On air In air
November 30
Some productions and camera operations can be very different and challenging. I like to believe that I’ve experienced a few such cases and have gained some knowledge as a result.
For this assignment, we followed a pilot through a typical workday. This required thorough preparation to ensure that no equipment would, in any way, hinder the pilot.
With the pilot’s permission, we installed four cameras mounted inside the cockpit and an additional camera on the wing. We used GoPro Hero 12 Black cameras with suction cups to remain as discreet as possible in the very limited spaces, such as at the front of the cockpit near the pilot. The only downside is that GoPro cameras typically have a limited dynamic range. To address this, we also used a DJI RS2 gimbal-mounted Red Komodo 6K, along with a handheld Red Gemini S35 5K. Most of the shots were taken inside the pilot's cockpit
The weather was around +2°C, with gray skies, thick clouds, and cold, humid air. After boarding the plane, we quickly mounted the cameras and took off.
I operated the wing camera from inside the cabin. At low altitude, the histogram was balanced, but as we climbed, the clouds became brighter, and the values began to indicate overexposure. Fortunately, we had brought along some ND filters to manage this. Apparently, the air inside the clouds was so freezing cold that the airplane had to de-ice multiple times to remove layers of ice that kept building up during the flight.
A few minutes of sunshine, and then we descended back down to solid ground again. During the descent, the brand-new GoPro I was operating kept overheating and, for some reason, quickly drained its battery. At one point, the camera became so hot that I could barely touch it and kept shutting itself off to cool down. If anyone knows the answer or reason for this incident, please let me know.
