Aeronautic engineer for the day and astrophotographer at night. such is the life of Jason DeFreitas, a photographer and engineer from New South Wales (Australia) known on the Internet for his great skill in photographing planets, the Milky Way and eclipses. But the thing Don “t stay there. JaseFilm —which is his name on the networks— does all his work with analog cameras. His latest invention has led him to merge their two great passions.
A project that has been simmering for years
From a young age, Jason already knew that he wanted to be an aeronautical engineer. already with 16 years was able to build and put to fly your own radio controlled helicopters, and soon after, he became animated with the quadcopters. He studied at the University and approx. at the age of 25 he discovered photography. However, instead of obsessing over the Canon, Sony or Nikon of the moment, De Freitas was curious about the movie.
And finally, he was encouraged to combine his two passions in one unique and original project. According to the engineer, those who know him closely have spent years imagining that one day the project analog drone I would see the light.
This is the drone that takes analog photographs
For his chimera, De Freitas used a iFlight Chimera 7 drone, which is characterized by having a first-person view. She cost him about 620 dollars and measures about 15 centimeters. According to the engineer, she could have used a slightly smaller and easier-to-use drone, but would have to sacrifice flight time by having a less durable battery.
On the other hand, he had to hire a professional to fly the drone due to Australian laws as el first person flight of drones has a harsh regulation in that country. Still, the engineer managed to get his operator to control the Chimera 7 with a few fpv goggles of the DJI brand that he himself modified with some Lumenier AXII HD antennas.
35mm slides with just point and shoot
Now it was time to choose an analog camera for the invention. After some investigation, he decided that the most logical thing would be a light and automatic camera. A point and shoot, come on. Only, in this case, it would target the operator with Jason’s orders. Finally he got a Olympus Stylus Mju-1, which weighs a little more than a GoPro. The coupling to the drone and the remote camera control They were also in charge of the skills of the engineer, who designed a mount with a series of motors that allowed him to both hook the compact to the drone—and align it with the FPV camera—and operate it from afar.
With everything already assembled, all that remained was to put it to flight. De Freitas decided to try his luck on the south coast of New South Wales, near a town called Narooma. The 35mm slides he got were really impressive. you can see all the process and the photos you got result in this video that Jason De Freitas has uploaded to his YouTube channel.
