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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Monstro, Kowas, Mavic and oranges.

Björn Benckert

Björn Benckert

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A little project we did together with Director Anders Hallberg, shot in his garden down in Mallorca during easter.

We used the PS rehoused kowas, Not so impressed by the lenses they where both poorly aligned most of them an way more soft compared to other kowas and anas I used before. Dont know if this set was uniqe in that way.

mhttps://vimeo.com/265779433

 
I find it crazy/scary (and encouraging) that a sub-$1k drone can be made to match so well with a raw 8k VV cinema camera with anamorphic lenses. Had you not said anything, I doubt anyone would've noticed/cared that it was shot on 8k VV (or Mavic).
 
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Really impressed with how the Mavic cut together. Was there a sky replacement in the sunset aerial? The flares and other GFX seemed to really sell it!
 
Shooting landscape with very deep DOF you won‘t notice much whether it is anamorphic or spheres.
Unless you have direct sunlight in your frame. So, 00:18-00:20 I would expect Kowas to flare differently. I don‘t know Mavic, but these flares could be in post?

Björn, what was the reason you did not shoot aerials with a REAL drone using the same camera lens setup like on the ground? Budget constraints?
 
The big drones bring one positive which is DR, a flying monstro with HDRX is nice for sure.
But the larger sensors does not show when camera is up in the air usually 15 meters or more, like Thai says above you normally shoot quite wide and all is sharp. Also the battery times goes south quite quickly with bigger drones and you start to make line producers worried even before you get a big drone out of the car... or van, you need a van for a big drone. For me it would be impossilbe to pack a big drone, monstro, tripod, lenses, dit station and everything needed for a shoot and take it from Sweden to Mallorca on a just a single business ticket. Bringing my own gear lets us stay in the sun, work slow with a small team and wait for magic hour / better weather. Instead of renting stuff and all of a sudden shooting window needs to be more narrow which in return makes it logic to bring in a lot of people to nail it in such short time... and then all of a sudden you got 20 people filming an orange.. :)

I used to have a big drone, carrying epic. Now I only fly Mavic and spark. I fly alot, since about 6 months back I fly half an hour every day. Doing so build confidence, I crash a lot, mostly the spark, righ now it hangs high up in a tree in my garden, so need to buy a chainsaw, big drones you need to be more worried about. I would not fly far, out of site, etc with a big drone. But with mavic if no body risk being hurt I just fly it until I loose contact and then wait for it to come back, no worry, doing the same with monstro is more teeth grinding experience. This production I did together with a friend, We got pretty much free hands from the agency that did not even bother to attend the shoot. Sure we could have got a drone to carry the monstro. But Im also confident that nobody would spot the difference. And I had hours of mallorca orange grow arial footage from this trip something that would get stuck in flight premissions if getting a bigger drone. Mallorca is a small island and with one of the most bussy airports in europe. A big drone simply pulls to much attention. With the mavic i can fly over a 2-3km peremeter and look like a tourist, no premit no fuss. And both drone shots looked quite different before post, the fields needed to be extended there is no big groves on the island and surrounding houses needed to look more apealing etc. So the drone shot is more of a starting plate, could probably have done the two shots as mattpaintings but for sure better to start from real material.

Im waiting / hoping for dji to blend the x7 with a mavic air. I dont like the inspire2’s drones think they are way too big, and dumb construction with the wings folding up which makes them big in the case and the controlers are stupidly large. So hoping they make somthing small with sensors in all directions that carry the x7 then, for me that would mean game over for all large drones.

And this was a small production, Anders, Me and his assistant and a line producer to drive us around. No client or agency there that needed to be impressed by fancy camera gear so ladder dolly and mavic it was :)
 
My thoughts exactly

Mike P. said:
I find it crazy/scary that a sub-$1k drone can be made to match so well with a raw 8k VV cinema camera with anamorphic lenses. Had you not said anything, I doubt anyone would've noticed/cared that it was shot on 8k VV (or Mavic)...
Click to expand...
 
Björn Benckert said:
The big drones bring one positive which is DR, a flying monstro with HDRX is nice for sure.
But the larger sensors does not show when camera is up in the air usually 15 meters or more, like Thai says above you normally shoot quite wide and all is sharp. Also the battery times goes south quite quickly with bigger drones and you start to make line producers worried even before you get a big drone out of the car... or van, you need a van for a big drone. For me it would be impossilbe to pack a big drone, monstro, tripod, lenses, dit station and everything needed for a shoot and take it from Sweden to Mallorca on a just a single business ticket. Bringing my own gear lets us stay in the sun, work slow with a small team and wait for magic hour / better weather. Instead of renting stuff and all of a sudden shooting window needs to be more narrow which in return makes it logic to bring in a lot of people to nail it in such short time... and then all of a sudden you got 20 people filming an orange.. :)

I used to have a big drone, carrying epic. Now I only fly Mavic and spark. I fly alot, since about 6 months back I fly half an hour every day. Doing so build confidence, I crash a lot, mostly the spark, righ now it hangs high up in a tree in my garden, so need to buy a chainsaw, big drones you need to be more worried about. I would not fly far, out of site, etc with a big drone. But with mavic if no body risk being hurt I just fly it until I loose contact and then wait for it to come back, no worry, doing the same with monstro is more teeth grinding experience. This production I did together with a friend, We got pretty much free hands from the agency that did not even bother to attend the shoot. Sure we could have got a drone to carry the monstro. But Im also confident that nobody would spot the difference. And I had hours of mallorca orange grow arial footage from this trip something that would get stuck in flight premissions if getting a bigger drone. Mallorca is a small island and with one of the most bussy airports in europe. A big drone simply pulls to much attention. With the mavic i can fly over a 2-3km peremeter and look like a tourist, no premit no fuss. And both drone shots looked quite different before post, the fields needed to be extended there is no big groves on the island and surrounding houses needed to look more apealing etc. So the drone shot is more of a starting plate, could probably have done the two shots as mattpaintings but for sure better to start from real material.

