I've been trying to use the drift stealth HD 170 a few times now. I can't say I'm impressed with the battery life. I thought, the last time I ran it dry after a few short hours of flying with very little video, was because the LCD screen was on. I figured out how to turn off the LCD but still didn't feel I got very much time out of the battery. Unfortunately, I can't turn off the camera with the remote, just start and stop recording.

Yeah, it was on for under 3hrs but it wasn't actually recording for very long and the screen wasn't on. Is this normal or do I have a faulty battery? Only a few hours of operation time on a battery doesn't make for a very useful camera since I can't exactly change it out easily.

I wasn't very impressed they couldn't include a full manual with the camera, just a quick start guide, and the only charging connector is a simple cable from the Camera to a USB port.

GroundLooper wrote:I've been trying to use the drift stealth HD 170 a few times now. I can't say I'm impressed with the battery life. I thought, the last time I ran it dry after a few short hours of flying with very little video, was because the LCD screen was on. I figured out how to turn off the LCD but still didn't feel I got very much time out of the battery. Unfortunately, I can't turn off the camera with the remote, just start and stop recording.

Yeah, it was on for under 3hrs but it wasn't actually recording for very long and the screen wasn't on. Is this normal or do I have a faulty battery? Only a few hours of operation time on a battery doesn't make for a very useful camera since I can't exactly change it out easily.

I wasn't very impressed they couldn't include a full manual with the camera, just a quick start guide, and the only charging connector is a simple cable from the Camera to a USB port.

The battery life is on par (perhaps even a little better) with most POV cameras. I believe the GoPro HD and Contour HD publish a 2.5hr battery life as well (without a screen). The 1700 battery might be worth it if you want to leave it hanging out there for a while (the cold temps can drain it quicker too). Or, you can get extra standard batteries for a good price. Also, which SD card are you using? A SDHC card is a bit more efficient and will help with battery life. I'm curious to know what you were expecting for battery life from a POV camera?

On long flights I just mount mine on the inside and reach over and turn it on when I want to record something.

Yes, the quick start manual sucks, but a full manual can be downloaded from the website. Also, a dock charger can be purchased if you don't like to charge via USB.

mountainmatt wrote:

GroundLooper wrote:I've been trying to use the drift stealth HD 170 a few times now. I can't say I'm impressed with the battery life. I thought, the last time I ran it dry after a few short hours of flying with very little video, was because the LCD screen was on. I figured out how to turn off the LCD but still didn't feel I got very much time out of the battery. Unfortunately, I can't turn off the camera with the remote, just start and stop recording.

Yeah, it was on for under 3hrs but it wasn't actually recording for very long and the screen wasn't on. Is this normal or do I have a faulty battery? Only a few hours of operation time on a battery doesn't make for a very useful camera since I can't exactly change it out easily.

I wasn't very impressed they couldn't include a full manual with the camera, just a quick start guide, and the only charging connector is a simple cable from the Camera to a USB port.

The battery life is on par (perhaps even a little better) with most POV cameras. I believe the GoPro HD and Contour HD publish a 2.5hr battery life as well (without a screen). The 1700 battery might be worth it if you want to leave it hanging out there for a while (the cold temps can drain it quicker too). Or, you can get extra standard batteries for a good price. Also, which SD card are you using? A SDHC card is a bit more efficient and will help with battery life. I'm curious to know what you were expecting for battery life from a POV camera?

On long flights I just mount mine on the inside and reach over and turn it on when I want to record something.

Yes, the quick start manual sucks, but a full manual can be downloaded from the website. Also, a dock charger can be purchased if you don't like to charge via USB.

Ya, battery life definitely sucks even with the long time GI battery. Charging takes a looonnnggg time too. Where do you get the charging dock Matt?

Glidergeek wrote:
Ya, battery life definitely sucks even with the long time GI battery. Charging takes a looonnnggg time too. Where do you get the charging dock Matt?

I've seen a few different sites that sell a dock for the HD170. I picked one up at myPOV360.
http://www.mypov360.com/buy/Drift-HD170 ... amera.html

I have 6 batteries and it's nice to have.

mountainmatt wrote:
The battery life is on par (perhaps even a little better) with most POV cameras. I believe the GoPro HD and Contour HD publish a 2.5hr battery life as well (without a screen). The 1700 battery might be worth it if you want to leave it hanging out there for a while (the cold temps can drain it quicker too). Or, you can get extra standard batteries for a good price. Also, which SD card are you using? A SDHC card is a bit more efficient and will help with battery life. I'm curious to know what you were expecting for battery life from a POV camera?

On long flights I just mount mine on the inside and reach over and turn it on when I want to record something.

Yes, the quick start manual sucks, but a full manual can be downloaded from the website. Also, a dock charger can be purchased if you don't like to charge via USB.

Yeah, I'll have to get the extended battery. I just expected it to last similar to my iPhone which will run a couple of days or so without charging so long as I'm not yaking on it or browsing the web. Bad assumption on my part. Right now I have a 4gig SDHC card, which is small. I filled it once and lost some shots because of that but I'm not blaming the drift for the small card.

I can easily see my biggest problem will be remembering to turn on record then off again.

Wow Swixtt, that new little action cam is killer.

http://driftinnovation.com/drift-hd-action-camera/

I have a question for all you really smart guys out there. My brother has a PHD in physics and wants to know the details of why we get so many props. He doesn't just want words about scan rate and shutter speed etc... So if any of you out there can speak equations (and I know you are there) please answer up. I am also very interested to hear what you have to say.

