IBrakeForNobody

My Feedback: (16)

Hey
I was wondering if my Hobbico Avistar could be used to take arieal photography...okay, dumb question (if a LT-40 can do it I think my Avistar can) Anyway, I'm new to arial photography and I would like to know of some good starter cameras. I would prefer to spend under $100 if possible because I just want the camera for messing around. I saw a couple of guys at our club with arial photography and I have to try this for myself! any feedback is appriciated to the arial photo newbie here. Thanks!

Fubar-One

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You talking video, wireless video, digital still or actual film?
Your Avistar should be able to carry most of the above.

IBrakeForNobody

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I would like a camera that could take digital still pics. I was thinking of getting a thin digital camera then sticking it to the side of my Avistar and using a servo to push the shutter button.

Fubar-One

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Look on Ebay, etc. for Aiptek cameras as a starter. I have the Aiptek MegaCam 1.3 version but there is a more recent advanced version out there. You can rubberband it to the side of the plane and stick a small servo on it for activation. You will need to keep taking pix every 30 seconds or so to keep it awake, unfortunately.
There are setups and instructions for wiring a PIC chip into it to keep it awake, power it from the planes rx and fire it using your transmitter.
Kinda a ***** to wire up but works great. It is small enough to be carried aloft by a GWS Slow Stick so your Avistar wouldnt even notice it.
That is the only digital still camera I have used for Aerial Photos but I know there are others used by others on this forum.

randall1959

My Feedback: (11)

for a really basic setup you can get a twenty dollar vivitar 3350 from walmart. Hack into the usb wire and use the red and black wires. Attach a battery lead to those wires and plug it into your receiver on any unused channel. Then all you have to do is glue a servo to the camera, put batteries in it to keep its memory and you gotta camera for less than fifty dollars You'll also need another usb cable in order to upload your pics onto your computer but you can get those pretty cheap at walmart also. Using the usb cable to power the camera fools it into thinking it's hooked up to a computer so it stays awake. If you don't leave the batteries in the camera it will dump it's memory as soon as you turn the plane off.

Fubar-One

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There ya go! What he said...

IBrakeForNobody

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Hey, look at this...its my new airal photography setup. The servo will hit the shutter button and take a picture. The camera is a GE UltraCam. I put industrial strength Velco on the airplane and on the cam. Hope that is enough to hold it on. Please give your feedback on how bad (as in "bad" bad NOT "good" bad) my 10 minute setup is. Thanks!

IBrakeForNobody

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And here is a sample image (I was wheeling the aircraft to the other room) of the "skycam"

IBrakeForNobody

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Anyone know if its inconvienent to take pics every 30 secs or so to keep the camera awake?

randall1959

My Feedback: (11)

One thing I would definately recommend is a tether of some sort just in case the velcro came loose. Having to flip a switch every thirty seconds is also going to be a little harder than you think. Still a nice setup though.

IBrakeForNobody

My Feedback: (16)

Sorry to bring this thread back up, but now my Avistar is a taildragger, and approx. 3.23 ounces heavier. I was thinking of strapping my really ghetto (3 years ago [X(] ) Olympus Camedia D-390 to some homemade contraption like [link=http://www.horizonhobby.com/Shop/ByCategory/Product/Default.aspx?ProdID=HAN1327]this[/link]. I would buy it but I'd rather make it out of balsa wood so its lighter than aluminum seeing as I already increased the wing loading with the tail weights. For weight referece, my camera is approx. 1-2 ounces lighter than a 6 cell sub-C stick pack. My question is, am I in danger of a really high wing loading with the extra cargo?

thanks