Mini digital cameras: An engineering challenge

[minestrone]

Bit of an odd request, I am looking to design something that will drop down a 10 meter pipe the thickness of a bottle of beer and take a photo. The size of the area to be photographed requires a pretty big flash and probably will require a camera that can vary the sensitivity up to 400 ISO.

The camera requires that it is fired by the use of wire. This will probably mean hacking the camera and soldering on some bell wire to control remotely.

Interesting challenge, any ideas?

Budget 100 quid.

Cheers

[BrilloPad]

Why would you want to do that?

Is your wife having an affair and you are gathering evidence?

[d000hg]

It sounds like any small cheap camera would work, especially if you can get one off eBay and remove the case.

To get one new that small on your budget sounds more like it would come under the novelty camera category. Chopping corners off something a bit bigger might be easier... but does the lens have to face down or will the camera drop out and rotate?

[minestrone]

I don't mean to be rude but I cannot really say on a public forum, very much a legal matter.

I am trying to save my local park is the short answer.

anyway...

Brillo, you still interested in a mobile jammer?

[minestrone]

It sounds like any small cheap camera would work, especially if you can get one off eBay and remove the case.

To get one new that small on your budget sounds more like it would come under the novelty camera category. Chopping corners off something a bit bigger might be easier... but does the lens have to face down or will the camera drop out and rotate?

been looking at the cheap ones and expect to chop the sides off the bugger. I just don't want to fork out 50 quid and butcher the bad boy to find out my idea is wrong.

[minestrone]

but does the lens have to face down or will the camera drop out and rotate?

Happy for the lens to face horizontal, I shall spin the camera by rope to get a bunch of photos.

[jmo21]

I don't mean to be rude but I cannot really say on a public forum, very much a legal matter.

I am trying to save my local park is the short answer.

anyway...

Brillo, you still interested in a mobile jammer?

c'mon, you don't need to name names, or places or anything!

[TykeMerc]

[engineering geek mode]
Silly idea, but why not use a cheap and cheerful webcam, house it in a bit of plastic waste pipe (the type used to plumb a kitchen sink) with a couple of LED torches as a bright light source. You can set the whole lot in epoxy resin or gaffer tape and silicone sealant if you feel it needs the toughness and waterproofing. I'd add a sturdy wire to it or possibly a long stick if you need to help it past obstructions.
[/engineering geek mode]
It's easy enough to build a long USB cable and you can capture stills or video on a laptop.
Assuming you have access to even a basic laptop you will come in well under budget.

Alternatively you could hire a drain exploration camera like those used by drain companies from a tool hire place if you need something really tough, but that might be over your budget.

[d000hg]

On the idea of flash being a problem, you could I'm sure jury-rig a disposable (or nearly) camera to operate remotely, and simply tie a torch to it, or lower that down first. If you remove the need for the flash on the camera I think you can reduce your budget quite a bit.

The web-cam is good in theory but I imagine you might have issues with quality.

Bit of a tangent, but I don't suppose you can operate on the periscope principle and simply use a mirror or two to look down this tube directly... how long is it and how straight?

[TykeMerc]

Well web cams or for that matter security type cams have a decent resolution if you buy the right one, they're also small and have no housing to chop about. Illumination is a trivial problem with the pencil sized LED torches available at any market for a quid.
The solution I suggested allows for taking as many pictures as you like as the viewfinder would be at operator level which would be a major issue for a stills camera on a stick/wire.