Forums › Forums › Farktography General Chat › This week’s contest › 08-25-10 – The Book of Armaments
- This topic has 173 replies, 22 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 6 months ago by olavf.
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August 31, 2010 at 12:00 am #31598orionidParticipant
I can see it now…. “So I got bored one day and tied my camera to a kite string…..” “So I got bored one day and stuffed my camera into a carboard tube filled with half a pound of potassium nitrate….” “So I got bored one day and bolted my camera to a shotgun…” “So I got bored one day and put the wrong film in the wrong camera…” “So I got bored one day and cut up a soda can…” etc, etc.
See, I’d like to hear a bit of the story behind some of those kind of shots. Surely your first one didn’t turn out and you had to make revisions. What worked/didn’t? How did your end result differ from your original vision?
If nothing else, my first question on some shots is “what were you on and where can I get some?” that allowed you to come up with that idea! 😆
I see your point 😀
August 31, 2010 at 2:18 am #31599KestranaParticipantAugust 31, 2010 at 2:26 am #31600ravnosticParticipantIs it Orionid‘s natural fashion sense that the cables match the shirt, or did Kestrana help with the coordination?
The world will never know.
August 31, 2010 at 2:27 am #31601KestranaParticipantI doubt the world really cares much 😛
August 31, 2010 at 2:28 am #31602ravnosticParticipantDepends what part of the world.
Perhaps only my little corner of it. 😯
August 31, 2010 at 2:31 am #31603orionidParticipantCoincidence, as evidenced by the combination of aloha shirt and camouflage shorts.
August 31, 2010 at 2:43 am #31604ravnosticParticipantWhat? You never heard of Pearl Harbor?
August 31, 2010 at 2:49 am #31605orionidParticipantAugust 31, 2010 at 3:04 am #31606ravnosticParticipantI could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that back in the day, nobody there was wearing spandex. However, fatigues and flower prints were probably seen fairly often. Damned if I can find any pictures to confirm that (other than the semi-recent movie, of which I give zero credence.)
I call it a fashion match, based upon historical (though unverified) precedence.
August 31, 2010 at 4:53 am #31607CauseISaidSoParticipantorionid, I think I remember you mentioning Nuts & Volts magazine at some point. If I remember correctly and you read/know of it, do you read the near-space column? It’s a guy that uses weather balloons to loft experiment/measuring/photographic packages up to about 110K feet. He gets some pretty cool images where you can see the curvature of the earth.
August 31, 2010 at 12:51 pm #31608orionidParticipantorionid, I think I remember you mentioning Nuts & Volts magazine at some point. If I remember correctly and you read/know of it, do you read the near-space column? It’s a guy that uses weather balloons to loft experiment/measuring/photographic packages up to about 110K feet. He gets some pretty cool images where you can see the curvature of the earth.
I haven’t actually seen that magazine since I was six. My dad used to get it, but I was banned from it when I tried following the directions in an article about building a home-made plasma ball and caught the carpet on fire. I was simultaneously banned from MacGyver and Mr. Wizard.
I have seen some pretty creative high altitude shots, though. My google-fu has failed to find the original links I saw, but I did just uncover a variety of people who have repeated the weather-balloon camera projects on cheaper and cheaper budgets, to as low as $150. The first couple I saw were in the $750-1500 range. Hmmm….. Winter project, perhaps?
August 31, 2010 at 4:12 pm #31609CauseISaidSoParticipantHa! How’s a boy supposed to learn his science if there aren’t a few fires or explosions involved?
The guy who writes the column is named L. Paul Verhage. I found links to a PDF book he wrote and several older N&V columns on the Parallax website here: http://www.parallax.com/tabid/567/Default.aspx
He’s also got several videos of space launches on YouTube. Here’s one of his earlier ones that goes to 85K: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPhXCxYEKA0
The only thing about this is that I think you need LOTS of wide open space (he does a lot of his launches in Kansas and Idaho, I think). There are also a few FAA rules that I don’t remember exactly (weight limits, distances from commercial air traffic, stuff like that). But it does sound like fun stuff to play with, doesn’t it?
If nothing else, you could get some pointers from his articles about how he tracks his payloads so you don’t end up losing another camera. 😉
August 31, 2010 at 4:16 pm #31610KestranaParticipantThere are radio transmitters you can get to track payloads even in the small rockets that we fly but they cost $. Same with the altimeter. Although you would at some point you do lose enough rockets to equal the cost of the transmitter, the one with the camera in it that was lost recently came down in the neighbor’s pond if I remember correctly, and so would probably have been toast even if it was recovered.
August 31, 2010 at 6:42 pm #31611caradocParticipantHa! How’s a boy supposed to learn his science if there aren’t a few fires or explosions involved?
My friends and relatives say I’m not allowed to give copies of this to their kids any more.
August 31, 2010 at 6:48 pm #31612CauseISaidSoParticipantWell, I was thinking more about the one he lost to the kite. You’re right, I don’t think any tracker is going to help if your payload deposits itself in your neighbor’s pond!
This website, http://www.byonics.com, is where the near space guy got his tracking device. They have kits for $33 or $98 with GPS. I’m not sure what equipment you need to receive the signal, though, so that would also be another added cost.
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