Video progress report!

[jperkosk]

This is what I was doing yesterday with Blade300X waiting for the hexa batteries to charge in between the tests, did I mention I love how the BeastX feels?:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifhz3YiUCIY[/ame]

Nothing great, but all of the sudden some of the moving piro attempts came out right, I felt completely relaxed and in control, so that qualifies as progress, doesn't it?

[Luke Warmwater]

Oldish I know and not a heli (again), but I only just got around to processing and cooking the video.

This is my "new" (last summer) Sebart Sbach 342; a 1.3m span aerobatic to replace the battered MX2.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPCJKwVk4EM&list=UUncr2CHf_ST9f6xFKlbbVYg& index=1[/ame]

[ragge1]

few auto practice from today ( sunday ) , not easy with 450 heli

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXnl1LvWfsM[/ame]

[jperkosk]

• I take it the the yellow-red bird from the middle of the practice wasn't the 450, as you were doing the autos effortlessly
• Have you had any damage on the 450 after a couple of flip-overs?

[ragge1]

unwanted sound at the end , have to replace Torque Tube Front Drive Gear Set

[sutty]

Very impressive now ragge. I guess if you can do it repeatedly with a 450 then you have got it nailed.

Cheers

Sutty.

[jperkosk]

Got to test the GPH3 black edition in a hatcam role: it fits in its housing on all the same mounts that I got for H2, including the head strap. The settings are 1080p, 85°FOV, 30fps. This is a friend of mine maidening his new plank with the help of our club's plank expert who took onto himself the takoff and landing, as it was quite windy, about 20-25kph at that moment.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbaM01FBTck[/ame]

Conclusion: hatcam is a bad arrangement for a normal video shooting, as we tend to move the head around quite a lot. The hatcam is perfect for flying LOS, as we tend to focus the sight on the model. I will try the chest strap for general shooting next time. The quality was very, very nice, though

By about noon the wind has picked up to ~30kph, so there was no more hexa flying for me, but I chanced a BX equipped B300x flight, with 2 main conclusions:

• All this Android app Wifi preview on the phone didn't prevent me from misadjusting the Gopro angle on my head
• 30kph is a lot for a 300 sized heli . About mid battery I started thinking: flying is no problem, but how the hell am I going to land? Fortunately about a minute later there came a calmer moment so I quickly set her down.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmQhauVHbm4[/ame]

[jperkosk]

Originally Posted by jperkosk

My conclusion so far is that the higher frame rate is of benefit when you're shooting the medium-to-fast moving object, so it would be nice to shoot your heli at least at 60fps from the hatcam. H3 can do 1080p@60fps, but the resulting clips are frighteningly large; I would much prefer to shoot with 720p@60fps, and I'm tempted to try 720p@120fps, but with 720p I'm limited to fisheye (170°) FOV setting. They practically force you to use 1080p.

Now all this said, H3BE gives you 1080p@30fps & 1080p@60fps with 3-step FOV adjustment, so if the size of the clip doesn't scare you it very well could make the best hatcam in existence at this time. I'll shoot 1080p@60fps this weekend and post the results, so you can compare. Still, with 720p I could do 120fps if it weren't for FOV

OK, the wind got to be moderate yesterday (below 20kph) so I played hookie from work in the morning and ran to the club to do some tests. One of them was GPH3BE as a hatcam in 1080p@60fps in narrow FOV (85°):

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL-qY0BAbCg[/ame]

Really nice, no fisheye at all (well, if you're a nitpicker, only a slight one), the clarity is impressive, see how the blades almost don't bend at all? And this is B300X, so headspeed is quite high. The drawback: the 5:45 long clip is exactly 1.2GB. Also, I'd really like to test this against 720p@120fps. It will be exactly same clip size, half the pixels at twice the frame rate, my expectations for that mode are really high.

GoPro, please wake-up and deliver on the promise this time around in the next firmware upgrade!!!

[sutty]

Only getting a 3 second long clip at the moment. Might be processing still. Will check back later. Can't wait to see it.

Cheers

Sutty

[Tomstoy2]

Getting pretty fancy-smansy with those piro's now! Camera looks real good, too,
Kind of interrested in what GP will release this Xmas for a 4! Maybe they will throw on a real lens for a change and get rid of the fish-eye all together?

