Aiptek A-HD, wedged it in the cockpit of the good old easystar.  Very sharp video for the bottom of the "high definition" video camera spectrum.

Dave you still around?

I am doing some more AP work and I have a few questions.

1 I am going to be doing some video with my AP heli using a predator gasser heli and airfoilz pro cage at Augusta National golf course for there media and website :) woot...

2. I am wanting to build a big electric to pack around a 3 or 4 lbs camera and do some video over forest/wooded area's for our forestry department here where I work. I need the video to be GPS referenced and overlayed for surveying use. I need guidance there. I can use my HD video cam for the video and us my FPV stuff for the flight. I will need a camera man in this form but the area we are flying could be pretty large.

Was thinking about he 8' telemaster.

Thanks
Bill Blair
Berea Ky
balsabusters
8593583296

I'm around, but working long hours at the new job and sadly I don't have any spare time for the hobby. I'm sure I'll be back on the field one day!

The process of relating GPS locations onto an aerial photograph is known as orthorectification. You can read some about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthophoto

This is onto still photographs. Video can be thought of as a long series of photos. Angle HAS to be straight down for proper orthorectification, I am pretty sure.

The highest resolution (and therefore most useful) setup would be a light DSLR in the belly of an electric Telemaster Senior 8', set up with a "shutterbug" type timer to interval the photos so they overlap generously. Use an FMA Copilot and when switched on from the TX, it can keep the wings level and you just skid it around using rudder only, so the downward angle isn't changed because of plane roll.

Once you get good photos at the right angle, you basically map known GPS points onto the photo. This involves driving/hiking to easily recognizable spots with a handheld GPS and marking waypoints, both before and after the shoot (beforehand you can lay out paper towel "X's" about 4'x4' so you can mark and see from the air. Afterwards, from the photos you'll see more places you can go set waypoints).

You'll draw gridlines onto the photos either by hand or on the computer, and relate these to Degrees, Mins, Seconds.

It seems that doing this onto a single minute of video (at 30 frames/sec, 1800 photos) would be impossible. However, using a video editor you could float a balloon with the coords when known points go by. I'm not sure exactly what your application is calling for, so I'll just leave it at that.

This could be accomplished with an EZ Star type/size plane carrying 10-12 mpx good point and shoot (like a Pentax Optio or the like), but a DSLR sized camera would need the 10 pound TM Sr. Flight times on electric (with such a payload) would be up to 30 minutes max and 20 minutes safely, I bet. Replace the 3-4 pound camera with additional battery, and it'd go about 1.5 hrs.

Here's a good read at another forum:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=489270

The ultimate setup is an autopilot setup in the plane that navigates a grid and holds altitude. I have a couple of U-Nav units (www.u-nav.com) that I was experimenting with on a couple of airframes, right about the time I had to stop flying.

Here's a link with an autopilot TM SR using the U-nav picopilot:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=511550

Well, digest those links and I'd like to hear what questions you have!

Dave