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Film & television
An aerial unit that cuts with your A camera
FPV and cinema drone cinematography in Calgary and across Alberta
FPV, cinema gimbal, and heavy lift. Your body, your glass, your codec.
The problem
Aerial that survives the edit
Aerial units are frequently brought in without being treated as a camera department. The result is footage in a codec that does not match the show, at a frame rate that does not match the sequence, in a colour space that has to be wrestled into the grade.
We work to the same specification as the rest of the camera package. The body your DP selected, the frame rate on the call sheet, log or raw acquisition, timecode where the workflow requires it, and a pilot who has read the sides before the tech scout.
What we deliver
Three units, one call
FPV chase and oners
Micro to seven inch propeller custom FPV platforms. Through a doorway, under a truck, alongside a car at speed, out a window and up the side of a building without a cut. This is the shot a gimbal aircraft physically cannot make, and it is usually the reason a drone is in the budget at all.
Cinema gimbal
Inspire 3 with the X9-8K Air for stabilised full frame in the air. ProRes RAW, Apple ProRes, timecode sync, and repeatable moves for effects plates or anything needing a second pass that matches.
Heavy lift cinelifter
iFlight Taurus X8 Pro Max carrying RED Komodo, Sony FX6, BMPCC 4K, or ZV-E10 II. Your camera means your LUT, your matched lenses, and no colour science surprise in the DI.
Plates and stunts
Repeatable passes for VFX plates, vehicle-to-vehicle work, and stunt coverage. Frequency coordination handled ahead of time so our link stays clear of comms, video village, and any broadcast RF on set.
On set
We work to your call sheet
Two-person minimum: certified pilot and a dedicated Visual Observer. A spare airframe on the truck, batteries charging on a generator or an inverter, and a landing pad set where the AD wants it rather than where it is convenient.
Airspace clearance, landowner permission, and any SFOC requirement are handled before the day. Your production gets a written flight operations plan for the file, not a phone call at crew call asking whether we can fly.
Formats
What lands on the drive
Matched to your post workflow rather than ours.
| Codecs | ProRes RAW, Apple ProRes 422 HQ and 4444, R3D, XAVC, BRAW |
|---|---|
| Frame rates | 23.976 through 120 depending on body and format |
| Colour | Log or raw as standard. Rec.709 viewing LUT supplied on request |
| Resolution | Up to 8K on the X9-8K Air, 6K on Komodo, 4K DCI on FX6 |
| Timecode | Jam sync available on the Inspire 3 and on supported cinelifter payloads |
| Media | Your drives on wrap, or upload to your production cloud same day |
| Insurance | $7.5M CAD, certificate naming the production issued before prep |
Airspace
Cleared to fly where most units cannot
An Advanced RPAS certificate permits operation near people and in controlled airspace. Most of Calgary sits inside the YYC control zone, and Banff, Canmore, and Kananaskis each carry their own restrictions and permitting.
NAV Canada authorizations, Parks Canada and Alberta Parks permits, and SFOC applications where the operation falls outside standard rules are handled in house under file 930643.
If a location scout turns up something that will not clear, you hear it during prep rather than on the day.
Common questions
Before you email
Can you carry our camera?
Usually. The cinelifter is built around RED Komodo and Sony FX6 and has flown BMPCC 4K and ZV-E10 II. Send the body, lens, and any accessories you intend to fly and we will confirm the payload and the resulting flight time before you commit. Heavier packages mean shorter flights, not impossible ones.
How long is a battery?
Depends entirely on payload. Expect roughly four to six minutes of usable flight on the cinelifter with a cinema body, longer on the Inspire 3, and around three to four minutes on a five inch FPV airframe. We plan on a pack per take with margin, so a full day is a logistics question rather than a limit.
What do you need from production?
Sides or a shot list, locations, dates, and whether there are vehicles, stunts, or crowds involved. From that you get a fixed quote, the aircraft we would put on it, the crew, and any airspace complications, generally inside 24 hours.
Do you work as a unit or a subcontractor?
Both. We take direct bookings and also operate as a subcontracted aerial unit inside a larger camera package. Either way the pilot, the aircraft, the crew, and the insurance are the same.
Can you fly indoors?
Yes, and it is one of the strongest arguments for FPV. Micro airframes under 250 grams fly through interiors, stairwells, and around talent where no gimbal aircraft fits. Indoor work sits outside the airspace rules entirely, which often makes it faster to arrange than an exterior.
What about weather?
Wind above the airframe rating, icing, and freezing precipitation are hard stops. Light rain and cold are manageable. Alberta wind is the usual variable, and it is worth building a weather day into the schedule on any exterior aerial day.
Get a quote
Send the sides and the dates
Fixed quote inside 24 hours, including crew, aircraft, and any airspace issue worth knowing about during prep.
- Direct
- 587.434.9254
- Based in
- Calgary, Alberta
- Compliance
- Transport Canada Advanced RPAS, $7.5M liability, SFOC and NAV Canada authorizations handled in house
Request sent
Thanks. You will hear back within 24 hours, usually sooner. If it is urgent, call 587.434.9254.