In the end of year 2010 my air-fleet of photographic models has been extended by new flying vehicle - Hexacopter XL of HiSystems GmbH production from workshop of German designers Holger Buss and Ingo Busker.
Hexakopter is just dedicated to be used like flying photographic device. It is able to hover like helicopter or lift slowly and fluently up and take amazing aerial pictures and movies. It is equipped by two quick stabilisation servos controlled by 3-axis gyroscopes and accelerometers and therefore it is able to reach perfect image quality even during wind conditions.
Vehicle has been shipped with complete electronic equipment, inclusive navigation modules, GPS, OSD, module for wireless telemetry transition to the ground station and 3-axis magnetometer, what changes the device either to flying device remotely controlled through camera image wireless transmitted to the ground station, or quite autonomous flying vehicle UAV able fly without remote control following pre-programmed track defined by set of waypoints and returning to the start position while photo/movie job has been finished. Carbon version of hexacopters arms, landing gear and photographic gimbal saves weight and gives chance to keep semi-professional camcorders up to the weight of 1,2kg.
Hexacopter use does not mean that model aircrafts, especially gliders will be refused in the future. Every conception has its advantages. Despite hexacopter is able to start and land verticaly and gives chance to get perfect shots in limited flying space, glider is still good solution to take amazing panoramatic views in places with enough space for horizontal landing, for example to take fluent flight sequences over landscape sceneries or industrial areas.
Until next spring give me chance to take my first shots using this fantastic machine, I offer you a few links to amazing movies taken from microcopters by good-known aerial photographers from Spain, Norway and USA.
Let have a look, what hexacopters and octocopters can do.
PanoramaHardanger
AlbertoCVR
Jeff Scholl
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