There has been an explosion in aerial videos over the last few years thanks to cheaper "drones" and "copters" and smaller and smaller high-quality cameras, but it still takes a tremendous amount of skill and patience to properly take these machines into the air and get usable footage. We've posted a number of these videos in the past, but GoPro recently shared one from Robert McIntosh that blew me away. Taking his GoPro to the Santa Monica Pier, Robert does a few maneuvers that had me expecting the worst, but his camera and the copter came out the other side unscathed. Check it out below:
Robert doesn't share much of his techniques or equipment with the community, but he does have a few more aerial videos that are absolutely outstanding:
While there is possibly some stabilization performed in post, if anyone has any more information on his technique or his equipment, feel free to share below. Judging by the shadow in at least one of the videos, it looks like he's using a quadcopter of some kind, possibly a DJI Phantom Quadcopter.
[Update]: Looks like it is a custom rig that Robert has built himself. Thanks to Eric in the comments below for pointing out the blog post showing this photo:
Many people were a bit baffled why anyone would mod a GoPro to allow more manual controls and C-mount lenses like the Radiant Images/View Factor Novo, but this is one of those situations where a camera with a less distorted lens and manual controls would give even more precise control over the footage. The advantage to a camera like the GoPro (and the Novo) is that weight is everything when it comes to copters, and some of these machines aren't capable of taking DSLRs, which are much heavier. The smaller the copter, the more easily you can squeeze in-between objects like Robert does above.
What do you guys think? Have you seen any other videos like this? What kind of aerial rigs have you used or are currently using?
Link: Robert McIntosh -- Vimeo
