What Camera For Cockpit Videos?

[GeneralT001]

Just curious what is the prevalent camera people use to shoot their flights? I'm guessing a GoPro Hero 9?

It seems some videos have a lot of engine noise and others do not. Also, some have crystal clear talking.

 

I figured I may as well try and get some video of the flight I'm about to undertake

 

Update: I ordered a GoPro 9...I would like to mount it in the ceiling behind the front seats...what mount would I need?

Edited December 19, 2021 by GeneralT001

[Skates97]

The Drift Ghost X is a fraction of the price and you get 4-5 hours of battery life. For just a bit more you can get the larger battery which provides about 9 hours of battery life. I wrote an article about cameras, mounts, and cables back in April 2021 for The Mooney Flyer. You can find it in their archives. 

https://themooneyflyer.com/archives2021.html

[GeneralT001]

3 minutes ago, Skates97 said:

The Drift Ghost X is a fraction of the price and you get 4-5 hours of battery life. For just a bit more you can get the larger battery which provides about 9 hours of battery life. I wrote an article about cameras, mounts, and cables back in April 2021 for The Mooney Flyer. You can find it in their archives. 

https://themooneyflyer.com/archives2021.html

Hey, thanks. Some very good info there.

How would you attach a camera to the roof in the back to shoot ahead at the panel?

[toto]

14 hours ago, GeneralT001 said:

It seems some videos have a lot of engine noise and others do not. Also, some have crystal clear talking.

There are adapter cables that pull your camera audio straight from your headset plugs - I've used one of these with a GoPro and the audio quality is excellent. 

https://www.nflightcam.com/collections/cables

[GeneralT001]

1 hour ago, toto said:

There are adapter cables that pull your camera audio straight from your headset plugs - I've used one of these with a GoPro and the audio quality is excellent. 

https://www.nflightcam.com/collections/cables

Thanks. Ordered.

 

Does anyone know how to mount the camera on the roof of the aircraft behind the pilot/co-pilot seats?

[Marc_B]

50 minutes ago, GeneralT001 said:

Does anyone know how to mount the camera on the roof of the aircraft behind the pilot/co-pilot seats?

I seem to remember reading about GoPro mounts for CO detectors...how about GoPro mounts for GoPros?

 

 

[Skates97]

I have used one of these stuck to the rear window.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PQ4ACQ2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have also used a sticky GoPro mount to the headliner. It doesn't seem to stick very well so I took a screw out and mounted it with the screw back through it. The challenge is that during certain phases of flight there is quite a bit of vibration in my plane, not enough that you really feel it much but enough that the video is shaky. I'm still looking for a perfect solution, moving it around to different places to see if there is less vibration. I have also seen a gimbal mount used, but you need someplace to mount it. If you have rear seats with headrests you could mount it to one of the headrests. This is a gimbal I have, but just have the right seater use it as a handheld as I haven't found a way in my plane to mount it yet.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/zhiyun-crane-m2-3-axis-gimbal-w-wifi-for-compact-mirrorless-cameras-smartphones-and-gopro/6362228.p?skuId=6362228

[Skates97]

This is a video from a little over five years ago when I was working on my PPL, but you can see the angle when using the double suction cup mount on the side window.

 

[Oscar Avalle]

The Drift Ghost X is a fraction of the price and you get 4-5 hours of battery life. For just a bit more you can get the larger battery which provides about 9 hours of battery life. I wrote an article about cameras, mounts, and cables back in April 2021 for The Mooney Flyer. You can find it in their archives. 
https://themooneyflyer.com/archives2021.html

I fully agree with the suggestion of getting a Drift camera. They cost a fraction of a GoPro and they work well. They may not have all the bells and whistles of a GoPro, but you really don’t need them in flight.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Skates97]

3 minutes ago, Oscar Avalle said:

I fully agree with the suggestion of getting a Drift camera. They cost a fraction of a GoPro and they work well. They may not have all the bells and whistles of a GoPro, but you really don’t need them in flight.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

The video quality is very good. This was with a Drift Ghost X, you can see even in low light they do well. If you skip forward to the three minute mark it's just past sunset and you can see the lights from the ships anchored off shore shining up through the marine layer.

 

[GeneralT001]

1 hour ago, Skates97 said:

This is a video from a little over five years ago when I was working on my PPL, but you can see the angle when using the double suction cup mount on the side window.

 

Nothing wrong with that angle....thanks

[GeneralT001]

24 minutes ago, JohnZ said:

I use a GoPro mounted to the headliner with a normal sticky GoPro Mount. Nflightcam cord for audio recording. Works great, audio is very clear. GoPro battery lasts for quite awhile. Easy to bring a second battery along, it only takes a few seconds to change them out. 

Hate to ask...but whats the "headliner"?

[GeneralT001]

Went with the  NFlightCam Ultimate Action Camera Suction Cup Cockpit Mount. Seems pretty good

[GeneralT001]

14 minutes ago, JohnZ said:

The headliner is the plastic or cloth interior covering that goes on the roof of the airplane. 

Thank You

[carusoam]

Richard,

Great cloud video!

