Aerial cameras based around RC helicopters are becoming widely used these days for all kinds of photographic and video-related purposes, but here’s one use that we’ve never seen before. An RC helicopter camera was recently used to both deliver an engagement ring and capture the proposal as it went down.
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UK-based wildlife photographers Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas got the Internet’s attention a couple years ago with the BeetleCam, a special remote controlled DSLR that allowed them to capture close-up photos of animals in the wild that photographers would have difficultly strolling up to. After the success of that experiment, they decided to return to Africa last summer with upgraded (and armored) versions of the BeetleCam in order to photograph lions in Kenya.
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The BeetleCam is a remote controlled car that has a Canon 400D DSLR and two flash units strapped to the top. It’s the brainchild of brothers Will & Matt Burrard-Lucas, award-winning wildlife photographers based in the UK, and allows them to capture some unique photographs of some of Africa’s most dangerous animals.

William tells us,

We are brothers from the UK specialising in wildlife photography. We aim to use teamwork and ingenuity to take unusual shots of wild animals. Recently we embarked on a project to photograph African wildlife from a ground level perspective using a camera mounted on top of a four-wheel drive remote control buggy called BeetleCam. We took BeetleCam to Tanzania and photographed lions, elephants and buffalo with it. The project proved to be a great success and we managed to get some amazing photographs from a unique perspective.

For more photographs from the BeetleCam, and some videos of the cam in action, check out the BeetleCam project page.

Image credits: Photographs by Will & Matt Burrard-Lucas and used with permission

Here’s a nifty behind-the-scenes video by Nissan Canada for a car commercial shot using a 1/10 scale remote controlled car.  In addition to using cranes and camera dollies, they mixed in a few Canon 5D Mark II DSLRs mounted on separate RC cars and a helicam.

Here’s the final product:

(via Chase Jarvis)