Techniques and Equipment

Upon arrival to site the Helium balloon is taken out of the transportation trailer. We keep
the balloon inflated for two reasons; firstly it saves on set up time and secondly the balloon
is filled with a large volume of helium, which is expensive. To give you some idea the
balloon contains enough helium to inflate 750 party balloons! Next the camera cradle is
attached to the balloon. Some quick maintenance and operation checks are performed
and the balloon is ready for launch.



The operator adjusts the height of the balloon using a tether and adjusts the position of
the balloon simply by walking. The balloon will go wherever the operator goes. Care must
be taken where trees and power lines are concerned, but otherwise we have complete
freedom of movement. The manoeuvrability of the system is great. We can shoot from a
boat over water. We can effectively go wherever the operator can walk.

The camera cradle attached to the balloon is remote controlled and allows unlimited 360
degree rotation, 90 degree pan and tilt (along a vertical plane), horizontal levelling and the
cameras zoom functions to be used. The Nikon camera we use is a professional Digital
SLR. It takes photographs at 12.3 effective mega pixels and also HD video up to
1280 x 720 pixels. The camera is capable of taking stunning quality photographs, just
take a look in our gallery. As well as a top grade camera we use top grade lenes.
We only use Nikon Nikkor wide angle zoom lens. These lenes as well as giving great
results are designed for digital cameras and include Vibration Reduction facility which
adjusts for camera movement giving sharper images.



The image, as seen by the camera, is transmitted to the wireless ground station. The
ground station is fully portable and consists of the remote controls for the camera and
camera cradle and a 7 inch colour display. Using the information on the colour display
we are able to compose the picture perfectly. Because of our unique and safe platform
it’s possible for the customer to be present and give their input into the process.
CLOUDHAWK NEWS
 

Pepperbox Hill Harvest
Cloudhawk has been busy capturing photographs of local
farmers harvesting just outside
Salisbury.



To view more harvest
images taken by Cloudhawk,
please Click Here

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