JPH11129996A - Air photographing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To photograph a picture and an image which is easy to see at all times by controlling the movement such as the rotation, oscillation or the like of a camera, and the adjustment of the zoom-up, focus, white balance or the like by the operation of a ground controller. SOLUTION: When a mounting angle θ of an upper pipe 40 mounted on a carrier 2 is proper, the carrier 2 can be vertically held even when an air floating body 1 is flowed left and right by the wind. As the result thereof, a lens part 14 horizontally mounted on the carrier 2 is not inclined and can be horizontally kept, that is, the photographs and the video images picked up through the lend part 14 can be horizontally kept and are easy to see. Accordingly an adjustment hole is adjusted to the positions of the winches 52, 53 in a field of the installation so as to be proper for the mounting angle θ of the upper pipe 40. Then the air floating body 1 is floated in the air to perform the aerial photographing by a camera 3. On this occasion, by operating a controller on the ground to control the camera 3, the best photographs and images which are easy to see can be obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to mooring an unmanned air balloon or airship such as an airship in the air, and suspending a camera over a few tens of meters to a few hundred meters by the aerial floating body to obtain a view of the ground from the air. It is used for taking pictures of airborne clouds and sky conditions, playing golf on the ground, skiing, various sports including bobsleigh, various other events, etc., and shooting broadcast images. Aerial photography system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a system in which a camera is arranged in the sky by an unmanned balloon or an airship such as an airship, and aerial photography of a ground scenery, golf play on the ground, and the like has been known. However, the conventional aerial photography system is cumbersome to transport and handle due to the large size of the equipment. In addition, since the ground support device is large and heavy, the transportation system (for example, truck) for transporting the system and the ground support device must use a large device. To bring an aerial photography system into a golf course for that reason, it is necessary to cut the trees on the golf course to be able to carry it in,
There were few places in Japan where golf courses were allowed to carry in aerial photography systems, as the grass could be damaged. This is not limited to golf courses, but also applies to outdoor stages, ski slopes, and the like. Therefore, the conventional aerial photography system has many restrictions on the use place.

[0003] In order to solve the above-mentioned limitation, conventionally, a small-sized,
Lightweight aerial photography systems have been developed. As an example, Japanese Utility Model No. 6-67300, Utility Model Registration No. 30
No. 20088, for example. As shown in FIG. 5, these aerial photographing systems use a rope B suspended from an unmanned airship A floating by the buoyancy of helium gas.
And the camera D is hung below the angle C, and the lower end of a tow line (usually called a tether) E connected to the angle C is fixed to the ground via a pulley F. In this way, the camera D is suspended in the sky to perform aerial photography. In this case, the camera D in the air can be controlled by the camera control unit G installed on the ground.

[0004]

The above-mentioned conventional aerial photographing system has the following problems. . The angle C is fixed on the ground, but the camera D is suspended only at the angle C and is not fixed anywhere.
Tilted, making it difficult to focus on a target shooting location, or tilting a shooting screen or image. In addition, although the airship A does not swing, the camera D itself sometimes swings and tilts due to the wind. In this case as well, there is the same problem as when the camera D tilts due to the swing of the airship A. . Since the camera D is hung below the angle C, the towing line E stretched from the angle C to the ground enters the camera angle and hinders photographing. . Conventionally, a method of using a gyroscope to correct the tilt of the camera D has been considered. However, the gyroscope is expensive, and if the gyroscope is incorporated, the gyroscope becomes large.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is not to say that the camera does not swing even if the airborne body swings by air in the air, and that the camera itself does not swing even if it receives wind. Another object of the present invention is to provide an aerial photographing system in which an image photographed by a camera is not tilted and a pull cord does not enter an angle of view of the camera.

