I’ve just been kitesurfing in Mauritius and it was amazing! The waves were epic and I’m trying to adjust back to my normal life now I’m home again. Whilst in Mauritius I bumped into Martin Stobbe from Ascending Technologies, the aerial drone specialists. He was kind enough to show me their RC Aerial Video equipment, The Falcon 8, which they were using to shot footage for North Kiteboarding. The Falcon 8 is a state of the art RC Aerial Video Drone which practically flies itself. It’s very easy to fly and with a 2-way stabilisation system, comprising of a camera mounted on a gimbal and an in-camera optical image stabiliser, giving a super-steady image straight out of the camera.
Which cameras are best suited for RC aerial video?
For photography they recommend using the Sony NEX-7N which has a 16.1 megapixel APS-C sensor (the same size sensor as in the Canon 7d) but in a much smaller and lighter camera. For video they recommend the Sony CX730 which has balanced optical steadyshot, offers full 1080p at 50fps (allowing you to do smooth slow motion post production work). This state of the art RC Aerial Video equipment will cost you 18,000 euros fully fitted with camera and all the accessories. A nice feature is the camera remote control pad and viewing goggles, which allows a second person to take control of the filming while leaving the pilot to fly the drone. This is handy when flying in testing conditions, such as the 25mph winds that we had in Mauritius that day.
I was really surprised at how steady the Falcon 8 flew in such blustery conditions and over water hundreds of meters over water. Take a look at the video I put together below where you can see the Falcon in action: