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This page will show the details of my
new aerial photography setup, a Soarstar electric airplane with Pentax
Optio S 3.2 megapixel digital still camera. It replaces the GWS Slowstick
with an Aiptek 1.3 megapixel camera.
Click the picture for a larger view |
| To trigger the camera I used the tried and true servo-over-the-shutter method. The servo is glued to a thin plywood cap that sits on top of the camera. A rubberband holds the servo/plywood cap on top of the camera. The black cable on the left feeds a live preview of what the camera is seeing to a DigiLive unit so I can have a live preview of what the camera is seeing while it is in the air. The orange thing under the camera is a chunk of 'Funnoodle' just to plug the hole. The camera is firmly attached to a thick plank of balsa which sits in a shallow groove dremelled into the SoarStar. A small 1/4 x 20 nylon bolt and 2 small washers secures the camera to the balsa, and the balsa is secured to the airplane with 4 criss-crossing rubber bands . Click the picture for a larger view |  |
| The servo is plugged into the 'gear' channel
on my RC receiver and the servo swings fully up or fully down when I toggle
the gear switch on my transmitter. Most RC transmitters with 5 or
more channels will have a switch dedicated to channel 5. It
is important that when the servo arm is in the 'down' position that it
*just* pushes the shutter button. Go
here to hear how I adjusted my servo
Click the picture for a larger view |
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