Vanoord
  • Vanoord
  • 54.4% (Neutral)
  • Newbie Topic Starter
18 years ago
"toadstone" wrote:

Thanks to you all. They are taken from a kite, the camera is on a rig suspended from the flying line and not the kite itself. The rig is radio controlled so the camera can pan and tilt. There is a little bit of electronic wizardry that interfaces between the camera and spare r/c channels that allows, in this case a Canon A640, the shutter and the zoom to be controlled. From the video out on the camera I have a small video transmitter downlink to a receiver which is co-located with the r/c transmitter rig and is in turn connected to a very small LCD screen so I can actually see, point and trigger the shutter at will.

The techniques used are by no means new, there is a very active KAP discussion group of which I'm a member. I shall post some photos of the kit here for members and I do have a web site which I'm about to update with further info. Any member of this group wanting help and advice in doing this, then I will try to help as and when I can. I believe this along with using a pole or balloon is a great aid in survey/archeological work for surface workings etc.
http://www.kap.toadstone.com 

My other interest is to transfer this technique below ground and I am itching to do a 360 degree aerial spin in say a huge mine chamber and create a bubble. My site has and above ground example here.
http://www.kap.toadstone.com/fullscrn/pontcysyllte/  The quality is not good and I have now better camera gear but you'll see what I mean.

At the moment I do not have any pictures of other mines but if any of you want or have suggestions then I like a challenge :lol:



I'm sure we can find you a challenge!

I guess the main issue is that a kite won't fly undergound, not to mention the absence of light. :(

So: we need to find a chamber with some means of suspending a camera high up; some method of evenly lighting the chamber - and indeed a suitable chamber...
Hello again darkness, my old friend...
Barney
  • Barney
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie
18 years ago
I think i might have an idea ........
Clunk
  • Clunk
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie
18 years ago
Helium filled balloons would be a good replacement. As for light, I don't have a clue. Unless you can keep the camera absolutely still, you don't have a chance of light painting. Lots of flash-guns on firefly would be next suggestion.
toadstone
18 years ago
Well, the pole is the answer here. A carbon perch pole to be precise. The rig can go on top and do the business, if the last section is left off they are quite rigid. Where it does become a challenge is as you say the lighting. But looking at some of the photos taken by the group here there may be some answers to that?

I'll start some trials with exposures/settings using the fish-eye at night to give me some idea as to exposure times and light levels . This is really exciting.

One method that could be adopted is to take several separate exposures of the same scene but lit in different places, that is then merged to make one single image to create the first of the 3 scenes required to make up the full panorama bubble.

I'll let you know how I get on.
Clunk
  • Clunk
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie
18 years ago
"toadstone" wrote:

Well, the pole is the answer here. A carbon perch pole to be precise.

Do you really think a 6 to 10 meter pole is large enough? Have you seen the size of the chambers in the welsh slate mines? I saw one on big bash approx 200-225 feet high.
Barney
  • Barney
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie
18 years ago
If you take the reflector out of a big lamp and place it on its end, bulb upwards of course and placed directly under the camera, you will get 360 degrees of light. However, exposure times are still going to be between 30 - 120 seconds.
Do you have a pole? they are very expensive!!! 😮
toadstone
18 years ago
I don't have such a pole at present but I'm working on it. It's a hobby and I devote limited funds to it. So I tend to make do, its amazing what you can adapt. Having said that I am allocating, hopefully, a bit of extra cash to accelerate things cos like anyone it gets frustrating if you don't.

Getting back to things, I wasn't aware that your slate mines were that big. But thinking about it you wouldn't want to go too high anyway because the interesting stuff is below the upper part just gives spatial awareness.

Lighting is the main problem, short of humping vast quantities of equipment. No, I think I'll explore the camera/software route to begin with as generally the subject matter is static, a big bonus.
Clunk
  • Clunk
  • 50.2% (Neutral)
  • Newbie
18 years ago
An ROV for exploring the wet bits would be good as well. When you watch a glow stick take 10 minutes to disappear when attached to a rock, makes you wonder what's down there a bit.
Vanoord
  • Vanoord
  • 54.4% (Neutral)
  • Newbie Topic Starter
18 years ago
Many slate chambers have large metal rings in the roof which were used to winch slabs up: failing that, there are bridges and such like. Mind you, just placing a camera on a tripod would work in some cases: I'll have a think about this, but my initial thought is that we don't necessarily need to find you the largest chamber we can think of 😉
Hello again darkness, my old friend...
mountainpenguin
18 years ago
hmm if you want to try helium balloons then this might be handy
http://www.google.co.uk/checkout/promotions.html 
http://www.partydelights.co.uk/ 
who have a promo pack of 40 balloons plus canistor for £31
might be good for a daftie
Similar Topics
Users browsing this topic

Disclaimer: Mine exploring can be quite dangerous, but then again it can be alright, it all depends on the weather. Please read the proper disclaimer.
© 2005 to 2023 AditNow.co.uk

Dedicated to the memory of Freda Lowe, who believed this was worth saving...