In order to achieve the above object, the aerial photographing system of the present invention hangs a vertically long support on an airborne body, and allows the camera to swing around its outer periphery and swing up and down. The arm is extended from the lower side of the support in two or more outside directions, and a pull cord for mooring the airborne body on the ground is connected to the arm, and the operation and zooming of the camera in the air, such as rotation and swinging of the camera, are performed. Adjustment of up, focus, white balance, and the like can be controlled by operation of a control unit (control unit) on the ground.

Another aerial photographing system according to the present invention is the aerial photographing system in which a camera is attached to one or both of the upper and lower sides of the arm.

In another aerial photographing system according to the present invention, in the aerial photographing system, the arm attached to the support is mounted on the outside of the support so as to be openable and closable up and down to adjust the mounting angle of the arm to the support. It was made possible.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment of the Aerial Photography System of the Present Invention
Will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. These aerial photographing systems are shown in FIG.
A vertically long support 2 suspended from the airborne body 1, a camera 3 attached to the support 2, an arm 4 projecting from the support 2 to two outside target positions, and an arm 4 And a control device capable of controlling the camera 3 in the air from the ground.

A general-purpose airship is used for the airborne body 1 and uses helium gas as a buoyancy source. For example, the airborne body has a diameter of about 6 m, a volume of about 113 m ³ , and is sufficiently filled with helium gas. And has a buoyancy of about 110 kg. The volume of the airborne body 1 is 113
Not limited to m ³ , any material having a buoyancy required to float and suspend necessary members such as the support 2 and the camera 3 in the air may be used. Etc. can be selected. Also, the buoyancy source may be other than helium gas. A suspension rope 10 is attached to the airborne body 1.
An aramid rope having a diameter of several mm is used for the suspension rope 10, for example.

A vertically long pipe having a fixed shape is used for the support 2. This pipe is made of metal or hard resin. In the case of metal, it is suitable to use titanium which is lightweight and has excellent strength. This pipe has a diameter of several tens of mm and a length of about 1000 mm, and four lateral holes 11 are opened at intervals of 90 degrees in the upper four circumferences as shown in FIG.
An eyelet 12 is attached to the periphery of each lateral hole 11. By fixing to the horizontal hole 11 through the hanging rope 10 (FIGS. 1 and 2) extending downward from the airborne body 1,
The support 2 can be suspended from the airborne body 1. At this time, the axis of the support 2 and the hanging rope 1
The connection is made such that the 0 axis is the same axis. Further, the hanging rope 10 passed through the side hole 11 is hardly worn because the eyelet 12 is attached to the periphery of the side hole 11.
A round bar, a square bar, or the like may be used for the support 2 instead of a pipe.

