Remote-controlled aerial photography

December 4, 2004 7:22 AM

Remote controlled aerial photography is not just for spies - members at RC Groups take low-altitude photos from remote-controlled planes. This impressive gallery of submissions for an aerial photography calendar offers a sampling of the art. (via Buzz)
posted by madamjujujive (14 comments total)

um, bye-bye
posted by Busithoth at 7:27 AM on December 4, 2004

Thanks Madam . . . I'm impressed by the images and even more impressed that folks trust their rather expensive cameras up in the air like that.
posted by ahimsakid at 7:28 AM on December 4, 2004

Hey Bustihoth! Didn't anyone tell you that it's International Double-Post Great Riffola Threads Day?

Sorry Riffy - when you are cool, everyone just wants to be like you ;-)
posted by madamjujujive at 7:35 AM on December 4, 2004

huh, no I didn't know that.

still, I loved this site, and watched all the videos I could find in their forums. some are goddamned excellent.

I'm very impressed with some of the shots, and can only imagine that there are 10x as many shots that were crap, because there's some element of guesswork involved...
posted by Busithoth at 7:38 AM on December 4, 2004

Well, it only took a little less than two days for this to make it around the web and back here.
posted by rzklkng at 8:25 AM on December 4, 2004

Sweet, does that mean I can bring back Turd Birds?

I do dig these though. Makes me want to get back to the flying lessons.
posted by fenriq at 8:36 AM on December 4, 2004

Didn't anyone tell you that it's International Double-Post Great Riffola Threads Day?
Whoa! Nice! Who did I sleep with to get so much honour? ;)

Anyway juju has license to double post, what with being the grand matriarch of our MeFi family.
posted by riffola at 10:27 AM on December 4, 2004

Oh man, this is something I'd really like to get into. I'd probably use an RC helicopter though since I have a chopper fetish. But wow, there's some places around the Northwest that'd make some really shweet photos.
posted by GreatWesternDragon at 10:44 AM on December 4, 2004

This is just so stunningly beautiful.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 11:25 AM on December 4, 2004

You could just as easily use a RC heli, GreatWesternDragon, but you'll notice many of the pictures are taken with electric-powered fixed-wing platforms, for one important reason... because of their ability to shut off the motor mid-flight. It's a technique used to minimize vibration when taking the picture.

I have a SlowStick (a plane popular with the AP types) and an Optio SV, but I just don't trust my landing skills enough to mate the two together and send the whole contraption up... (yet!) :)
posted by just a monkey at 1:24 PM on December 4, 2004

Hrmm that makes sense, Just A Monkey. I'm new to the whole RC aircraft thing so that didn't even occur to me. How well do RC choppers autorotate? I realize that descent would be an issue, and that autorotation would probably reduce your chances of obtaining the photo you're after. But hell, I wanna play with possibilites!

I've seen a couple RC choppers perform decent autorotating descents, but I've seen others that sail gently to earth much the way a brick would.

But if I had to break down and try this, I'd wanna do it right so I'll look into the fixed wing thing.

As a side note: Are there any remote control tiltroter aircraft? Something like the Osprey? Hrmmmmm....
posted by GreatWesternDragon at 4:19 PM on December 4, 2004

Why do unmanned aerial vehicles hate America?
posted by Balisong at 5:35 PM on December 4, 2004

This shot shows the San Onofre nuclear facility in Oceanside, CA (see the upper left for the 2 bulbous structures.. we call it the Dolly Parton Monument around these parts).

Seems mighty close to a nuclear facility...
posted by afx114 at 6:33 PM on December 4, 2004

it's amazing how clean things look from way up high
posted by onkelchrispy at 8:34 PM on December 4, 2004