Testing Out The GoPro Mounted Externally

So I finally figured out an external mounting location to try on the plane.  I put it together and tried it out yesterday.  For the most part I think it worked fine.  The good part was I did not lose the camera!  I am going to the Bahamas Habitat Fly In & Help Out Event next week, so I cant wait to see what kind of videos I get while in the Islands!

GoPro Time Lapse Flight

I was able to get up in the Lance this morning for a little flight and decided to continue my experimenting with the GoPro camera.  This time I made a time lapse video out of stills shot every second.  So basically my 1 hour joyride is seen in about 2 minutes.

It was a nice morning and it was still relatively cool out, by Florida summer standards anyway.  I took off to the west and climbed to 4,500' and then turned north over Jacksonville International Airport.  Once I was clear of their airspace to the north I turned towards St Simons, GA and descended to about 1,000' over the coast and then turned south towards home.

Oh yeah, the autopilot was working!  Of course it was relatively calmer air today so I still think I might have a loose connection somewhere.  I'll dig deeper in two weeks during the annual inspection.  Anyway, here's the video:

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: