On board videoing of flight tips

[north boy]

Hi Everyone, I have one of these

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=130698863334

I am trying to get a decent video during flight and starting to think that the camera needs to be inside the rocket. Do you guys know any techniques on how to do this....tips....experience ?????

I could do with just a straight down view but how do I pull that off having the camera right beside the MMt looking down through a hole in the lower centering ring :y: Im open for ideas please.

 

[Aksrockets]

Tape it to the side. This does create more drag but on HPRs and most MPRs this isnt much of a problem. I taped one to the side of a CC explorer and never had any problems with stability also.
Here is a photo:

You can see the masking tape around the front of the rocket.

Alex

 

[Rocketbuilder]

It would be cool to have a view from inside the BT next to the MMT like you said, but I'm not sure that the view on ascent wouldn't be obscured by the flame/smoke/exhaust from the motor. What size rocket are you thinking of? If it is large enough, maybe using a propellant load with little smoke (like blue thunder) would help with that.
EDIT: Finally got the ebay page to load, and from the looks of it, it would have to be a pretty big rocket to fit that camera in between the BT and MMT with it pointing downward. I would recommend placing it at the top, though, to help with stability instead of hurting it.

 

[Sully]

I have used the "808" style keychain camera which is a bit smaller and has the lens facing out the long axis, so if you tape it to the side of the rocket it looks up or down. I point it down, because looking at the sky during ascent isn't so interesting. :wink:

If you wanted to look up or down, and your rocket is too narrow, you could perhaps try adding a little mirror for a periscope-type effect. Looking out the side is cool too, though, especially during ascent.

Your camera looks a bit bigger, but taping it to the side would still work, especially on a bigger rocket. I have had no problem on the Estes Blue Ninja, which is a smallish MPR. I usually use electric tape, and in addition to securing it add a strip or two on the top to form sort of a cowl so that air doesn't get between the rocket and camera and separate them.

The little keychain camera is pretty light, so I think that most of its impact on stability is adding some drag, therefore I keep it back toward the fins. If your camera seems heavy compared to the rocket, you may want it to move it up so that the CG doesn't get too far back and destabilize the rocket.

My philosophy with the camera has been to use a cheap one, at the expense of some quality perhaps, so that I don't cry too much when it's (inevitably) lost or damaged from flying it. I've already had 4-5 flights recorded successfully with it, so I feel I've basically broken even at this point.

 

[luke strawwalker]

Remember too that putting it in the back of the rocket moves the CG rearward, which can cause the rocket to become unstable if the CG moves behind the CP. Better to put it near the front, as this increases stability.

Also, mounting it above the rear centering ring, looking out through a hole, might not be the best way to do it... not only will the exhaust/smoke make the video unviewable for at least part of the vid, exhaust plume base recirculation caused by the motor exhaust and delay train smoke being drawn up into the partial vacuum behind the base of the rocket in flight (which leads to sooting of the rear of the rocket around the motor tube(s) and rear centering ring, even the back edges of the fins in some cases!) may well coat the lens of your camera with so much "gunk" that you can't see anything anyway... and be VERY hard if not impossible to remove...

Dr.Zooch did a "between the stages" video from a rear-looking camera mounted on the upper stage looking aft, mounted directly above the rear centering ring... overexposure from the sudden flood of light from outside when the lower stage blew off obscured the picture as it "whited out" for a few seconds, and sooting had obscured the camera lens as well from base plume recirculation IIRC... the glare 'white out" of the camera situation was fixed by cutting a "window" into the interstage area to allow sunlight to enter, thus "pre-exposing" the camera to the light so that it could set its exposure levels before staging, eliminating the "white out" from the sudden flood of sunlight at staging. The sooting issue was resolved by adding a small "clear window" below the centering ring to keep the recirculating exhaust smoke away from the camera lens itself... didn't eliminate the sooting, but kept it on the tiny plastic window that could be replaced, rather than the camera lens which cannot...

The CG issue can be resolved as needed by adding noseweight to the nosecone of the rocket to bring the rocket back to a correct stability margin, but this of course adds dead weight which detracts from the total altitude capability of the rocket...

Later! OL JR

 

[Rocketbuilder]

The CG issue can be resolved as needed by adding noseweight to the nosecone of the rocket to bring the rocket back to a correct stability margin, but this of course adds dead weight which detracts from the total altitude capability of the rocket...

...unless it happens to bring the rocket up to the optimal mass for the motor you were flying it on. Of course, this is extremely unlikely unless the rocket were specifically designed so that the weight of the camera plus the nose weight brought it to optimal mass and acceptable stability, but I couldn't resist pointing it out anyway.

 

[luke strawwalker]

...unless it happens to bring the rocket up to the optimal mass for the motor you were flying it on. Of course, this is extremely unlikely unless the rocket were specifically designed so that the weight of the camera plus the nose weight brought it to optimal mass and acceptable stability, but I couldn't resist pointing it out anyway.

Quite true... great observation... However, the improbability of such a condition being achieved without concerted design effort to produce this mass distribution led me to ignore mentioning the possibility...

Live long and prosper! OL JR

 

[tfish]

I've used black tape, to attach a camera to my rocket a few times. I did it a couple weeks ago. Seems that the tape fails around mach 1.5.

Tony

 

[north boy]

The reason why I asked was I flew it tonight by the tape method on the side of the rocket 2/3 rds up the rocket to keep the cg correct. Its really noisy and wibrating lots plus it sky....ground sky....ground all the way down due to the rocket swirling about on the chute on the way down. This was a wee rocket on a F20 flight to 2500 ft. Think Ill try it on my 3" rocket to see if its a more stable flight for it then I might try the in rocket approach. Thanks for the reply's. Tfish thats interesting LoL maybe tape isnt so good at Mach 1.5

 

[Rocketjunkie]

Also, mounting it above the rear centering ring, looking out through a hole, might not be the best way to do it... not only will the exhaust/smoke make the video unviewable for at least part of the vid, exhaust plume base recirculation caused by the motor exhaust and delay train smoke being drawn up into the partial vacuum behind the base of the rocket in flight (which leads to sooting of the rear of the rocket around the motor tube(s) and rear centering ring, even the back edges of the fins in some cases!) may well coat the lens of your camera with so much "gunk" that you can't see anything anyway... and be VERY hard if not impossible to remove...

Build an upscale Fliskits Deuce. Mount the camera on the bottom of the rocket between the motors :smile::wink::smile:
[YOUTUBE]q2Hr4gJ2SvI[/YOUTUBE]
How I mounted the camera is here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?4380-54-mm-Deuce-Rebuild/page2

 

[Marc_G]

That's cool. What motors was that with?

 

[Rocketjunkie]

That's cool. What motors was that with?

CTI K160's.

 

[CarVac]

Is that the same Deuce I saw an onboard video of with a J410 red lightning and a J425 blue streak, both 6G, or was that different?
That is a unique pair of motors, having nearly identical thrust curves despite being different propellants.

 

[Rocketjunkie]

Is that the same Deuce I saw an onboard video of with a J410 red lightning and a J425 blue streak, both 6G, or was that different?

Yes, same rocket. I've also tried AMW J370 green and J400 red. only the green lit but the rocket is stable on 1 motor.

 

[Aksrockets]

Very cool video! The J250s were cool also. Love your Youtube channel BTW.

Alex