Hey guys,

I have recently gotten interested in kite, balloon and most importantly rc helicopter photography. I have been shooting video with my GoPro Hero, which is fun, but I need a better camera for taking actual photos.

Here's what I require and maybe you guys can suggest something (I fly a Belt CP and a Blade 400, both around 2 1/2' long, smallish rc helicopters):

Camera that is 2" or less in height
4" max width something even smaller would be better, but up to 4" will work
under 4 ounces/115 grams
10mp or so?

edit: forgot to mention - I need to be able to program it to automatically shoot every 2 -10 seconds. If it doesn't do this I can't use it.

Anyone have experience with this sort of thing?

This is what my mount looks like:



This post was edited by inkanddagger on Sep 2 2010 07:31pm

Lol

You're a cheeky boy Juddy..

You are going to be really hard pressed finding something that light and cheaply (assuming you don't want to spend an arm and a leg)

I can't think of anything at a consumer level that will suit you. You might have to look at commercial type cameras which are suited for this specific task?

How are you going to communicate with the camera while it's in the air?

I can either wire a servo up and use a spare channel to control it or I need a camera that will do 2 second intervals. If I have to spend an arm and a leg then I will consider it. I really want something under $400 though.

You won't really find anything at a consumer level mate. I can't think of a camera that will shoot at 2 second intervals with out physically having to depress and hold the shutter down (and even then it will be more like ~3fps which will quickly fill your memory)

How far away will you be from the helicopter?

Hit me up on Facebook if ya wanna chat.

50-100 ft usually. Up to 300 ft.

What about something like this? http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/sony-cyber-shot-dsc/4507-6501_7-33946417.html?tag=specs

When it says "self timer" does that just mean 1 shot you think?

Also, here's some examples if you wan tto see what I am thinking of:

http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=12872&page=12

This post was edited by inkanddagger on Sep 2 2010 07:58pm

Yes, it will be one shot. You need to buy a camera which specifially has timed interval shooting (slow bursting). It will have to be a camera and software designed for this purpose.

What kind of camera is that guy using? How many mp? What kind of focusing system does it use or is it set to infinity?

This post was edited by lithfkn on Sep 2 2010 08:05pm

Pretty sure it's infinite focusing. I am not certain about his camera but if you look around in there you will see a lot of different cameras and setups. The problem for me is that I am not ready to move up to a 600 class helicopter which means I need a smaller camera.

Do you think I could tape down the button on that Sony?

This post was edited by inkanddagger on Sep 2 2010 08:14pm

I don't think taping it will work. Like, it will, but it will run out of buffer memory or card memory soon enough man.

This is a cool idea. I have heard of people using Canon eos 7D for that type of photography and here is a video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edNG8GlA74M

Too bad your helicopter can only lift 4 ounces
Maybe you should save for a helicopter that can lift at least a Rebel T2i + a 17-55 IS lens at a little bit over 2 lbs