Tuesday, May 14, 2013

First Test Flight With The GoPro

With the latest news today that DoD employees will be furloughed for 11 days this year, we have been trying to watch our budget a little more.  With that situation looming, I don't want us to stop having fun though!  I have been lusting for a GoPro camera for a few years and finally discovered that I could turn in some of our credit card points for some Amazon.com gift cards.  So I got a new toy!  I ordered a GoPro HERO3: Black Edition.  I also ordered some Polar Pro snap on filters.  One polarizer filter for flying and a red filter for diving.

Today was the first time I had a chance to go up for a few minutes and try things out.  One big problem with aviation videos using the GoPro, and other cameras, is how the propeller is captured in the video which make for some weired visual effects.  It's call aliasing.  It can be mitigated some with neutral density filters.  There are some good, and expensive, options out there, but I decided to give the Polar Pro filter a try.  I think it worked out pretty well.  Now I just need to work on some mounting options.

You can see the results in this video:




3 comments:

  1. Geoff- I greatly enjoy you blog. It allows me to vicariously vacation to the Bahama's! :)

    One other option to eliminate aliasing is the NFlightcam Cockpit Kit for GoPro Camera. This kit not only alleviates prop distortion but it also allows you to plug in audio for ATC and intercom.

    http://www.sportys.com/Pilotshop/product/17986

    It would be interesting and educational to hear the exchanges/hand offs with the various centers during your hop to the islands.

    Thanks again for an excellent blog.

    Best regards,
    Craig
    Cincinnati

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Craig! I'll look into that as I play around more. I definitely want to add audio at some point.

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