HD Air Cam, LLC was founded by Dave Tally, an award winning cinematographer and Director of photography with over 25 years behind the lens. Seeing a need to strap a remote controlled helicopter to his camera, he teamed up with veteran RC pilot Chuck Birt and pilot Jeff Leach to form HD Air Cam.

“I have spent most of my life behind a camera. I owned a remote camera crane company in Dallas, Texas called Jib Works, LLC. Camera cranes are used in motion pictures and commercials worldwide and provide the director that special shot that creates drama or suspense.  As an operator, I was always looking for that special move, mounting it on truck beds and dolly track, anything to give me one more axis of movement.

Strapping a film camera to a remote controlled helicopter has given me the freedom to put that camera just about anywhere the director wants.  RC Helicopters are very quick to set up, you pull them out of the case, strap on the camera, test your controls and off we go. Even a medium size crane like the Jimmy Jib can take an hour to set up and if you have to move it, well you tear it down, move it and then re-build it.  On a movie set or a commercial production, time is money and in some cases a lot of money.

Our RC helicopters are not toys; they are specifically built for the purpose of flying a camera very steady and smooth, just like a camera crane, but much more versatile and creative. The RC helicopter bridges the gap between the camera crane and a full size helicopter. It can give you the same shots as a crane but can move in circles, forward or backward and do long tracking shots. Sometimes we use two pilots to extend the visual range or go under bridges or around buildings… do that with a camera crane.”