powerlord

Well it's been a while since my last invention… so hopefully this one will make up for the wait: Some of you may remember I modified a pair of video glasses, making them monocular, and mounting them on a mic boom, so that I could pull it in front of my eye occasionally and check that my goPro was recording what I though it was recording. It worked pretty well, but I've now moved to a new helmet… in part due to bouncing down the side of a Turkish mountain on my head with the old one…. I'll save that tail for another time. I started doing the same thing - mounting the boom on the new helmet… then I had a bit of an epiphany - as a side line in other hobbies that can eat money - I've recently got into quadcopters - building one up that will fly my Gopro, adding live video feed and video goggles to I can fly it remotely by video, etc…. Well, one of the things I got was a 'Cyclops OSD'. These are about 80 quid, and sit between the video camera (e.g. go pro) and the transmitter. The OSD has a GPS, and adds on screen graphics to the live video - altitude, bearing, speed, vario, distance from home, direction to home, time in the air, etc….. Nice to have stuff for RC flying by video…. Coincidentally, also exactly the information I need when flying my paramotor!!! Yup… you've guess it - Mk2 Helmet is a full live video HUD with real time telemetry graphics for all the above data. It means I don't need to bother with a phone strapped to my arm anymore, it has no problems viewing in direct sunlight, it's available all the time (I just look up to my left and its there), plus I still get the go pro output for framing my videos. As the HUD is focused at infinity, it also work really well with both eyes open - the graphics appearing to be suspended in the air in front of your face. It has passed ground tests (my neighbours now just turn a blind eye when they seem me with something like a helmet on running up and down the road)… and will be trying it on my next flight. video here - still shots of the helmet and the HUD output at the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqKC_HgARRI stu

A flight last week around the Suffolk coast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5qth745dWU

Just in case some folk don't know: I do all my videos now in very high quality 1080p. I really is worth watching full screen in 1080p if you have a decent computer (even if your screen is not 1080p). Also, it is worth updating your browser to the latest version - Safari, Firefox, IE, Chrome sand Opera all support HTML5 video now. You can configure youtube to use it here: http://www.youtube.com/html5 It uses CONSIDERABLY less CPU than flash video, and those on slower computers may find it is just the thing for allowing them to watch higher resolution videos full screen. Anyhoo, on with the show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMZ8sIDZH9U stu

sorry removed vid. stu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohPji0SNBaA not the most exciting 5 minutes you are ever gonna have in your life, but I think it is pretty amazing that we can wander into a field with nothing more than some stuff strapped to our back, and 5 minutes later be above the clouds. 1000 ft/min climb to 5000 feet in 5 minutes. what a truly amazing sport. stu p,s, please don't post embedded link* - I prefer people to come to my channel, browse, comment, etc, as well as more easily see my videos in 1080p as they are intended. *I know I can ban embedding, but I prefer the softly softly approach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDnh6kDmo3U Nice flight. Lots of cool clouds getting stopped at the Cliffs. And got a chance to try out my pole mount thing again. stu

http://www.powerlord.webspace.virginmed ... Santa.html

shot very early on a sunday morning. stu

In May, the Lemmings (lemmingsuk.com) ditched our motors and went tree-hugging in Turkey. stu

First set goPro to start recording when switched on. Then you just need to hold front button down for 5 secs to start or stop. Second I just use the wee mirror I have for checking fuel if I need to confirm it is recOrding - LCD and light flashing Or build a headup display then you see it recording and format etc on the screen

stuHUD ? anyhoo, here's the video: no more looking at my gopro footage to find I have mostly sky or mostly ground, and should make wing shots easier. I can even plug in a wifi module to see output of a chasecam, but seemed a bit overkill, since there was bog all I could do to change position of camera then, so kept it simple. should be flying this weekend so will give it a thorough testing. stu

Dan - its a manfrotto monopod used backwards with the go pro mounted on the thin 'foot'. Retracted it is about the same length as my swingarm and is velcroed to the side of the swing arm when not in use - basically can just be forgotten about, doesn't get in way at take off or landing. There is a retracting lanyard attached to the front of swing arm and fat end of monopod securing it in case I drop it etc. I did used to use a longer monopod but it was more of a pain when stored as it came out about a foot from swing arm so I find this one a good compromise between a pocket monopod which only extends 4 feet and free rotates so the gopro has to be balanced on it or slides upside down and the long 6 foot one. Extended it is about 5 feet. Ian - I know what u mean. Though when I was flying loch earn across the mountains it was more remote. I was glad I had a personal lOcation beacon with me for emergencies

