GoPro Mounting in the Cockpit

brcase

brcase

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Brian
I have had several inquires about mounting GoPro's while training.

It seems to me the most valuable way to do this would be to mount in such a way that the instruments, at least the 6 pack, could be seen as well as the horizon out the windshield.

From what I have seen so far is most people seem to get one or the other (instrument or outside) due to the bright lighting outside and darker lighting inside.

Anyone have any success at mounting and configuring a Gopro so both can been seen and evaluated after the flight. Are some gopro versions better at this than others?

Would like to be able to critique a maneuver something like. "See where you let the nose drop on the steep turn, now see the altitude and VSI showing that loss of altitude, notice the delay between the nose moving and the instruments showing the descent"

Thank You

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
It'd take some work, but a good way to do this is to place the camera in between the two front seats, fairly close to the back of the seats so the camera can see the sides of the panel.
Use a split filter - something like 2-4 stops range between top and bottom. Quick Google search didn't find a great example, but I have one for my Nikon DSLR. You want neutral density, not orange tint or anything. Mounting the filter may be difficult, too.
But it would work great! A little searching would help - I'd expect there's a commercially-made solution out there for the newer, square lens GoPro-type cameras.
 
I had a suction mount that I slapped on the window just behind my head. angled it so you could see me, the instructor, out the front windows, and you could see most of the instruments in the panel. although u couldn't read the #'s on each, you could see the needles and you could tell things like approximate airspeed and whatnot. you pretty much know what the needle looks like at 80, 100, etc but if you're looking for more detail than that, not sure what would be best. experiment in a few different spots, see what works best.
 
How do people tap into the audio? Id like to learn my mistakes on the radio.
 
Jamie Kirk said:
How do people tap into the audio? Id like to learn my mistakes on the radio.
Click to expand...
Well, if you got some cash to burn here is the complete solution .. in-cockpit audio, the prop filter, gps track,alt,speed etc ...
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/577075

Here is the Garmin offering in action with some gps derived overlays you can easily apply in their editing software :
 
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Jamie Kirk said:
How do people tap into the audio? Id like to learn my mistakes on the radio.
Click to expand...

Lots of different answers.
My Zulu 3 have a jack that I use to record audio.
I have had plenty of recordings where I got audio by simply putting a mic in one of the ear cups.

For this audio, I took one of those phone ear bud things where you can talk (has the mic at mouth level)
I curled it up into a ball and stuck it in the headset ear cup. Audio sounds pretty good.
Thats the $5 solution

 
eman1200 said:
I had a suction mount that I slapped on the window just behind my head. angled it so you could see me, the instructor, out the front windows, and you could see most of the instruments in the panel. although u couldn't read the #'s on each, you could see the needles and you could tell things like approximate airspeed and whatnot. you pretty much know what the needle looks like at 80, 100, etc but if you're looking for more detail than that, not sure what would be best. experiment in a few different spots, see what works best.
Click to expand...

I used a suction mount inside as well and it did a good job. This is the one I bought, $13.00 was right in my price range. You can position it however you want.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PQ4ACQ2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This was some pattern work when I was working on my PPL. Just noticed it was exactly two years ago to the day when I was working landings.

 
To see the instruments clearly and the outside will most likely require two cameras or 1 exterior camera and screen recording of a tablet session. In both cases, reviewing afterwards will be a PITA unless you edit them..which is a bigger PITA :( I would expect minimum 1hr of editing time for each hour of flight!! Will you get paid for that second hour?

But you asked :)

Single Shot With Interior & Exterior Both Kinda Visible:
As previously mentioned you need a ND (Neutral Density) filter. It will basically limit the light entering the camera which in turn cause the shutter to be open longer and the interior will become a bit more visible, but not great.

I have been using a Variable ND filter and stop it down about 40% max. This gets rid of the prop "BANANA" effect (irrelevant for your lesson reviews). But variable ND fliters and wide angle don't jive at extreme stops due to a bright X pattern so don't set it all the way dark.

Now a graduated ND filter will be ideal. You position it so the dark side is up and bright side down. This will darken the sky to even the exposure with the darker inside cockpit. I haven't tried this yet. You can either buy a standard ring mount filter or a system where you slide in square ones (Cokin, Lee, etc). The slide in ones are big and the corners are sharp bit give the most control. The problem with the graduated ND filters is that anything between the camera and the outside window, such as your head, will look darker than your body below the glare shield.

How To Mount The Filters:
Well for Go Pros, they make slide on fixed ND filters. I have never seen a slide on Variable or Graduated ND. So, enter the Go Pro enclosure. I like the Luxebell ones on Amazon. You slide the go pro in. The enclosure has a round 52mm fliter ring. Then you can mount anything you like with 52mm or larger with step up rings. You will want to step up to maybe 72mm or 77mm so that the ND filter edge does not appear on the go pro wide angle image.

A Non Filter Idea:
Maybe forget the filters and just bounce a bright LED light off the panel. Now it will be closer in brightness to the outside. You'd still have the prop baNana effect though.

Alternative To Filming Panel 6-Pack:
In Garmin Pilot you can configure several instrument views. Select the one you want and then just screen record the session. You won't have IAS, but you'd have enough to match up to the lessons. And you could render it smaller. To get the best info, you'll need a AHRS Adsb in device. I am guessing Foreflight has a similar 6-pack view.

ATC and Intercom Audio:
Just buy the right audio adapter, about $25 on Amazon. Plug one end into a spare intercom jack and the other into the gopro mic input. Viola, no needing to synch separate audio recordings. You can see this in @Radar Contact 's videos.

Best Go Pro:
Subjective. I started with a knockoff. I still like it for outside the plane. But the Go Pro is sharper, auto rotates if mounted upside down and the hero 4, 5, 6 Black versions have protune to override shutter speed and the awesome "linear" wide angle view. I am using a pair of Hero 5 Blacks. Buy them in the non retail packaging or refurbed to save money.

If you really need to see the 6 pack sharp enough to read numbers you'll need to have the camera probably on the pilot side window as stated by a previous poster. And change the angle/fov to not be super wide.

Shooting the go pro video is easy. Editing even just a 2 camera sequence is a big pain.

Another good alternative since this is for quick review is to instead record video with your phone and the audio cable. Just RAM mount your fancy iPhone or Samsung phone where you'd put the go pro.

Good luck!!!
 
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