Loved FIREFLY. Any idea which hack was used in the GH2? Cheers.

https://vimeo.com/45939653

Just to relay similar sentiment, multirotor aerial platforms are an extensive investment of time and resources. Anyone considering flying their cameras in the air should plan at least a year of constant practicing, tweaking, adjusting, etc. There is currently no commercially available platform this is truly plug and play if you want to fly anything heavier than a GoPro. Keeping a level horizon, minimizing vibrations, keeping copter shadows out of shots, smooth fight… the list of potential issues go on and on. That said, there so many amazing applications for this, and Firefly shows a little creativity can go a long way.

http://vimeo.com/49676154

This is our Airreel 2012. It shows, what can be done with multicopter aerial filming nowadays. These shots are possible with rc controlled helicopters but they are difficult to achieve by manned aircraft. Don´t be fooled though, as a couple of guys already mentioned above, this is NOT a DIY project.
We have seen DOP´s in the past, thinking, they could just pick a cameraman and have him learn to fly such an aircraft in a couple of weeks. That idea cost them a tonload of money. To get the shot you want it requires a highly sophisticated flying machine that can not be purchased off the shelf (even though a couple of manufacturers will tell you differently), tons of surrounding equipment and most importantly a very experienced pilot knowing exactly what he is capable of and what he can and can not do.

These aircraft nowadays can be flown with waypoint navigation and GPS and have electronic stabilization circuits on board that keep them stable, which mostly fools people into believing, it is easy to fly them. It is NOT! Especially not, when you equip them with a RED or other expensive camera equipment.

We are lucky to be based in germany, since here it is allowed to use them for commercial work. A growing number of directors and DOP´s want them for their film projects and so we are working on interesting projects. We would like to film stateside as well but as of now it looks like this will not be possible for commercial work until the FAA has figured out what she wants.

I know almost nothing about shooting with helicopters, but I assume its products are full of the same marketing nonsense in the camera stabilization market, promising easy setup, a fast learning curve and professional results out of the box.

@Stu
It’s warp stabilised, but there are only small shakings most of the tme which you can smooth with the warp stabiliser pretty good as you see. but when you have something in near to the camera passing by, you get problems with the stabiliser. so it’s always the goal to get less vibrations possible.
my quadrcopter which all of this stuff is made with it’s actually smaller then this hexa. i used a lighter cameragimbal and a sony nex5n, which is also lighter then the gh2. so overall with battery and camera it’s 2,5kg

Just not sure exactly how they can be used in the U.S. now legally. Does it depend on how high they can go, or distance from the controller, or what?

http://mi6films.com/2011/rc-helicopter-mikrokopter-hexa-helicopter/faa-has-restricted-all-rc-helicopter-flight-in-the-usa-airspace/687/

Then I went up with a pilot in a real helicopter, and was stunned to realize that all of those “yanking and banking” maneuvers you see in movies don’t require significant hand motion. In fact, keeping the thing level and stable requires just the lightest touch with 2 fingers on the cyclic — more touchy than any video game. If you “yank”, you crash.

I looked into the smaller hexacopters, but it’s almost more trouble than the “wow” factor of the shot. Especially in terms of weather conditions where you’ll get tossed around by the slightest gust of wind. Very difficult, and definitely the realm of a professional who is passionate and expert at all aspects of flight. Stick to the story, and hire someone good.

Marcus … that stability is outstanding, and it doesn’t look like warp-stabilized jelly! How did you manage to achieve that kind of stability? It looks like you’re shooting with a much bigger rig!

I flew around in a helicopter to help shoot a feature I worked on last year and to think that it’s possible to get the same quality shots with this kind of gear is thrilling.

I do agree with the comments about hiring a professional to get your aerial footage, but I’m also of the mind that with enough practice, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible to do it on your own. I guess that’s the time vs. money trade-off.