The complete system!

Our archaeology photography platform is ready to go:

We are using an FMS Skytrainer -

 carrying either a GoPro Hero 2 HD or a small point and shoot Canon. Both are capable of shooting in "intervelometer" mode (the canon uses CHDK). 

Here you can see the camera just peaking out from the belly of the plane and secured by a series of rubber bands:

The plane has been tested several times with the camera mounted in the belly for vertical shots as well as on top for horizontal shooting: 

Now that the plane is fully functional we took it out to test it at actual archaeological sites. The plane can shoot images for two different purposes. The first is oblique shots of a site that show the surrounding landscape and give a good overview of the site and its surroundings. We shot like this at Tel Be'er Sheva by placing the GoPro Hero in its widest, nearly fisheye, setting. Then, by flying next to the tel and banking to get a nearly 45 degree view, we got some good oblique shots. This is the kind of thing you might use for a presentation about a site: 

The camera is set to take an 11mp photo every second. This means that for even a short flight of 4 minutes or so, we generate hundreds of photos, including tons of pictures after the shutter has been pressed but before the plane actually takes off (so lots of pictures of pebbles from 6" off the ground). This means there are lots of images to sift through to find useable ones. Here you can see me, NB, and JC from quite high up. Which is cool, but the archaeology is nowhere in sight:

The other kind of photo is vertical images which do not suffer from ultra-wide angle distortion and can be used to show the spatial relationship among areas of a site. These kind of photos are critical for good publication and recording of archaeological sites. Here you can see some vertical photos of Tel Burna taken with the GoPro Hero on a less extreme FOV (field of view) setting (though still not devoid of distortion:

NB, JC, and I are just visible at the right edge

Aerial images like this can also be used to construct 3d models of sites and landscapes. Here is a partial reconstruction of Tel Burna using a set of images that includes the previous 2 shots. Unfortunately, the camera ceased recording about 1/2 way through this flight, so there was not enough imagery to reconstruct more of the tel or to connect the higher area:

with the lower area:

Results of shots from our own excavations using this platform will be posted here as they are available.