Digital Camera Module

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The photos below show a camera module that was designed to fly inside the payload bay of Starfire. This module contains two Canon S40 digital still cameras with 4-Mpixel resolution. The cameras contain a 256MB compact flash card and can each take about 120-150 photos before filling the card. The camera module rides inside Starfire during the boost phase, but is dumped out at apogee and at that point both cameras begin taking as many pictures as possible as they descend on parachute.

The Canon S40 digital still camera was chosen for this project for a lot of different of reasons. First of all, it takes great photos, has 4Mpix resolution and is not terribly expensive. It also has an automatic multi-frame shutter mode that will continuously take about two photos per second until the entire memory card is full. It also has an override feature that allows the automatic power-down mode to be disabled. This is important to allow it to sit in the rocket for an extended period of time without turning itself off.

Two cameras were modified by carefully cutting out the shutter button and wiring directly to the shutter switch contact pads. This allows the cameras to be connected to a roller switch that is mounted on the camera module side wall. The roller switch activates the shutter when the camera module is deployed from the payload bay.

By the way, in order to figure out the best way to perform this modification I bought a non-working camera on eBay and tore it apart. It allowed me to practice the modification on one without fear of trashing a perfectly good camera.

The two cameras have been mounted on a plywood base plate. One of the two roller switches can also be seen mounted on the base plate with the roller lever extending outward.

The shutter cables from the cameras plug into connectors on a small PC board. The roller switches are directly wired to this same PC board to complete the connection with the cameras.

Another view of the camera module with both cameras installed. The two roller switches are visible on each side of the camera module. The connectors can be seen plugged into the PC board.

The camera base plate is also mounted on top of a 3 inch thick piece of foam rubber. This foam acts as a landing cushion to help reduce the impact force experienced by the cameras at the moment of touch down.

A short length of tubing is added to protect the cameras. This is coupler tubing that fits inside the Starfire payload bay. Of course it has holes cut into it at the cameras lens and roller switches.

Top view of the camera module with the coupler tubing in place. A roller switch can be seen extending through the coupler tubing on the right side.

This close-up shows how the roller switch lever mechanism extends out through a slot in the coupler tubing. The roller lever gets depressed when the camera module is inserted into the payload bay.

The roller switches are of the normally closed type. This means that when the roller lever is extended, the switch is closed and makes a connection between the shutter button switch pads. This triggers the cameras which have been configured to take as many frames as possible.

The roller lever is depressed when the camera module is inside the payload bay and this causes the switch to open. When the switch is open, the cameras are not activated. (It's like removing your finger from the shutter button.)

The underside of the lid for the camera module has a 35mm film canister mounted to it with some foam padding inside so that a Walston tracking transmitter can be installed if needed. The antenna on the Walston transmitter can be routed through a hole in the lid of the film canister and extended out through the bottom of the camera module.

The completed camera module is now ready to be placed inside the payload bay.

A parachute connects to the U-bolt on the top of the camera module. A length of bungee cord is also used between the camera module and the parachute to help reduce the magnitude of the parachute opening shock on the cameras.

The camera module is shown here being installed into the Starfire payload bay. It gets dumped out at apogee and the cameras take pictures during the ride back down to the ground.