There is a real beauty in the simplicity of the AER, a flechette-style mount for action cinematography. It's a nerf case for your GoPro. That's it. Stick your GoPro in the head unit and toss it through the air to get aerial shots stabilized by the four rear fins.
There are shots AER will get that a drone never could.
Yes, you could fly a drone to get some of these shots. But there are shots AER will get that a drone never could. Most obviously, the AER can get much physically closer to the subject than a drone can without causing your subject injury. In addition, the AER floats, allowing for some pretty amazing shots over water that might make most drone operators a bit nervous about their precious equipment getting knocked into the rapids.
Of course, with a drone, you'll have control over the operating; with the AER, it'll require a combination of a great throwing arm and luck. But with some practice, you should be able to get results.
AERCredit:
A large focus of the design was on the padding for the front of the unit while maintaining the wide GoPro field of view. Obviously, with all of the camera weight in the head, it'll most likely rotate in the air, thus crashing on the lens; as such, ample padding was built into the design to protect against damage from a head-on landing. (Luckily, the GoPro is a pretty tough camera on its own.)
The AER team is working with the experienced product design and manufacturing team HSV (read: a bunch of adventure-loving friends). They should be able to deliver the product in a timely and efficient fashion, using entirely renewable energy to boot. The team is crowdfunding now on Kickstarter and expects to deliver its first units by January.
AER at SunsetCredit: AER
Tech specs
- Works with GoPro Hero 3, 4 and 5
- Floats
- 4 wings for stability
- Comes with nylon AERbag for storage
- Polypropylene head unit
- Expanded Polypropylene wings and bumper
