Externally Mounted Camera Footage of Mavic Pro in Flight

[mobile1]

Ok, here is what happens if you take a light weight external camera, a balsa wood stick and a 3M poster strip to attach that camera to the Mavic Pro...

here's more with longer clips

Here's my latest one Interactive-click and hold while moving mouse to look around..external 360 cam strapped to mavic - first flight - more higher resolution ones to come ....

And an additional video - of best clips.

Enjoy!

 

[bemeis]

That's amazing.

 

[Lapeer20m]

Great footage!

 

[Lubelaczek]

Breathtaking footage (01 Flight Of TheSilverbird). Love your music background... What is it?

 

[Nikon1]

Going to post the details of how you did it and what you used?

 

[Flightplan]

Fantastic job.

 

[mobile1]

Going to post the details of how you did it and what you used?

Sure happy to outline:

CAMERAS:
this one is nice and compact but a bit heavy but goes great against the leg for side shot. Too heavy if you need more distance to the drone.
GERI Full HD 1080P Indoor/Outdoor Sport Mini Spy Hidden Camera DV Wide Angle IR | eBay

This one is very light but a bit larger footprint
QQ5 1080p HD 170 degree wide Angle DV mini camera SPY Hidden camera Record Video | eBay

WOOD POST
Then to mount it remotely - first tried wire.. that did not work since it caused too much shaking. Needed something light that's rigid. Balsa wood was ideal, very rigid, super light weight.
Amazon.com: Sax 407055 Balsa Wood in Economy Bag, 1/2 Board Foot, Assorted Sizes: Industrial & Scientific

MOUNT
To mount camera to wood post I used electrician tape for the light weight camera and 3m-poster-strips for the first camera. To mound the wood post to the mavic I used the 3m poster strips.
Amazon.com: Command Poster Hanging Strips, Small, White, 36-Strips: Industrial & Scientific
Those 3m poster strips are AMAZING. Mounts cameras very rigidly to the frame and very easily removable without any damage or residue.

When all done the result looks like this:

The only tricky thing is for the shots looking up... from behind up to the bottom of the drone, is landing. U have to hand land the drone.. since the drone can't land with the wood stick pointing down.

MUSIC: For the other video the music is by an artist/group called: TWO STEPS FROM HELL - song name: flight of the silver bird - it's movie trailer music (not royalty free - but u can use it they just monetize the video). The music for the external camera footage is by artist TeknoAxe on youtube (royalty free)

 

[Nikon1]

Sure happy to outline:

CAMERAS:
this one is nice and compact but a bit heavy but goes great against the leg for side shot. Too heavy if you need more distance to the drone.
GERI Full HD 1080P Indoor/Outdoor Sport Mini Spy Hidden Camera DV Wide Angle IR | eBay

This one is very light but a bit larger footprint
QQ5 1080p HD 170 degree wide Angle DV mini camera SPY Hidden camera Record Video | eBay

WOOD POST
Then to mount it remotely - first tried wire.. that did not work since it caused too much shaking. Needed something light that's rigid. Balsa wood was ideal, very rigid, super light weight.
Amazon.com: Sax 407055 Balsa Wood in Economy Bag, 1/2 Board Foot, Assorted Sizes: Industrial & Scientific

MOUNT
To mount camera to wood post I used electrician tape for the light weight camera and 3m-poster-strips for the first camera. To mound the wood post to the mavic I used the 3m poster strips.
Amazon.com: Command Poster Hanging Strips, Small, White, 36-Strips: Industrial & Scientific
Those 3m poster strips are AMAZING. Mounts cameras very rigidly to the frame and very easily removable without any damage or residue.

When all done the result looks like this:

The only tricky thing is for the shots looking up... from behind up to the bottom of the drone, is landing. U have to hand land the drone.. since the drone can't land with the wood stick pointing down.

MUSIC: For the other video the music is by an artist/group called: TWO STEPS FROM **** - song name: flight of the silver bird - it's movie trailer music (not royalty free - but u can use it they just monetize the video). The music for the external camera footage is by artist TeknoAxe on youtube (royalty free)

Ingenious and the results are amazing. Thank you!

 

[popedumich]

Love the best of video. Where was that shot and what settings?

 

[Niceun]

That is so cool. Bet DJI likes that too..

 

[mobile1]

here's an external camera version with longer clips for those who like seeing more of this. Also noticed if I turn on Anti-Shake processing in the video editor - the landscape gets stable and the drone moves - which looks kind of nice - for example first clip.

Thx for the nice comments. The Best-Of was shot mostly in Novato, CA in Feb/March 2017 which was right after the much larger than usual rains which made for the great water footage (normally is more swamp looking)... the sea/beach shots were taken in San Francisco. Music is: Two Steps from HeII - Flight of the Silver Bird.

 

[Kestrel]

Seeing from that angle really makes me appreciate all advanced and awesome the mavic is.

 

[Derlisz]

Kind of reminds me of Airwolf.

 

[SeaComms]

Very interesting from a technical viewpoint. Especially the first 30 seconds of the first video when walking outside. You can clearly see the gimble bouncing around with each step yet the footage from the gimble cam is steady. How is that possible when the stability is supposed to be purely mechanical and uses the whole ccd for recording and not electronic image stabilization?

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Very cool and creative!

 

[mobile1]

Very interesting from a technical viewpoint. Especially the first 30 seconds of the first video when walking outside. You can clearly see the gimble bouncing around with each step yet the footage from the gimble cam is steady. How is that possible when the stability is supposed to be purely mechanical and uses the whole ccd for recording and not electronic image stabilization?

Fully agree, I was blown away by the amount of vibration and movements and jerking around the gimbal manages to smooth out. Some of the clips show some pretty violent maneuvers especially hard stops, sideways or in strong wind or with that camera arm attached.. meanwhile, gimball footage remains rock solid..

 

[mobile1]

here's my first try with a Samsung 360 strapped to it.. u can move the view point with your mouse while video plays.. feels like sitting on top of a mavic lol

360 cam attached to a mavic - interactive/movable camera footage