Mineshaft photography

[Joanne]

Sometime back I had been thinking a bit about setting up a camera rig that I could lower into a vertical shaft. My first thought was some sort of video camera with a wireless link to broadcast pictures to the surface. This would be similar to what some of the RC airplane guys are using for video on their model airplanes. My next thought was an extension to that idea and use an RC control to turn on and off some video lights, and add tilt & pan motion for the camera.

It might not be too hard to find a used video camera and some RC equipment on Craig's list. I think the wireless link for the video might get a bit pricey though.

I saw the mention of a camera being lowered into a winze by the team searching for April Pitzer and was wondering how that was set up.

Anyone interested in discussing this topic a bit further?

Joanne

[Mike Schriber]

Wireless probably isn't the best way to go since the signal degrades so quickly in a mine. We actually lowered my helmet camera (still mounted to the helmet) into that winze (twice as a matter of fact) and watched the video once it was back up. It worked quite well. I've also built a real-time wired mine camera. It's a black and white infrared sensitive security camera mounted to a PVC pipe with a flashlight. You watch the video as it happens on a small LCD monitor. It also works quite well but is extra gear to carry.

Mike

[Mark1955]

I am doing a similar thing except in my case I aquired two cameras that can be lowered into flooded shafts... They have fairly wide angle lenses and are in super heavy duty heat treated stainless steel houseings capable of depths to 20,000 feet. So no problem lowering them into most flooded or even contaminated shafts. I am still seeking lights that will also work for this and may have recently found some.

Do you want to do color or just B&W? Standard definition or high definition? Some just lower an el-cheapo B&W surveillance camera down on the end of a cable. If you loose or break the camera you might be out 50 bucks. There is also a plethora of 3-CCD color standard definition cameras and monitors available on E-bay because of the conversion of TV to high definition. At any rate you will still need protection for what ever camera you lower into any shaft, especially if you use a more expensive 3-CCD color camera with wide angle lens. Some sort of protective sled around the camera to keep it from receiving direct hits on rocks and the sides of the shaft. You may also want remote pan and tilt and zoom as well, although a fixed focus wide angle lens may be preferable. Most 3-CCD cameras have adjustable gain settings of 0, +6 and +12 db and the +12 db setting allows you to see in the dark with very little artificial light in return for a just a little additional video noise. I am able to shoot video in any mine with my Betacam at +12db and just a 12 LED flashlight!

Anyway... enough confusion above... First you need to decide if you want: Cheap B&W, Color, or High Definition. Keep in mind that what ever you decide on needs to be able to be powered by simple 12 volt battery...

Mark

[lobster68w]

I am doing a similar thing except in my case I aquired two cameras that can be lowered into flooded shafts... They have fairly wide angle lenses and are in super heavy duty heat treated stainless steel houseings capable of depths to 20,000 feet. So no problem lowering them into most flooded or even contaminated shafts. I am still seeking lights that will also work for this and may have recently found some.

Do you want to do color or just B&W? Standard definition or high definition? Some just lower an el-cheapo B&W surveillance camera down on the end of a cable. If you loose or break the camera you might be out 50 bucks. There is also a plethora of 3-CCD color standard definition cameras and monitors available on E-bay because of the conversion of TV to high definition. At any rate you will still need protection for what ever camera you lower into any shaft, especially if you use a more expensive 3-CCD color camera with wide angle lens. Some sort of protective sled around the camera to keep it from receiving direct hits on rocks and the sides of the shaft. You may also want remote pan and tilt and zoom as well, although a fixed focus wide angle lens may be preferable. Most 3-CCD cameras have adjustable gain settings of 0, +6 and +12 db and the +12 db setting allows you to see in the dark with very little artificial light in return for a just a little additional video noise. I am able to shoot video in any mine with my Betacam at +12db and just a 12 LED flashlight!

Anyway... enough confusion above... First you need to decide if you want: Cheap B&W, Color, or High Definition. Keep in mind that what ever you decide on needs to be able to be powered by simple 12 volt battery...

Mark

Lets get that thing going and bring it out to the Copper Leaf!! Now to come up with 2200' of rope!

[Mark1955]

Just takes time and money! I have little of either of those lately... Here is one of the deep sea cameras... They are just B&W vidicon cameras but they have amazing sensitivity. I can replace the guts pretty easily with any 3-CCD color block type camera as well and still run it off just 12 volts. The case is 1/2" thick stainless. The optical window is Quartz, cone shaped, and several inches thick. It is actually a lens that creates and aerial image the cameras lens focus's on.

Mark

[Skippy]

Underwater Video

I am doing a similar thing except in my case I acquired two cameras that can be lowered into flooded shafts...

I need to video a 12ft diameter mine shaft to 750ft below surface. It is flooded, with the water level 150ft below surface.

The simplest way would be to drop a waterproof camcorder, with lights, down on a rope.

Does anyone have a camcorder that would do the trick. I would like to hire the cameraman and/or the camcorder if possible. Or buy the equipment.

The mine may be re-opened one day, depending on the condition of the mine shaft.

[ryan162]

I vote for a cheap light attached to a cheap video camera. Investing alot of money into it will make you too worried of catching it on stuff to make good use of it. the UE mine cam 2.0 uses a great Idea of capsulating everything in a PVC pipe with a steel eyelet on top to attach a rope.

[speelyei]

I have been considering doing the same thing. I am looking at a Wal-Mart digital video camera and an inexpensive LED light source that can be lowered with a fishing rod. I am debating whether the tendency to spin is a positive or negative attribute; it would be easy enough to eliminate that. If I get this up and running, I'll post some videos here.

A real time display would be cool, but Im looking for something light, small, inexpensive, that I won't lose sleep over losing.