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Producing R/C Aerial
Videos
By Rex Geivett, August 2010
I want to share my limited
experience with you regarding
R/C aerial videos. This includes
the video camera, mounting of
the camera to your airplane and
editing the raw video into an
acceptable movie for viewing.
The movie can be played on your
PC Media player and/or shared
with friends.
Camera (See photo at right)
The camera I use is very
small, lightweight and
inexpensive. It is called a
“Keychain Camera”. It is
approximately 3/8 X 1 1/4 X 1
7/8 inches and weighs 1/2 once.
Power is provided by a built-in
LiPo battery. Downloading the
movie data from the camera to
the PC is via USB port. Video is
recorded on a removable flash
card of 1, 2, or 4 gb. A 1 gb
card will record about 15
minutes of video and then must
be downloaded to the PC to free
up space for following video. I
find 1 gb to be sufficient and
download the video to a special
folder I named “KEYCAM” for
permanent storage. These cameras
are produced in seven different
versions and the particular
version cannot be discerned by
looking at the outside of the
camera. Research (see notes at
end of article) indicates that
the version 3 camera is the best
for our purpose.
These cameras are
available through several
sources including HobbyCity,
eBay, and others. Some sources
do not specify the version being
sold, so be careful to purchase
only the version 3. I purchased
mine through Mark Bobbe (see
notes). He sells only version 3,
his price is competitive, he
ships quickly from the U.S.A.,
and provides excellent support
if needed.
Mounting the camera to your
plane (See drawing below)
I cut a piece of 1/8 light-ply to 1 1/4 X 2
inches and glued a piece of 1/8 foam to each
side to guard against vibration. The mount is
secured to the plane with a single 6 X 32 screw
into a short length of 3/8 dowel and T-nut set
into the wing of my foam ‘Handyman’, about 5
inches out from the fuse. A small rubber band
holds the camera to the mount. The location I
chose allows all but a couple inches of the prop
arc to be outside the picture when directing the
camera forward. The single screw attachment
allows the camera to be rotated to the rear or
side for interesting shots. It’s kinda neat to
see the rudder and elevator operation included
in the video when the camera is pointed aft.
Editing the video
I have been using Microsoft
Windows Movie Maker for editing.
It is included with XP and some
other versions of Windows. It’s
not difficult to use but it may
take some time experimenting
with the many options to get the
best effects. It also converts
the avi camera format to mswmm
format that unfortunately
reduces the resolution. The
video can be saved in wmv format
for viewing with Windows Media
Player. Although the camera
records audio with the video, I
like to subdue or remove the
camera audio and add appropriate
music with the edited video.
This is easy to do and provides
a nice enhancement. You can also
use a microphone to narrate your
production. Another editor I
have tried is Solveig Multimedia
AVITrimmer, a freeware program
that will edit avi format. I’m
sure there are more advanced
video editors on the market, but
I have no experience with them.
For
storing, emailing and copying to
CD or Flash drive it’s best to
just follow the instructions for
whatever Editor is being used. If
you would like to see a sample
of an aerial video I recorded at
the Oceanside Senior Center site
(Wingmasters site currently
closed) with the system
described, you can download it
directly from the newsletter, or
see me for the video stored on a
CD. Please contact me
if you have questions on how my
particular system works. This
write-up by no means covers all
the possibilities of aerial
video, so if you have experience
other than what I’ve written
here, please feel free to share
it with us.
-Rex Geivett
WingMasters
Notes:
1)
For
everything you want to know (and much more)
about Keychain cameras, see the Chuck Lohr
website at
www.chucklohr.com/808
2)
For
camera purchase information, contact Mark Bobbe
at website
www.themicrocamera.com
or email
mbobbe@gmail.com
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