Short Video of flight in my Skycatcher

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Dennis
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Short Video of flight in my Skycatcher

Post by Dennis »

Hello Group

I assembled a few images taken with my digital camera on a recent flight with Windows Movie Maker. Take a look and let me know what you think. This is my first attempt at this sort of presentation. Real videos are coming in the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWqDS1xlYR0

Fly safely and often,
Dennis Persyk

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http://users.foxvalley.net/~dpersyk/skycatcher.htm
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drseti
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Re: Short Video of flight in my Skycatcher

Post by drseti »

Nice pix, Dennis (and it looks as though you had a perfect flying day). Thanks for posting.
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drdehave
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Re: Short Video of flight in my Skycatcher

Post by drdehave »

Nice pictures! To jazz the presentation up at bit, using WMM, whilst on a particular picture, click Animations, then apply one of the Pan and Zoom types; this will make it look lake you're panning the camera. Also, for further dress-up, click and apply a Transition to each picture from the suite available. WMM is a nice tool for free; it just doesn't have capability to "enhance" the actual video footage. I still use it to paste my "enhanced" clips, done in Power Director 11, into the final movie before posting up to YT.--R

PS: Here's my latest video creation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyyKP0G ... m3CDM8arRk
Last edited by drdehave on Sun Sep 01, 2013 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Dennis
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Re: Short Video of flight in my Skycatcher

Post by Dennis »

drdehave wrote:Nice pictures! To jazz the presentation up at bit, using WMM, whilst on a particular picture, click Animations, then apply one of the Pan and Zoom types; this will make it look lake you're panning the camera. Also, for further dress-up, click and apply a Transition to each picture from the suite available. WMM is a nice tool for free; it just doesn't have capability to "enhance" the actual video footage. I still use it to paste my "enhanced" clips, done in Power Director 11, into the final movie before posting up to YT.--R
Thanks for the tips. Your videos are a real inspiration to me.

What cameras do you use and how do you mount them? I notice that YouTube HD is considerably poorer resolution than the uploaded media -- do you notice that as well.

Fly safely,
Dennis
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drdehave
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Re: Short Video of flight in my Skycatcher

Post by drdehave »

Well, my journey in this has been a self-taught evolution. I have now evolved from "all the other" cameras, to just using four of the best (my opinion): two GoProH2s (inside the cockpit) and two GPH3s (outside). My experience has been that something always happens to at least one or two cameras (bad lighting; vibration-induced jello; a battery takes a dump, etc.), so if you have enough of them running, you get something decent you can use (actually, now that I've gotten better, I think 2 or 3 would be plenty sufficient); and, I don't want to be going back to re-run any of my low flights.

Go to my YouTube channel, under the "How to" section, for some general attachment info & ideas. But,...I have evolved here, too. And now, my favorite attachment place is the wing tie-down ring, although it works best when conditions are flat-calm (because, wing-tip movement is exacerbated in turbulence). For some good pics of my tie-down-ring mount (i.e., for a good, vibration-free camera view), see my recent post ("The wing mount I would love, if...") over at the CT forum: http://ctflier.com/index.php?/forum/71-video/

And, Yes! I sure have noticed that something often "happens" to my videos when they go through that YouTube "processing." Sometimes the result is not good and the beautiful quality I see before post-up is diminished; other times, not so much. Also, at least on my computer, quality and time-of-day go together. When the internet is busy and my connection quality drops, so does my play-back quality. But, oddly, I nearly always get stunning play-back quality on my big, flat-screen TV; go figure that!

One final comment: I am convinced more than ever now that most wobble and other jello-related issues when using such cameras on airplanes are, 99% of the time, caused by vibration in the mount of the camera. Fix that and you get a lot more great video.--Rich
Last edited by drdehave on Sat Aug 24, 2013 7:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Merlinspop
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Re: Short Video of flight in my Skycatcher

Post by Merlinspop »

drdehave wrote:To jazz the presentation up at bit, using WMM, whilst on a particular picture, click Animations, then apply one of the Pan and Zoom types; this will make it look lake you're panning the camera.
Be careful with this, though. It's easy to overdo these effects, then it just becomes terribly annoying. I'd rather a quick fade from one picture to the next most of the time.
- Bruce
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Re: Short Video of flight in my Skycatcher

Post by FastEddieB »

On a Mac (or at least in iMovie), the "Animations" effect is called the "Ken Burns" effect.

