Warbird air to air video using Mavic Pro

[Brendond]

Thought you might be interested in a recent experiment we did using a Mavic Pro as a stabilised video platform for warbird air to air photography. The Mavic was mounted in a 1945 Grumman Avenger which has a ventral gun position which is ideal for camera work. We "bolted" the Mavic down looking out rearwards in the position with the camera gimbal out in the open air and controlled the gimbal from the navigators position using the standard Mavic controller. We made a few setup mistakes in this first experiment. We made a last minute decision to remove the ND8 filter as its a friction fit and we thought it might come off mid flight. This meant the shutter speed was too high to ensure prop blur. Also the auto focus hunted a bit as focus was centred on the spinning prop so not all the footage was as good as we would have liked but a great first try. The subject aircraft is a 1944 Supermarine Spitfire and the footage was taken around the Rangitikei area of New Zealand. The first sequence is over the Christmas Parade in the town of Marton and the second sequence is over RNZAF Ohakea where our aircraft are based.

Spitfire over Marton from Mavic

Spitfire RNZAF Ohakea from Mavic

Its interesting to note that although RNZAF Ohakea is within a Mavic recognised no fly zone, we were still able to operate and record video. Our initial tests showed that using the Mavic just as a camera we had about 1.5 hours of video recording. As it was we captured around an hour of video at 4k. These clips are edited down to 1080P. Be interested in any suggestion how we could do better next time. More clips from that exercise on Youtube - look for "Spitfire PV270".

The aircraft were doing around 160 knots so might be one of the fastest Mavic "flights" recorded.

 

[Brendond]

And a longer sequence from the same flight

Spitfire over the Rangitikei District from Mavic

 

[BerndM]

That is REALLY cool. Thanks.
A bit of jello effect or gimbal shake in the second video, but awesome nonetheless.

 

[FoxhallGH]

Wow - that's something you don't see every day! Excellent - and great subject to do that with ...

 

[VJRice]

Those are very cool videos !

 

[calmar81]

Very very cool! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[GavieboyDji]

Thought you might be interested in a recent experiment we did using a Mavic Pro as a stabilised video platform for warbird air to air photography. The Mavic was mounted in a 1945 Grumman Avenger which has a ventral gun position which is ideal for camera work. We "bolted" the Mavic down looking out rearwards in the position with the camera gimbal out in the open air and controlled the gimbal from the navigators position using the standard Mavic controller. We made a few setup mistakes in this first experiment. We made a last minute decision to remove the ND8 filter as its a friction fit and we thought it might come off mid flight. This meant the shutter speed was too high to ensure prop blur. Also the auto focus hunted a bit as focus was centred on the spinning prop so not all the footage was as good as we would have liked but a great first try. The subject aircraft is a 1944 Supermarine Spitfire and the footage was taken around the Rangitikei area of New Zealand. The first sequence is over the Christmas Parade in the town of Marton and the second sequence is over RNZAF Ohakea where our aircraft are based.

Spitfire over Marton from Mavic

Spitfire RNZAF Ohakea from Mavic

Its interesting to note that although RNZAF Ohakea is within a Mavic recognised no fly zone, we were still able to operate and record video. Our initial tests showed that using the Mavic just as a camera we had about 1.5 hours of video recording. As it was we captured around an hour of video at 4k. These clips are edited down to 1080P. Be interested in any suggestion how we could do better next time. More clips from that exercise on Youtube - look for "Spitfire PV270".

The aircraft were doing around 160 knots so might be one of the fastest Mavic "flights" recorded.

Brilliant video . I noticed you seem to be having the same problem as my Mavic Pro 1 with the horizon not staying level and takes a few seconds to level itself. Still absolutely brilliant idea and videoing. Well done nice to see a war plane still being flown you can't beat the sound of them Spitfire's.

 

[Brendond]

This is a still taken from the Mavic Pro 4k video - as I mentioned, slower shutter speed would have worked better to blur the prop

 

[MJK]

Cool, thanks for sharing. This may be the fastest "Mavic" footage. Even Inspire 2 cannot go 160 knots.
How high were you flying?