Acquiring an Action Camera for Your Drone


If you enjoy the adrenaline rush that comes from
extreme sports, you may want an action camera for
your drone. Action cameras are small, durable cameras
that were originally designed to give extreme sport
enthusiasts a high-quality video camera to capture their
hobbies up close and personally. Action cameras today
are mounted to cars, mountain bikes, surf boards, and
more.
They are used to capture sky-diving, skateboarding,
mountain biking, rock climbing, base jumping, fly
fishing, and even more. They are versatile, powerful
video cameras that have made movie making in crazy
places a possibility.
These little cameras defy conventional wisdom that
says that bigger is better. While the bigger sensors and
bigger lenses are great for capturing deep, full,
beautiful images, action cameras are capable of really
wowing you with their video capabilities.
In fact, the video footage is so good, that action
cameras have actually been used to make major
motion pictures like The Need For Speed. The driving
scenes in this movie were almost exclusively filmed
with GoPro cameras. Action cameras were designed
precisely for being put in harms way, and that makes
them a great match for drone use.
Credit: Source: TechStage/Creative Commons
Action cameras are small but powerful.
There are a lot of action cameras available today.
Action cameras are extremely compact and therefore
lack the physical space to incorporate a larger image
sensor. These cameras also lack the option to change
out or add on additional lenses. This means that your
approach for selecting an action camera will be based
off a different set of criteria than what you would use
when picking a DSLR camera or point-and-shoot.
Action cameras need to be small so that they can ride
along without greatly impacting the user. So they tend
to lack a lot of the functionality that you might see
with a DSLR or even a point-and-shoot. Since action
cameras were designed with action in mind, they
should have features that would be useful in capturing
action footage like high-definition video modes.
They should have high frame rates so that you can
make beautiful slow-motion video clips, too. Streaming
video feeds to a computer or monitor over Wi-Fi or
Bluetooth is great for setting up your shot in the case
that your camera is too compact to support an LCD.
Here is a list of features that you should take into
consideration when picking your action camera:
Physical dimensions: The smaller the better.
Total weight: The smaller the better.
Maximum video resolution: This number only matters
at frame rates of 30 frames per second or higher.
The higher the definition, the crisper and more vibrant
the image will appear on your display device. At
minimum this should be full HD (1080p).
Maximum frames per second: The higher the number,
the slower the slow-motion.
Waterproof depth rating: If you take it swimming, this
is how deep you can go before water will start seeping
in.
Battery life: It goes without saying that the longer the
battery life, the more time you will spend flying instead
of charging. Although a short battery life can be
overcome if the battery is removable.
Here is a comparison of several action cameras
available today. You’ll notice that most of the prices
are in the $200-$400 range. The GoPro Hero 4 Black,
however, is nearly $500 but it comes loaded with
features that have led to it being widely accepted and
used by drone flyers around the
Source :dummies