diamondaviators.net

My wife & I decided to begin making semi professional videos recording our trips to share with our family & friends.

Questions - If you're recording your trips

1) How many cameras do you use
2) Placement inside
3) Placement outside
4) Cam Make Model ( I'm starting with a single GoPro 3+)
5) Expected battery life on external cams .. do you leave external in record mode
6) Audio Feeds - I plan on single headphone feed to catch ATC and cabin chat - voice overs in editing phase
7) IMovie for Mac editing


Thanks
Gary

Gary, looking forward to your videos.

My videos are quite low-production quality and I'm largely a "set it and forget it" person. To your questions:

1) How many cameras do you use
Thus far I've limited myself to one camera, inside, that runs from before engine start thru engine stop.
I supplement that with an occasional iPhone photo or short video clip of either cockpit occupants or outside scenery.

2) Placement inside
On a fixed GoPro adhesive mount near the overhead lights.

3) Placement outside
Thus far none. (I am planning a conservation survey flight sometime in the next month and will be experimenting with under-the-wing mounting (to capture boat/ship traffic in marine wildlife areas.)

4) Cam Make Model ( I'm starting with a single GoPro 3+)
GoPro Hero 8 (very pleased with image quality and stabilization)

5) Expected battery life on external cams .. do you leave external in record mode
Thus far N/A.

6) Audio Feeds - I plan on single headphone feed to catch ATC and cabin chat - voice overs in editing phase
I started by recording comms into a small Sony audio recorder, but had difficulty keeping the audio and camera footage in sync (not sure if the audio recorder or GoPro were guilty in messing up the time scale). More recently I simply pipe the ATC comms into the GoPro.

7) IMovie for Mac editing
I do use iMovie and find it, although limited in bells and whistles, very smooth and quick to use.

Here's a short document of my hardware/software configuration:
https://bit.ly/wam-video-hw-sw

Enjoy the filmmaking!
Wayne

1) Up to three.

2) GoPro adhesive mount between air vents on "roll bar" after of canopy, or with suction cup.

3) Using NFlight mounts, one on the wing tip (left or right) and one on the top of the horizontal stabilizer.

4) GoPro Hero 8, Hero 9 coming from Santa, iPhone 12 Pro (cockpit). The iPhone has much better exposure control than the Hero 8, stabilization is excellent, but only with the wide angle lens.

5) I power the interior cameras via USB outlets so not an issue. I use a Re-fuel external battery for the outside GoPro 8 which lasts forever, but does present a big wind profile and causes a bit of yaw when on the wing tip.

6) The NFlight cable is overly complicated but works for the GoPro. Skip running the pilot mic through the cable and just plug it into a passenger headphone jack. The iPhone requires a 1/4" to 3.5mm, then TRS to TRRS adapter, and finally a 3.5mm to Lightning adapter.

7) iMovie or Adobe Premier Elements.

I mounted the camera on the mooring point using MyPilotPro GoPro Mounts from the U.S. www.mypilotpro.com.

These are super safe in that that there is a blue tension bar which keeps everything tight, in addition to safety pins should anything come loose.

Have captured really good videos using the HERO BLACK 7.

NDCDA62 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 10:34 pm I mounted the camera on the mooring point using MyPilotPro GoPro Mounts from the U.S. www.mypilotpro.com.

Is this the tail mooring point?

On the tail works for a twin, but for the singles I think the camera will pick up oil and exhaust.

Looks like one of the under-wing mooring points. That could be handy for documenting any NLG "corking" and also the effect of any post-market fin performance. At least it would better than our current above-wing nFlight mounts.

(Agree that the tail mooring point would likely be problematic in a DA40NG.)

Correct, underwing port side mooring point.

chili4way wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 4:59 pmAt least it would better than our current above-wing nFlight mounts

The nFlight "spud" mounts can also be mounted on the underside of the wing or horizontal stabilizer.

Hello,
I have built myself mounts especially for the DA40 for mounting action cameras.
In Europe it is allowed to mount cameras by so called standard procedures (EASA CS-STAN / CS-403a).The installation must be signed off by an AP (I think this is what this person is called at the FAA). You also have to write a supplement to the flight manual, which also has to be signed off by the AP.
The mount is for the left wing and for the fin.
They are made of GRP/CFRP laminate, and I made them using the postive lamination process. So the mounts have an optimal fit to the aircraft structure. The fixtures have also passed the load test (according to CS-STAN). For example, a GoPro 4 with a maximum speed of 178 kts has a test load of about 3.2 kg in the direction of air drag.
Attached are some pictures of the camera mounts and the documentation. This is unfortunately only in German (sorry - my English is not that good). Google etc. can surely automatically translate PDF into English.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at my eMail address oliverbucher (AD) oliverbucher (DOT) de.

Greetings Oliver

Hello,

now the additional pictures.

Greetings Oliver

www.oliverbucher.de