Im waiting / hoping for dji to blend the x7 with a mavic air. I dont like the inspire2’s drones think they are way too big, and dumb construction with the wings folding up which makes them big in the case and the controlers are stupidly large. So hoping they make somthing small with sensors in all directions that carry the x7 then, for me that would mean game over for all large drones.

And this was a small production, Anders, Me and his assistant and a line producer to drive us around. No client or agency there that needed to be impressed by fancy camera gear so ladder dolly and mavic it was :)
Click to expand...

Hey Björn, next time hire me :-)
I have big drone, and yet quite portable compared to other big guys. Whole kit fits into Peli 1650, 1510 and a carry on backpack. See image.

Peli 1650: X8 Octo with 15'' props mounted, 2x Futaba, 2x SmallHD Monitors, props spares - gross weight 20kg
Peli 1510: Gimbal with either RED Helium/Arri Mini mounted, 4x Leica Primes, LiPo Chargers and other accessories - gross weight 25kg
Carry on backpack: Lipos and other accessories. When I travel by plane, I switch RED/Arri plus 1 lens from Peli 1510 to backpack - gross weight 10-12kg
If you travel business class, weight should not be an issue. I have travelled like this twice around the globe. No problem.

In fact, I am prepping for shooting another CBS Show in June. Travelling to 4 countries and 2 continents within 2 weeks - with this exact setup.
Speaking of which, I might throw in Mavic Air into my setup.
One question Björn, are the files from Mavic Air good enough for broadcast quality?

Good to see you getting into drones, Björn! :-)
 

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Thai Christen said:
Hey Björn, next time hire me :-)
I have big drone, and yet quite portable compared to other big guys. Whole kit fits into Peli 1650, 1510 and a carry on backpack. See image.

Peli 1650: X8 Octo with 15'' props mounted, 2x Futaba, 2x SmallHD Monitors, props spares - gross weight 20kg
Peli 1510: Gimbal with either RED Helium/Arri Mini mounted, 4x Leica Primes, LiPo Chargers and other accessories - gross weight 25kg
Carry on backpack: Lipos and other accessories. When I travel by plane, I switch RED/Arri plus 1 lens from Peli 1510 to backpack - gross weight 10-12kg
If you travel business class, weight should not be an issue. I have travelled like this twice around the globe. No problem.

In fact, I am prepping for shooting another CBS Show in June. Travelling to 4 countries and 2 continents within 2 weeks - with this exact setup.
Speaking of which, I might throw in Mavic Air into my setup.
One question Björn, are the files from Mavic Air good enough for broadcast quality?

Good to see you getting into drones, Björn! :-)
Click to expand...

Yes but all that, to pay for flights to fly you in, hotel, time to rig up the camera on the gimbal between other setups, risking my monstro and lens in somebody elses hands... All that makes it for me a tough sell. We where out there for 7 days taking it easy waiting for weather, normally that with a big drone would render about the same costs as buying an inspire. And even if there is insurance etc. it´s a huge process to get things resored if / when things goes south. Not saying that happen to often but it do happen and then I´m more comfy using something I can just go and get another one in the closest tech store and not really worry about the costs or the time lost. But yes when somebody else is paying then for sure its really exciting to see the big things fly. :)

I dont know what really counts as broadcast quality. the DR is for sure narrower on a mavic then a red camera. So when shooting straight into the sun or such you kind of have to decide to expose for the sun or the ground, possibly fly dual passes. RED does that a lot better with greater DR and HDR. And oufcourse also compression is a lot more rough but if exposed well and if the scene is not to detailed it does not stick out much even if mastering in 4k. Night shots, harsh light shots etc is more difficult.
 
Björn Benckert said:
Yes but all that, to pay for flights to fly you in, hotel, time to rig up the camera on the gimbal between other setups, risking my monstro and lens in somebody elses hands... All that makes it for me a tough sell. We where out there for 7 days taking it easy waiting for weather, normally that with a big drone would render about the same costs as buying an inspire. And even if there is insurance etc. it´s a huge process to get things resored if / when things goes south. Not saying that happen to often but it do happen and then I´m more comfy using something I can just go and get another one in the closest tech store and not really worry about the costs or the time lost. But yes when somebody else is paying then for sure its really exciting to see the big things fly. :)
Click to expand...
Björn, I was kidding. Of course for such kind of projects it is not feasible and I absolutely agree that going Mavic or Inspire is the better and safer option.
Luckily I still have jobs where client is willing to pay all the costs for big drone and camera. The high end aerial market is just much more attractive for drone operator. In the low end too many hobbyist and semi-pro who are pushing prices down.

Björn Benckert said:
I dont know what really counts as broadcast quality. the DR is for sure narrower on a mavic then a red camera. So when shooting straight into the sun or such you kind of have to decide to expose for the sun or the ground, possibly fly dual passes. RED does that a lot better with greater DR and HDR. And oufcourse also compression is a lot more rough but if exposed well and if the scene is not to detailed it does not stick out much even if mastering in 4k. Night shots, harsh light shots etc is more difficult.
Click to expand...
Most US TV networks accept ProRes 422 HQ 10bit. In some circumstances they accept lower if you shoot 4K for 1080p downsampling.
Drone shoot you just have to deal with the available light. So looks like Mavic has clearly its limitation.
 
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