Hang GoPro from a string?

[storrowdrive]

I want to get a shot that goes from 400 feet in the air then goes down under water about 10 feet. An idea I have is to attach a gopro to a string hanging below the Phantom about 20 feet or so then I can achieve this theoretically. The Phantom would "dunk" the gopro into the water and be flying with the gopro submerged below it. Thoughts? Would the Phantom handle this do you think?

 

[L.Chaney]

I don't see why not other than rotor wash making the picture crazy jumpy and will probably do lots of spinning.
I'd do it in reverse starting the camera under water and going up.
Post the vid when you get it.

 

[storrowdrive]

I don't see why not other than rotor wash making the picture crazy jumpy and will probably do lots of spinning.
I'd do it in reverse starting the camera under water and going up.
Post the vid when you get it.

You are right about the spinning I didn't think about that. I may have to attach 2 strings somehow to minimize it. I will certainly post a video if I end up doing it.

 

[Mal_PV2_Ireland]

You might need 4 strings from each corner of the 4 legs to stabilise it and I'd nearly go a step further by using wires but you run the risk of upsetting the compass

 

[robsquad]

a bit of cane 3 foot wide tied to the landing gear with string tied to the ends should stop the spinning

 

[Mal_PV2_Ireland]

You'll also have jello to deal with too probably

 

[reboot81]

Saw a homemade GoPro rig for underwater tow from a quad the other day, but can't find the link...
Anyway, they idea was that it used a tail fin to stabilize the cameras angle. And to fly the quad, pulling the device through the water.

I find it hard to believe that a device hanging in strings could stay stable without spinning, no matter how many strings were in place. Here I also suggest you take advantage of a tail fin.
At second though, how about a 3fth cane as @robsquad suggested, but also one down with the camera?
A 3ft cane, maybe with some fins at each end would probably stay in position submerged.

 

[vegas-k9]

Just tie some long delay fuse as your rope. Put a floaty on the gopro. And when the fuse burns through the gopro adapter. Let it plunge from 400 feet and float back up lol.

 

[ianwood]

Before you dunk something in the water dangling from your Phantom, get familiar with the concept of a sea anchor.

 

[Foosy]

The other problem that I see, is that you will not get a straight motion from water to air, unless you started in water as someone else suggested.
Otherwise, you need to attach a weight at the bottom of the go-pro to help it get through the water without trying to float. By that time, this whole rig might be too heavy.

As for spinning, it does not matter how many wires you put there. It will spin. Maybe use a pipe to extend the gimbal down from the phantom.

 

[phuocsandiego]

Before you dunk something in the water dangling from your Phantom, get familiar with the concept of a sea anchor.

That was my first thought exactly! There is going to be a whole lot of drag from a submerged GoPro tied to you Phantom. I'm not sure the Phantom has enough power to drag that thing through water and if it does, your battery life is going to be total crap.

 

[phuocsandiego]

The other problem that I see, is that you will not get a straight motion from water to air, unless you started in water as someone else suggested.
Otherwise, you need to attach a weight at the bottom of the go-pro to help it get through the water without trying to float. By that time, this whole rig might be too heavy.

As for spinning, it does not matter how many wires you put there. It will spin. Maybe use a pipe to extend the gimbal down from the phantom.

There's no way the gimbal will function as you would like it to underwater. I just can't see it.

 

[Foosy]

There's no way the gimbal will function as you would like it to underwater. I just can't see it.

correct, but it will function in the air, and he needs it to work through a continuous shot (air and sea).

 

[ZX10R203]

I have a friend that did a few shots a described by the op. He kept the go pro from spinning by anchoring it to 4 of its corners. Like a square. He ran fishing lines to the go pro which was facing down. Used 5 thin red drinking straws per line to keep them stiffer.
Worked great. He did run the shot from the water up.

 

[ianwood]

 

[johan]

I flown a gopro rig suspended by a kite line for years. Never had any trouble with spinning but then again a kite doesn't create any down wash. That being said, spinning from the down wash should be fairly easy to control. You'll probably need a line from each leg corner and possibly a cross brace but I would expect that stopping the spin shouldn't be too hard.

The bigger problem is going to be that you're going to have a gopro more or less hanging in the wind by a string. And my experience with the kite rigs tells me that hanging by a string like that, its going to move. Possibly a lot. I would not expect to end up with anything resembling a steady shot once its in the air. Its the reason my kite photography has been pretty much all stills. I've done a little bit of video with it but only a little.

This video shows why.

This was in steady but relatively light winds. The camera is mounted on an RC that pans and tilts. But it gives a pretty good idea of what your video will look like if the camera is hanging from a line in the wind.