I'm guessing:
FPS RPM Props
24 2600 3.6
24 2400 3.3
24 2200 3.1
24 2000 2.8
24 1800 2.5
24 1600 2.2
24 1400 1.9
24 1200 1.7
24 1000 1.4
30 2600 2.9
30 2400 2.7
30 2200 2.4
30 2000 2.2
30 1800 2.0
30 1600 1.8
30 1400 1.6
30 1200 1.3
30 1000 1.1

Props = RPM*2/60/FPS
where Props = number of prop images visible
RPM = propeller revolutions per minute
FPS = camera scan rate in frames per second

Since the prop RPM and camera frame rate are not synchronized and the propeller RPM varies, the propeller images move. RPM is multiplied by 2 since there are 2 propeller blades.

Andy, that looks good, but what about why the prop seems to not be attached to the airplane - and sometimes distorted and looking very curved, sometimes straight, but not attached? Scan rate?

I have posed pictures of the mount before - here they are again. A machinist friend did it for me:



any ram mount will work with the front of the mount!!

The reason that the prop images appear curved is that the camera's scan takes .033 seconds for one frame at 30 frames per second and it scans progressively from top to bottom, left to right. The prop is moving counter-clockwise while the scan is occuring. If the scan was instantaneous, the prop blade image would be the same as if it was standing still. However, the scan is not instantaneous, so points along the prop blade move counter-clockwise as the scan proceeds and make it look curved. I think the reason that the prop tips seem to become occasionally detached from the hub at higher RPMs is that the tip is traveling much faster than the root and only appears briefly in one scan at a different point in time than when the root is scanned. At 2500 RPM, the tip of a 76 inch prop is traveling at about 344 inches per second while a point 12 inches from the hub is traveling at about 54 inches per second. At higher RPMs the tip is traveling so fast that it disappears entirely from some frames and appears in others at different points in time. That would make it seem like the brief image of the tip seems not to be attached to rest of the blade.

Good words Andy; Here is a video that someone produced: (My camera is set at 60fps which helps but doesn't eliminate)

CMOS image sensors are used in most video cameras due to their low cost and low power consumption. They use the "rolling shutter" method of reading the charge off each pixel on the sensor, which allows the image to change during the read operation. Some new image sensors, such as InVisage (http://www.invisageinc.com/page.aspx?cont=QuantumShutter), use a different method that captures the state of all pixels on the image sensor at one instant and then reads it while it is unchanged. This eliminates rolling shutter artifacts such as curved props. I think all of the current action cameras use the older rolling shutter approach. If you're thinking of buying one that has the newer technology, you'll have to wait a year or two. Higher frame rates like 60 FPS help since each scan of the image sensor takes a shorter amount of time: .017 seconds instead of .033 seconds. During that time, the prop moves less distance and the image is less curved. The downside of the faster frame rate is larger file size and less recording time available for a given memory module size. At 1280x720p resolution each frame contains 921,600 pixels each with 24-bits of color information which are being stored on the memory card at a frame rate of 24, 30 or 60 frames per second. Battery charge usually is more of a limiting factor than memory module size on an action camera, so a 60 FPS frame rate is the best choice for least image distortion. The cameras automatically create separate video files every 3.6GB but it takes longer to view and edit larger files.

Jello - That is what my in-flight images look like. The mount is very solid so I don't think it is camera shake. Is any one else having this problem with their Drift Stealth at 1080p mode?

Hey Mike - usually the "rolling" jello effect is either vibration or some other movement in the field of view. Changing to 60fps (720p) will help. Sometimes I have the same issue and thought I had minimized vibration but then.... Where is it mounted? Try holding in your hand during a flight and see if you get the same effect.

Thanks Emmit. I'll give that a try. This is a warranty replacement after the first one died. The first one would do it once in a while, but not often. The replacement does to all my flying videos, but I haven't tried it from inside. I'll try that tomorrow to see if it improves.

BTW Mike...if you are around Labor day....

http://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=8049&start=60

Thanks for the invite Emmit; that looks like a lot of fun. I'm rafting the lower gorge of the Salmon that weekend so I won't be able to join you guys. I've been traveling a lot so I must have missed that tread? Otherwise I would have thought twice about the raft trip.

Getting this Windows 7 editor figured out. Not nearly as intuitive as the XP editor in my opinion.

Anyway, a pass over what I think is called Joe's strip. I forgot I left the window open.

Quick question

The HD 170 Stealth saves the video files in .mov format; however, the XP movie maker does not recognize .mov.

How are you handing this? Just change the .mov to .mpg or .mpg4?

Tom

Well ended up getting the Stinson out this past weekend. There was a bit of a party out on a farm, that we went to. Ended up being a good time to try out the new Vio-pov HD unit I have, along side with the 'Vio-pov 1' that i've been using for the past few years. The 1st part of the video is with the 1.0, the 2nd part is with the hd. Next time I'll be moving the hd out on the wing also, that way the video doesn't show all the bug guts, 'light refraction' and scratches that are on the window. lol. Differences i noticed so far. The old 1 doesn't get the 'prop' bend, the new HD at 30fps does. But i can change the 'exposure', to a bit dimmer, and see if that might help a bit (I'm hoping the 'exposure' is 'shutter speed' rather than 'software', but it is probably software. You can't see but the HD is 142 degrees, and the 1.0 is 110 degrees, but if i switch the HD unit down to 720 mode i go down to 98 degrees (but can get 60fps.) The video isn't the greatest, because of the window though.. I need to get my pilots license so i can do some more of this flying. (I own an airplane and can't fly, lol).. This year i should start on 'learning' to fly.