Incredible Aerial Footage Captured With Custom Built Gimbal

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and when you want to film incredibly smooth footage of fighter jets at over 300 knots and pulling 2.5G's, you can't exactly get an off the shelf gimbal for that. Aerial film company Blue Sky wanted to do exactly that so they commissioned Gyro-Stabilized Systems to built them a custom 5 axis gimbal capable of such feats. Boy did they deliver!

The GSS 520, a 5 axis gimbal using a Red Dragon 6K and a Canon 30-300mm Lens, was the result of this collaboration. Most aerial gyro's are rated for 125 knots so the GSS 520 is the first of its kind on the market and custom built to Blue Sky's demands.

Blue Sky put the gimbal through some pretty brutal conditions. Aerial DP Peter Degerfeldt was flying in the backseat of the Saab 105, operating the Gyro via modem. Picture was transmitted via the Paralinx Tomahawk HD inside the cockpit to a Atomos 7” recorder/monitor. Despite the fact it was -20C (-4 F ) on ground and probably much colder in the air, everything went flawlessly. 

I could zoom all the way in at 300mm, still rock solid at 300 knots; that’s pretty brutal,” says Degerfeldt. “We tried to provoke the gyro with high speeds, banking, pulling 2.5 Gs, even during a roll it was rock steady.

Take a look at this incredible video for some amazing aerial footage like you've never seen before!

[via ResourceMag]