Category Archives: News
Drone Camera Zoom for Constructions
When you need a detailed aerial view of a proposed construction site to use for logistics and production planning that may include land surveys and insurance, a drone with a camera zoom lens is the best option. Drone photos can also be used to create 3D models within a BIM application. Building Information Modeling is a collaborative process for the planning, design, construction and management of a building.
Optical zoom gets up close and personal by using an actual lens adjustment while digital zoom adjusts the image in the camera itself. When you use a digital zoom, the camera enlarges the image area at the center of the frame and crops away the outside edges of the picture, the same way as when you open an image in your photo-editing program and trim. If you are taking a lot of photos from far away subjects, be sure that the camera you buy has an optical zoom. An optical zoom is a true zoom lens, and they produce much better-quality images. Some cameras use a combination of both optical and digital scaling, to make editing easy and at the same time manage the lens limitation. You will notuce when it starts enlarging digitally, you begin to lose the resolution.
Contact us by mail if you need a zoom job done.
Fire Fighting Drone Walkera Zhun FE15
Happy 4th of July and we are not here to talk about a cannon for fireworks but a cannon for Fire Fighting, called the Zhun. Walkera has began developing and testing with their local fire agency to secure a bid for a full scale deployment. The Zhun has an ultra strong load capability and anti tremor design, folds up ready for a fire fighter’s deployment. The quadcopter carries a high magnification telescope and the high frame rate night vision camera. With high precision, it can launch the fire extinguisher projectile accurately in a complex fire weather environment. I had the privilege to preview the testing and edited this video.
It is amazing the Zhun is able absorb the amount of force created from the cannon. The real-time target control points are displayed on the ground control points, which greatly improves the accuracy of shooting and improves the efficiency of rescue…
Eachine Mirage E500 VTOL Vertical Take-Off Landing
A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can hover, take off, and land vertically. Eachine recently released a budget Mirage E500 VTOL Wing, and this is great venture into the next generation of radio control aircrafts. When I can take-off and land vertically, I don’t have to worry about a runway.
We received a bind and fly sample to test, and with it includes a basic 3rd party FrSky receiver to complete the tests…
360 FPV videos
What the Andoer Dual-lens 360°, Ricoh Theta S and Samsung Gear 360 have in common are the dual-lenses that allows you to film and upload 360-degree videos. This give rise to a new perspective if drone aerial first person view
YouTube and Facebook now supports uploading and playback of 360° spherical videos. To watch 360° videos, you need the latest version of Chrome, Opera, Firefox, or Internet Explorer on your computer. On mobile devices, use the latest version of the YouTube app for Android or iOS.
(Best viewed in 360 youtube app or goggle directly by opening this link https://youtube.com/360)
For an immersive experience, you can even watch 360° videos with a cardboard goggle attaching the YouTube Android app.
After a week of filming, we begin to discover that is just a few things to consider before creating the video.
- Decide the best way to mount the camera without appearing to be holding a tripod (you likely don’t want to be showing your crown, if you realized you are being filmed no matter where you stood in 360).
- What if you want to incorporate text on the video or include a logo, not knowing if your audience is looking front, back, sides, down or up.
- Storyboarding and sequencing scenes in 360. How do you mix 2D and 360 footages?
The following 360 cameras are compatible with YouTube and are available today:
• Andoer Dual-lens 360° (budget $125 source: Nov 2016 camfere.com)
• Ricoh Theta S
• Samsung Gear 360
For the best results, encode your video at a high resolution and according to YouTube’s advanced specifications. YouTube currently supports 360° videos with 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, or 60 frames per second. We recommend uploading 16:9 aspect ratio stitched videos in 4K (3840×2160) resolution as a loss of resolution is inevitable when playback in youtube 360. A 1080p video, when stretçhed and wrapped around the sphere will look like 480p.
When uploading your 360° video, don’t make edits to the video using the YouTube Video Editor and Enhancements tools on desktop or mobile. These tools don’t currently support 360° videos.
Before publishing, schedule the video for a later date and verify that the file has 360° playback enabled by watching the video on your device. It may take up to 30 minutes for 360° playback to be processed after uploading.
360° videos on a browser feature a pan button in the top left, and can be rotated using the WASD keys, so look for these features to confirm your video is in 360.