[jperkosk]

Originally Posted by sutty

Only getting a 3 second long clip at the moment. Might be processing still. Will check back later. Can't wait to see it.

Cheers

Sutty

Strange, it shows all processed and viewable from here

Originally Posted by Tomstoy2

Getting pretty fancy-smansy with those piro's now!

(false modesty)

Originally Posted by Tomstoy2

Kind of interrested in what GP will release this Xmas for a 4! Maybe they will throw on a real lens for a change and get rid of the fish-eye all together?

Don't count on it. Fisheye is irreplaceable for shooting your immediate surroundings, let's say up to about 5m away, so it's excellent for first person action shooting. Also, it aids electronic image stabilization in becoming very effective, something you're beginning to lose when you start zooming in.

Unfortunately it also bends the hell out of the surroundings and makes objects more than 10m away look like they're on the moon, so I think we just need adjustment options for zooming, and that's easier said than done electronically, especially when you're trying to maintain the image resolution. Fancy a bet that GP will come up with a lightweight lockable 3-step optical zoom lens on GPH4?

[copterboy]

Looking good Jerry

Looking at the weather forecast for the week ahead, I am feeling the need to finish my work off at home, get the spares ordered, and make an effort to clear the schedule for some tinkering time, as summer is just around the corner It's still gonna be cold, but the sun has been out today, and it feels like the first day in months.

When I get home from work now, there is still a hint of daylight. So give it another month, and the clocks change. I'm aiming to be finishing up the 450 and 600 and getting back to normal flying duties

[sutty]

As I just said on Skype, very impressive flying now Jerry, as Tom said, check out those piros.

Camera looked good too. Can you show me the hat set-up, and also give me a bit more info about lining it up with your phone? I think you mentioned something about that and you know how much trouble I normally have with that! Some sort of remote viewing screen option?

Cheers

Sutty

[jperkosk]

Thanks!

Head strap is in the standard package, I think (I believe it came in my H2 box) and it looks like this:



Then there is a bit of a setup to do on H3:

• You need to plug it into PC and go to the GP site to run the firmware update Java app.
• One of the steps is to set your H3's SSID & password, otherwise H3 generates some meaningless long strings of characters. Haven't found another way to setup SSID on the H3
• Then you go to H3 setup on the device to WIRELESS CONTROLS sub-menu, go there and select GOPRO APP Wifi mode.
• Now your H3's Wifi acts as an access point, switchable on/off with the side button. You need to hold the button for a moment to switch Wifi on/off. When it's on, the blue LED in the front flashes.
• Download Gopro App from Google Play or iCan't Remeber What's It's Called place.
• Connect your phone/tablet to the H3's Access Point.
• Start Gopro App on the phone. Now you have a complete control, including the preview and settings, of your Gopro. Preview is slow, but still very good for framing. Don't forget to click on the preview to go full screen

[jperkosk]

End of first pack on B300X yesterday, I was about to land when it went down as if under LVC (and that's no fun in the wind). The battery later took in 1010mAh which is 75% of nominal 1350mAh capacity. Could it be just a sudden gust that made it feel like LVC?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJA927z5U2o[/ame]

[sutty]

Well it looked like ESC cut out but I don't think it has to be LVC. Don't they also do that for thermal cut out too? Was it hot, have good airflow, etc?

Nice reactions though. Excellent save there Jerry.

Cheers

Sutty

[sutty]

Thanks for the GP3 report Jerry, and for explaining the hotspot feature. Very nice the way that works. When I get one I guess I will actually be able to finally line myself up properly.

As for the hat cam strap itself, that might be a problem then, because I just have to fly with a cap on. Will have to see if that strap can go around my head, and the camera still be pointable in the right direction, whilst I have it on.

Cheers

Sutty

[Tomstoy2]

Sut, it will fit over a ball cap just fine. That's what I use.

[sutty]

Thanks Tom. Jerry also confirmed that to me over a little Skype chat that we had. Nice to now be cetain. I think I will be ordering soon.

Cheers

Sut

[Tomstoy2]

Well, I certainly hope you had the camera off on skype? Jeese, what an ugly,,,,,,,
he out to give a guy some warning at least, don't you think?
Where's my Listerine?