Comment by Cliff-E on April 17, 2012 at 9:34am

The real deal here is the Cineflex. You can develop any of the multicopter platforms to shoot decent video and carry the weight. The Cineflex makes cinema-workflow integration - oh so much easier...

For instance, in the old days, RED didn't have a out of the box means to grab it's 4K raw out on the wire (e.g. SDI): you needed to turn the camera off, remove the disk back, then plug in a firewire cable or their $$$ cable. That was ok for independents, but the studios hated it. Couldn't get the media into their content management systems without some sort of manual encoding, metadata entry or sneaker net. Competitor cameras from Arri/Sony/Phillips had the capability, though lower res... In cinema, getting the media to your dailies asap, in other words through the work-flow, is crucial--and the cineflex supports that.

Renting a manned copter can be in the tens of thousands per hour. If this thing is a million, then no studio will buy it--BUT a A/V rental shop (like SIR or ProHD) may...

Comment by Skydog222 on April 17, 2012 at 9:53am

Yes, the Schiebel's are very nice helicopters.  They are a very professional helicopter and work very well operationally.  But the cost is going to keep them from entering the private sector (even the movie industry, a film services company, and some military contracts for that matter) for a while.  The S-100 cost about $2 million (that is a helicopter and a ground station) and there is a mandatory $750,000 training coarse.  That is all before you start adding the price of the sensor to the mix!

It will be nice when the airspace is opened for commercial use UAVs and the movie industry can start taking advantage of the technology that is out there to help them get the job done. 

Developer Comment by R_Lefebvre on April 17, 2012 at 9:54am

That's sort of what I was thinking.  I don't really see a studio buying it.  It would be bought by a boutique A/V place and rented out as a service (complete with trained operators).

Comment by Coptaire on April 17, 2012 at 10:05am

Who knows, it could become a remote-controlled Open Source project!

Comment by Tobias Krieger on April 17, 2012 at 11:46am

6 hours of flight time, with extended fuel tank up to 10h; 18.000ft ceiling; 200km high data link (depending on ground station). Can perform auto land on ship's , follow convoy's etc.

50kg Payload; 200kg max TOW; up to 100 kits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Yy0aaXoE4&feature=related

Nice, expensive, loud. 

 

Comment by Rory Paul on April 17, 2012 at 6:19pm

The sad thing is that people like Rotomotion have been making systems for years and because of where they are based (USA) their growth has been limited. I cannot get over the price tag on the Schiebel system what a bird though!

Comment by Tobias Krieger on April 17, 2012 at 10:01pm

One of the most expensive parts contained in the price tag of the initial package (btw. it's for 2 birds + 1 ground station) is actually the antenna system (made in the USA), training is per person (and much less) and not accumulative 750000

Comment by Flying Monkey on April 18, 2012 at 10:31am

That is one SWEET looking bird!

 

With that said, I doubt it'll compete with a well designed Octocopter.  And they'll need to make the landing gear (flippers?) retractable to get the best usage out of the camera.

Comment by John Moore on April 18, 2012 at 2:36pm

Thats impressive but it has to be cheaper than a manned helicopter to work.

Moderator Comment by Gary Mortimer on April 18, 2012 at 2:52pm

Tony White slapped me on the wrist reminding me that he had flown a Cineflex under a blimp some time ago.

http://www.suasnews.com/2012/04/14724/galaxy-airships-flying-a-cine...

@John show me a manned heli that can fly for 6 hours on the trot with a film crew....

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