Aerial HD Video recorded using CHDK on Canon SD780IS

[andrewhazelden]

Hi.

I have been using CHDK for all sorts of projects and it is GREAT!

My most recent project with CHDK was filming an aerial video above West Dover, Nova Scotia from a model airplane in 720p High Definition video. A Canon Powershot IXUS SD780IS was used with the CHDK Beta. I used CHDK to increase the data rate of the video and used the ALT mode to keep the screen from turning off when the video finished recording.

http://www.andrewhazelden.com/blog/2010/08/high-definition-fpv-video-an-aerial-exploration-of-west-dover/

I also flew another flight in photo mode and used a custom CHDK intervalometer script to shoot high resolution photos.

Regards,
Andrew Hazelden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCO8bnQbIFU

[hotvedt]

Amazing!
The flight looks quite stable, despite the small(?) plane you used.
Some time in the future i'll do something similar myself.
Thanks for sharing.

[andrewhazelden]

Amazing!
The flight looks quite stable, despite the small(?) plane you used.
Some time in the future i'll do something similar myself.
Thanks for sharing.

I used a Multiplex EasyStar model airplane with a 54 inch wing span. A Co-Pilot flight stabilizer kept the plane level during flight. It also helps to fly on days with less than 10 km / hr winds to get really smooth video.

Andrew

[Super_Dork_42]

Very nice.
Also, given this evidence, I don't think it was such a small plane. I found it on Google.

[Fredrock]

These are great pic... and nice plane by the way.

[andrewhazelden]

This is the Multiplex EasyStar plane that I fly with.

Andrew

[Super_Dork_42]

Nice plane. Could you show a pic of you next to it for size comparison?

[onpatrol]

hi I'm new to chdk which script did you use for the  intervalometer as i want to do some aerial shots from my kite, i've been having trouble with exposure due to sudden changes in lighting caused by clouds, any tips would be much appreciated.

[morrowwm]

Very nice. Reminds me of the stories from the early days of flight, where a biplane would fly over, and then a week later, a door-to-door salesman would come by to sell you the picture.

Any idea what your maximum altitude was?

[andrewhazelden]

hi I'm new to chdk which script did you use for the  intervalometer as i want to do some aerial shots from my kite, i've been having trouble with exposure due to sudden changes in lighting caused by clouds, any tips would be much appreciated.

Here is a link to the intervalometer script I used:
http://www.andrewhazelden.com/files/2010/March/CHDK_intervalometer_scripts.zip

timed.bas allows you set the delay between photos in seconds. rapid.bas works to take photos quickly in rapid succession. rapid.bas works best on photos in single shot mode. I use timed.bas most often.

Another option if you want the absolute max photos possible is to set the camera to continuous mode and have something hold the shutter button down on the camera. This will take photos very quickly. You have to make sure to lock focus on a distant object in the first photo though as it doesn't take a focus reading with each additional photo.

Make sure to set the camera to infinity focus (Mountain Mode) before starting the script.

To control changes in auto exposure you will need to lock in a specific exposure setting using CHDK shutter speed overrides. Make sure to set the exposure to something above 1/500th of a second so you can reduce the amount of motion blur.

Here is a handy table of pre-computed Shutter Speed Overrides on my blog:
http://www.andrewhazelden.com/blog/2010/06/chdk-shutter-speed-overrides-explained/

[andrewhazelden]

Very nice. Reminds me of the stories from the early days of flight, where a biplane would fly over, and then a week later, a door-to-door salesman would come by to sell you the picture.

Any idea what your maximum altitude was?

I didn't have a GPS on-board so I don't know the maximum altitude.

[Aggie]

Andrew,

Can you share the script you used to shoot video, please? Also, how did you initiate the video script? Can you do this remotely?

[andrewhazelden]

Andrew,

Can you share the script you used to shoot video, please? Also, how did you initiate the video script? Can you do this remotely?

Hi Aggi.

For the aerial flights I did last year I used a 2GB SD memory card with my CHDK powered Canon Powershot camera for simplicity. I would download the photos and video to my laptop between flights. This meant that I didn't need a script for extended video duration because the card would fill up before the recording would hit the file size barrier.

This summer I will probably look into writing a script to shoot multiple video clips. It should be possible to turn video recording on / off from a script that is controlled by a small 8-bit microcontroller that would also connect to a PPM R/C control channel on the airplane.