Lomo-Copter combines Lomography camera with tricopter for flying analog fun (VIDEO)

 

 

Here's an exercise in (somewhat) pointless fun. The folks at Flite Test combined the hippest of hipster photo gear with the geekiest of geeky gadgets by strapping a Lomography camera onto a mini-copter drone and sending it into the heavens to shoot aerial photos.

Called the Lomo-Copter (aka the Lomogracopter), the remote controlled device consists of a tricopter with an Diana F+ Lomo film camera mounted on top. (See video of it in action at the bottom of this post.)

Sounds simple, right? It's wasn't.

Instead of the 120 film that the lo-fi Diana F+ uses, the Flite Test crew rigged the camera with an instant back that shoots Fuji Instax Mini Film. To trigger the shutter from the ground and to advance the film after each shot, they equipped it with two mechanical servos that could be remotely operated.

While the power of the three-rotor tricopter was enough to lift the heavy Diana F+ camera, it needed some extra support to stabilize it, so they added a KK2 board to the rig, which provided self-stabilization.

Here's a sample aerial image they shot with the flying hipster mobile.

 

 

You can see more photos here.

DIYPhotograhy.net has a great breakdown of all the challenges the Flite Test team encountered while trying to get the Lomo-Copter to work and how they met them.

(Via DIYPhotograhy.net)