cameras

GoPro Remote and Wifi Testing

1/18/13

Today I did some tests of the GoPro remotes.

Hooked up 7 GoPros (4 Hero2s with WiFi bacpacs, 3 Hero3s) to one remote. It was very difficult to synch more than that to one remote. I also hooked up a separate GoPro to the phone app. I placed them around the boat. Upon turning on the first remote, it bounced between 6 and 7 cameras ready. When it bounced back to 7, I started recording for all 7. Checked to see all were recording, hit stop and repeated this  process three times standing on the tramps, the hull near the nose, and the hull near the rudder. Each time I also entirely powered them on and off via […more]

K2 Test – Jan 17

1/17/13

Today was a beautiful day to test our wind sensor, Paul Larkin’s headsets, and our new GoPro Hero3 cameras. We also performed a brief kite test using the new 18 sqm kite. Paul’s friend John Bond joined us on this test.

First, we compared our primary wind sensor, an ultrasonic model, to a standard cup-and-vane sensor. In the past, we have seen suspicious readings in true wind speed and direction that we attributed to compass miscalibration or poor alignment of the sensor with the boat. In the last test, however, we collected data that showed that any compass or alignment errors that exist are far smaller than the discrepancies that we have seen. This data indicates that the basic apparent […more]

KAICam App Update

2/3/12

Jamie has made several changes to the KAICam Android application, in support of the cruise with MBARI this week. To make the screen space on larger tablets more usable, the layout is now dynamically adjusted to maximize the preview image size.

To help in situations in which the network topology changes frequently, the app now automatically find other instances of itself that inhabit the same network. This way, the remote viewing client can connect to a camera server without being specially configured with the camera’s IP address in advance.

Other improvements include better networking efficiency and stability, and the continuous logging of GPS and air pressure (for altitude) where available.

The two images are screenshots of the app running on […more]

Jan 31 – Lone Ranger update

1/31/12

Here’s the first photo update from Don on the Lone Ranger. He and Joe are on a 14-day voyage between Bermuda and the Bahamas to help scientists from the Schmidt Ocean Institute document the Sargassum population in that area. They took the aerial photos using GoPros and a Canon G12 on an inflatable rokkaku kite and an inflatable Fled. The camera rig shown is a gyro-stabilized mount that hangs from the kite bridle or kite line. In the photo it is holding the G12 and the Axis cam, but we can also use it with GoPros or other small or mid-sized cameras. The rows of Sargassum that are visible from the higher-up kite shots are called windrows. The SOI cruise […more]

Eye-Fi setup

1/24/12

The Eye-Fi SD card works with the CF card adapter in the 7D. With the metal parts of the adapter taken off, it works as well as does the Eye-Fi SD card on its own in the GoPro, which means it works from halfway across the shop, but not all the way across the shop. The card is rated to 45 ft from the router indoors and 90 ft from the router outdoors.

The above distances are using the KAI wi-fi. When I turned off wi-fi and used “Direct Mode,” the network was very unreliable and had to be restarted often. It did not appear to reach as far as the wi-fi. The furthest away I could get it to […more]

Camera weights

1/18/12

GoPro + case = 170 g = 6 oz = .4 lbs
GoPro with no case = 98 g = 3.5 oz = .2 lbs

Canon 7D + standard lens + battery = 1596 g = 56.3 oz = 3.5 lbs
Sony HDV video camera + battery = 664 g = 23.4 oz = 1.5 lbs

Chopper Test Flight

10/13/11

Dudu flew a few of the Makani team out to their test site last night, primarily to locate the field and also to test the video equipment in the helicopter and check out a gyroscope camera mount. The gyroscope was noticeably helpful and the test yielded beautiful footage that could easily be motion stabilized for stable aerial views of a kiteboat or a wing test. In the attached video, Andrea started with a shot of the airport that was filmed before the gyroscope was attached to the camera and as you will see, it is very shaky. The gyroscope takes ten minutes to get up to speed, and does not change direction very easily, but with a little forethought and practice, any […more]