Simple Camera Trick Captures Helicopter Magically Flying Without Moving Blades

At first glance, this helicopter video by YouTuber Chris Fay seems like nothing remarkable. But, the longer you watch the scene, you'll quickly notice one glaring difference; the helicopter’s blades aren’t moving! Rather than rotating in a continuous and fast motion, the aircraft appears to magically float into the sky.

So, how does this happen? It’s not the work of a special helicopter, but rather a phenomena of video capture. The camera’s frame rate is perfectly synced with the rotation speed of the chopper’s blades. As a result, the blades look as though they’re not moving and are frozen in time. This mesmerizing effect lasts through takeoff. Once the helicopter starts to zoom toward its intended destination, the synchronicity is broken and the blades begin turning.

In this mesmerizing helicopter video, the aircraft seems to magically float into the air.

This visual effect is serendipitous—the rotation speed of the blades happens to match with the camera's frame rate.

Watch it all happen in the short video:

Chris Fay: YouTube
h/t: [PetaPixel]

All GIFs via video from Chris Fay.