The camera 3 includes a camera body 13 and a lens unit 1.
4 is used, and a separated type is used.
The camera body 13 and the lens unit 14 are connected by a cable 15 passing through the inside of the support 2 so that the camera body 13 and the lens unit 14 function in the same manner as an integrated camera in which the camera body 13 and the lens unit 14 are integrated. The lens unit 14 is mounted on a rotatable box 16 rotatably mounted on the upper part of the support 2, and the camera body 13 is installed and fixed on a camera base 17 mounted on the lower part of the support 2. Rotating box 16
Has a built-in horizontal rotation mechanism. For example, the following is used as the horizontal rotation mechanism. A ring-shaped gear is fixed to the outer periphery of the support 2, a motor is attached to the housing, and the outer teeth of the disk-shaped drive gear fixed to the rotating shaft of the motor are used as the outer teeth of the ring gear. When the drive gear is rotated by rotating the motor by rotating the gear, the rotational force is transmitted to the ring-shaped gear, but the ring-shaped gear is fixed to the support body 2 and cannot be rotated. Rotating around the outer periphery of the gear
The housing 6 rotates the outer periphery of the support 2 by 360 degrees. The rotating box 16 rotates reversely when the motor is rotated reversely. A camera base 17 is attached to the outside of the rotating box 16, and the camera base 17 is attached to the camera base 17.
The lens unit 14 including the CCD 8 and the CCD unit 19 is attached. The camera table 17 is up and down (in the directions of arrows ab in FIG. 2).
A reciprocating swing mechanism is used, and a mechanism similar to the swing drive mechanism of a security camera installed in a bank or a supermarket store is used for the swing drive mechanism. By the way, security cameras in banks and supermarkets are swung sideways, but in this case, the swing drive mechanism is used to be able to swing up and down.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the camera base 17 raises two mounting plates 21 in parallel above a bottom plate 22 on which the camera body 13 can be installed, and allows the pan head 23 to penetrate the bottom plate 22. The mounting hole 24 is opened. This camera base 17 sandwiches the support 2 from the outside as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 by two mounting plates 21, and supports the support 2 from the outside of the mounting plate 21.
A nut 26 is screwed into a bolt 25 that has passed through the nut, and the nut 26 is fixed to the support 2 by tightening the nut 26.
A pan head 23 is provided on a bottom plate 22 of the camera base 17, and a bottom plate 22 is provided.
Is fixed by inserting it downward from above from the mounting hole 24. This pan head 23 can also be rotated forward and backward by 360 degrees, and can be swung up and down. The camera body 13 is installed on the camera platform 23 as shown in FIGS.
The camera body 13 is fixed to the camera base 17 by abutting the tip of a bolt 25 (FIGS. 2 and 3) screwed in from the lower outside of the camera body 13 against the side surface of the camera body 13. Also, the mounting holes 24
The camera head 23 projecting downward from the
4 is attached. The camera body 13 is connected to a control device (camera control unit) on the ground by a triaxial cable 60 shown in FIG. 2, and by operating the control device on the ground, panning, tilting,
Camera control such as roll, zoom, focus, rotation of a rotating box, and swinging of a lens unit can be smoothly performed, and image control such as iris, pedestal, white balance, and chroma can be controlled. Further, the connecting portion of the cable 15 connecting the camera body 13 and the lens unit 14 can be rotated 360 degrees so that the rotating box 16 does not become entangled with the rotating box 16 even if the rotating box 16 rotates continuously two or three times. It is.

A cover 30 is mounted outside the camera base 17. The cover 30 is formed by bending a color aluminum plate. A side plate 32 is raised in parallel from both sides of a bottom plate 31 and a fixed portion 33 having a narrow interval is formed above the side plate 32. The bottom plate 31 has a hole 34 through which the camera platform 23 projects.
Is open. The cover 30 is placed over the camera table 17 from below, and two bolts 35 are inserted from the outside of one of the fixing portions 33 to penetrate the support 2 and to the other fixing portion 33, and both ends of the bolt 35 A wing nut 36 is screwed into the protruding portion and attached to the support 2 together with the camera base 17. In this case, the camera platform 23 is projected downward from a hole 34 opened in the bottom plate 31 of the cover 30, and
The lens unit 14 is attached to the lens unit 3. In FIG.
Although 4 is provided on both the upper and lower sides of the camera body 13, the lens unit 14 may be attached to only one of them.