Cute!

But yes, it can be overdone.
Fast Eddie B.
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Jack Tyler
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Re: Short Video of flight in my Skycatcher

Post by Jack Tyler »

Doc, I want to applaud your 'how to' series on using cameras on aircraft and thank you for posting them. It's obvious you aren't "winging" these presentations as both the content and editing are excellent and very helpful. (Wish I had your first name but didn't think you'd mind the 'Doc' shorthand.) Earlier you introduced the first few of these to this forum; the whole series is just great.

(For those interested in 'how to' subjects like criteria to use when picking a video camera, how to mount it, things to consider when locating it, etc., you can scroll down Doc's YouTube 'front page' to find the entire series of six 'how to' videos archived under a single video choice. Choosing that link is very handy as they play in sequence).

Doc, some of the flying you've done makes me think you'd find a good deal in common with some of what we in the RAF are trying to do. Have you looked into our activities out West and specifically in CA? We have state liaisons in both SF and Kernville (Chris & Rick - alphabetically listed by state at http://theraf.org/content/state-liaisons if you'd like to 'meet them') and it would seem Kernville in particular is a destination you've either already flown to or would find worth a visit. If our mission appeals, consider joining - you needn't donate any money - so at the least you'll get on our bi-annual emailing and newsletter list. Great people, and very much about saving and re-opening recreational aviation destinations in unique, natural settings. As we like to say, nothing contributes more to GA than recreational aviation...and what would recreational aviation be like without interesting destinations?!
Jack
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Re: Short Video of flight in my Skycatcher

Post by Jack Tyler »

Thread drift alert:

This particular thread reminds me of how limited this forum remains in one key area: 'Mods/Improvements/Techniques/Fixes' as they relate to the aircraft we fly. In the past year plus, Paul - as our one dedicated moderator - has responded to a number of suggestions and broadened the forum categories substantially. Consequently, I hate to suggest - tho' I will - yet another category in the current long index. Along with many new and newish pilots posting here, we have a variety of a/c owners who are members, doing many different types of flying. Some have built their a/c - either as E-AB or E-LSA - while others have taken their S-LSA a/c into the E-LSA category and still others obtained certificates in order to work on their a/c. All these folks - and others, like me - are finding 'hands on' methods & techniques to make flying more interesting, more affordable, and all around better.

To some extent, all forums (fora?) operate on a 'build it and they will come' model: If you provide a place for a given type of topic, you'll collect threads on that topic. No dedicated topic and, even if you do collect some gems like drdehave's contributions, they get swallowed up in a catchall category like Hangar Flying or Lightsport Aircraft. If we have a category for Humor and we have categories intended to be moderated by contributors who haven't been around for years (like Insurance), shouldn't we have one for something along the lines of 'Mods/Improvements/Techniques/Fixes'? Or am I the only one feeling this is a missing piece?

Ironically, my Q is itself getting swallowed up in a unrelated category too! But if you read this, please share your interest in this idea to see if it has legs.
Jack
Flying in/out KBZN, Bozeman MT in a Grumman Tiger
Do you fly for recreational purposes? Please visit http://www.theraf.org
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drdehave
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Re: Short Video of flight in my Skycatcher

Post by drdehave »

..."makes me think you'd find a good deal in common with some of what we in the RAF are trying to do. Have you looked into our activities out West and specifically in CA?"

I hadn't, but I am now! Thanks for the info, Jack.--Rich
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drseti
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Re: Short Video of flight in my Skycatcher

Post by drseti »

Jack Tyler wrote:Thread drift alert:
so what's new? :wink:
shouldn't we have one for something along the lines of 'Mods/Improvements/Techniques/Fixes'?
Indeed we should, Jack, and now we do. See "Experimenter's Corner" under "Cruise". And, thanks for the suggestion. :D
The opinions posted are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the FAA or its lawyers.
Prof H Paul Shuch
PhD CFII DPE LSRM-A/GL/WS/PPC iRMT
AvSport LLC, KLHV
[email protected]
AvSport.org
facebook.com/SportFlying
SportPilotExaminer.US
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