Public Lab Research note


prototype juice bottle bottom dual camera rig

by patcoyle | February 24, 2013 03:05 24 Feb 03:05 | #6108 | #6108

Updated with images and video of A1200s being triggered with Digispark CHDK.


I have been wanting a lighter dual camera rig than my Al-frame. (It's patterned after Chris Fastie's). In recent trip to Belize, in light winds I couldn't get the rig to altitude with Delta or Sutton Flow Form.

I am a fan of the juice bottle rigs for single cameras and have tried them for dual cameras side by side and with another unit in between for module to trigger the cameras with CHDK. However, access to the camera controls is limited, compared to the open Al-frame approach.

I also like the crash protection the juice bottle, crate and other enclosures offer compared to the Al-frame. A rough "bottle-bottom" prototype is shown in the images. I haven't flown it yet. But access to the camera back controls seems ok. I'll cut holes in the bottles for access to on/off switch and USB port for CHDK.

My rough estimate from the kitchen scale images is that it is 75-80 grams vs 300 for the Al frame, so may be worth trying.

The set up is shown with a 490/495 ir-vis pair, but there is space for the A1200s and the, new for me, SX260HS with gps. The dowels are friction fit, so one can adjust the gap between the bottles to accommodate the trigger circuit for CHDK.I think Mathew Lippincott's magical orange rubber bands will secure things in place.

I also struggle with Picavets tilting in flight, so I'll see how this rig flys with the dual clip-on on kite line approach I typically use with juice bottle rig .


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