Your thoughts on Landing Pads?

[Phantom of the Gorge]

I am thinking of having some landing pads made and would like others input. My plan being to make the best possible design which I may offer to others down the road.

I work at a printing company that can print on virtually any substrate, from hard, stiff materials like metal and acrylic to soft flexible materials like vinyl or fabric. Right now I am trying to decide which substrate would be best to use.

I personally like to use a 1/2" piece of Gatorboard (foamcore). It's lightweight and rigid so it works well on uneven surfaces. On the downside, it's rigid and not collapsible so portability isn't the best.

Of course price is always a factor. If I printed on a 1" thick piece of acrylic it would cost me $100 each, if I printed on heavy cardstock the price comes way down but durability goes away.

I have some ideas but will save them until after I hear from others.

So what do you think would be the ideal landing pad? What kind of material? How big? Best color scheme for visibility/impact? Feel free to add any observations you may have.

Thanks in advance.

 

[GMack]

How about a big ColorChecker landing pad? Would make color correction a lot easier as Davinci Resolve 14 beta (free) has one for calibration in it. Just point the camera down onto it while landing and you got it made.

Something like this guy's with a Phantom: DIY Colorchecker Chart.

 

[Phantom of the Gorge]

How about a big ColorChecker landing pad? Would make color correction a lot easier as Davinci Resolve 14 beta (free) has one for calibration in it. Just point the camera down onto it while landing and you got it made.

Something like this guy's with a Phantom: DIY Colorchecker Chart.

Now that's an idea I didn't consider, a great one at that! We run calibration tests that look very similar every shift and toss them in the trash!

Along those same lines, what do you think about an 18% gray card? It could be used for setting exposure and White Balance. Or perhaps an 18% central area (with landing target) and surrounded by color swatches for color grading.

 

[GMack]

I've used the ColorChecker with Resolve 14 and it works great, but it must be in the standard color checker layout format to fit the software's overlay for the calibration to work. Random wouldn't work for the overlay. They also use the second white square for the white balance in the instructions for it. Maybe a larger outside border in 18% gray with the ColorChecker part in the middle? Like mentioned in the link, make it BIG as the wide angle lenses make it appear too small, maybe 30x40 inch foldable and good enough for wet grass too.

I believe those ColorChecker targets are based on the old MacBeth charts from the 60's. Not much has changed so the inks they used back then were probably in the sRGB colorspace so not that hard to duplicate if your printer is calibrated.

I was just looking at my Passport ColorChecker and the white balance part is not 18% gray, but a very light silver gray. I gather it must be easier to see a color tint in the lighter ray than the darker 18% gray card.

 

[Phantom of the Gorge]

I've used the ColorChecker with Resolve 14 and it works great, but it must be in the standard color checker layout format to fit the software's overlay for the calibration to work. Random wouldn't work for the overlay. They also use the second white square for the white balance in the instructions for it. Maybe a larger outside border in 18% gray with the ColorChecker part in the middle? Like mentioned in the link, make it BIG as the wide angle lenses make it appear too small, maybe 30x40 inch foldable and good enough for wet grass too.

I believe those ColorChecker targets are based on the old MacBeth charts from the 60's. Not much has changed so the inks they used back then were probably in the sRGB colorspace so not that hard to duplicate if your printer is calibrated.

I was just looking at my Passport ColorChecker and the white balance part is not 18% gray, but a very light silver gray. I gather it must be easier to see a color tint in the lighter ray than the darker 18% gray card.

As soon as I sent that I thought about the probability of a standardized format for the ColorChecker chart. I haven't yet read the text of the link you added because I'm busy at work but will as soon as I arrive at home.

I could do an 18% gray on one side and the ColorChecker chart on the other. I'm wondering if the ColorChecker chart is Copyrighted/Trademarked to prevent monetizing the idea. I'll have to look into it.

 

[With The Birds]

The colour checker is a good idea, discussed in a recent thread here somewhere. I can’t see the 18% grey being much use unless your subject is directly below the AC close to your take off location.