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.
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 chance to shoot some video the other day of some guys who were passing through Charleston on their year-long adventure that just started. Leon Griffin, owner of WVO Designs.com, called and said “Hey, I’m going to be pulling up in front of your house in a few minutes with some guys in a bus that runs on veggie oil and want to shoot some video.” So, I was like, “Ummm, Okay!”
Cameras: 60D and T2i
Lenses: Sigma 30mm f1.4 on the 60D / Tokina 11-16 f2.8 on the T2i.
Audio: Audio Technica AT897 into a Zoom H4n into the 60D.
Just a simple video of some great friends. A bunch of us have had kids lately and we decided to head downtown Charleston to “go see Santa!” Unfortunately, we got downtown on a rainy Saturday and Santa had already left his hangout so we decided to grab some lunch. Later that night we we had a little holiday gathering at our house. Still getting used to the form factor of the Canon 60D and pulling focus.
Camera: Canon 60D
Lens: Sigma 30mm f1.4