full details on my blog at http://powerlord.blogspot.com/ but picture links copied here too: http://powerlord.smugmug.com/Paramotor/ ... Ben-Nevis/ http://powerlord.smugmug.com/Paramotor/ ... Panoramas/ http://powerlord.smugmug.com/Paramotor/ ... 2011-Fife/ http://powerlord.smugmug.com/Paramotor/ ... ng-castle/ http://powerlord.smugmug.com/Paramotor/Loch-Earn/ stu

cheers Gary - was thinking the same thing about your ones yesterday - love the way you get the wing in some of them - whats your kit/lens/etc ? yup - took off from campsite with their permission. The weather lasted about 3 hours - pissed rain that night, and was pissing rain and blowing a gale during that day - I was out with the wind meter every 30 mins that day waiting for the right moment for a break in the weather. that's the first pics I've taken with a DSLR - really liked the way they came out I must admit. Looking forward to flying around there again. stu

I will do. Parents live in Lanark, so handy enough. Just added loads more Oban pics to the gallery too. stu

@#$@#$ ! why didn't I find your advert before!! that would have been ruddy ideal! Could have just driven up in car with gear, and swapped into motorhome. bugger. definately next time! - I've sent you a mail via your website. where are you based ? stu

http://powerlord.smugmug.com/Paramotor/ ... il-Moffat/ http://powerlord.smugmug.com/Paramotor/ ... d-Kerrera/ up here touring scotland in motorhome. tomorrow gonna try the east coast - thought weather looks pants. stu

he he yeh I was trying to capture the way I think we all feel over a flight: 1) the stress of setting up, cocking up, trying again, should I give up or give it another go. 2) ahhh in the air 3) whew, landed. fun over.. now just grunt work of getting the stuff back to the van.. then the massive relief that it all went well and you are still alive

Las Candelas 2010 - Jan/Feb this year. Apologies for it taking me 6 months to edit this together. I moved to new hardware (gopro HD, macbook pro, etc) I moved to new software (final cut pro) My dog ate the original edits. etc. However, with no further delays, here is my first real effort at a 'Paramotor music video'. HD: so if stuttery, yer PC is slow - reduce to 360p and wait for buffer again. It IS set to music - most of the delay was spending weeks editing it to something, then deciding something different worked better and starting again. So - get the speakers on. Sorry for the ads - its the music licencing - just click the X once to close comments as always, welcome. Next - the outtakes reel. I promise that won't take another 6 months! atb stu

yeh longest to date. Switch on satellite and zoom in and you'll see - there was a nice quarry I did a 360 over for example. stu

Thought some folk might like to see this: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=689131 Just from my NMEA trace, but its quite nice the way it animates it, and you can follow it with your mouse, zoom in, etc. stu

Here's a few from me flying at Las Candelas over the weekend in Southern Spain http://powerlord.smugmug.com/Paramotor/ ... i-and-Sat/ stu

yeh I reckon they are top of the heap. trustedreviews illustrate the point here : http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-c ... DMC-TZ7/p1 it's 720p though, not1080i. stu

indeed. if u want a paramotor one - the one I posted in the snow a few days ago was shot with the gopro. I've not tried stills yet to be honest. early indications are they are 'ok', nothing great - only a little better than the stills you can grab from the video (which are pretty decent anyway - the smugmug snow ones are stills from the video). what I would say, is that unless you are going for a fisheye like the gopro - getting a camera with a decent optical (not digital) stabiliser is very very worthwhile for flying - and the lumix one is really great imho. stu

I shoot stills with my lumix fx37. before that fx12. I have shot some with my FZ30, but to be honest I find the compact easier than the bridge when flying - too much movement to use the 12x zoom. The fx37 shoots 720p video too. Actually I have 2 of these - that was what I shot my 3d paragliding video with ( 2 next to each other). My Las Candelas video was shot with the FX37: I find it great for still too with the really wide angle lense - I usually have it on burst mode, and can take 5 or 6 pics in a few seconds guaranteeing one in focus. course if you just want video, I love my goproHD now - but for versatility, I love the lumix range. I don't think bridge cameras are well suited to aerial photography - I reckon the choice is either compact or DLSR (for the faster shutter speeds and focusing). But I get all the stills I need from the lumixs. All the aerial stills on my smugmug are with lumixes (expect the gopro stills): http://powerlord.smugmug.com/ I've also got some comparison shots between the bridge FZ30 and compact FX12. stu