Pole Aerial Photography

I wrote earlier about being World Wide Kite Aerial Photography week, and I'm suppose be out flying my kite to get aerial shots. Unfortunately, today was too windy to fly. Although the temperatures were in the 80's for the first time this year, the wind was out of the souht at 20-30Mph and gusty. It's just not safe to fly a kite and a camera, with the kite that I currently use. Therefore, I thought I would spend some time tonight rebuilding my Pole Aerial Photography rig. The is my second attempt. The first one was pretty much a step by step copy from the tutorial on MAKE DIY website. It used a remote control servo to perform a tilt function. The only problem is, in order to use the Remote Control, you need a second set of hands. I decided to go low tech on the second model and provide tilt with no servos. I think that the one from MAKE also had a servo to press the shutter, but I use an Intervelometer to take pictures continuously. You just have to guess what angle the camera needs to be at, or bring the camera back down to the ground to re-adjust. Since I use CHDK, more specifically StereoData maker, simplified version of CHDK, I just set the camera to keep taking pictures the entire time the rig is up. People spend upwards of $6,000 for professional telescoping equipment. This is a cheap method that almost anyone can do by visiting your local home improvement and hobby store.


This attaches to the end of a telescoping painting pole which was purchased from Home Depot.

This G9 is running StereoData Maker, a simplified version of CHDK.

For examples of Pole Aerial Photography in action, please vidit my Aerial Gallery or the PAP Flickr group. The Kite Aerial Photography community also has a Flickr group.