Helicam

info@helicam.aero

FAQ

Q: Do you rent just the helicopter?
A: No, we only offer it as a service, it comes with pilot and camera operator.

Q: What feature films or TV -series have you worked on?
A: Here is a full list on founder Ville Hyvönen’s IMDb page 

Q: Can Helicam fly in rain?
A: In hard rain no.

Q: What lenses can you fly with?
A: All PL and EF lenses that weight under 2kg. Such lenses are for example:
Arri Ultraprime, Cooke Pancro, Kowa Anamorphic, Hawk MiniHawk Anamorphic, Zeiss Highspeed, Leica Summicron-C.

Q: How does wind effect Helicam?
A: Wind above 8m/s makes it difficult to have steady shots

Q: What Helicopters are you using?
A: Custom designed multicopters from Airborne Mechatronics with Freeefly systems Mövi m10 and m15 gimbals.

Q: How long does the battery of the helicam last?
A: With one battery helicam can fly about 6 – 10 minutes depending of the weather. This means about 10 minutes of air time,
for example 5 min in air for first show, 20 min waiting on ground for reset, 5 min for the second shot and so on. Changing the battery takes
about 2 minutes.

Q: How much it costs to buy such helicopter?
A: Our copters can be bough from http://airborne.ee

Q: Is it safe to fly on top of actors / crowd?
A: Safety goes first. We never fly on top of audience or crowd who are not well briefed and trained for emergency procedures. How ever,
as you can see from our showreel video, it is usually rather easy to arrange a clear path of flight even on mass audience events to create feeling of being close or on top of the crowd.

Q: Do you have insurance?
A: Yes we have 3rd party liability insurance up to 2 million eur

Q: Is it safe in general?
A: We have strict safety procedures and checklists to ensure maximum safety on set, but in wrong hands or environment large RC heli can be very dangerous. And there is always a small change for mechanical or electric failure. Thats why we fly only in a controlled situation. If w feel its unsafe to fly, we don´t

Q: Can you fly inside?
A: In a large enough space, yes.

Q: What is the maximum speed?
A: About 80km/h

Q: What is the maximum operating distance for helicam?
A: Pilot has to be able to see the orientation of the helicam, so there has to be always uninterrupted line of sight between pilot and helicam. The maximum radius then being about 350m from the pilot. Helicam can be also piloted from a moving vehicle to extend its range. The radio range for the controls are more than 2km.

Q: Can we use our own camera for helicam?
A: Yes, we can fly with most small sized cameras, it just takes bit preparation.

Q: Can you see what you are shooting?
A: Yes, there is a wireless HD video coming from the helicam

Q: what is the largest camera you can fly with?
A: Red EPIC Helium and Arri Alexa Mini

Q: Can you control the camera from the ground?
A: Yes, we can remote control tilt, pan and roll

Q: Can the wireless video from the helicam used for live broadcast?

A: Yes.

Q: Can you feed the helicam video to the video city?
A: Yes. We output  HD-SDI

Q: What if Helicam crashes or goes out of order?
A: We try not to, but if such unfortunate thing would happen, we always have a backup helicam with us.

Q: Where does Helicam live, can I see it?
A: Our Helicams reside in Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland. Email us and come for a visit!

Q: Can you name few DOPs you have worked with
A: Yes, here are few:

Grant Douglas (USA / Hong Kong)
Chris Seager (B.S.C) (UK)
Kartik Vijay (India)
Michael Watson (USA)
Hena Blomberg (F.S.C)
Jani Kumpulainen (F.S.C)
Jouko Seppälä (F.S.C)
Thomas Gerhardt (D.F.F.) (Denmark)
Christoffer Rus (F.S.F) (Sweden)
Jyrki Arnikari (F.S.C)
Pini Hellstedt (F.S.C)
Pertti Mutanen (F.S.C)
Jari Mutikainen (F.S.C)
Juge Heikkilä
Tuoma Järvelä
Jaakko Slotte
Heiko Sikka
Kārlis Jaunzems
Mart Taniel
Rein Kotov
Meelis Veeremets