What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

GoPro considerations when building

H

hcdittmer

I'm New Here
I'm curious what advice anyone might have regarding considerations, particularly while in the building process for using one or more GoPro cameras.
 
Don't do it!! It's a horrible time suck that will eat you alive!!! :D

1. 5VDC power to both wing tips.
2. 5VDC power to top of VS.
3. Built in mount in top of VS.
4. A few hard points. For both cameras (directly) as well as extensions/poles such off both ends of the wing. Otherwise, your kind of limited to where screws exist (e.g. wingtip).

Here's a video with views from both wingtips and top of VS: https://youtu.be/jm-BVvabzBw

There are a bunch of others in my channel but those three locations (4 counting in cockpit) work best for me. I've tried with cameras on the bottom but I have difficulty controlling them (start/stop recording from remote).
 
I wondered the same thing when building. When I finally got to flying I found that watching video of me flying was kind of boring so I hardly ever film anymore. I’ve fabricated brackets for my tie down locations and just turn the camera on before takeoff and turn off after landing. That’s been more than enough for me. I really only use footage when I want to give it to a passenger as a momento of their flight with me, but yet again that’s usually just footage within the cockpit that doesn’t require anything fancy. I’m glad I didn’t bother wiring for video or modifying structure for it, but your interests may dictate otherwise. Hope this helps.
 
I agree with all the guys. Put a power supply or at least a cable to the wingtip area. The batteries are **** and you will end up pi$$ed that you didnt get the video you thought you did.

The think I was amazed by is how little a camera sticking up in the wind changed the feel of flying. I dont notice a bit.

Have fun but you will find you spend a LOT of time working on the videos after you landed - especially if you get the 360. I can't think of any reason to not get the 360 other than the storage space on your computer and the time you spend creating cool videos!!
 
Just keep in mind that whatever you build into the aircraft will inevitably be outdated in just a few years with newer technology.
 
If and when you move to a 360° camera, you'll likely want to mount it on a selfie pole for those more dramatic shots. In addition to power, maybe pay attention to robust mounting (at least two solid anchor points) for such a pole. And BTW...find a nice solid pole. Many of those video are ruined by the "jello" effect of a less-than-rigid mounting.

You might get some information from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0-On4RZ1O0 . I can attest to the security and rigidity of those Rock Steady mounts, and Flight Flix has some really great accessories.

.
 
Last edited:
I watch a lot of backcountry flying on youtube, almost all of the 360 videos I just skip over. Yes it is cool technology, but it is crappy video quality.

PONG was an amazing video game when most of us were young, the 360 cameras are the PONG of today.

edited to add: If you have multiple cameras, as in one on each wing you can make great videos. Point one 90° to flight path showing the side of the plane, this will give you a great shot of you in the cockpit, show the planes control surfaces, ground below and touchdowns. Point the 2nd wing camera at the direction of travel, and I also have one in the cockpit over my shoulder out the front.

360 is just not quality yet
 
Last edited:
Utah-Jay said:
I watch a lot of backcountry flying on youtube, almost all of the 360 videos I just skip over. Yes it is cool technology, but it is crappy video quality.

PONG was an amazing video game when most of us were young, the 360 cameras are the PONG of today.

edited to add: If you have multiple cameras, as in one on each wing you can make great videos. Point one 90° to flight path showing the side of the plane, this will give you a great shot of you in the cockpit, show the planes control surfaces, ground below and touchdowns. Point the 2nd wing camera at the direction of travel, and I also have one in the cockpit over my shoulder out the front.

360 is just not quality yet
Click to expand...

LOL. Pong. I loved it when I was a kid. I'm starting to see it frequently in bars these days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92h0aXpSQgs&t=12s

The camera technology will indeed evolve, as will the enthusiasm that has led to Every. Single. Video being almost entirely made of 360° clips. It can be a dramatic addition to a video but is often overused, which is distracting. In the meantime, having a solid mounting platform with capability for a ball-mount and 1/4x20 mounting bolts will serve most camera systems for a long, long time. If one has any interest in aviation photography, such future-proofing during building is a great idea.
 
I'd add: If you are also capturing intercom audio, make sure you have a plan to deal with noise. I'm still struggling to get my Garmin VIRB to accept both DC power and audio through the same connector. I didn't expect the amount of noise generated by putting both through a single USB connection.

I would almost recommend having a separate recording device just for intercom audio, and mix them together in post-production.
 
Draker said:
I'd add: If you are also capturing intercom audio, make sure you have a plan to deal with noise. I'm still struggling to get my Garmin VIRB to accept both DC power and audio through the same connector. I didn't expect the amount of noise generated by putting both through a single USB connection.
Click to expand...

It sounds like the VIRB is similar to my GoPro. However, the GoPro wasn't really designed for external power, nor wired audio. I had to buy a replacement battery door that had a hole in it so that a USB-C cable could be plugged into it with the door closed. Additionally, I needed to buy this dongle to get a 3.5mm jack on the GoPro. Then I needed a LEMO-to-3.5mm (or in your case, likely a headset-to-3.5mm wire) so I could get the audio output out of my headset and to the GoPro's dongle. The Y adapter basically passes audio ground and headset L&R (with a 47kohm resistor inline with the Left & Right) to the 3.5mm jack.

btw, I did try an older VIRB connected to the GMA245 audio panel via Bluetooth.. but the audio quality was not great (admittedly, it had no noise though because it was a digital/wireless connection). Its a shame Garmin discontinued the VIRB line.

All that said, the audio was HORRIBLE. The reason is that internally, the GoPro has one ground bus.. so its power ground (USB) is tied to the audio ground. And now, electrons have an additional way to get to ground..and the GoPro sits inline with that path. great if you want lots of noise.

My problem was solved with a $10 isolation transformer. Technically it does muffle the audio a little, but you'd only notice if you were examining the signal on a scope.. its a non-factor.. the important thing is ALL the noise is gone. The transformer converts the audio signal from the plane to a magnetic signal... which is then picked up by the other side of the transformer and continues on to the GoPro.. no electrical connection exists between the plane and Gopro along the audio cable now.. so no more ground loop.

Here's an audio file with a before and after clip
 
Did anyone read the posters request about using which brand of cameras to document his build and how many. I read the replies and all but one are referring to cameras on their planes.

I cannot help him with an answer as I have not yet started my build but would be interested also in which cameras and how many, builders have/or are using.
 
hcdittmer said:
I'm curious what advice anyone might have regarding considerations, particularly while in the building process for using one or more GoPro cameras.
Click to expand...

Only buy major brand SD cards (e.g. Samsung, SanDisk), and get them from major photography stores (B&H, Adorama). Don't be tempted by the cheap ones. Avoid Amazon, as I've personally seen counterfeits slip into the supply chain there. Bad SD cards fail in ways that are weird and difficult to diagnose. Sometimes it's random data corruption, but you can get other fun things like being able to record but not play back, and a card that has says it's 8 GB on the box showing as 64 GB when you plug it in, but when you write >8 GB it'll just silently throw away data.

Installing the GoPro labs firmware will allow you to enable some possibly useful features by flashing QR codes in front of the camera, such as burning the timestamp into the footage
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top