The 110 film cartridge was timely, as Bobbi had just shown me a video clip of a model rocket being launched from a drone, with both the drone and the rocket equipped with video cameras:
They had model rockets with cameras back in the '70s, but they used 110 film, so you might need to wait a couple days to see a few blurry images of your neighborhood from a rocket's eye view.
Here at Roseholme Cottage, we still use ice cube trays
, albeit slicker and trendier
and more hip and modern than the ones we had in the '70s, just like we still have a progressive dunderhead for a president, albeit slicker and trendier and more hip and modern than the one we had in the '70s.Differences from the '70s abound, too. The current president looks a lot more comfortable bowing to foreign royalty than the old one did kissing Soviet dictators, for example, and nobody's boycotting anybody's Olympics for invading Afghanistan this time around.
EDITED TO ADD:
Thanks to discussion in comments: Estes Cineroc!
19 comments:
Call me when they get a rocket that launches horizontally and flies a stable trajectory...preferably one with some payload capacity. THAT would be a drone for me.
I remember the 110 camera rocket. Am I totally delusional, or did Estes also make a rocket with an 8mm movie camera as well?
By 1970 the stack of 45rpm records had mostly been replaced by the LP. I'm not sure when 110 film came out, but the other things seem more 1960's to me. Drive in movies were still common, but were in decline.
@ Murphy's Law: It's a pretty short step from this to that. Scale the 'copter up, and everything else can be had off the shelf.
Cool video.
I still have several of my Estes rockets from the early 1980s.
I keep meaning to take them out and fly them again (especially now that I have an 8 year old who would love it) but let too many other things get in the way.
The current dunderhead-in-chief has not been attacked by a swamp bunny. So he has that going for him.
The current dunderhead-in-chief has not been attacked by a swamp bunny. So he has that going for him.
i had a 110 Kodak camera, I got it in 1974, and it was still being advertised strongly on TV (Horror of horrors, I think I still have it somewhere, but of course no film is available and good luck finding the bullet-shaped battery).
Estes did have a movie camera you could put in a model rocket. IIRC it was fairly big compared to the ones you could put an egg in or the still camera. I think it needed a booster stage, but don't quote me on that.
My friends and I all lusted after the Cineroc, but none of us could afford it. My favorite rockets were the Estes payload model (stripped the fins when I launched it with a B14-5), and an X-24 Bug lifting body offered by Estes' competitor of the day, the name of which escapes me.
> no [110] film is available
You can still buy new 110 film from the Lomography people (don't like their "Oooh look, a crappy photo, I'm such an Artistic snowflake! hipster approach but respect their marketing savvy) in B+W, C-41 and E6 (yes, a color slide 110 film is back!). There is also a small hardcore of people who reload their old 110 cartridges with 16mm film.
There were some pretty good 110 cameras made: the Pentax 110 SLR system, the Minolta 110 SLR MarkII, Rollei made the A110 and E110, and a few others, such as the Canon 110 series which had fast f/2.0 lenses. But the majority were crap.
Rockets? You could put your eye out, young lady!
The Estes still camera of the mid-70's (hard core Rocket Geek at the time I owned one, along with about 50 rockets) did not use a 110 cartridge.
It had a single frame of film (might have been 110 sized, I don't recall) mounted behind the lens and a trip line that released when the ejection charge went off.
With the proper timing on the ejection charge we could usually get the camera pointed down.
As several of the Rocket Geeks in my Jr. High were also Camera Geeks, developing was usually fast and free in the school dark room.
I lusted after the Cineroc, but it wasn't just the price of the camera, it was the cost of a projector and screen to watch the results that put it out of my reach.
Cineroc! That's the name.
Lomography. Aren't they the people who sell the Diana Camera (or some Russian knockoff) as the ne plus ultra of artistic photography? Crappy artistic snowflake hipster is pretty much spot on.
And fear of putting my eye out with a model rocket is pretty much why Mom limited mine to static display.
Ken,
Estes competitor was Centauri.
And yeah, my kids love it when we go launch rockets.
"And fear of putting my eye out with a model rocket is pretty much why Mom limited mine to static display."
Actually, I think you'd be much more likely to put your eye out with a rocket on static display than by launching one, at least if you follow all the safety rules.
I still kind of lust after a Pentax 110 SLR system, and would pick up one if I found it at a good price. (The used camera store is just around the corner from my house.)
My last Estes powered rocket used three engines in the booster. Big problem if they did not all ignite! The off axis thrust would end up driving it into the ground far enough from the launch point that it would hit before you could outrun it. Had to run toward the launcher for safety. Made spectating problematical, but interesting!
Never could get all three to light together. Since the rocket was not reusable after such an impact, it got expensive. Also, since I was using the long burn engines, they occasionally would exit the wreck on their own, which made for additional excitement.
I was really hoping to be able to launch a mouse with it. Had a capsule made that would safely bring a fresh egg back to earth, using a single stage rocket. That was the test occupant for the mouse, but I wanted to get it a lot higher using the multistage setup. Oh, well.
Centauri, that was it! Thanks, jetfxr69.
The X-24 Bug was a cardstock model with a small engine tube. The instructions had the builder adjust the CG with modeling clay, which was then be mixed with styrene glue and permanently fixed in place. Wonder if I can find another one somewhere...I was always partial to lifting body and boost glider models, though I also liked my brother's Estes Cold Power (liquid fueled) X-15.
That brings back memories. I had a Cineroc as well when I was a kid. If I dig through enough boxes in the basement I wouldn't be surprised if I found a couple of pictures from it. I'm a bit of a packrat that way.
Corey
The 110 with the 13mm x 17mm negative was only exceeded at the time by the earlier 126 cartridge with a 28mm x 28mm negative, which at least let you enlarge the prints to 8"x8" with some resolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/110_film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/126_film
It had a single frame of film (might have been 110 sized, I don't recall) mounted behind the lens and a trip line that released when the ejection charge went off."
That was the Cameroc. I lusted after one of those.
Post a Comment