Video Tip: Film it going up... And the results... (Skip the decent...)

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K'Tesh

.....OpenRocket's ..... "Chuck Norris"
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I've seen a number of videos that look like they were a lot of fun, except for an annoying little problem... Locked off cameras.

Sure it's cool to see the jet of flame in slow-mo, and hear the sound of a rocket launching, but please people, track the rocket with another camera. If you don't have a 2nd (or 3rd) camera, invite the neighbors, or pull out a cell phone. a GoPro on the head is cool... Let us see what you are looking at, instead of smoke clearing the pad. I mean really, who launches rockets and only watches it lift off, and then impact the ground (or get caught).

One of my favorite episodes of Mythbusters has waterheaters blowing sky high through roofs, but they locked off the camera, so you see the launch, you see the crash, but you don't see things as they fly (reach apogee, then fall back to earth). The flying manhole covers is another great example. A terrible loss of potential footage.

And you don't have to show the entire decent, unless there's something really cool about it (say, passing a bird, or low flying RC plane, or getting a clear view of some landmark...). Save that time for showing the rocket "in situ" and as you proudly (or if it didn't go well, in horror) recover it from it's landing site.

Prime example... There are currently only 3 videos of the Estes Venus Probe out there on YouTube that I could find. One shows a lawn dart, another nearly lawn darts, and the 3rd is a D powered flight. Not one of them clearly shows the lander (with the surprise guest) in his landing position. That rocket's recovery BEGS to see the results, that is the entire purpose of that particular rocket, not the decent, it's the recovery that matters.

Your viewing audience will thank you for it.
Jim
.
 
I never thought about the GoPro on the Head idea. I like it.

I know that alot of cameras simply can't capture recovery well. I think some people just want a video of takeoff (the most interesting to watch, really), not a compilation of the entire flight. This is why most of my flights have a Keychain camera on board. It's just really hard to track the rocket up, especially with High-G flights like I do.

If there was a good way to track the rocket up, at the pad, it would be worth it. Maybe next launch I do, I'll have 3 cameras. One on-board, one pointed at the pad, and one tracking from afar. Some video editing later, I'll have a great video.
 
I never thought about the GoPro on the Head idea. I like it.

I know that alot of cameras simply can't capture recovery well. I think some people just want a video of takeoff (the most interesting to watch, really), not a compilation of the entire flight. This is why most of my flights have a Keychain camera on board. It's just really hard to track the rocket up, especially with High-G flights like I do.

If there was a good way to track the rocket up, at the pad, it would be worth it. Maybe next launch I do, I'll have 3 cameras. One on-board, one pointed at the pad, and one tracking from afar. Some video editing later, I'll have a great video.

Those would be Great... Keep me Posted!
 
I'm planning on placing a piece of paper or a small dry erase board with launch data at the foot of my launcher when launching video equipped rockets... Wouldn't it be nice to know where, when, and what engine you were using when your footage was taken? This also has the advantage of working when the audio may be an issue.
 
Or, you can just put a caption in the video. That is what I do.
[video=youtube;PZayMl8P-vM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZayMl8P-vM[/video]
 
...and preview many times before you upload - can't read one of your captions.
 
Well, unfortunately I'm always alone so I have all my hands full with every launch.

Here my most recent launches. It's the best I can do with the available resources I have.

[video=youtube;Rzvk7pi_rpY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzvk7pi_rpY[/video]

[video=youtube;g27ElV0whXY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g27ElV0whXY[/video]

I still hope it satisfies most viewers.
 
We typically do three views. #1, standard full flight tracking with 60 FPS 1080p camera. #2, put a Samsung phone on the ground just off the pad (for low power, we've never had any problems with the phone getting damaged) and #3, on-board little 808. Here's our montage videos.
[video=youtube;7RYS2JCyLko]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RYS2JCyLko[/video]
[video=youtube;3Vw4Q5Kz40c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vw4Q5Kz40c[/video]
 
I like to think I'm at least decent at making videos. For most of the flights I film, there's no point in even showing the ascent after the boost. It's out of sight.
Here's a video I recently did that turned out alright:
[video=youtube;_dX-7eNZjdQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dX-7eNZjdQ&[/video]


Alex
 
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