Quadcopter Flying Over a Field of Yellow Mustard

Fun & Games Technology
Quadcopter Flying Over a Field of Yellow Mustard

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There is a large field of mustard a couple miles from MAKE headquarters, and for a few weeks in spring, all the mustard blooms, and the field turns brilliant yellow. On the way home from work about a month ago, I stopped at the field, with a plan to to take some photos. As I got closer to the ideal photo spot, I came across a gentleman, documentary filmmaker Michael Heumann, flying a quadcopter. We got to chatting, and I ended up snapping some photos. Michael has a DJI Phantom Aerial UAV Drone Quadcopter with a GoPro camera mounted to it, and he showed me how he had installed some Moongel pads on the top and bottom of the camera, to absorb shock to reduce video shakiness. (Moongel is made for sound dampening in drum kits.)

For GoPro fans, Michael recommended Austin filmmaker Mitch Bergsma’s GoPro Tips series.

You can see the blue Moongel pad on top of the GoPro camera.
Michael calibrating the compass.

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10 thoughts on “Quadcopter Flying Over a Field of Yellow Mustard

  1. Eric Weinhoffer says:

    Nice photos, Laura! I need to look into this moongel stuff, that’s a great idea.

  2. Erik Burman says:

    Fascinating! Is there perhaps a link that we could check out to see some of the Go Pro video results that Mr. Heumann has gotten from his Quadracopter?

    1. Laura Cochrane says:

      I asked him if he posted the video. He’s out of town on location right now, but says he’ll upload some drone footage and put it up when he gets back. Once he emails me with the link, I’ll update this blog post.

  3. Deanes says:

    Moongel is pretty expensive and hard to find. $ store wall clings (that kids throw on a wall) works just as well.
    Also you can see 1000’s of quadcopter/goPro videos on youtube.

  4. Sean Michael Ragan says:

    I love that opening photograph. We should start a list of “great maker photographs” including this one and this one:

    http://blog.makezine.com/2012/09/30/maker-faire-new-york-sean-charlesworths-octopod/

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"To oppose something is to maintain it." –Ursula Le Guin

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