RE: [APML] A Robotic Film Camera, first prototype

["Chris Schur" <cschur@therim.com>]

Robert, that's the key word here - autonomously.  Mine will have more brains
with either a PIC or BS2 micro.  Lets say the humidity exceeds 95 percent
near midnight.  Time to shut down and cover the lens!

Chris



-----Original Message-----
From: astro-photo-bounces@seds.org
[mailto:astro-photo-bounces@seds.org]On Behalf Of Robert Reeves
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2003 9:21 PM
To: Discussion of Film Astrophotography
Subject: Re: [APML] A Robotic Film Camera, first prototype



> Hi All,
>
> Here is a project that has been consuming me for a few weeks, the
prototype
> for a fully robotic microcontroller controlled film camera for routinely
> shooting the night sky for hours on end, with no human intervention.  At
> this point, the mechanical assembly is done, and I have many hours in
front
> of me building the electronics control panel and programming the micro,
but
> I think you'll agree, its going to be awesome when done. Here is what I
have
> so far, try not to laugh too much!  Click on the thumbnail for a series of
> detailed images...
>
> http://www.psiaz.com/schur/astro/latest47.html
>
>
> Comments appreciated!
>
> Chris

Hi Chris,

Interesting little project.  Kind of reminds me of the gadget that Ben Mayer
made 30 years ago to patol for meteors and bagged the nova in Cygnus in
1975.  He used a washing machine timer to control his camera.  It would chew
through a roll of film in an evening, all autonomously.  I think there was
an article about it in Sky & Tel even before it did the pre-discovery
sequence of the nova.

Robert Reeves                +29.484   98.440
reeves10@swbell.net      San Antonio, Texas  USA


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