|
|
Posted by nobody special on 07/18/06 17:26
You don't "pan" down, you tilt down... misuse of the word "pan" has
always bugged me..
Anyhow, I've shot a lot of handheld out of various Bell copters, you
want the door off, but it will reduce your top speed and gas mileage.
A *little* bit of shutter turned on will help to smooth playback,
especially if you slo-mo things. Take the removeable shade off the
camera so the air blast doesn't rip it away in flight. Add a polarizer
to the lens front: it will protect your main lens front from any
windbourne smut, but also will reduce your glare probs and give you
more impressive sky and ground/water shots of the island.
What you want to do is, keep the lens wide and don't move the camera
around, rather, have the pilot steer the entire aircraft/camera
together around what you want.The copter becomes the camera, direct the
copter. You will wear a headset with a pilot intercom. Don't chatter
excessively because the pilot has to listen to other radio traffic as
well as you. Make yourself comfortable with pilot terms, as you will
sort of direct him. Example:
Pan left = Yaw left pan right = yaw left. Nose up and nose-down
for tilting up and down. If you can say roughly how much in degrees,
it will help, because you are sitting behind the pilot on his side and
he can't see you. You can tell the pilot to orbit a certain point
repeatedly. He has altitude restrictions, go over these ahead of time.
Your best looking detail shots come in around 500-1000 feet, but some
airspace may be restricted to higher. Resist the temptation to zoom the
lens, always move the copter and cameras instead.
How to hold it: I get my best luck putting both feet onthe dor sill or
one on the skid and toes on the door sill, then I flex my toes, ankle,
and leg as a shock absorber, with the camera on my knee, often balanced
on alittle sandbag that tied or gaffer taped to the knee. All framing
is done with the flip-out LCD or a separate monitor secured in the
cabin. I only worry about framing, because focus is locked off on
infinity. The setup is like bouncing a baby on your knee. The whole leg
becomes a shock absorber. With the flexing knee, two arms and my belly
cradling the cam, it's pretty smooth. I reccomend a harnedd if
available. if all you have is the seatbelt, gaffer tape over the
quick-release so it can't possibly be pulled open by accident. A safety
line on the camera clipped to an anchor point inside the aircraft is
smart too. Nothin g should be rolling around the cabin loose,
batteries, monitors, etc all need to be secured. I run the longest
possible tape and battery I have so I can just run continuously thru
the whole flight and not have to stop and change out power or tape.
People think hovering is the most stable shot from a helo; actually you
get better results flying slowly into the wind, or letting it blow the
hovering copter downwind, if that will allow the shot you want. Hover
wastes the most fuel and is the most demanding task for the pilot, and
the most dangerous.
Dress for colder conditions than you would on the ground: the wind
blast from the open door can chill you. Don't wear anything that
dangles or sticks out from the body: loose baseball hats are out as
well. If you wear glasses, put on some croakies or similar retainers.
If you want to get some audio fromt he intercoms to go witht he
pictures, pop a lav mic inside one of the earcups of your headset: it
kills most of the noise but leaves enough for "flavor". And it is
easier than carrying a lot of different adapters to try and plug into a
spare intercom jack direct. Those have been know to short out.
Don't eat or drink a lot before the flight, keep it to small portions
of light foods, like toast and jam, no greasy stuff, plain water: even
if you are not partial to airsickness, this is a little different,
because you are looking into a viewfinder that is giving visual cues
that don't match what your inner ear is telling you. A preventative
dose of dramamine or marazine 60 minutes ahead will help a lot. It
won't help to take it five minutes ahead, it needs about an hour to
kick in. Keep an airsickness bag handy: if you mess it, you are
obligated to clean it. If you start feeling overly warm, that's the
body giving you about ten minute's early warning of an upchuck.: put
your eyes on the far horizon, let plenty of breeze hit your face, and
you can fight it down in just a minute or two.
Be very careful exiting and entering the aircaft: you always aproach or
leave from a wedge-shaped area that reaches from directly alongside the
door to halfway to the nose.
NEVER.
NEVER
EVER
Go around or near the tail. For any reason. Even with motor off.
Tailrotors spin up in an instant.
NEVER go close to the front either: the main rotor blades come down
lower in the front than anywhere else, and even if they are barely
swinging, they can kill you easy.
Navigation:
[Reply to this message]
|