Digital camera with built-in balloon.

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Name
Matt
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Aerial Capture is a lightweight digital camera with a built-in 3 foot balloon allowing families of all ages to take great playful aerial photos from 20 metres high that are colourful with a stylistic contrast.

This exciting camera is flash free and to be used in bright light shooting conditions at various special occasions like weddings, birthdays, festivals and special events where it’s bound to catch everyone’s attention.

The camera has an attachment to inflate the balloon with helium letting the camera take off into the sky. Kept tethered to the user with a hand held reel, a simple flick of a switch triggers the camera. Being fun, unique and simple, the lo-fi outcomes means that hundreds of striking photos can be taken and stored on the internal memory which can be easily accessed from the USB cable.

Images: http://tinyurl.com/3757zdb
 
How long before someone accidentally lets go of the tether and the Civil Aviation Authority start complaining? :)
 
Err, wouldn't every shot have a big string in it?
 
You'd need 2 or 3 tethers to make this work so not to have rope in it, it would also need a very fast shutter speed due to vibrations from the balloon.

I'd also like to see these striking photos it can take because on the Flickr page I can only see 2 rather dodgy and dull photos that look like they have come from a camera phone.

It's a good idea, but I think it's been poorly done. You could achieve something similar without much hassle.

Big balloon + helium
Bracket to attach camera + balloon too
DLSR + wide angle auto-focus lens
remote control
3 tethers to make it stable
 
You'd need 2 or 3 tethers to make this work so not to have rope in it, it would also need a very fast shutter speed due to vibrations from the balloon.

I'd also like to see these striking photos it can take because on the Flickr page I can only see 2 rather dodgy and dull photos that look like they have come from a camera phone.

It's a good idea, but I think it's been poorly done. You could achieve something similar without much hassle.

Big balloon + helium
Bracket to attach camera + balloon too
DLSR + wide angle auto-focus lens
remote control
3 tethers to make it stable

Actually it's quite good fun to use an old cheap camera with a timer. You then throw the camera in the air, judging the top of the flight as the timer runs out and the shutter operates. You then just have to catch the camera ;)
Best to do this on soft grass!
 
Actually it's quite good fun to use an old cheap camera with a timer. You then throw the camera in the air, judging the top of the flight as the timer runs out and the shutter operates. You then just have to catch the camera ;)
Best to do this on soft grass!

Yeah I've heard about this. Isn't there a Flickr group of people that do it?
 
Actually it's quite good fun to use an old cheap camera with a timer. You then throw the camera in the air, judging the top of the flight as the timer runs out and the shutter operates. You then just have to catch the camera ;)
Best to do this on soft grass!

Define "old cheap camera" :LOL:

I'm going to make a guess that the OP is the designer (Since both are called Matt and are in Dundee, should be a detective....)

In which case he deserves a :bat:for referring to himself in the third person :LOL:
 
Can I come to New Designers and pick holes in it.....
Some of you guys aren't very nice. I've spent the last nine months on this project and I'm only trying to get myself a good degree. There's no need to be so harsh!!
 
Waits excitedly for a 5d with 17-40 to drop from the sky into his back yard on the back of a balloon! :)
 
Some of you guys aren't very nice. I've spent the last nine months on this project and I'm only trying to get myself a good degree. There's no need to be so harsh!!


Surely "product designer Matthew Clark is only trying to get himself a good degree" :naughty:

Seriously though, good luck with your degree (y)
 
It's about on a par with the kind of stuff many of the design students at my university come up with: nice idea but not well thought through.

Product designer Matthew Clark is fortunate that these kinds of things are marked more based on the writing up and all that rather than the potential success of the product designed.
 
I have experience of in-air cameras and know that the string can be an issue. You need to have a look at the KAP (Kite Aerial Photography) groups on Flickr Matt to see how they get round these issues.

We have in Scotland Gentles LED which is a great lightweight way to fire a camera remotely.

I use a Sutton sureflow which needs a decent wind, a balloon solves the issue of lofting in nil winds but suffers badly when wind present.

Good luck with the degree! (y)
 
Some of you guys aren't very nice. I've spent the last nine months on this project and I'm only trying to get myself a good degree. There's no need to be so harsh!!

Isn't part of the design process getting feedback from others? This allows you to spot problems with it and develop solutions to make sure your product has the best chance of selling?

Wish you all the best though, coming up with good ideas in today's market can't be easy, I know it wasn't 10 years ago when I was doing design :)
 
Isn't part of the design process getting feedback from others? This allows you to spot problems with it and develop solutions to make sure your product has the best chance of selling?

And this forum is just one of those ideal places where people will rip it apart and make it a better product.


Product designer Matthew Clark has an interesting idea with a few practical flaws, that I'm surprised made it through product testing. Most of which could easily be remedied (moving the cable's one thing for a start...)
 
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