Shooting the Octocopter

I took the short route over the top of Minchinhampton Common on my way do an errand near to Horsley today. As I passed Tom Long's Post I looked down the lane towards the Old Lodge pub on the common and spotted a model helicopter in the air hovering above two men. I suddenly thought this might be a blip, as there are many model aeroplane enthusiasts who fly at this place, which happens to be where we often throw frisbees too.

I did a quick u-turn and drove back to their van and car, and after parking walked up to speak to the gentlemen. It is quite a remote spot in the middle of the Minchinhampton golf course which also uses the common, but there was no-one else about. On enquiring if I might take some pictures if they flew their craft again Ben and Graham happily consented to my presence and the prospect of me blipping their activities. By the time I arrived the craft was being adjusted on a bench and I was able to get up close and ask them questions. It turns out that Ben and Graham provide aerial photography services to the media industry through their company, Cloud12 , based in Bristol.

They explained a bit more about the craft, but I think it best that you look at their website, Cloud12 for the facts. But let me say that I was extremely impressed when I saw at close quarters the Octocopter taking off and flying again. As you can see it has rotors at the end of each of eight arms and suspended below the craft is the rig on which they mount their cameras. Today they were doing tests on new control equipment which they are adding to the craft's facilities and were using a Nikon D7000 suspended beneath it in a cradle.

It takes both Ben and Graham to control this beast. One of them flies the machine, which can move extremely fast, as I noticed, swoop , bank and turn, as well as simply hover in a stationary mid-air position. Meanwhile the other controls the camera rig's movements although they cannot at present control the camera's internal mechanisms or focus pull. But I think that won't be far away for them.

I am going to add some other pictures I took to my Flickr gallery later today or tomorrow, which i recommend if you are interested in seeing more of this amazing machine. Many thanks to Ben and Graham, who were exceedingly civil to me and answered many of my elementary questions with good humour. I may even add some pictures of them and the screen which they use to view the camera's image from the air in real time!

More later, but do definitely view it in LARGE format.

More pictures here on Flickr