyovers

 

[Steve Gibby]

Very cool Phil...I'll look forward to checking out that footage!

I've shot aerials in Hawaii many times. It's breathtaking for sure...

That frame you posted looks like the North Shore of Molokai, with the Kalaupapa Peninsula at the top of the frame. For an ESPN adventure travel show in the '90's I rode a mule all the way down (2,000') the switchback trail on those cliffs - while shoulder holding a full-sized camera - then all the way back up doing the same. I slept well that night...

 

[Mark Phelan]

Very cool Phil...I'll look forward to checking out that footage!

I've shot aerials in Hawaii many times. It's breathtaking for sure...

That frame you posted looks like the North Shore of Molokai, with the Kalaupaka Peninsula at the top of the frame. For an ESPN adventure travel show in the '90's I rode a mule all the way down (2,000') the switchback trail on those cliffs - while shoulder holding a full-sized camera - then all the way back up doing the same. I slept well that night...

I'll bet the mule did too... ;-)

 

[Steve Gibby]

No doubt...

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

Did you get dropped frames while using the RED RAM or just the RAID?

 

[CJ Roy]

Very cool, are you able to get a full HD signal inside the chopper with the Eclipse?

 

[Phil Bates]

Thanks Guys,

Shawn, yes, we use a pola. It wasn't threaded so we just taped it.

Steve, yes, that was the north-east end of Molokai. We were really impressed with Molokai, lots of different looks, pristine rocky beaches and those canyons were awesome. Here's a frame as we worked our way up one of them:

I was happy to get this whale breach:

And this shot of the observatories on Maunu Kea. That was a long climb to get to 13,400ft:

Here was our route. Took 7.5 hours flying time, 12 hours actual time:

Thanks again for having a look, I hope to post a link to some of the footage later today.

Phil

 

[Phil Bates]

Did you get dropped frames while using the RED RAM or just the RAID?

Just the RAID. However, Eric said they've never seen dropouts using the RAID on the Eclipse. The dropouts weren't an occasional frame, each dropout was a second or two long and they coincided with interference we saw on the monitors when the pilot was using the radio. We didn't see the interference earlier in the day when the RAM was installed.

Phil

 

[Phil Bates]

Very cool, are you able to get a full HD signal inside the chopper with the Eclipse?

Yes, that part worked great. I had a 7" monitor on my lap. The pilot and (of course) the camera operator also had monitors.

Phil

 

[Eli Jarra]

Yes, that part worked great. I had a 7" monitor on my lap. The pilot and (of course) the camera operator also had monitors.

Phil

Fantastic Phil...and the whale breach is just pure candy...Can't wait to see it all graded.
Eli

 

[CJ Roy]

Just the RAID. However, Eric said they've never seen dropouts using the RAID on the Eclipse. The dropouts weren't an occasional frame, each dropout was a second or two long and they coincided with interference we saw on the monitors when the pilot was using the radio. We didn't see the interference earlier in the day when the RAM was installed.

Phil

Phil-

Truly stunning work. That whale breach is incredible. What luck! Should sell for a pretty penny for sure.

I don't understand how the Raid's wouldn't drop frames... but the interference is rather puzzling. Seems like it interrupted the signal through the slip rings somehow, which can happen with stronger signals. I've heard it's been known to happen around the Empire State building where the operators will actually see another signal on their monitors. But strong enough to affect spinning disks? Weird.

Ram's really seem to be the only reliable solution, thanks for the pics! Can't wait to see the footage.

 

[Michael Brennan]

lenses

lenses

Looks like a great trip!

Cause of interference can be soooo difficult to pinpoint.
Ive used red in wescam and other stabilised mounts and on three different aircraft types without any electrical interference. Sometimes it is the gimbal cables acting like antennas...

Always wise to do a comms check and replay before you take off to at least eliminate the aircraft systems.
Did you make the right choice of lenses at the end of the day, the eclipse is very stable and 250mm is no problem.
Did you shoot with the port off? if so any issues with wind buffeting affecting stability?
Would the long zoom lens squeezed inside the Eclipse?
Did you rig your own red and lens or did it come prerigged?