If you take the video straight out of the camera and try to upload it to Youtube, it’s not going to work properly. The video will upload and be available, but when you go to view it you’ll see a stereoscopic image–an odd-looking video of side-by-side circles, each showing the hemisphere captured by one of the two lenses.
To make it work properly there are two steps you have to do before uploading it.
1. You will need to convert the image from stereoscopic view to an equirectangular one. That will combine the two hemispheres into a wide view with dimensions where the width is exactly double the height (otherwise known as a 2:1 aspect ratio). And the tops and bottoms of the frames will look strange and stretched. But when used in a specialized 360° player those stretched parts of the frame will fill out when you look up or down, wrapping around the sphere 360.
If you own the budget Andoer 360 camera, you can use the recommended unregistered Symax 360 software – Open Convertor, set Video Quality = High, Start.
2. In order to upload and playback a 360° video file, you’ll need to modify the metadata of the video file with an app or script before uploading.
Follow these instructions to install an app that will add the necessary metadata into a new file for you.
- Download the 360 Video Metadata app for Mac or Windows recommended by YouTube
- Un-zip the file, then open the 360 Metadata Injector app. If you’re on a Mac, you may need to right-click the app and then click Open.
- You can also add the metadata using a Python script.
- Select the original or edited 360 video file
- Select the checkbox for My Video is Spherical (360) and click Inject Metadata. Do not select the “3D Top-bottom” checkbox. For more information, refer to upload instructions for virtual reality videos.
- Save the file that will be created suffix with “injected.mp4”.
- Save the file. A new file will be created automatically in the same location as the original file.
- Upload the new injected file to YouTube.
- Wait for the 360° conversion to process. This may take up to 30 minutes for a 7 minutes video.
Tip: Andoer Dual-lens 360° 960p on Premiere Pro, follow 1920x 960 size, h.264
Eleven Hobby F8F Bearcat 1100mm
Lots of buzz about the Eleven Hobby Bearcat F8F recently. The Bearcat has always been a favorite warbird but few models have been made for it. Bearcat F8F is one of the best looking and famous wings that served the US Navy. It was designed primarily as an interceptor-fighter and this model is docile yet commanding presence in the air. It arrived today, tight, protected and double boxed. For those who are still guessing who is Eleven Hobby, their recent T-28 was very well received. It comes as no surprise to some, as Eleven Hobby shares it’s affiliation with FMS, a leading manufacturer of RC Planes.
First Impression, the Eleven Hobby Bearcat F8F asssembly was easy and fast, the cuts are precise and snugly fitted, bolt down the wings and horizontal stabilizer with 6 screws and the rest is adding your receiver and programming your radio. Wingspan is a perfect 1100mm (43.3in) that fits into a typical car boot (trunk). Optional gluing needed, if you plan to add the wing cannons. It is very tail heavy, but you have some room to move everything to the front. I would not recommend this plane unless you are a experienced pilot, as it is not easy to fly.
Walkera MR Drone Runner 250 Pro
We have been wondering what it would be like to bring couch Gamers and First Person View (FPV) Pilots into one room or rather in one field for an intense world of Mixed Reality (MR) competition? Walkera MR Drone Games are not only Virtual games, but a Reality concept that is applied to Drone Racing. Pilots actually fly their GPS racing drones into virtual Funnel Gates or shooting on virtual targets.
Mixed reality (MR), sometimes referred to as hybrid reality, is the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualizations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time.
Now what do you think of that?. The first MR Drone Game, more ideas and development to come.
Walkera Drone VR Games Devo F18
2016 might be a great time to get those Gamers outdoor for a new challenge. We have been wondering what it would be like to bring Gamers and First Person View (FPV) Pilots in one room or rather in one field for an intense world of Virtual Reality competition. Walkera Drone VR Games are not only Virtual games, but a Reality concept that is applied to GPS Racing Drones. Pilots actually fly their GPS drones into virtual Funnel Gates or shoot on virtual targets using the new advance Devo F18 radio transmitter. See these initial tests we recorded.
If this has not caught your attention yet, I am sure it will with the AMA or FAA. First in the world, Walkera initial beta test included three Real Flight modes: Battle mode, Race mode, Classic Collecting mode. In Battle mode , FPV pilots will get on their F18 and begin an intense battle with targets. In Race mode, pilots compete on an Agility Course featuring various obstacles, funnel gates and hairpin turns…
