Where two hobbies collide

Being a computer geek (self confessed :wink:) and an electronics techie from way back, I have always had hobbies that use those two skills. My main two hobbies for the past couple of years have been weather stuff and model aircraft building and flying. Donā€™t see where they meet (apart from the obvious ā€œdonā€™t fly models during thunderstormsā€ aspect)? - well itā€™s in a place called photography 8O. My modeling has taken me down the aerial photography (AP) road using both fixed wing and helicopter models (Iā€™m currently working on a computer controlled Quadrocopter - but that as they say is another story) and of course most of us here take weather pictures either using webcams or ā€˜high resolutionā€™ still cameras.

A lot of us have issues with our weather photography with the sun getting in the road at some stage during the day, sometimes only at certain times of the year. We try to combat this with shutters or filters or ways of moving the camera. In AP we often have the same issues with the sun, or simply want the ability to steer our cameras separate to steering the aircraft - and this is kind of where the two hobbies collide.

I was looking at Earth TV the other day and watched a time lapse movie from a European destination (canā€™t remember where, and it isnā€™t important to the story :roll:) and I noticed that as the day had gone on the camera had moved itā€™s view (panned) across the horizon. So I thought to myself, In AP we move our cameras by mounting them on a servo controlled platform that we then use our radio transmitters to control, so why couldnā€™t I do the same thing with a webcam/still camera fixed at home to take my weather pictures? Of course we donā€™t want to have to buy a transmitter/receiver etc just to take weather pictures, and we donā€™t want to have to do it manually either as that kind of defeats the purpose!
In modeling many of us buy/build small electronic devices that allow us to test servos; these consist of a very simple circuit that uses a 555 timer IC (if you are familiar with electronics) and a potentiometer (like a radio volume control). You turn the knob one way or the other from a center position and the servo reacts accordingly- simple! No radios/receivers or other trickery required.

Taking my thoughts one step further I figured it would be easy enough to automate this camera panning with the addition of some extra quite basic electronics. This would allow me to set the speed with which the camera panned, and with some clever planning it would be possible to pan a fixed camera over an angle of about 120 degrees (or whatever was desired) during a period set as x mins/hours, thus moving the camera and preventing the sun from poking down the lens 8)
Taking things further pan and tilt could both be achieved if required.

So Iā€™m going to look at doing a prototype if the idea and wondered if there would be any interest from the wider community here - and of course any design ideas/features that anyone has that they would like to put forward.

The design would require up to 2 servoā€™s for pan and/or tilt and a small amount of electronics. Power would also be needed, but this may also be useful for powering a still camera.

Please give me your feedback on the idea - or let me know if I am totally berserk :lol: Even better - has anyone already done it or seen a commercial product, Iā€™m not planning to reinvent the wheel unless I can do it a whole lot cheaper and simpler :wink:

Cheers

Colin.

I think itā€™s a great idea (coincidentally I posted this today), rather than mess with 555ā€™s and a bunch of electronics I suggest you look into the very cheap picaxe micros that have a servo control capability.

One 2-servo version was done years ago, by Surveyor here in San Luis Obispo, CA.

Hereā€™s a review from 1999:

http://www.g4tv.com/techtvvault/features/14465/Transit_Robotic_Camera_Mount.html
The coolest thing that it worked with was an Axis 2100 network camera with special firmware. The mount was controlled by a web page hosted by the camera itself.

I still have one, and it still works. I wrote an article for Popular Home Automation magazine about making the whole thing (camera and mount) wireless with Linksys Access Points. That was possibly the first wireless pan/tilt network camera around.

Youā€™re still going to have to reinvent it, though, I fear. I donā€™t think the Transit is made any more.

Hmmmā€¦ I believe the current Nuts and Volts has an article about a solar panel sun tracker that uses a similar set of orthogonal servos. You might want to check it out.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Niko, I saw your post about 10 minutes after I wrote this :lol:. It looks interesting, not a bad price but itā€™s going back to that remote control thing that I wanted to avoid. The Picaxe is an interesting idea, which may or may not be overkill. Iā€™ve been looking for an excuse to dig into one of those, maybe this is it :wink:

Sloweather, thanks for that. I have seen a couple of solar tracker boards (alternative energy is my 3rd hobby #-o). They usually use an array of LEDs, I believe, to track the sun and stay with it. I guess the inverse logic can be applied to stay x degrees away from the sun. There is a whole bunch of ideas around that here http://www.redrok.com/electron.htm#led3x

Keep the comments and ideas coming folks !

Just keen to follow this up as i do move my camera around at times, sometimes to avoid the sun, other times to catch the sunset like todayā€¦ I pull down the stairs to the attic, climb up, straddle the stairwell on a temporary plank and adjust the camera and then gingerly retrace my stepsā€¦ are we nuts?? Aaah, shouldnā€™t that be ā€œAm I nuts??ā€ I shouldnā€™t involve everyone else in my idiosyncrosies!! :lol:

Must be something about Tokoroa - I lived there for a while as a kid. :wink:

Pan and tilt isnā€™t too much of an issue, how far in dgrees do you need to move?

Less than 90 at this stage - the window panes are too close together and then there is the centre heavy divide between the windows. I have to make a platform/table up for it soon and was looking at a turntable to keep it all level - there is an old mattress getting elevation at the moment plus a box and old text books. I use smaller books and pocket notebook for elevation and a ā€œbog chizel/knifeā€ for level in from the sideā€¦ you wouild laughā€¦ :oops:

a "bog chizel/knife" for level in from the side... you wouild laugh...

Google found this:

[quote]bog chisel - like a thick broom handle with a large blunt chisel on one end. Bog chisels are used for probing for crevasses, testing the thickness of ice, holding up radio antennas and chipping fuel drums out of ice amongst many other things. The name comes from the days when Halley had

:lol: Sounds about right for Tokoroa, I remember skating along the frozen gutters to school in the winters.

But I never heard of one of those before. 8O

Well done Dave - that was hilarious -I was refering to, canā€™t keep from smiling, the builderā€™s two pot epoxy filler, commonly called builderā€™s bog here in NZ. Putty knife would have been a better description :oops:

Actually, that was such a good description of an amusing tool - yes we call them bogs and long-drops out here too!! :lol: :lol: