ONBOARD STILLS CAMERAS

ONBOARD STILLS CAMERAS

Stills cameras produce far and away the best quality images from onboard rockets, compared with video cameras. There are 2 commercially available model rockets with an onboard camera available:


The obvious progression here, is to move to digital cameras or APS or 35mm film cameras whilst keeping the size of the camera down, and to try and take multiple shots during flight. This has previously been achieved by numerous members of the UK rocketry community, possibly most successfully by Arthur Harrington, a Yorkshire based rocketeer.

As mentioned above, there are 3 technical requirements for rocketry photography:


DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

My current camera for onboard rocketry photography, is a Fuji M603 6 Megapixel Digital Camera. This camera fits within a 75mm diameter (3") airframe, and provides good quality stills photos as well as an option to record digital video at 640 x 480 AVI (M-JPEG). Storage is onto either CompactFlash or xD card.




See Also

Hybrid Rocket Science, Hybrid Rocket Help Clinic, Amateur Hybrid Motors, Amateur Liquid Rockets, Guidance, Gimballed Motors, Launch Controller, UK Rocketry Vendors, UK Rocket Groups, UK Space Organisations