Technical Camera - Remote from photographer operation...

[Steven Draper]

Hi

I operate a successful mast based photography business that currently uses high end dSLRs to photograph structures and landscapes etc with excellent results. I have a possible future project that would require the use of some kind of technical camera and digital back (P45+ or P65+) in order to capture relatively wide angle scenes, probably with some lens shift / tilt with the highest of optical accuracy.

The snag is that the closest I can be to the position the camera will be for composing and the exposure is about 50'. I can move the camera back and forth in order to adjust controls, but ideally leaving it in position and doing as much as possible remotely - and being able to create a sequence of exposures without having the camera go up and down - would be ideal.

Live view provides the ability to see what the camera is seeing for composition. I'll have to calculate and set the exposure prior to the camera unit becoming "remote" from my position, however cocking the lens remotely after composing seems to be a sticking point, as does the actual shutter release.

I hope I've made some kind of sense. I'm very aware that this is not the conventional use for this kind of camera and there may be other issues to overcome, but if anyone has any experience of the remote use of technical cameras I'd be very appreciative for your thoughts.

Many Thanks in advance for your time and knowledge.
Steven

[Joe Behar]

Hi

I operate a successful mast based photography business that currently uses high end dSLRs to photograph structures and landscapes etc with excellent results. I have a possible future project that would require the use of some kind of technical camera and digital back (P45+ or P65+) in order to capture relatively wide angle scenes, probably with some lens shift / tilt with the highest of optical accuracy.

The snag is that the closest I can be to the position the camera will be for composing and the exposure is about 50'. I can move the camera back and forth in order to adjust controls, but ideally leaving it in position and doing as much as possible remotely - and being able to create a sequence of exposures without having the camera go up and down - would be ideal.

Live view provides the ability to see what the camera is seeing for composition. I'll have to calculate and set the exposure prior to the camera unit becoming "remote" from my position, however cocking the lens remotely after composing seems to be a sticking point, as does the actual shutter release.

I hope I've made some kind of sense. I'm very aware that this is not the conventional use for this kind of camera and there may be other issues to overcome, but if anyone has any experience of the remote use of technical cameras I'd be very appreciative for your thoughts.

Many Thanks in advance for your time and knowledge.
Steven

Steven,

I helped one of my clients do this very thing a while ago. We did not use a technical camera, but rather a motorized Hasselblad. he had his Phase One back tethered to a laptop on a crane and controlled everything from another computer using Apple Remote desktop software through a a wireless system we configured. it worked amazingly well.

Feel free to give me a call off list and we can chat about it.

[Dick Roadnight]

Remote operation of the shutter of a view camera is easy, but not cheap, with Schneider Electronic Shutters,,, and maybe pocket wizards.

I have a 10m Manfrotto Agnoscope I intend to use with my Sinar P3, and Schneider Apo-Digitars in SES Schneider Electronic Shutters, and a Hasselblad 60Mpx back (when they ship it).

I have been thinking of mounting the 10m Agnoscope mast on a 12m cherry picker for extra height.

The Agnoscope comes with a motorised tripod head capable of taking a 10Kg camera, but a Claus remote station pano-head would be useful.

I camera weight was a problem with your existing masts, you could use a Sinar F3.

You can use the Schiemplug/Merklinger formulae to calculate and set your movement settings with the camera at ground level.

I believe that firewire will work happily at 50'.

Replacing the rear standard of a Sinar with a http://www.velmex.com/ robotic system is a possibility, as is a powered remotely operable Shift and stitch system.

This is about £60K's worth of kit, so it would need to be a good contract to make it worth while... or, if you can allow me a few weeks to get my kit together, we could work together on this.

What angles of view do you expect to need?