Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Expensive Hobby Of Kite Aerial Photography

Posted by timothy on from the where-do-you-get-6mp-for-cheap dept.

GoneGaryT writes "The BBC is running a cool article - strapping your digital camera to a kite and doing D.I.Y. aerial photography. Examples of suitable kites can be found here. Anyone want to try this from the top of an apartment building in London or NY? A pretty accessible pastime, so long as you can afford to lose the lot in a sudden gust!" High-res digital cameras have come down somewhat in price since the last time we mentioned this.

3 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. a friend did do that by jeffy124 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    a friend of mine during college did something like that for his senior engineering project. his team (composed of a few mech eng's, EE's, and some graphic design majors) basically hooked a camera to a kite and then did some processing on the images to generate some simple 3D imagery of the landscape.

    if i find links i'll post 'em, but it's going back several years and the webpages have probably been purged.

    --
    The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
  2. Rocket cameras are much cheaper and easier by weeble · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I got a rocket camera for Christmas from my brother :-)

    estes rockets

    It uses a couple of explosive packs and takes a picture at its apex.

    --
    Slashdot Beta should die a painful death.
  3. helium balloons by actiondan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We did some aerial shooting using a bunch of helium ballons to carry a cheap,light wireless camera.

    We then attached the receiever to a camcorder video in to record the results.

    You could just as well use a corded camera (we used the wireless one because we had it) but you would have to allwo for the weight of the wire with an extra balloon or two.

    The biggest problem is keeping the camera stable but when there isn't too much wind, the balloons provide a nice platform to hang the camera from.