Shows the huge number of ships waiting to unload…

 

For GT…. The headliner… the cloth covering in your first car that always was hanging on top of your head….    Heat, age, and glue are a bad combination for these materials… 

Depending on the year of the Mooney… the headliner may be all plastic…. Thermoformed ABS, held in place with screws…

There are a couple of locations near the lights and vents up there that often get mounts for the CO monitor and or camera….

 

Great POV… easy to access in flight…

Lets invite @201er to the camera conversation….  Mikey posted a new video on YT today…

Best regards,

-a-

[ArtVandelay]

More professional looking videos have at least 2 cameras, so you can switch views. An outside and cockpit view is the norm.

[Yetti]

The worst videos are the ones pointed at the person for the whole flight.   Boring.   I usually only video take offs and landings because that is the interesting points of flight.   The Flite Test guys use these  https://www.insta360.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA8ICOBhDmARIsAEGI6o2_AEGhdmrclRZRr6Xtfkk4RTTeJaL_juDMF7sBJo2blraUqmZeS6IaAmw4EALw_wcB

and seem to have pretty good video.   I may get one of these next.   Currently have a older Sony Action camera that attaches to the Center post with a mount I milled.   It uses thumb screws to attach (Thumb screws are stainless, mount is alum so as not to mess with the compass)

I have a 4K camera on my Parrot drone.   On my slower laptop (just upgraded) 4K was a pain to edit as it was slow.  Hopefully with the faster computer it won't be a pain.   The Parrot drone camera takes a really pretty picture.  Like oh wow pretty.

 

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Yetti

[Oscar Avalle]

7 hours ago, Yetti said:

The worst videos are the ones pointed at the person for the whole flight.   Boring.   I usually only video take offs and landings because that is the interesting points of flight.   The Flite Test guys use these  https://www.insta360.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA8ICOBhDmARIsAEGI6o2_AEGhdmrclRZRr6Xtfkk4RTTeJaL_juDMF7sBJo2blraUqmZeS6IaAmw4EALw_wcB

and seem to have pretty good video.   I may get one of these next.   Currently have a older Sony Action camera that attaches to the Center post with a mount I milled.   It uses thumb screws to attach (Thumb screws are stainless, mount is alum so as not to mess with the compass)

I have a 4K camera on my Parrot drone.   On my slower laptop (just upgraded) 4K was a pain to edit as it was slow.  Hopefully with the faster computer it won't be a pain.   The Parrot drone camera takes a really pretty picture.  Like oh wow pretty.

 

There are really great youtubers around here that can show us how to put together great videos. So go to youtube and spend some time looking around. You will learn what is interesting and what not. 

My experience is that it is not easy to create a video that has a story line and also is attractive. My experience is that it is very hard to keep the attention of the viewer beyond 5 to 7 minutes. Unless, you have a very good story to tell. So think first what is it that you want to tell and then start editing. Once you finish, you think you did a great job... well you look at the video and many times you jus think... who is ever going to watch this stuff.

Cameras: I bought and use Drifts, Gopro, Garmin VIRB and small Odro camera that I put around my neck sometimes to tape the panel. Additionally I also use a Sony Camcorder and my phone. 

On the Outside I have three different positions where I put the cameras. One on the tail, one on the rudder and then one under the wing. For those positions I use the Drifts. I turn them on and let them record. My experience is that their batteries last at least 4.5 hours. As I mentioned before, they are very rugged and don't have any bells and whistle, but you turn the on and you forget about them and they do their job. 

One caveat on the tail camera: you have to point the camera down, because it may get dirty with oil coming from the slip stream. It happened to me in my trip now to Costa Rica and it is very frustrating to realize that your recordings are useless because you can hardly see anything through an oil film.

Inside, I use GoPro and my old VIRB. The Gopro I connect to a portable powerbank, that way I don's have to worry about how long its battery lasts. One caveat on the GoPros. They are sophisticated. So know their functions well. Otherwise you may actually record a time wrap instead of a normal recording. Again, very frustrating if after your flight you download your footage and you see that you have a time wrap video... when what you wanted was a nice footage of your panel. The nice thing about the GoPro is its quality. I just downloaded a video from the trip to Costa Rica and it is really nice. One important thing. Don't get distracted trying to figure out how a camera works while you are taking off or on an approach... 

The old VIRB I simply like. it.. They served me will  their are reliable and also bullet proof. 1080 quality is still fine. 

After you get all the footage from the different cameras (for example again the trip I mentioned before accounted for 340 GB of footage) the real job starts. You have to start editing, thinking again, what is the story line and how do I tell it and reduce it to a length that makes sense. I agree, faces are not that interesting. But only take offs and landings... well it depends on the scenery, but people get bored. I was told by somebody who knows how to edit videos, that each shot should not be more than 20 second... So get ready to be selective. 

The editing software is also important, because it allows you to play with the scenes, eliminate engine noise, add music and/or sound. I use my MaCbook to edit and its Final Cut software. There are other excellent instruments out there, so use whatever you feel comfortable.  

Sorry for the long email... I hope it helps, or at least triggers others to contribute too. 

[Yetti]

I started editing videos back when it was linear meaning you put segments of video on tape.  It used to be one minute of video = one hour of editing. The guy who taught me would do this.   What do you want the viewer to feel when they finish watching.  Then that gives you something to edit for.  Everything from the transitions to the music should be done with purpose.  So if you slide right then the action should be going right.