jenn4536 Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 I work with birds of prey (think falconry) and have wanted to get areal footage from my bird's point of view for years now. Problem is go pro cameras are too bulky and heavy for the birds to wear and they also dont have any practical way to attach to the bird. Recently I found a really tiny camera and now I'm wondering how I might be able to design a harness system and camera housing out of carbon fiber to attach to my birds. I'm just on the beginning planning process now but the idea has me really excited and I had to share 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lo_0l Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 6 minutes ago, jenn4536 said: I work with birds of prey (think falconry) and have wanted to get areal footage from my bird's point of view for years now. Problem is go pro cameras are too bulky and heavy for the birds to wear and they also dont have any practical way to attach to the bird. Recently I found a really tiny camera and now I'm wondering how I might be able to design a harness system and camera housing out of carbon fiber to attach to my birds. I'm just on the beginning planning process now but the idea has me really excited and I had to share 🙂 I think this would be a super cool! There are some pretty small drone cameras around. How much weight can these birds carry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn4536 Posted December 11, 2023 Author Share Posted December 11, 2023 I'm wanting to use it on a small hawk, he's under 2lbs himself. Ideally the camera and mounting system would be no more than 200g (roughly 1/2 lb), but the lighter the better. I have the ability to test heavier prototypes on lager birds that can accommodate more weight, but the Harris' Hawk is my target species Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lo_0l Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 38 minutes ago, jenn4536 said: I'm wanting to use it on a small hawk, he's under 2lbs himself. Ideally the camera and mounting system would be no more than 200g (roughly 1/2 lb), but the lighter the better. I have the ability to test heavier prototypes on lager birds that can accommodate more weight, but the Harris' Hawk is my target species There are some super lightweight options for drones out there. GoPro makes a couple that are under 200g. How about this action camera from Team Black Sheep? It's 56g with the battery. Running 1080p the camera above is supposed to last for 90mins which I'd think is plenty long enough. They have smaller cameras, but they seem to mostly use external power. On to the harness itself... usually with carbon fiber you need some sort of a mold. I imagine you can't put a cast on a hawk, but maybe it would be possible to scan it? Or use an existing model? I imagine it would go on the underside of the bird? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn4536 Posted December 12, 2023 Author Share Posted December 12, 2023 56g is even lighter than the camera I had in mind, thanks for the awesome find! The plan would be to create a carbon fiber mount for the camera thats curved to fit around the crest of the bird. It wouldn't need to be a perfect mold for the bird, and I'd probably add a little padding so its comfortable for the bird. The housing would also need to have spots for me the tread some parachute cord through so I could attach it to the front of the bird (like a reverse backpack) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas0n_NeVel Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 On 12/11/2023 at 1:18 PM, jenn4536 said: I work with birds of prey (think falconry) and have wanted to get areal footage from my bird's point of view for years now. Problem is go pro cameras are too bulky and heavy for the birds to wear and they also dont have any practical way to attach to the bird. Recently I found a really tiny camera and now I'm wondering how I might be able to design a harness system and camera housing out of carbon fiber to attach to my birds. I'm just on the beginning planning process now but the idea has me really excited and I had to share 🙂 Wow, that sounds super cool! How long have you been a falconer? I'm kinda scared of birds but hawks are pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn4536 Posted December 28, 2023 Author Share Posted December 28, 2023 I'm not a falconer, but I work with birds of prey at the zoo. I would love to get my license on day though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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