Mike Brennan

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

Just the RAID. However, Eric said they've never seen dropouts using the RAID on the Eclipse. The dropouts weren't an occasional frame, each dropout was a second or two long and they coincided with interference we saw on the monitors when the pilot was using the radio. We didn't see the interference earlier in the day when the RAM was installed.

Phil

Interesting. Thank you very much for the info.

How come you didn't cover the North shore? Been seen too many times?

 

[Phil Bates]

Looks like a great trip!
...
Did you make the right choice of lenses at the end of the day, the eclipse is very stable and 250mm is no problem.
Did you shoot with the port off? if so any issues with wind buffeting affecting stability?
Would the long zoom lens squeezed inside the Eclipse?
Did you rig your own red and lens or did it come prerigged?

Mike Brennan

Thanks Mike I'll respond below...

Did you make the right choice of lenses at the end of the day,...
Mike Brennan

Yes, I was glad to have a wider lens that went 18mm rather than 25mm. Since we didn't have any targets on our shot list that required a tight zoom, the 85mm was sufficient on the long end.

the eclipse is very stable and 250mm is no problem....
Mike Brennan

Yes, the Eclipse is very stable, however to get stability for tracking objects it's hard to control cleanly without trim knobs. The instability comes from trying to make tiny adjustments while fighting the vibration and movement of the helicopter. One way to get around this is to use the GPS lock they call Geo Steering. Unfortunately, you have to take the time to set up the target, and our time budget didn't allow for that.

Did you shoot with the port off? if so any issues with wind buffeting affecting stability?
Mike Brennan

Eric brought several covers with various sized "holes" the camera sees through. We had to use the cover with the largest hole. There was no instability due to buffeting. In fact, you can fly straight ahead at 100 mph and the gimbal fights the wind and pressures flawlessly, something that the Wescam couldn't do.

That said, the Pilot could feel the pressure changes as we panned around and he was constantly compensating. It wasn't a problem, he could just feel it.

Would the long zoom lens squeezed inside the Eclipse?
Mike Brennan

Yes, the 25mm to 250mm Optimo fits fine. In fact, it was used the day before with an Arri 435 on the same system. The limitation that almost killed the Red lens idea was the width of front barrel. Eric had to use his largest ring which barely fit. There were some other "lining up" issues that had to be resolved as well, which is why I recommend plenty of rigging time.

Did you rig your own red and lens or did it come prerigged?
Mike Brennan

We used their RED and our Lens and our drives. We would have used our RED if not for a snafu on our end. One reason it was important to use our drives is that this was a one day shoot and we needed extra time to off load the drives. It was just nice to be able to take them with us.

We tried copying files from the RED RAM drives while flying but couldn't keep up due to all the interruptions. Here is a photo showing my laptop copying on the right while Doug is operating on the left.

Phil

 

[Phil Bates]

Here is a quick and dirty preview reel. FYI there is no audio and the clips need better grading.

http://www.artbeats.com/demo_reels/26

Phil

 

[CJ Roy]

Phil-

The 30fps was the timebase of the camera, or were you overcranking at 30?

For the offload station inside the helo, I've been sort of setting up the same thing. I've figured that the bumps of the ride would certainly be an issue, so SSD's in everything from the computer to the offload drives seems like a must.

Great work, love the footage.

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

Nice shots of Honolulu. Is 1:28 a shot of Diamond Head?

 

[Phil Bates]

CJ, 30fps was the timebase of the camera. I prefer to shoot 30 fps than 24.

The bumps IN the helo aren't too bad, especially if the drives are sitting on a padded seat. I've never had a problem with hard drives or with my laptop in the cockpit of a helo. I agree that SSD's are the safest, though.

Roberto, it's not Diamond Head but very similar. It looks a little rockier and has more drama to it. It is called Koko Head and is just east of Hanauma Bay. Basically located on the Southeast corner of Oahu.

Phil

 

[albert rudnicki]

some gorgeous images there Phil!
quite a lot of footy for one day flight
Cheers