Category Archives: Stories
Halloween Flying Pumpkin Drone
We had with us the Flying Pumpkin Drone for this Halloween. Using the two classic quadcopters, the Walkera X350 Pro and the DJI Phantom, we had a blast just flying this lighted up pumpkin around the estate. It was a stormy day out.
On the bonus scene, you will find the neighborhood kids having a fun time with Trick-or-treating last year, great memories when you have a little one running around. Here is a take from the flying pumpkin day… enjoy!
First Drone Formula Race Walkera F210
The Orlando FPV RotoRacers, a MulitGP league located in Florida, along with Leo from DroneMission.com hosted the world’s first Formula Race F210, where pilots flew the same model, the Walkera F210, on a “spec” formula race. This placed the pilots to their test of skill with the same radio transmitter, same racing drone. The winner kept what he or she flew for that race! Rules and format were defined by the club at MultiGP.com. A fun day filled with fellowship opened to the public. May the best pilot wins!
Pilots competed in qualifying rounds in the morning and the top 3 pilots competed for the Walkera F210…
FireFly 6S Camera breakthrough
Firefly 6S WiFi 4K camera is an excellent entry into action camera sport DV camcorder. A relative unknown company that had the right ingredients to success. Hawk Eye is known to focus it’s effort on budget FPV action sports camera, has made this 4k version of the camera following the recent 1080p release. Similar to it’s sibling, it carries a Sony CMOS 12.0MP sensor, but with the addition of 4k and GYRO image stabilization. Since it is a camera, a video is worth a thousand words, here is a day wth this camera…
Our initial test tells us this is a keeper, regardless if it shoots at 4K, the 1080P 60 FPS is fantastically vibrant and with GYRO image stabilization. If you do not own a GoPro, this is definitely an alternate Action Sports HD camera designed ready for radio control first person view (FPV) flying. The menu system is simple and easy to use. Hawk Eye has a clear understanding of usability, keeping the functions organized and reachable when needed. We hope to get some personal footage of the 4k soon. We like that the fact everything worked out of the box…
GitUp Git1 Action Camera
Synopsis: 2015 year of the sports camera. GitUp series is one of those recent low cost 1080p breakthrough that caught the attention of casual photographers, enthusiasts and critics alike. Weighing only 64g, it successfully fitted a 1.5 inches LCD viewing screen and yet kept within the standard size for use on a GoPro gimbal. The LCD allows you to see what you are filming; at times you only get one chance on a shot, and not seeing what you are filming, can be a bummer if you missed half of it. Here is our day with this camera on a impossible mission or was that mission impossible…
The Git1 manages to find room to include Wi-Fi capabilities that can be set-up if you have a smartphone or tablet that supports wifi. In addition, you can connect your favorite 3.5mm Stereo external microphone, which means you don’t have to hear your heavy breathing or wind sound on a windy day…
Walkera QR X350 Pro
Year 2014, time to look for a low cost, quick to assemble quadcopter, to be modified with FPV gear, something to travel with, overseas. So we purchased the Walkera QR X350 which can be assembled in 2 minutes, with no tools on hand. Today, our SAR teams were informed of another exciting version of the 350 size, the QR X350 Pro that uses Mission Planner. Lets see how hardy this drone is, as we take it for a stress test in every way… yeah.. in extreme ways..
First Impressions: I must say the X350 Pro flies very well, pre-tuned. It Loiters perfectly out of the box. sure enough, it did every standard thing with the Mission Planner. The only thing, out of the box, without any modification I am not able to add telemetry module or osd, however others have managed to solder them on…
Florida Jets
Florida Jets takes place at Paradise Field on the Lakeland Airport grounds March each year. With over 150 pilots, this event features a large collection of turbine jets. This year, the jets took off from the new 700 foot long by 50 foot wide blacktop runway which includes a Bahia Grass runway adjacent to the hard surface.
Florida Jets is a “Jet Together”, not a competition. It is a family event with a international group of pilots and vendors brought together to sunshine Florida. Here are a collection of the jets captured by our crew, highlighting some of the biggest and fastest RC Jets in the world. I start with my favorite video, all about landings…
Shaolin Returns Drone
A happy Chinese New Year to all those who celebrate it, year of the horse!
“FPV Shaolin Returns” was filmed with a basic 1-axis ArduPilot Camera Gimbal RC10 (A10) which you can see on camera 2. This was a volunteer project featuring original music scores to launch the missing children banners. 新年快乐!
Fun Facts: At marker 1:00 the arducopter dance was filmed to resemble the traditional lion dance that performs in front of a temple during Chinese New Year . The quadcopter lands and casts a shadow with the famous Shaolin’s eagle stance, shown on marker 3:08
FrSky Taranis and APM 2.6 Camera Gimbal Flight Test
Storyline: A clear day on October 2013, out to test a completely new quadcopter we built, along with a fantastic combination of new gears. The first scene starts off with the Taranis and build-in Gimbal test, as that was new and a highlight to this flight (everything is new except the video camera). The gimbal was managed by Ardupilot (a flight controller, basically a computer) that kept the camera level at all times during accelerations and dives. We have never used the gimbal function (A10) before, so that was exciting to see how it handles video. Entering Pirate’s Cove (0:18), that was filmed at 60 frames per second with a Sony DSC-HX30V camera, and frame rate was reduced by 50% (30 fps) giving a smooth slow motion effect. A signature shot of the aircraft added to a moving car scene and then back to the sequence showing a couple taking photos of the big shark. At 0:45, we began the flight in first person view, another classic signature shot with the props spinning and the motors running (got to have that sound of the motors spinning up). The flight scenes were shot with a keychain camera #16 Lens D as that was the lightest and easiest way to video anything.
The control over this new quadcopter was excellent, maybe it was the Taranis or maybe the Opto ESC and DJI motors, or maybe just a combination of everything and the design…
W Hotel Fort Lauderdale with APM Drone 2013
Storyline: At 7 a.m. we were ready to catch the morning sun before conference. This is in 2013, so there were not many gimbal easily available for a quadcopter, but the locatiton was worth some shots. Not many people have ever seen a quadcopter. We had with us a set of brand new SunnySky motors kv 980 for this flight. We kicked off the first scene with showcasing HoryzonHD v3, a FPV camera tested on this flight and then began rolling into a classic moving car sequence, , featuring Fort Lauderdale. We then provided a first glimpsed of the majestic W Hotel Helipad (Ground Station) and back to the car sequence in slow motion to the waiting Ocean Rescue Team. This scene filmed at 60 frames was reduced by 50% (30 fps), to create a smooth slow motion effect. Next, a shot of the beaches and a signature fly-by.
To transition to the flight scene, we took you back to the W Hotel again, a peek of the architecture provided a sense of how tall the hotel is. At frame 0:47, we began the flight in first person view, another classic signature sequence with the motors ringing (got to have that sound of the motors spinning up) along with our favorite epic music piece by Rocco…
