The world has kind of gone backwards. Back in 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore talked in one of his papers of the idea that technology would double in speed every two years. At the time, many people laughed, but to this day (as far as I know) this rule of thumb has in fact remained true. In the last few years though, video camera technology has become so incredible that it has blasted off the edge of fast into an abyss of slow. Viewing life in realtime is no more, we have entered the age of slow motion. Being able to see every last detail of each stage of everything in HD quality has become something not too foreign to our eyes, and although there are many cameras capable of producing the aforementioned, there is one culprit that seems to have taken the lime-light. Do you know what I am talking about? Course you do. Phantom.
The Phantom Gold has the ability to film in HD at over 1,000fps. It really is mind boggling. And the footage? Eye boggling. Especially when expert Phantom operator Chris Bryan gets caught at Teahupoo on a day to be remembered. Chris says of it:
“This day at Teahupoo – Aug 27th 2011 during the Billabong Pro waiting period is what many are calling the biggest and gnarliest Teahupoo ever ridden. Chris Bryan was fortunate enough to be there working for Billabong on a day that will go down in the history of big wave surfing. The French Navy labeled this day a double code red prohibiting and threatening to arrest anyone that entered the water.
Kelly Slater described the day by saying “witnessing this was a draining feeling being terrified for other people’s lives all day long, it’s life or death. Letting go of that rope one time can change your life and not many people will ever experience that in their life.” “
It has to be seen to be believed, so check it out for yourselves.
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If you are sitting there thinking that putting such an astonishing camera into some underwater housing is slightly crazy yet ridiculously awesome, then you are in fact correct. But why stop there? Why hasn’t anybody mounted one in say… a remote controlled helicopter? Oh balls, spoke too soon. They have. Snaproll Media are a company that specialise in mounting the industry’s top dog cameras to custom built RC aerial craft, bringing the most incredible and diverse angles to their clients. Remember the footage from the private park and pipe session in Aspen from The Art of Flight? Courtesy of these guys. Here’s what they say:
“For the past few years, SnapRoll Media has been at the forefront of remotely controlled aerial camera systems. Like most, we started out using DSLR cameras to record video, but it wasn’t long before the image quality wasn’t up to our standards. We began designing and building larger airframes to carry the weight of the cameras we and our clients wanted to use.
Our hard work paid off. We were the first to successfully carry the RED ONE digital cinema camera safely and smoothly. Then, we added Vision Research’s Phantom Flex and Phantom Gold high speed cameras to our arsenal. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to be the first in the world to successfully fly the new RED EPIC on our proven remote controlled aerial system thanks to Jarred Land and Jim Jannard.
We are constantly researching, developing, and fine tuning our helicopters to carry larger cameras with maximum stability. The greatest reward is seeing our clients faces when we get the shot that no crane, cable cam, or full size helicopter was able to capture. 2012 will be full of incredible projects along with further R & D on bigger and better remotely controlled (RPV) aerial camera systems. Stay tuned!”
Enough of the talk, just check out their showreel from 2012. Prepare for your jaw to hit the ground, this thing is crazy good. Enjoy.
Which would you say is more impressive?