Park Fliers

Sometimes you just need to take a break and have some fun. We took our RC helicopters and airplanes out to the park on Saturday just to do some fun flying. This is what we got. The aerial video and pictures were taken with a Sony NEX5 with a 16mm lens on board our DJI F-550 Flamewheel stabilized with a Naza. The original picture is a 16MP RAW image. The video was shot full HD 60P.

Oshawa YMCA

It has been great working together with the YMCA in Oshawa. We just recently completed a set of stock images at their pool.

Four Aerial Photography Vehicles

We now have four unmanned aerial vehicles designed for aerial photography and video. For more information visit our site at Kaspi.ca.

New Helicopters

We have three new helicopters for aerial photography. That makes four helicopters in total. Two are large single rotor collective pitch and two are multi-rotor. One of the multi-rotor helicopters still needs to be assembled and tested but the other three are ready to fly.

Our flagship aerial video helicopter with Sony FS100

Our largest helicopter is designed for capturing high quality, highly stable HD video. It is optimized to carry our Sony FS100 with an 18-55mm lens. All three axises of the gimbal are stabilized and controlled by a camera operator. It features a live video downlink to two monitors, one for the camera operator and one for the director. It is our most maneuverable helicopter capable of speeds up to 65 MPH. The total endurance is six to twelve minutes depending on the battery packs we use. We can change the battery in less than two minutes and be back in the air flying. With 16 sets of 50 volt packs and high current chargers we have no problem flying for a full day.

The second largest helicopter is designed for super high resolution aerial photography. It is designed to carry our 24.4 megapixel Nikon D3x shooting in RAW format on a three axis gimbal controlled by a camera operator. We use a GoPro Hero2 for the video downlink. Using the same batteries as our largest helicopter it is able to stay in the air for 12 minutes at a time with only two minutes to change the battery. It is also capable of all-day flying.

Our hexacopter is designed for capturing HD video using a Sony NEX-5n. It has a two axis stabilized gimbal controlled by a camera operator. It is extremely stable indoors and in relatively calm conditions outdoors. Currently this one is being assembled.

Our quadcopter is also designed for capturing HD video using a Sony NEX-5n. It has a camera mount making one man operation possible. It is stable indoors and in very calm conditions outdoors.

Toronto Aerial Photography

We are now available for commercial aerial photography and video in Toronto. We are working on a new site to feature our aerial video and photography. It is a new site and will be updated soon.

Toronto Aerial Photography by Kaspi.

Here is a very brief preview of some personal aerial videos we have shot so far. Aerial video locations are Phoenix, Arizona and Toronto, Canada.

Aerial Video

Here at Kaspi we have been working on a few different video projects. With our camera ship now completed we can add aerial video to our portfolio. It is incredibly smooth and versatile with a maximum legal altitude of 400 ft above ground level as regulated by Transport Canada and maximum speed of over 100 km/hr. It has a 14 minute flight time with a total weight of 22 lbs. Video from our Sony FS-100UK, NEX5, NX70U, or GoPro HD is transmitted to our ground station for a first person view (FPV) of what is being filmed. And yes, we have commercial insurance coverage for up to $2M in liabilities. But don't worry, we don't plan on crashing this thing anytime in near future... or at all for that matter.

Einstein and Elinchrom

Two months ago we sold all our Elinchrom Ranger RX AS kits and BXRi 500 lighting equipment and replaced them with Paul C. Buff Einstein lighting and lithium batteries. Our first impressions.... the Einsteins are much better.

Here is a short list of why we like the Einsteins better.

1. Less expensive to buy and to replace parts with
2. Faster recycle times
3. More durable
4. Stronger accessory mount
5. Accepts standard umbrellas
6. Smaller and lighter
7. American made
8. Digital backlit LCD screen
9. Less missed flashes
10. More powerful than the BX 500 Ri

We think the lighting accessories make a bigger difference than the flash itself. With the new Einsteins we use the same Chimera Super Pro soft boxes as we used with our Elinchrom lights. The light that comes out seems slightly warmer in our D3x in auto white balance. Other than that light is light and we're able to control it the same way as we could before. But now we don't have to wait as long for the flash to recycle. We are able to shoot as fast as we want in most case without missing a flash. 

The PocketWizard trigger is much better than Elinchrom's Skyport. On average we have only about one to two missed flashes per 1000 shots on the PW versus about 10 to 20 per 1000 shots on the Skyports.

In our opinion Elinchrom lighting equipment is overpriced for the level of light they produce. They desperately need to update their product line and lower their prices if they want us to even consider going back. For portrait, stock, most commercial, and wedding photography I think Einsteins are the way to go. For bigger commercial shoots rent Profoto or Broncolor.