Devin Johnston Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 I worked on a project last year that required some composite shots, we rented a helicopter for two hours at a cost of over $14K. The video we got back was 1080i and not as stable as I would have liked however it worked out and was our best project of the year. It got me interested in doing more videos like this but the obvious problem with that is the cost of the helicopter, most of our archviz projects don't have that kind of budget. It seems that many companies are now using small remote controlled helicopters or quad copters to shoot video, from what I've seen it's pretty good. There are some disadvantages in using these systems but they are much cheaper, I'm trying to decide if it's a worthwhile venture to purchase one of these video rigs and start shooting video myself or if it's better to leave it up to a pro? I've seen some pretty nice rigs for under $5K but then you have to have a good camera to go along with it. I'm just wondering if anyone has thought about or is doing this for your arch viz work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgemaster Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Yeah I was looking at the RC's the other day too. I saw some small cheap ones but the resolution was too low. But searching the web a little I came across this. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=919955&is=REG&Q=&A=details ...And add a little of this http://gopro.com/hd-hero3-cameras . (The black edition Go Pro). Who knows..it could turn into a fun hobby too of practicing flying them. And looking at the price of both it would round close to $1000. Plus now that Go Pro supports viewing your feed thru an iphone and all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hunt Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Some of the bigger quad copters are able to have a DSLR camera mounted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgemaster Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 A DSLR would be nice to use for one. But man I would be worried about having a hard landing with it once and lose a camera . Atleast with a Go Pro they are built geared towards sports and a lot lighter than a DSLR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic H Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 2 hrs in a helicopter for 14k? steeep! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Schroeder Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 It really depends on your need. One or two of these types of jobs every year or so really doesn't warrant an investment. If you think you can get more, then maybe it's worth it. Me personally, I don't trust my flying skills enough. I'm one sneeze away from seeing my investment slam into the ground at a high rate of speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dollus Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 A. you substantially overpaid for your heli. It sounds like you called a video production company and asked for a turnkey soloution. B. remote rigs are good for lower elevation needs that don't have a great deal of range and in most cases you can accomplish the same thing with a tethered balloon rig some architectural photographers use that allows for better equipment. If you use a remote rig, stability of the footage can be a major issue as well as the damage others have mentioned. You can correct instability in post if you leave enough framing to account for the correction but you lose resolution as a result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted February 12, 2013 Author Share Posted February 12, 2013 Me personally, I don't trust my flying skills enough. I'm one sneeze away from seeing my investment slam into the ground at a high rate of speed. I agree my skills in this area are nonexistent, however some of these drones use GPS enabled computer navigation so you just program a flight path and it fly's it. I did just learn that flying these drones is illegal in many areas and if the FCC catches you the fines can be very steep. I've also heard that the footage isn't as vibration free as they'd like you to believe. A. you substantially overpaid for your heli Your right about that John, you'll appreciate this since you're in Dallas and I'm in Houston. I looked everywhere for a company that had a helicopter with the right equipment, there was nothing locally so I had to us a company from the Dallas area. We had to pay extra for the flight time to go from Dallas to Houston and back again along with the two hours I needed for the project. This was the first motion tracked project I've done so I wanted to make sure I got the best footage possible, it turns out that 1080i isn't nearly as good as it sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Alexander Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 A DSLR would be nice to use for one. But man I would be worried about having a hard landing with it once and lose a camera . Atleast with a Go Pro they are built geared towards sports and a lot lighter than a DSLR. Alex I'd strap a parachute on it LOL but that's me ;P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ky Lane Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 http://quadcopter.heliguy.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted February 13, 2013 Author Share Posted February 13, 2013 I've received a few quotes from companies selling RC Video services, the prices range from $5,500- $8,500 per day. I'm surprised they are this expensive to tell you the truth, I've had quotes from full sized Helicopter services for around the same price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgemaster Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 (edited) Alex I'd strap a parachute on it LOL but that's me ;P LOL... I've received a few quotes from companies selling RC Video services, the prices range from $5,500- $8,500 per day. I'm surprised they are this expensive to tell you the truth, I've had quotes from full sized Helicopter services for around the same price. Ouch..for that much might as well buy your own RC... Edited February 13, 2013 by edgemaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nils Norgren Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 We have done lots of Heli shoots, as well as various RC service providers, they tend to be in the same neighiborhood for price, the RC guys can get much different shots (lower, tight area of a city) but they can't do an approach, and fly the whole city. In the end the value of having great aerial footage, vs the labor of trying to do it in cg, makes the practical approach more attractive. Very often the key is good planning, having a partner you can trust, weather, and good equipment. There is no way to beat this rig for heli footage: http://www.cineflexv14hd.com/ We have also gone the cheap root and shot hand-held from tourist helicopter with a Canon Mark II, Much cheaper, but harder to track and not as likely to get the right shots, and limited to what you can get sticking a camera out a helicopter window, although we have done this for stills, and shoot some video along the way. We often shoot extra b-roll when up, and if possible gang a few projects together into one shoot. The real effort is the tracking, lighting, rendering and most of all the compositing! this is the key to the whole thing working, if there are cranes in the shot that need to be taken out, that work can easily eclipse the cost of the shoot. If you watch the "Today show" tomorrow (Friday Feb 15th, 2013) you will see some of our Aerial footage of Boston. -Nils - Neoscape Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted February 14, 2013 Author Share Posted February 14, 2013 Thanks Nils, having access to that cineflex camera would be a dream, the only company I can find in the area uses this as their rig. http://txaerial.com/nosemount.pdf It's a news copter and while the camera is technically HD it's far from my ideal setup. I agree with you about compositing, I spent more time working on that aspect than I ever did tracking the footage. It sounds like there's no cheap way to get high quality aerial video, hopefully as time goes on the drones will get cheaper and more robust in their capabilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copain Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 A DSLR would be nice to use for one. But man I would be worried about having a hard landing with it once and lose a camera . Atleast with a Go Pro they are built geared towards sports and a lot lighter than a DSLR. Depends what you need a gopro is really bad to get a decent track on, so you might regret using one if you need to integrate something Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipnoland Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 I don't know if this company got mentioned but they offer a great product. quadrocopter.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mi75 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 I believe Licensing in Australia is around $7-$10k before you can fly them for money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BVI Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Wow, thats really expensive! I use a local SA company and they give me a great rate (about $500USD) for proper chopper (no RC) photographs. I suspect you may be able to get a similar rate - what you need to do is piggy back on their day trips. Lots of these guys rent the chopper per hour and if your site is within city limits you can negotatiate a portion of the time to visit your site - ask around, they may faciliate this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dollus Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Yes, still photogrpahy is quite affordable. Around here, $500-$1000 is about right depending on flight time. Video is where things get more expensive. Getting a stabilized mount is rare enough and you need to add top quality camera equipment to get a clean trackable shot. You either spend the money up front or spend it in labor fixing the shot. Either way, it's not cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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