Flying Phone - 2. Stage Phone

A lot of time has passed since the writing of the article “The Flying Telephone ”. Therefore, it is time to look into the distance and fly a little again on the phone and the upgraded drone, and also search less often on the phone.



Originally I was going to write an article about the latest developments, but Attention appeared on the horizon ! Competition! about the 920th model. Since it was this model that participated in all the surveys, I decided to write about the results of the built-in camera and conclusions from a small operating experience in a competitive article. He prepared it with a bias towards the phone and on April 12 at 2:00 am sent for pre-moderation. But on the day of Astronautics, she did not appear, as well as the next day, too. It turned out I'm not the only one . The organizer of the competition did not answer the question about the timing of the pre-moderation. Remarks on the article also did not receive - no feedback. According to the rules of the competition, applications can be submitted until April 20, inclusive, from April 21, the definition of winners begins. So, in any case, pre-moderation cannot last more than a day, moreover, the number of articles participating in the competition is small.
After 48 hours of waiting, we can conclude that the article did not pass the moderation. Those who wish to familiarize themselves with the competitive option can do it in this document, and a slightly revised article, where the conclusions about the phone are removed, is offered to attention.
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Observant people probably paid attention to the presence of the beloved blue electrical tape on the phone case, and this is no accident. The main disadvantage of the Lumia 920 is the presence of the “Search” button. Since the purchase on December 29, 2012, it is not used for its intended purpose, but has managed to spoil the mood many times when you take the phone in your hands to call and not to look. The techie has the first thought: a paper clip or duct tape. The clip is used to extract the SIM, therefore - electrical tape. But the test showed that the fraud did not pass: the praised sensitivity of the screen does not fail and the search is still activated. We can not spend, use two layers. But here is a fiasco. Only a sandwich of eight layers of insulation tape with a total thickness of 1.2 mm made it possible to almost completely paralyze the button, even with high sensitivity of the display, now you can live in peace!
In this regard, a huge request 1 to the developers: make it possible in the settings to disable the “Search” button for those who are not looking, but have already found it. Then the number of people who have found this model will only grow. And the more owners of this device will go with a piece of tape, the faster the developers will meet the wishes of users. Flashmob “Insulating tape” is declared open!

The phone does not have an optical zoom, but due to the high sensitivity of the photo, autofocus and a smart stabilizer, the simplest telescope turns the smartphone into a tool for photo hunting. It is only necessary to fix everything securely. This was done in the latest (at the moment) project “ telescope ”. The idea is not new in the field of phones, I read that devices for connecting the telescope to the phone are sold, but I have a new phone model, and the pipe is old, so I had to design it myself. Used: 920th, " Tourist-5 ", some pieces of iron, mounting of a polypropylene pipe with a diameter of 32 mm: 2 pcs. 3 rubles each, silicone gasket, diameter 29/18 mm (between the pipe and the phone): 3 rubles. Total costs amounted to 9 rubles.
Now you can do a winter photography.



The principle of operation of the camera-telephone bundle is well narrated by voice-over. The voice belongs to the girl, who, like many passers-by, saw a new design, approached, was interested, shared impressions, and even steered a little. The video clearly shows the movement of air above the surface of the ice. When viewing the far bank of the Volga, the haze even seems to be a current of water, but this is only a mirage shot with a mobile phone camera.
This model of the pipe does not have a large increase, now some cameras are “shooting it,” but the principles used in the design allow us to do the same for more powerful devices. Then it will be possible to observe not only the Sun and the Moon, but also other objects, as well as to meet fully armed new eclipses in HD mode.

The last but one project is for phone studios . The task is to get a new amateur point of view without the use of a professional camera crane, as well as to take photographs with active movement with turns and displacements in height. Implementing the idea helped the stabilizer of the smartphone (without it would be tight) and a bit of different pieces of hardware.
The design uses two options for holding the phone:
- long boom: 2.5 meters (optimal for transportation in the car);
- short handle with a rotating axis.



The smartphone is mounted on the top or bottom of the bent rod set.



The phone takes a horizontal position, since the center of gravity of the structure is located well below the point of suspension, which is a ball joint.



People who saw an unfamiliar mounting mechanism first ask: “Why does the phone not fall off the ball, is it a magnet?” No, everything is held only by gravity and a small rim above the ball. And safety rope just in case of fire.
Surprise is also turning the camera. Initially, the rotation was supposed to use rope thrust, attached to the two holes in the plate above the ball. But it turned out that everything rotates easily when you turn the ball around the axis. This interesting effect was applied further.



Stadikam can be collected by looking at additional photos and reading
It turns out a little more expensive than with a telescope, but not more than 500 rubles.
A huge advantage in the horizontal placement of the phone on the set is the lack of hardware buttons on the bottom side.
Stadikam used to shoot winter races on the lake.

With the help of a long barbell, a film was made where the phone flew right above the machines.