The arm 4 is a combination of eight titanium pipes, and four upper pipes 40 sandwiching the support 2 from outside at two places above the camera table 17 of the support 2.
And the bolt 41 inserted from the outside thereof penetrates the support 2, and the bolt 41 protrudes to the opposite side of the support 2.
The wing nut 42 is screwed into the protrusion of
Of the four upper pipes 40, the inner two upper pipes 40 are parallel to each other and lower left, and the outer two upper pipes 4 are parallel to each other.
0 is parallel and projected to the lower right. When the nut 42 is tightened, the four upper pipes 40 are fixed to the support 2, and when the nut 42 is loosened, the four upper pipes 40 can rotate up and down. Become. Further, a lower pipe 44 is connected to each lower end of the upper pipe 40 projecting to the lower left and lower right. In this case, a sleeve 45 is disposed between the lower ends of two parallel upper pipes 40 as shown in FIG. 4, a bolt 46 is passed through the sleeve 45 from the outside of one upper pipe 40, and the other upper pipe A nut 47 is screwed into a protrusion of a bolt 46 protruding outside of the lower pipe 40, and the lower pipe 44 is connected to both upper pipes 40. In this case, the space between the lower ends of the upper pipes 40 is held by the sleeve 45, and when the nut 47 screwed to the bolt 46 is strongly tightened, the upper pipe 40 and the lower pipe 44 are strongly fixed, and the lower pipe 44 is fixed. It cannot rotate. Further, the four lower pipes 44 are connected as a set of two lower pipes 44 by bolts 48 and nuts screwed to the inner ends. In this case, each lower pipe 44
Five adjustment holes 49 are opened in a line at an interval of about 5 mm at the inner end of the adjustment hole 49. The adjustment holes 49 are overlapped and aligned, a bolt 50 is passed through the adjustment hole 49, and a bolt 50 is inserted into the adjustment hole 49. The screwed nuts are tightened and connected. By changing the adjustment hole 49 for positioning, the connection position between the inner ends is changed, so that the mounting angle θ of the upper pipe 40 mounted on the support 2 can be changed. For example, when the adjustment holes 49 near the inner end are overlapped and connected, the lower end of the upper pipe 40 is positioned outside (upward).
When the adjusting holes 49 closer to the outside than the adjusting holes 49 are overlapped and connected to each other, the lower end of the upper pipe 40 is pulled inward (downward) and The mounting angle θ of the pipe 40 becomes smaller. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, both ends of the upper pipe 40 are both crushed on the outside so as to be easily overlapped, and both ends of the lower pipe 44 are crushed and flattened so as to be easily overlapped.

A pull cord 5 is connected to each of the connecting portions of the upper pipe 40 and the lower pipe 44, and one of the lower ends of the two pull ropes 5 is wound around a winch 52 on the ground to be ground. The other lower end is wrapped around a winch 53 mounted on the bed of a car on the ground and locked, and the tow line 5 is wound up or rewinded by the respective winches 52, 53 to float in the air. The height of the body 1 and the tension (tension) of the pull cord 5 can be adjusted. This rope 5
It is also appropriate to use an aramid rope having a diameter of several mm.

The materials, dimensions, etc. of the various members described above are used for
It can be arbitrarily selected according to the required strength and the like, and an example thereof will be described below. The support (pipe) 2 has a diameter of 75 mm, a thickness of 5 mm, and a length of 1050 mm, and the upper pipe 40 has a diameter of 20 mm, a thickness of 2 mm, and a length of 1000 m.
m, the lower pipe 44 has a diameter of 20 mm, a thickness of 2 mm, a length of 800 mm, and the camera base 17 has a height of 750 mm and a width of 100 mm.
mm and the cover 30 have a height of about 550 mm and a width of about 500 mm.

[0018]

