Friday, March 25, 2011

Sometimes ya gotta just give up on the video...

I spent a whole bunch o' time since the beginning of March trying to get my new camera's video footage slowed down to look all cool. Ultimately I think that even 60 fps is inadequate to slow a fast rocket down. I punted on all the slow mo and just authored the best video I could here:
Again I only had two flights that day because I was trying out my new 1D mark IV camera. If you have the means I highly recommend it... It is SO choice.
I flew my Polecat Aerospace 4" V2 on a CTI Pro54 491I218 and it kicked ass outa there. Here's a cropped frame grab from the 1280x720x60p video:
I retrieved that perfectly intact about 0.3 miles NW from the launch site. Then I set up my Loc Bullet on an AT J500 Mojave Green and I thank Daryl for setting up the reload for me. As I was setting the flight up I learned that the fella next to me was flying an AT I245 Mojave Green with a camera so we agreed to fly a drag race. It's interesting to note that Daryl provided a longer Aerotech delay that I thought was 14 seconds and I trimmed 2 seconds off that with my delay adjustment tool and AT adapter. In the video you might have noted that the burnout-to-apogee time was actually 15 seconds and the ejection was 5 seconds after that! So AT is now shipping 21-22 second delays? Dunno but that was WAY too long and my CF reinforced Bullet took a bunch of damage. It's probably time to retire that thing and rebuild one more similar to the original BSD design. Here are three frames of the drag race where I get my ass handed to me once again (the keychain video cam is Gorilla-taped to the left side of the Bullet on the right):
I just remembered that KO pushed the button on that sequence so I take only partial credit for setting the camera up. Love those mach diamonds and 10 frames per second helps a bunch! Here are the rest of my shots from that launch as well.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Working on March 2011 Plaster City launch report...

...and have been since Sunday. I finally have some 60 fps liftoff vid and I'm trying to get some good slow mo out of it yet continue to struggle. Here's an otherwise unrelated video of what my new camera should be capable of for reference (The 7D is a close cousin to my camera).