Video Camera Location

Where is the best place to mount a video cam on a duel deploy rocket?

internal, with periscope.

Norsky said:

Where is the best place to mount a video cam on a dual deploy rocket?

Click to expand...

For my "YouBee," I mounted the camera in a section of the electronics bay with the camera peeking out of the rocket and looking down the side. I have the nose cone blow with the ebay attached to the upper section, so the camera will hang down on the way down. This provides what I consider the best views during the two parts of the flight. You can see the camera sticking out of the rocket in the stills at the beginning of the video below.

[video=youtube;0ddTJ0jZoU4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ddTJ0jZoU4[/video]

You can see how I mounted that camera at:

https://www.rocketreviews.com/youbee---fixes.html

-- Roger

Hmm... I wonder if anyone has mounted a camera to the rear centering ring of a relatively wide rocket... that'd make quite a view of the exhaust plume.

Zeroignite said:

Hmm... I wonder if anyone has mounted a camera to the rear centering ring of a relatively wide rocket... that'd make quite a view of the exhaust plume.

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There are probably more, but here are some examples of that kind of thing:

There's a model rocket kit that has a camera mounted below the motor:

https://www.rocketreviews.com/washigei---heavenly-hobbies.html

Here are some videos of an upscale Deuces Wild with the camera between the motors:

[video=youtube;-I9twD32upU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I9twD32upU[/video]

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

I've mounted cameras near the motor of our Akavish rockets a few times:

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

[video=youtube;_mhCF39BDTE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mhCF39BDTE[/video]

-- Roger]

Thanks, jadebox! That's exactly the kind of thing I had in mind. I especially love how clearly you can see the Mach diamonds on the Akavish Redline; generally you only ever get those in still photos

EDIT: is that one of those toroidal parachutes?

Zeroignite said:

EDIT: is that one of those toroidal parachutes?

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Yes. We have a couple of the Rocket Rage toroidal parachutes. They work well and look really cool.

-- Roger

Looks like those ones are OOP. Only other toroidal 'chute I've seen is the Iris, and that is lots of bucks. Hmm, looking at the design I think the geometry is the same as hemipherical, but with shroud lines around the spill hole. Wonder if I could sew one together.

Norsky said:

Where is the best place to mount a video cam on a duel deploy rocket?

Click to expand...

I don't think there is a single answer to this question. The size of the rocket will determine how signficant the additional drag of an externally mounted camera will be. Whether you mount it forward of the fin can (booster section) or not might depend on a lot of factors - what view you're after, available space, CG...

I like to mount the camera externally on my 4" rockets, on the avbay switchband. This gives a nice view down one fin to maximize field of view towards the ground. It also allows you to observe the separation at apogee and get different views of the fincan during descent. When the main deploys, the camera is again facing the ground.

But mounting the camera just ahead of the fincan separation point doesn't work on something like a Mariah. I had been considering disassembling a Mobius camera and arranging the imager to peek down the side of my Mariah-54 so as to minimize drag - but then I realized the orientation at main deployment was bogus. The Mariah's shotgun deployment means that under main the camera would be pointed skyward. Unless you like looking at the chute when you touch-down this is a poor choice.

I don't like the front-surface mirror approach (periscope) because the camera is not accessible. You either have to remote the switches or be sure to obtain a camera with buttons that you can get at through access holes. Or, as I did, you start the camera during prep and record the trek to RSO, the weigh-in, trek to the pad along with the flight - and edit it all later. Also the view is reversed, so you have to correct this in post processing or live with it. And no matter how good the mirror, it isn't as clear as if the imager is looking straight down the side of the airframe unobstructed.