Why would a film crew risk sending a 4k camera worth hundreds of thousands of dollars into the air via a drone on an adventure to get some 4k video at 1,000 fps? Because no other team had ever done it, says the creators of the recent project that an entertainment and production business set up.
The expensive creation was put together by the Brain Farm, which is located in Jackson, Wyoming. The Brain Farm called it their latest cinematic weapon in the advancement of technology. They did it by putting together a Phantom Flex4K high-speed digital camera rigged up to a modified Aerigon drone. They spent more than $150,000 counting the drone and the camera’s cost.
Curt Morgan, CEO of Brain Farm, says that the project took five years to come to fruition with most of the problems being that the Phantom Flex4K camera was too heavy for the drone to carry and still be able to travel through the sky. The camera weighs fourteen pounds, and that’s without its lens or viewfinder.
So, in order to get the camera into the sky, they needed some assistance. This help came in the form of the Swedish drone maker, Intuitive Aerial. The company modified an Aerigon drone and gave it the ability to work 40 percent more powerfully. Once this was accomplished, the new version of the drone, which has six arms and 12 propellers, could now carry as many as 30 pounds, plenty enough to carry the Phantom 4K camera.
Once the Brain Farm was ready to take on the project with its modified drone, the adventure of a lifetime took place in the form of the camera filming slow motion video of both a pickup truck and SUV driving through muddy water in some high action moves as each made its travel round and round for the camera.
Record Breaking
The combo of drone and camera took 4096×2160 pixels worth of footage, which was shot at 1000 fps. The results are now said to be the most technically innovative footage ever taken by a drone. Video in 4K is an improvement over the current HD 1080p versions of TVs and other hardware.
Even though the technology for viewing 4K videos is not yet widespread, this opens the door to ways to use it, as more TVs and other products are made that are capable of allowing 4k video or other programming to be seen by viewers. As of 2018, it is estimated that 38 percent of the marketplace will be made up of 4K capable products, which would equal about a hundred million ultra-HD TVs.
