This view shows some of the complexity of setting up for a launch. To capture some exciting photos and movies, the cameras have to be placed correctly and controlled carefully. Otherwise you can wast a lot of film and money.

I had to add support because of the weight that was accumulating on the arm. As the rocket takes off it can shake the arm causing the camera to move. Even with the support the arm can still vibrate. I have also tried to balance the weight with additional cameras to minimize oscillations.

This camera is mounted on top of the rail, looking down the rail and can show some fantastic footage. It can shoot up to 1000 frames per second but even at that rate the clip is still very short. Of course the camera must be very well protected from the blast of the rocket as it passes by. This camera is only inches away from the rocket and the fins actually go cround the camera when it passes.

One shot that I have tried is mounting the camera on the ground looking up towardds the bottom of the rocket and into the motor nozzle. It too must be a very fast frame rate camera like a rotating prism camera. Ifthe camera is off center and a few feet away it is not necessary to protect the camera from the blast. However, a blast shield is needed to try to block the dust from blocking the view.

One simple camera mount is to use a tripod. I frequently use on mounted like this to get a profile shot of the motor igniting. Typically a camera like this would be mounted about 7 feet from the base of the rocket.

Sometimes I have multiple camera on one tripod. Here I combined a high speed movie camera witha still camera.

This very heavy duty tripod has a special camera mount on top. This is typically my remote camera mount that is hundreds of feet away from the rocket. It has a camera that pitches and follows the rocket for the first few seconds of flight. Although I don't change the speed of the pitching mechanism for each launch by moving the camera closer or further from the pad I can capture different rockets that accelerate slower or faster that others.

If I find that the unit tracks a 7 g rocket perfectly when the camera is 300 feet away from the rocket at liftoff, it will track a 14 g rocket the same way when it is 600 feet away. Of course, I do have to move the very heavy duty camera and tripod between launches but it works effectively.

The tracking mechanism is motorized but it doesn't pitch the camera at the same rate. There is a potentiometer on the pivot point that there is feedback to the motor that loweres it's speed as it approaches near vertical. A bore sight is used to line up the camera onto the rocket during set up and a telephoto lens is used becasue of the distance the camera is away rom the rocket.

The pitching mechanism is triggered when the rocket first moves via the activation switch. This eliminates any error or delay due to the ignitor lighting the motor incosistantly.

Here is a shot of the arm that houses three cameras besides the on mounted on the rail looking down onto the rocket. There are two high speed movie cameras at the end of the arm mounted in a "Tee" fashion. This lines up one camera directly perpendicular with the rocket as it is mounted on the rail. This camera pitches and follows the rocket as it lifts off. The other camera on the opposite side is mounted horizontally and does not pitch. These camera are only eight feet from the rocket and the pitching mechanism does a wonderful job tracking a rocket taking off that close. It is not motorized but uses a spring and isrelease whe the rocket first starts to move. There is a third still camera attached to the pitching movie camera that captures some wonderful stills.

Set up can be quie a chore. It typically takes at least four people to raise and lower the tower. The cameras and equipment can be heavy and I have no hydraulics to assist. There are two on th ropes and at least two lifting from the tower.

This mount uses a telescoping pole that raises the camera 38 feet off of the ground. Of course it needs guy wires but it provides a unique perspective from above the rocket prior to liftoff. This mount also pitches and tracks the rocket as it lifts off. There are two cameras, one high speed movie camera and one still camera. The telescoping pole is mounted 17 feet from the rocket.