Cheap Way To Take Aerial Photos

Cheap way to take aerial photos MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 16-6-31 Mounting a camera on a remote control model helicopter is a cheap way to take aerial photos of crops, says British farmer Geoff Soden of Huntingdon, England, who says he came up with the idea to save the hundreds of dollars charged by aerial photographers to take aerial pictures that show patterns of yields and weed problems in fields. Soden got the idea of sending up his own camera 5 years ago and has been experimenting ever since to eliminate problems with vibration and getting the correct film exposure. Now he mounts a Nikon 35 mm automatic camera with a wide angle lens in the nose of the mini chopper and has auto-mated the controls to the point where he simply pushes a single button on his hand-held control box to snap the shutter. The film advances automatically. He shoots off a series of photos as the chopper rises for a good variety of angles and perspectives on the field. Soden has been flying model helicopters for more than 10 years and was part of the first team to fly a model helicopter across the English Channel. He has started a business supplying aerial photos to other farmers at a fraction of the cost charged by conventional piloted photographers. The only drawback to using models is that they cannot fly as high as regular planes but Soden says results are reliable enough to get the job done. He's now working on mounting a video camera on a helicopter so farmers can get instant results from the aerial flights. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Hi-Eye Photographics, Geoff Soden, 18 Pettis Road, St. Ives, Huntingdon, Cambs. England (0480-62480). (Farmer's Weekly)

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