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More Cheap Aerial Photography

Posted by michael on from the looking-down-on-the-world dept.

ptorrone writes "If you have an old digital camera laying around and pick up a $1.50 Timer Chip from RadioShack or DigiKey you can turn it in to a great aerial photography camera, this how-to from Engadget shows how they did it along with some other projects with the modded camera." We also linked to part 1.

8 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Re:DHS by GuyFawkes · · Score: 3, Insightful

    destroys autofocus?

    surely the effective focal length for ALL aerial shots will be infinity anyway?

    --
    http://slashdot.org/~GuyFawkes/journal
  2. Re:DHS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No sale. There are so many technologies other than IR that can be used, and why would DHS need to keep this a secret.

  3. Re:Balloon Photography by acomj · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I've looked into it. The problem is you need a really light camera. Small Balloons don't carry much wieght and they have to lift the cable thats holding them too the ground..I've looked into weather ballons too.

  4. "old digital camera" by Bender_ · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...If you have an old digital camera laying around ...

    No, I don't. I am still using the one I bought two years ago. Should I feel guilty now, because of not buying a new gadget in time? How often are you supposed to replace your digicam?

  5. Re:DHS by Bender_ · · Score: 2, Insightful

    diffused skyward to destroy the autofocus of most cameras and in many cases it will destroy the camera's light element itself.

    Autofocus in aerial photography? What are you smoking, man... :)

  6. Interesting but risky. by samberdoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sure the timer chip is cheap, but the camera plus GPS device make it an expensive toy. If you can get it up high enough how do you filter out the UV/haze. My kites always crash anyway.

  7. Re:A $1.50 timer chip? by Solder+Fumes · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A PIC or other microcontroller would actually be a simpler way of doing it, with greater flexibility (script a sequence of shots at varying intervals, etc). Many small 8-pin microcontrollers have an internal oscillator, like the Motorola oops I mean Freescale MC68HC908QT2. Just apply power, no external components required. And in the SOIC package, they're small enough to build into whatever camera you're using.

  8. 20 cents for a 555 is still too much... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I get my 555's for FREE out of salvaged consumer electronics that are trashed at the local thrift store.

    I have a soldering iron, and I know how to use it...

    Okay...

    It's true, I'm an old fart.

    But you young 'un's ought to check into the joys of sucking up toxic solder fumes, and actually making something useful out of trash.

    It's quite rewarding, and GEEKY as can be!