[Application example] An application example of the aerial photographing system of the present invention will be described below. The camera body 13 is mounted and fixed on the camera platform 17, and the lens unit 14 of the camera 3 is mounted on the camera platform 16 above. One of the adjustment holes 49 of the left and right lower pipes 44 is selected, overlapped, and fixed with bolts and nuts. In this case, if the attachment angle θ (FIG. 2) of the upper pipe 40 attached to the support 2 is appropriate, the support 2 is held vertically even if the airborne body 1 is swept right and left by the wind. The lens unit 14 horizontally attached to the support 2 is held horizontally without tilting, and photographs and images taken through the lens unit 14 are not tilted and are horizontal and easy to see. However, if the mounting angle θ of the upper pipe 40 is too small, when the airborne body 1 is largely swept left and right by the wind, the lower portion of the support 2 is fixed by the winches 52 and 53 on the ground via the pull cord 5. Therefore, the upper part of the support 2 is
The lens unit 14 horizontally attached to the support 2 also tilts in the same direction, and a photograph or video taken through the lens unit 14 also tilts and becomes difficult to see. In addition, if the angle of attachment θ of the upper pipe 40 to the support 2 is too large, the airborne body 1 is largely swept right and left by the wind and the upper part of the support 2 is pulled in the same direction. The lens portion 14 horizontally mounted on the support 2 also tilts in the same direction, so that a photograph or an image taken through the lens portion 14 also tilts and becomes difficult to see. For this reason,
The adjustment hole 49 to be connected is selected so that the mounting angle θ of the upper pipe 40 is appropriate. Since the mounting angle θ changes depending on the distance between the winches 52 and 53 on the ground, the mounting angle θ is adjusted according to the position of the winch at the installation site. When these sets are completed, the airborne body 1 is suspended in the air, and the camera 3 performs aerial photography. In this case, the controller is operated on the ground to control the horizontal rotation angle, the swing angle, the zoom, the focus, the iris, the pedestal, the white balance, and the like of the camera 3 so that the best photograph or image that can be easily viewed is obtained. I do. If the lens unit 14 of the camera 3 is mounted above the arm 4, the rope 5 will not enter the field of view of the lens. Lens part 1 of camera 3
If the lens unit 14 is mounted below the arm 4, the lens unit 14
If the line is horizontally rotated by 0 degrees, the pull line 5 may enter the field of view of the lens. In this case, the lens may be horizontally rotated within a range where the pull line 5 does not enter the field of view, or only the area where the pull line 5 does not enter the field of view. It is good to use when shooting.

[0019]

The aerial photographing system of the present invention has the following effects. 1. A vertically long support is suspended under the airborne body, and the towline connected to the arm that protrudes in the two outer directions is fixed on the ground, so that the support is vertical even if the airborne body is swept away by wind. , And the camera lens hardly tilts, so that a screen or image that is always easy to see can be taken. 2. Since the angle of attachment of the arm to the support can be adjusted,
By adjusting the angle of the tow line in accordance with the position on the ground where the tow line is fixed, the support can be held vertically so that a screen or image that is always easy to see can be taken. 3. By mounting the camera or the lens portion of the camera on the upper part of the vertically long support above the arm, the line of sight connected to the arm does not enter the field of view of the lens, and the line of sight is not obstructed. 4. The camera and lens unit can be set on the support as a separate camera with a separate lens, or as an integrated camera with both.The arm is attached to the support to attach the pull cord, so the structure is simple, It becomes compact, small and light, and is easy to carry in and install in a golf course or an event venue, etc., so that the lawn or the ground of the golf course or the event venue is hardly damaged and handling becomes easy. 5. Since the camera in the air can be controlled by the ground control device,
You can always shoot appropriate scenes easily and clearly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an aerial photographing system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a main part of a support, a camera stand, and an arm light of the aerial photographing system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a main part of the aerial photographing system according to the present invention.

4A to 4D are structural members of the aerial photographing system of the present invention, wherein FIG. 4A is a plan view showing a state where an upper pipe is attached to a support, and FIG. 4B is a perspective view of a cover. , (C)
Is a perspective view of a camera stand, and (d) is an explanatory view of a lower pipe.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional aerial photographing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 air suspension 2 support 3 camera 4 arm 5 towline

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An airborne body (1), a vertically long support (2) suspended from the airborne body (1), and the outer periphery of the support (2) is rotatable around the neck and vertically. A camera (3) that is swingably mounted, an arm (4) that protrudes from the lower side of the support (2) in at least two outer directions, and an airborne body (1) that is connected to the arm (4) and ground. An aerial photographing system, comprising: a pull cord (5) that locks the camera; and a control device that can control the operation of the camera (3) in the air on the ground. 2. The aerial photographing system according to claim 1, wherein the camera (3) is mounted on one or both of the upper side and the lower side of the arm (4). 3. An arm (4) is attached to the outside of the support (2) so as to be openable and closable up and down, so that the angle of attachment of the arm (4) to the support (2) can be adjusted. The aerial photographing system according to claim 1 or 2.