Here is my personal blog about my Vespa motorscooter trip across Pakistan www.brookdain.com/pakistan
Vespa Expedition Across Pakistan
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The Salinas Project
Filmmaker Carolyn Brown has released a trailer for her upcoming documentary The Salinas Project. I am thrilled that she asked me to contribute aerial videography to the film.
About one hour South of the wealthy Silicon Valley, sits the agricultural, immigrant town of Salinas. On the east side of Salinas, in a neighborhood known as Alisal, deplorable housing conditions and gang violence are part of daily life. But there are big changes happening in the community and a sense of renewal.
Find out more about this film at thesalinasproject.org
DJI iPad Ground Control Station FAIL
My first fully automated drone flight with with the DJI iPad Ground Control Station… Didn’t go as planned. The iPad GCS app for iOS7 was just released, so I thought I would give it a try. Everything seemed to be working great I did an Attitude mode flight with my TX right before this to ensure the F450 was flying OK. Everything checked out. It had GPS satellite lock before takeoff and linked to the iPad GCS flawlessly. It took off on the “GO” command and flew part way through the flight plan before veering way of course and slamming itself into the ground….. sigh.
DJI A2 Flight Controller Unboxing
A quick look at the DJI A2 Flight Controller and Auto Pilot System. What comes in the box, and a quick bench assembly. The DJI A2 is a complete flight control system for multirotors in commercial and industrial aerial photography applications.
DIY Over the Shoulder Camera Rig
I built this Third Person View camera rig to wear around Vidcon 2013.
The idea came from a rig that Indy Mogul’s Griffin Hammond wore around the South By Southwest film festival this year.
I was really pleased with the results. The interesting thing about this view is that, unlike many first person view body mounted GoPro rigs where the footage can be quite shakey, this always keeps my head in frame. Giving the viewer something to lock onto and making the footage appear much smoother.
Here is our video from Vidcon 2013
Pool Noodle Landing Gear
Some multi rotor projects use highly technical electronics…. and some are just kid stuff.
Pool noodles make excellent landing cushions protecting your copter’s delicate electronics from the bumps and jolts of less than perfect landings.
The Most Important Multirotor Upgrade!
This is the most important upgrade you can do for your copters! Replace those terrible aluminum prop nuts with Aircraft grade Nylock nuts.
Now that you’ve watched the video, this upgrade is less than a dollar and could save you from some very expensive mishaps… go do it right now!
ReplayXD Cameras posts their video of Monster Army Recon in San Jose, CA
ReplayXD Cameras posts their video of Monster Army Recon in San Jose, CA While we were out there shooting the event, we did a few flights with their cameras on board.
They used a couple of our aerial shots in the video and an on bike camera gets a quick shot of Brook and the Century NEO 660 in air at about 1:48 into the video.
Skate Park Aerial
As I was setting up to fly over the Lake Cunningham Regional Skate Park for The Monster Recon BMX event, a lone skateboarder was bowl riding. I grabbed this shot as I was doing a test flight to size up how high I had to fly to shoot directly down and get the whole bowl into the shot.
I was flying a DJI F550 Hexacopter and shot this with a GoPro Hero2 on the X468 gimbal
Propeller Balancing for Multirotors
One of the most important things you can do to make your multirotor fly better and to get smooth jello free video footage is to balance the propellers. Multirotor prop balancing is a little more involved than just balancing the blades… you must also balance the propeller’s hub.
Buy the Du-Bro Tru-Spin Prop Balancer
I also used Extra Thick CA glue and CA accelerator in this video.