Air to Air - Digital Cam recorder

[André]

Has any of you ever worked with a digital cam recorder attached to an aircraft wing ?

Talking about cam recorders at this forum is probably like cursing in church but some of the warbird guys here at the local airstrip brought up the idea. As I am a complete stranger in Cam recorder country some advice would be highly appreciated.

1. I guess some kind of Image Stabilization is needed.
2. What shutterspeeds are required.
3. Will the camera focus itself or is manual focussing required.
4. What about battery life ?
5. Will remote control work ?
6. As the camera lens surface is very fragile adding a UV filter could be a solution. Think of all insects-dirt hitting a wing when in flight.

What type of camera would be best these days ? I have seen the 'old' tape recorders but was more thinking of a sample with a built in harddisc. Other types use a DVD for storage when recording but I think those are to fragile too for use outside an aircraft.

André

[Fox-3]

Andre,
   Yes, and here are some issues to look at even before selecting the camera model:

   1)  TFOA (Things Falling Off Aircraft) Hazard:  Your camera needs multiple, redundant attachment points, for example the fairing or pod it sits in is one, and it should additionally have a bracket attachment that is connected to a structural member, not just the aircraft skin.

   2)  Do you have room in the aircraft for a laptop/tablet to run the camera, or will you just turn the camera on, mount up and fly?

   3)  Will you be doing any aerobatic maneuvers that will stress the camera-pod or its wing attachment beyond what it is structurally rated for? (Tust me, even a three-pound consumer camera can put more stress on a wing than is desired!)

As for your questions, based on my experiences,
    1. Yes, IS is needed, but it is fairly standard, even on the latest consumer models.
    2. This will require a little experimentation, assuming you are filming aircraft flying in formation with you.  (see notes to follow)
    3. Autofocus will work, unless you have aircraft entering the field of view in CLOSE formation.  (once again see notes below)
    4. 90 minutes of battery life should be sufficient, unless you are going full digital/streaming, you will be tape limited first.
    5. Remote via LanC connection will work with the requisite cabling.  This is probably the best way to control focus and zoom without going the laptop route listed below.
    6. UV filter is a must.  I would also mount the camera in a pod or fairing that has an optical glass face to it as an added bit of redundancy. (not all that expensive when the cost of camera replacement is figured in... the rock may not hit your camera in the lens!)

   Now for the "Type".  There are 3 basic options here.  Tape and DVD are right out.  Forget about them.  Harddrive is a good option( #3) , but it is at the whim of the environments for temperature and humidity.  The rapid cooling as you climb out even to 5-6k AGL can have an adverse effect on the camera. My #2 suggestion would be (if you have room) to stream the video from the camera to a laptop/tablet.  This obviously requires access to the aircraft structure to run the cables, but then the laptop is the limiting factor for aircraft maneuvers, etc. (it has a HDD that has to react to G-forces as well...) The great thing about remote computer control is that most pro models and some pro-sumer ones allow full camera functionality via a computer interface (focus, white balance, etc..)  This would allow you to compensate for aircraft entering the camera FOV when it is focused at infinity,etc...
My #1 option would be some sort of flash media camera.  The consumer ones might be fine, but a lot of the pro cameras have the ability to record to professional versions of flash memory cards.  They resist temperature and humidity changes a lot more than HDDs.  You can usually fit about 1-2 hrs of video on each card, even in HD format. 

   Hope that helps! 

  --Doug     

[André]

WOW. That's tonnes of information. Thank you ! 

Most of the warbirds I was flying with have very limited cockpit space so I doubt a laptop can be used inside.

I didn't know that Harddiscs were that vulnerable to G-forces and temperatures so I guess the flash media options would be best.

I have been thinking about the TFOA theme as well and a three point camera attachment in some way. Have to think about a special designed gripe and talk to some fellow mechanics about it. Shouldn't be too much of a problem, I hope.

[Jan-Arie]

He Andre do some google on camera mounts on airplanes   

camera mounts on aircraft

[André]

Thanks ! Have to check the budget now after looking at your link.