Camera Shutter Synced with Helicopter Rotor

March 3, 2017 6:59 PM

Give it a spin! [slyt]
posted by naturalog (30 comments total)

idclip
posted by Behemoth at 7:25 PM on March 3, 2017 [8 favorites]

WHOA
posted by 4ster at 7:55 PM on March 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

I fully expect to see this same clip re-labeled "SECRET GOVT ANTI-GRAVITY!!!" within six months time.
posted by fings at 7:57 PM on March 3, 2017 [11 favorites]

That made me very uncomfortable for some reason. But I watched it twice anyway.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:10 PM on March 3, 2017

Here's how the pilot got to work that day.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:27 PM on March 3, 2017 [20 favorites]

That's incredible, you totally can't even see the string.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 8:32 PM on March 3, 2017 [7 favorites]

It's the same technology they used to fake the moon landings.
posted by Omon Ra at 8:38 PM on March 3, 2017 [9 favorites]

Bravo. Best of the Internet, right here.

But I also wanted more of this.
posted by monospace at 9:00 PM on March 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

But I also wanted more of this.

More and more and more and more and more and an airplane.
posted by peeedro at 9:17 PM on March 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

That is fucking awesome, are my words about that
posted by Caxton1476 at 9:48 PM on March 3, 2017

Holy cow!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:14 PM on March 3, 2017

I don't understand why I am laughing so hard at this.

OK, yes I do. I just .. don't want to explain it.
posted by louche mustachio at 11:20 PM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Rabbit hole warning on the airplane video (Project Blue Beam).
posted by hat_eater at 2:54 AM on March 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

I've worked with a strobo-tach on spinning turbines and pumps. It's funny until it's terrifying, when you realize how your eyes are tricking you into being careless around something that could take your hand off in a second. I used to have a second person stand and watch with the sole purpose of watching for it, and intentionally mis-time the tach to a slow rotation appearance between measurements. I've come close to reflexively touching a tool to the rotor before when it looked stationary, which would not be a good idea.
posted by ctmf at 3:10 AM on March 4, 2017 [39 favorites]

You can get the same effect by blinking at the same rate as the rotor.
posted by chavenet at 3:12 AM on March 4, 2017 [11 favorites]

... which leads to "camera shutter synced to blinking human" videos.
posted by phooky at 4:49 AM on March 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Camera shutter synced with dog swimming (stolen from Reddit)
posted by svenx at 6:46 AM on March 4, 2017 [30 favorites]

"I AM doing my homework. You're just blinking at the wrong time."
posted by mono blanco at 7:35 AM on March 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

It's hilarious how this thread is 17 comments of glee and 1 comment explaining how this effect invites career-ending workplace injuries. Metafilter at its finest!
posted by d. z. wang at 8:05 AM on March 4, 2017 [11 favorites]

Splendid!
posted by howfar at 8:12 AM on March 4, 2017

Note the 5 blades...like a pentagram, no?
That there, that's a Hell Copter.
posted by sexyrobot at 1:07 PM on March 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

That dog keeps freaking me out.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:23 PM on March 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Neato!
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 3:58 PM on March 4, 2017

When doing in-flight rotor blade tracking on some ships, the Hughes/MD 500 series in particular, the tech uses a strobe light from the cockpit that uses a signal from the helicopter to drive the strobe to precisely illuminate/freeze a given rotor blade when it is at the exact transition between advancing and retreating — straight out at the 12:00 position — so they can see if the blades are all flying in the same plane. With a control on the strobe, the tech can switch between blades. They note which are flying low or high and, once landed, they slightly bend the trim tab on the blade to correct.
posted by bz at 4:12 PM on March 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

It's even more fun with a rolling shutter.
posted by farlukar at 3:13 AM on March 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Use of eye-blink stroboscoping to achieve 3D video without eyeglasses
posted by intermod at 7:00 AM on March 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Then there's attaching the camera to the rotor blade itself.
posted by Acey at 10:43 AM on March 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Here's how the pilot got to work that day.

I don't understand what I'm supposed to be seeing here. One car is passing another. So?
posted by AFABulous at 2:17 PM on March 5, 2017

Look at the wheels.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:10 PM on March 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

That dog tho.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:08 PM on March 5, 2017