Varicam aerial problems

[Dale West]

I have shot with the nose mount on several occasions and not had any problem. Perhaps it is a loose board or bad solder point on a board. Try putting the camera on a tripod then LIGHTLY tapping the sides of the camera. See if you can get it to fail there. If you saw this problem in the Tyler VF then bringing a 1200 or 1400 into the ship probably wont be any different as you would end up using the same video line to feed the recorder and it sounds like this is happening way before the hd sdi out.
Good luck

Dale West
Dale West Video
12225 NE 13th Court
North Miami, FL 33161
305-892-1201

[Ernie Santella]

Would it have anything to do with the choppers weather radar in the nose? Not sure if you can ask to turn that off while shooting.

[Dale West]

A quick way to check that is to see if the lines appear at
consistent intervals. Any radar would sweep at given rates and you could tell from the time between problems. But I have never flown in a civilian chopper with radar. Still think the problem could be a loose board. Or this thought just came to me…how were you powering the camera? Were you using power from the ship? That might also be something to check. And the big one..do you still have the problem back on mother earth?

[Edouard Duroux]

Most likely caused by an VHF radio transmitter. Most aircraft mounted VHF put out 10 watts of power. When the pilot keys the mic, is usually when you see these lines. Depending on the aircraft, effects may be lessened by using a transmitter whose antenna is further away from the mount or requesting that communication is kept to a minimum – although these days in major metropolitan areas this is increasingly difficult.

[Steve Mahrer]

It maybe the chopper’s radar transponder, (not radar), this device emitts a coded signal to ID the aircraft to ground control every time it gets hit with the ground radar sweep.

Transponder OP is usually modulated L band RF at quite a few watts! See if you can test with the transpoder off (unlikely due to FAA regs.)

Steve Mahrer – Panasonic

[Mark D’agostino]

I agree that checking for a losse board is a goofd start. We have not had transponder problems with our 900. I did just complete a shoot and had constant mcrovibrations in the footage. I tried wedging the camera’s quick release plate to eliminate any play. We flew in two different Jet Rangers using the Tyler nose mount for both. I’ve shot a lot of SD with our Sony 550 over the past several years and never had this problem, (although the transponder did affect that camera and we had to fly with the transponder off). Any ideas on how to eliminate the microvibrations?

[Bob Hayes]

When shooting HD aerials I think it is a good idea to take off roll a bit and land to check out how everything is worked. A little playback goes a long way.

[Mark D’agostino]

Hi Bob,
We actually did do a test flight and things for that looked fine. Here’s the “oops” part though. For the actual flight the client rented an HD zoom lens. We swapped lenses. The diameter of the HD lens was too large for the Tyler mount piece attached to the rods that helps stabilze the lens. We tried to rig something and had to fly and that’s when we had the problem. I’ve since learned that one should use the shortest, (physical length), lens possible or even better, a prime. Also the added lens support is critical. This was the first time in 20 years we flew without our own lens. Fortunately we were able to fix the vibrations in post. Thanks for your input though.

Mark D’Agostino
http://www.synergeticproductions.com