The smartphone was placed on the lower platform (the top one at that moment was not yet) and hit the initial frames of the recorder installed in the cab of one of the participants' cars.
The mode of the phone is “on the plane”, which means not only the disconnection of communications, but also its real location.
The air temperature at the beginning of filming is -15 degrees, at the end of the competition -8 degrees.
In total, before the phone was completely discharged, the video was taken with interruptions for warming, with a total duration of 2 hours and 10 minutes in the high quality mode 1080p. The competition lasted more than six hours.
A pleasant surprise was that after the battery was discharged and the camera stopped automatically (I did not see this moment), the last plot was recorded.
Conclusions after shooting.
1. The operation of the camera and the microphone of the phone - no complaints. Pay attention to the undistorted sound quality in a large volume range and video in the evening, when the phone did not lose the entry-level SLR.
2. Dodge and divert the phone from flying machines had to be very intense, slippery felt boots with rubber soles and drifts also did not contribute to a stable image, but the phone coped with these factors. I think that in the summer everything will be much better. In terms of pitching, the stabilizer worked on the “solid five”.
3. First, the quality of the stabilizer assessed YouTube. His analyzer, which often says that the image is unstable and offers to correct it, this time modestly kept silent. Hence, fluctuations in the normal range.
4. Notes on the suspension - reduce vibrations. The heavier the load, the smaller the amplitude of the oscillations and the faster the time of calm, but the faster the fatigue occurs.
5. When the phone is at the bottom, the total weight with a load is about a kilogram, which has a positive effect on reducing vibrations, but flying around the windows of cars must be very careful.
6. The longer the bar, the more interesting the plots, but the heavier the work. Try to hold for a long time the iron on the outstretched hand.
7. For a flying phone, it is advisable to use scenes and points of view that are inaccessible to traditional types of shooting.
8. It is necessary to obtain an image from the camera while shooting on the screen of the second phone, since the shooting is performed almost blindly, and it becomes difficult to monitor the composition of the frame. Request 2 to software developers: write an application for broadcasting video from the camera of the phone via Wi-Fi to the screen of the neighboring phone, then the number of spies in our country will increase significantly.
9. When the phone is near the snow, the sound of background music from the speakers on the lake is greatly reduced.
10. If you work as an operator with a barbell, then you can not go to the gym.

With a short pen was shot the second part of the film:



The first part was shot with the help of the modernized Parrot Ar.Drone 2.0, in it, with a flick of the wrist, the front camera turned into the lower one.



Thanks to this video, you can compare the work of the HD cameras of the drone and the phone, evaluate the shooting against the Sun.
Request 3 to software developers - write a Parrot Ar.Drone 2.0 management application for WP8! Then you can fly with the help of Lumia, and now you have to carry a tablet with you.

How did the idea of ​​flying.
Almost immediately after the purchase of the phone, on January 3 and 5 , dog sledding races were held. The camera decided not to take it, but to test a new phone. It was a classic shot from the hands. The sound was recorded perfectly, the image stabilizer worked perfectly, but in the white balance settings there was an auto mode and sometimes the automatics did not cope - color changes are visible.
The video clearly shows that the phone is not at all afraid of dogs, as well as they are his. Therefore, a thought arose: if the phone has such a smart stabilizer, then you can “throw” it directly onto the track with the help of something, as operators do it with microphones, bringing them closer to the source of events. This was something old six-meter telescopic rod.
Thus, the lack of optical zoom is compensated by approaching the phone directly to the subject.
Dogs sped away, but the guys arrived on snowmobiles. On this day, January 13 (half a month after the purchase), the baptism of a flying phone at minus 15 degrees occurred. More than 2 minutes of phone flights have got into the frames of the film . This time the white balance was set to “cloudy” and the phone worked successfully. No wonder that video is considered one of the strengths of the 920th model.
This was written by the article “ Flying Phone ”, where it was described in detail about the shooting conditions. In the same article, the film “ Flying Phone ” was also shown, where Lumia 920 flew in very extreme conditions, after which the daughter suggested that the phone would not die with its death. But never mind, almost 4 months have passed since the purchase, and at least we are still flying!

Many thanks to those who supported and appreciated the article and the film “Flying Telephone”. The film showed plots that can be shot using this technology and a phone with an excellent stabilizer, but due to the weak stabilizing capabilities of the platform, it had image vibrations.
Your tips, comments, links, survey results “Are cell phone adaptations interesting for extending its field of use?” Allowed us to create stadiaks for a cell phone that has better characteristics than the first versions and is easily accessible for repetition and improvement. From the old system, only the Lumia 920 remained.

PS
1. Competitive article published in the blog Nokia.
2. The article did not win, but the contest organizers and the Nokia company handed the incentive prize - Nokia Lumia 920!
Thank you so much for the prize!

Here is a photo of two handsome men - a white, flying phone and a stylish black - not flying ...



Pps
Active stabilizer for GoPro Hero camera. Article , video .