The magical flying machine
‘A food processor that can give you a haircut’
Tony Sutorius says his new flying camera will enhance his film company’s work, but the bright look in his eyes as he’s flying it around betrays the real reason he bought it.
Mr Sutorius’ company, Unreal Films, is based in Camborne.
He won a contract to make electoral training films for the Australian Government in the run-up to the recent elections, and ‘‘fell in love’’ with an interesting toy while he was over there — a remotecontrolled flying camera.
He said it could be the only one of its kind in New Zealand.
‘‘I’m a film-maker and this adds another dimension to what I do,’’ he said.
‘‘I see it as another opportunity.
‘‘It provides a very cool eye-ofGod perspective and a new way to see your own environment.’’
At a cost of $2000, it’s not a toy, so Mr Sutorius’ children won’t get their hands on it any time soon.
He made the mistake of starting it up in the office one day and ended up with bloodied fingers, but has otherwise mastered its controls.
Although the camera has a built-in GPS, Mr Sutorius will keep it within sight. It can remain airborne for 25 minutes, and can go 200 metres up and 600 metres away from its controller.
Mr Sutorius said that even if the camera did go out of range, it had a homing device that brought it back to where it took off from.
‘‘I’ve been pretty conservative so far. Doing something like this really focuses the mind — it terrifies me [when it’s flying], to be honest, because it’s basically a food processor that can give you a haircut.
‘‘It’s not great when it’s windy, which is a downside, but on a still day the photos we’re getting back are magic.’’
He said he planned to talk to the Civil Aviation Authority about rules around flying the camera.
Mr Sutorius hoped Unreal Films could do work with the New Zealand’s Electoral Commission, as it did in Australia, during the lead- up to next year’s general election.
His films trained 19,000 polling booth staff in Australia, and he wanted to put particular emphasis on voters with disabilities.