LOHAN slowly strips lens caps off hi-def imaging arsenal It's all go at the Special Projects Bureau's mountaintop headquarters as we await the imminent delivery of our Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) Vulture 2 spaceplane, currently being hewn from the living nylon down at 3T RPD Ltd. We've got plenty to be getting on with while we wait for the bloke in the big white …
Feedback from the paragliding community says that the Gopro Hero 3 battery life leaves something to be desired compared to earlier versions. If it's the cold and we're noticing it at only a few thousand metres up, then LOHAN might cause some issues!
Awesome bit of kit though. I still want one.
Yes occasionally mine will still freeze up for no reason even after various firmware upgrades which is a pain.
I use mine paragliding, paramotoring and skydiving ( and on quadcopters, cycling and scuba...!)
Admittedly my flying ceilings are about 13k so nowt like as high as Lohan is going.
You can easily power it via the 5v usb rather than via the expensive auxiliary battery bak-pak. I use a 3s 1200 lipo and UBEC when flying paramotors. that gives me roughly 3-4 hours of additional power. As an added benefit, seeing as the 5v also goes to charge the battery it means that it warms up the camera as well via the internal lipo charging.
And while you are at it - why not take the analogue video feed out of it too - and fire it through a 5.8hgz video transmitter ?
I get about 4000 feet vertically with my quadcopter with a 600mw tx and omni directional tx, but with a high db gain antenna (since you are effectively going to be 'below' all the time directional focus shouldnt be too much of an issue) you should be able to get that up to 40k or so I'd have thought at least... for some real time video!
Anyway I hope you are going to record in 2.7k..... you know it makes sense!
Also make sure you have prores on - we want that bitrate maxed out!
stu
Given that Lohan is viewed almost exclusively by professional techies world wide of one kind or another many of whom probably have the power to recommend or purchase, I would have thought there would be a manufacturer out there who would jump at the chance to place a piece or two of their kit on this ground(air?)breaking project.
Other than putting silica gel inside the case, have you considered creating something that will dry everything out before launch ?
Not my field, so I don't know if a sealed box with dry silica gel would do the trick. Or perhaps a box with some dry ice in the bottom (to create cold and trap any moisture as ice, with a heated section above to keep the cameras warm ? I'm sure between all us commentards we have enough boffinery skills to come up with something.
The gauntlet is thus propelled on a downward trajectory ...
Go Pro will sell you little strips to put inside the case to stop misting.
Or just turn the car air-con on full, give the inside of the case a blast and shut it again while making sure you keep it in the dry air.
The second of those techniques is the one I use for my shoots and the bonus is that it's free.
The Mobius, from the manufacturer that created version #16 of the 808 carfob 'spy' cameras. By far the best full 1080p HD miniature camera for its price, can work as a sports cam or a dash cam (continual loop recording of short files).
Full review on Techmoan's site, with sample clips to download and link to the eBay seller who's the manufacturer's shop front. If you order one, look at the sellers other items for mounts, long USB cable etc.
I got one, only took 6 days to arrive from China, and am about to get another to install permanently in my mum's car it's that good.
Probably the easiest way to stop misting would be to flood the case under a stream of (dry) nitrogen while closing the case. No water vapour, no misting.
Most watch repair shops will have a nitrogen setup: They flood the case of a waterproof watch with nitrogen after doing a battery change, before closing the back.
Or close everything up on a low humidity day ( yeah... in the UK...right!).
Going in a different direction (down as opposed to up), but when scuba diving with cameras in housings, silica gel sachets or moisture muncher capsules, are essential for keeping things fog free.
Its also really helpful too, if you put the camera in its case in a dry environment (sounds obvious I know).
Speaking from bitter experience here for the number of 'amazing once in a lifetime shots', that turn out misty. (';')
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