Filmmakers hack drone to carry 1,000 fps 4K camera
There are 4K cameras and drones, and then there's the Phantom Flex4K and the Aerigon drone --products that top the bad-assery charts in both categories. Drone cinematography outfit Brain Farm decided to pair them up, resulting in a video exactly as impressive as you'd expect. The company (which has done work for clients like Nike and Mercedes) said it's been dreaming of getting the Flex4K into the air ever since it arrived. The problem is that it weighs in at a bulky 14 pounds without a lens, putting it outside the lifting capacity of most UAVs.
Phantom's Flex4K camera mounted on a modified Aerigon drone
To pull it off, Brain Farm teamed with Swedish drone maker Intuitive Aerial, known for its Black Armored Drone. They boosted the power output of the company's $50,000 or so Aerigon drone system by 40 percent so it could handle the 30 pounds of a fully-rigged, $100,000 Phantom Flex4K. The team said the result would either be "the most technologically advanced drone flight of all time... or a quarter million dollar crash." Luckily, it went off with a hitch, resulting in some of the best pickup-splashing-water footage we've ever seen.
[Image credit: Brain Farm]
