Helicopter shoot

[Paul Cronin]

Ah yes the boys who say they are hunters. Oh well I guess they will never learn.

Yes I did use my two Kenyon KS-8 gyro set up and it works great. I am now home and will do a few small tweaks since I fly again in a few weeks on another job.

I hope you get to go up soon. Look forward to the positive report.

[John McCully]

So today I finally got to go flying with Laurie Prouting of Mesopotamia Station in his Hughes 500 C up the Rangitata River and up over the Southern Alps. How extraordinary! The word ‘awesome’ gets very overdone these days but for once the word truly fits.

The weather was stunningly clear with just a few clouds on the West Coast side of the main divide, a rare day indeed in this part of the world. And mid-March here is late summer so no snow, just ice and rock up there at the top. Overwhelmingly beautiful. Magic.

We were flying for 1.1 hours and I shot most of it, the rig tied down where the rear right seat normally is located but we removed it and made fast the rig within which I had the EX1 suspended in a ‘spider web’ of bungees. I sat in the rear left seat and controlled the rig beside me.

In previous posts about this shoot I described playing around with plates and bungees. After a little more research and experimentation I came to the conclusion that I should bite the bullet and get a Kenyon Labs gyro. And so I did. That required a complete re-hash and so now we have Mark 11, an aluminum piece of modern art; no, make that post-modern art, that works like a charm, but one thing is clear; I need another gyro to take out the ‘up and down at the sides’ movement.

Other than that, the camera is superb. I set it in auto mode. I know that notion makes some of you DVINFO fastidious techy (anal) professionals wince. But listen; I’m in the back seat with the door off, 100 knots, extreme geography, bit bumpy; not a good time to fool with the controls I can barely reach; do more harm than good. I’ll fix it in post!

And seems that was a good decision. The exposure is by and large spot on, as is focus. Seriously, in these circumstances just pointing the camera and keeping one’s mind on the job, up there, is more than enough for me; forget about fiddling with the twiddles. The camera did a fine job. I am continually amazed what a fine instrument this is.

I need more time up there with this rig. I need to mount another gyro, attach a handle or two to control the cradle, and maybe an external monitor, say about 6 to 8 inch, just for aiming. I did find it difficult to read the LCD when we were up at the top in the ice and rock and clear blue sky. Huge amount of light and while the LCD held up very well there were times when I could not read the settings. Not that it mattered. But it was difficult to read the amount of time remaining on the card. Again, not that it mattered: the ‘media full’ notice appears on the screen just a few kilometres before we landed back at Laurie’s base.

The final delight occurred as we shot down the Rangitata Gorge, low, where, on this perfect summer’s day Rangitata Rafts were taking a few rubber inflatable rafts-full of adventurous tourist souls down the Rangitata white water, world class in thrills, and safety I should add, but Laurie tells me hang on - always like to give the rafters a bit of a show - and with that we dive down over the rafts and pull up hard and around tilted way over, I’m hanging onto the camera, if the rig goes out the door so be it, but I’ve got the camera and the gyro!

Smooth as silk…no worries.

Awesome!

Nice touch, Laurie. Probably just as well I was out of recording space!

[Paul Cronin]

Hi John,

Excellent I knew you would love it based on our conversations. And the Hughes 500 well a Porsche in the sky and sounds like a pilot who knows his machine magical combination.

I am glad you purchased the KS-8 and put it in line with the camera. And now you understand why I own two and have the second perpendicular to the first one. It makes a huge difference. Could you send a picture of your rig in the helicopter?

Full auto well until people fly in a helicopter they don’t understand what is needed to get the shot. Luckily I have my set up on my shoulder with the two gyros and can still be full manual but when using the Aerial Exposure I also have to go full auto. I have not used the Aerial Exposure with the EX1 so I am glad to hear you like the results.

The scene sounds spectacular and worth the wait. Please post clips when you get the chance. Also keep us posted on your next shoot and modifications to your rig.

I do look forward to visiting your area and that might happen soon rather then later.

Glad you are back safe and ready for more.

[Tim Pokorny]

G'day John,

I was following this thread earlier in the year, but had completely forgotten about it until now. I've visited Mt.Cook National Park a couple of times and am hanging out to go back again. It'd be great to see any footage you have, did you post any of the stuff you got?

Cheers,
Tim

[John McCully]

Morning Tim

The short answer is no, didn't post any footage the reason being I'm currently restricted to Telecom's wireless broadband in my Motorhome. OK for email and such like but as for moving huge files, forget it. New Zealand is quite primitive when it comes to Internet connectivity.

If and when you are over here we might be able to arrange something. I hang around between the Marlborough Sounds (where I am as we speak) and Central Otago with Mid-Canterbury being more or less the center of my comings and goings.

Cheers

John

[Tim Pokorny]

I'm stuck living with wireless in Perth at the moment as well, I feel your pain!

Sadly I won't be back over until September/October, I'm trying to save up a big chunk of leave so I can have plenty of time to roam around. Still, I'll be sure to fire you off a message before I go to see what you're up to. Incidently, the words "Floating between the Marlborough Sounds and Central Otago" are going to make this a loooooooooooong day in the office :(

Cheers,
Tim