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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 :)

RED Aerial don't use the mags

T

tj williams

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We have been having pretty good luck on Steadi an Crane with the red mags. Just used a mag for some aerials. Lost frames to the point of uslessness when the helicopter maneuvered even though the drive was secured from vibration.
 
TJ, have you tried the element Technica shock mounts yet. I know they were talking about trying with Tyler Mounts. I have to say, the ET shock mount has made shooting with the Red Drives a breeze. Of course, helicopter is one of those worse case scenarios, but worth testing the ET mount.
 
That's true. If the maneuvers are strong enough, I'm sure this could have an effect. The ultimate solution for this will be the solid state drives when they come out later this year. Longer recording times than CF, more reliable than drives. A good fit for aerials.
 
I have done a number of helicopter and airplane shoots with the Red, also without tyler, westcam etc. and have had success. This is what I did on low budget, quazi-handheld stuff:

First I do not use the red cradle for any of my stuff any more. In an attempt to go lighter, I may have also stumbled on a way for the drive to have a shock absorber (sort of like what the ET thing does). What I did, I machined a piece that holds both my battery plate and Red Drive (losing about 2lbs). THe Red Drive is attached via a 2" wide velcro strip on the back of the drive/side plate of the new mount. Yeah I know, some people piss and moan about velcro, but the truth is, velcro is sturdy as hell. I have been shooting with it non-stop since March and the velcro also acts as a bit of a buffer or shock absorber (as mentioned).

Second, I removed the aircraft door and affix the camera to the air craft via a bungee cord web, anchored to all corners of the aircraft door.

Third, I mount a kenyon gyro directly to the camera.

This combo has worked well. The only time I have problems is if I stick the camera into the slipstream - this will cause drop frames no matter what I do.
 
Never use spinning drives on a helicopter... never.

Jim
 
Well the spinning drives will act as Gyros so it can't be a good idea unless you want to put a ton of stress on the mechanics of the drive.
 
Works just fine on Pictorvision's Wescam

Works just fine on Pictorvision's Wescam

The ET shock mounts are great!!! I didn't have one on a recent shoot, but Pictorvision is using them on another shoot and they are working very well for helicopter use.

What would be VERY nice is having a full overlay out of one of the sdi ports on the camera. So you can see your drop frame count and video information inside the helicopter while operating the camera!!
 
I'm not sure the issue here is isolated to shock. I think gravitational forces and inertia/momentum are an issue as well when it comes to spinning drives riding on a moving vehicle. My assumption is that a shock mount would not do too much in that respect.
 
Sarmoti said:
I'm not sure the issue here is isolated to shock. I think gravitational forces and inertia/momentum are an issue as well when it comes to spinning drives riding on a moving vehicle. My assumption is that a shock mount would not do too much in that respect.
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Correct. Both shock and vibration plus intertial forces can affect spinning drives.
 
The Milkman said:
The ET shock mounts are great!!! I didn't have one on a recent shoot, but Pictorvision is using them on another shoot and they are working very well for helicopter use.
Click to expand...

I should have more pictures with the ET shock mount later this week, but this was from the last job I did with the Red.

The last two weeks though we've switched back and forth between the spinning drives and the 128G solid state drives which are great, the shock mount still comes in really handy for mounting the drives and using them to balance the camera platform, been back and forth between three lenses as well. (and 4 helicopters but thats another story).

2798834532_47c5cae4ce.jpg
 
What if the drive was hung on some type of rope where it would just hang free. This way when the copter twists the drive still hangs straight down. The vibration would be absorbed if the rope was long enough I think. You just would need to stop it from swinging all over the place after the move.
 
Spike said:
What if the drive was hung on some type of rope where it would just hang free. This way when the copter twists the drive still hangs straight down. The vibration would be absorbed if the rope was long enough I think. You just would need to stop it from swinging all over the place after the move.
Click to expand...

Is it bad that I cant tell if this is a joke or not? :sad:
 
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