One company to keep an eye on is CandyCam an outfit made up of inventors, designers, and artists out of Kansas City USA.

CandyCam currently have the SkyHook an aerial robotic camera platform, and it Looks like more rigs and gear will follow from them.

CandyCam SkyHook Quick Specifications:

target price: under $20k
operation area: 60′x60′x40′
cables: 8-cables, 4 mount points
setup: 5-15 minutes with existing rigging
camera support: GoPro to small REDs
weight: max 30 lbs with camera
control: remote wireless controller
battery life: approx. 60 minutes

Fly on over to CandyCam to see more of what’s going on with them.

By now we’re well acquainted with the power of aerial cinematography, with both ‘big’ cameras and small — and, conversely, big copters and small copters. Now, thanks to the Directors Aaron Grimes and Russell Brown, who have combined the 

disembodied perspective of aerial photography with the strangely deserted modern ruins of historical Californian mining town, we can get more and go further. Discover the town of Bodie, CA, - “the official state gold rush ghost town”  - thanks to the GoPro HERO3 and DJI Phantom quadcopter.

 Though Aaron Grimes and Russell Brown’s piece was shot when the sun was up, that eerie nature is not lost on the viewer. On the contrary, Bodie looks as breathtaking and bizarre in the daylight, when you would expect to see signs of any kind of life. 

Check out, through the lens of a GoPro HERO3: Bodie – From the Sky:

The new DRAGON sensor from RED — with quoted specs like 6K resolution, clean 2000 ISO, and over 15 stops of dynamic range — was originally set to be released all the way back in late 2012. There were some promises — and then some delays. But the sensor is now finally done, and camera upgrades will begin in September. The first little tease of what DRAGON is capable of was released by Mark Toia, Director of toia.com; he has unleashed the first footage ever from the sensor. He did a stress test with the camera in all sorts of real-world scenarios:

RED EPIC DRAGON - ITS THE REAL DEAL ! from Mark Toia on Vimeo.

The two main areas Mark Toia wanted the camera to perform in are :

"HIGH CONTRAST information, just how much is hiding on the shadows and highlight. And secondly, Just how far can I push it in the dark. What is the most usable ISO without the aid of any noise reducing plugins. Data was also big question for me, I’m a laptop warrior, I travel the world with RED and MAC.. I don’t need anything slowing me down. So the question was, Just how long are these cards going to last… So my idea of testing lower compression rates to save space, and then to push the limits of the ISO into 17:1+ compression to see if it fell apart. The simple answer is no… Dragon @17:1 looks like MX @8:1. So we are all saved, none of us have to run out to buy more cards.

Skin tests, filter tests, IR tests, were also done".

Just as a refresher, here are some of the DRAGON specs listed by RED:

SENSOR: 19 MEGAPIXEL DRAGON™

PIXEL ARRAY: 6144 (h) x 3160 (v)

S/N RATIO: 80db

DYNAMIC RANGE: 16.5+ stops

MAX IMAGE AREA: 6144 (h) x 3160 (v)

LENS COVERAGE: 30.7mm (h) x 15.8mm (v) x 34.5 mm (d)

ACQUISITION FORMATS

• 6K RAW (2:1, 2.4:1)
• 5K RAW (Full Frame, 2:1, 2.4:1 and Anamorphic 2:1)
• 4.5K RAW (2.4:1)
• 4K RAW (16:9, HD, 2:1 and Anamorphic 2:1)
• 3K RAW (16:9, 2:1 and Anamorphic 2:1)
• 2K RAW (16:9, 2:1 and Anamorphic 2:1)
• 1080p RGB (16:9)
• 720p RGB (16:9)

REDCODE™

• Compression choices of 18:1 to 3:1
• 12 and 16-bit RAW : Compression choices of 18:1 to 3:1
• 1-100 fps 6K
• 1-120 fps 5K, 4.5K
  
• 1-150 fps
• 4K
  1-200 fps
• 3K
  1-300 fps 2K