Just recently purchased this small camera slider from ServoCity. The thing is super smooth, small and portable. I can see a lot of potential for DIY modifications to this slider. I have a few in mind myself and will post more when I get some time to try them out.
Here’s the link to where you can get it:
http://www.servocity.com/html/channel_slider_kit_a__637108_.html
I wanted to get into flying wings and after spending some time flying one on my flight simulator I figured I’d start out with something cheap. I opted for a Turnigy Tek Sumo from Hobby King. This little plane was super easy fly and had some great flying characteristics. It has the ability to do some crazy slow flight and has a really good power-off glide ratio. I flew the heck out of this little plane and eventually put a basic 5.8 fpv setup on it. I was getting some seriously fun flights out of this thing with flight times around 25-30 minutes on a 1300mah 3S battery.
Eventually, I crashed it just one to many times and decided to order another one. I really wanted to make a longer range version this time. This plane is marketed as a Tek Sumo by HobbyKing as well as a PoP Wing by some other retailer such as NitroPlanes.com. They are only around $35.00 and don’t seem to stay in stock too long.
My minimum requirements were the following:
Longer range than what 2.4 control offered.
Some way to record HD footage.
RSSI so I know the health of the control link
Some way to know how much power I had used and how much remained
Based on these requirements I decided on the following:
EzUHF for the control link – I used the 4 Channel Lite receiver
Mobius camera for the HD footage which slides into a small bracket I made from balsa and light plywood
TBS Core OSD for the RSSI and power consumption/power remaining/time (There is a new plug and play version of the Core that does not require soldering. Soldering this thing is a pain. Tiny soldering. It is worth the extra $20 to get the plug and play version!)
ImmersionRC 600mW 5.8 video tx
Circular Wireless Skew Planar Wheel
Motor: Turnigy 2822/14 1450Kv
Servos: 2 Corona 9g
Turnigy NanoTec 3S 1300mah battery
Lumenier CS-600 Super – 600TVL D-WDR for flight camera
Prop: 7×5
ESC: Turnigy Plush 18A
This video is from the maiden of this plane.
Here’s a picture comparing the size of the Teksumo/Popwing with my TBS Capirinha. The wing chord on the Teksumo/Popwing is much longer than the Capirinha’s which making it a bit more stable and forgiving.
The Turnigy Aerodrive D2822/15 1450KV motor with a 7×5 prop provides plenty of power. Will do straight vertical as long as you can hold it there.
I just got back from a month in Europe and spent the last weekend in London, England. I had a room on the 9th floor of the the Hilton on Park Lane in London which had some pretty amazing views, especially from the bar on the 25th floor. I shot this out of my window on the 9th floor using a Canon 60D and two GoPro HD cameras.
Cameras: Canon 60D and (2) GoProHD
Edit: Premiere Pro CS5
Grading: Magic Bullet Looks
First time shooting with the Technicolor CineStyle setting/ Pretty interesting setting. It really brings out the detail in low light, especially in the shadows. This was the first time I had used it. I was in Charlotte, NC on business and downloaded it and installed it in my Canon 60D. The one thing I did not understand at first was that there are actually two parts to this setting: the actual setting that goes in the camera and the S-Curve/LUT plugin for your editing program. You don’t have to use the LUT plugin offered by CineStyle but you will need to do some color grading to make it look good. The setting in the camera by itself looks rather flat. The easiest way to think of it is the setting in the camera (CineStyle) is optimized to give you the most leeway in color grading. If you don’t want to do any color grading at all then I would probably not use this setting.
Quick edit from a night drive through downtown Charlotte, NC. Camera mounted on tripod inside vehicle shooting through sunroof straight up.
Camera: Canon 60D
ISO: 800
1/30th at 2.8
1920X1080/30
Lens: Tokina 11-16
Edit: Premiere Pro CS5
Had the opportunity to attend the Canon Filmmakers Live event in Atlanta starring the one and only Philip Bloom. The event was on March 16, 2011 from 10:00am until about 6:00pm. I left the house at 4:00am to drive there. Atlanta is about a 5 hour drive for me from where I live in Mount Pleasant (Charleston), South Carolina. A little over an hour into my journey the right-rear tire blew out on my car which normally would not have been too much of a problem. I pull over on the side of the interstate in the middle of nowhere to change the tire. I get out the jack and have the car about 2/3 of the way up when the handle on the jack breaks off. Lovely. Just lovely. After trying for about 30 minutes of trying to flag someone over waving at traffic passing by using only the light from my cell phone I gave in and called my roadside assistance people. I hesitated on calling them in the beginning because I thought they would take forever to get there. About 15 minutes after getting off the phone with them a South Carolina State Trooper pulls up behind me and lets me use his jack. Within 4 minutes I had the old tire off, the new tire on and was back on my way. Great way to start the day. I still managed to get there by the 10:00am.