The Patented Pigeon Camera

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In the 19th Century, and early 20th Century, homing carrier pigeons were common. They were primarily used to deliver messages, however they they had other uses. In 1903 Dr Julius Neubronner, an apothecary in Germany, used them to deliver medicines to a sanatorium in a nearby city.

He eventually began to experiment with mounting small cameras on the pigeons with shutters on timers that could take pictures while the birds were in flight. He submitted a patent for his first Pigeon Camera in 1907. At first it was rejected. The patent office thought it impossible for the pigeons to carry the weight of the camera, but it was finally approved when he provided pictures they had taken.

His technique became popular when he exhibited his pigeon cameras at the 1909 International Photographic and the International Aviation exhibitions. He would send his pigeons aloft, develop the pictures when they returned and sell them as postcards.

Photography from aircraft soon eclipsed the popularity of Dr Neubronner's pigeon cameras. I wonder what he would think of today's drone mounted cameras?

Sources:  Pigeon photography, Now that's a bird’s eye view.

SLR Camera Simulator

Simulated low light photograph - notice the blurred pinwheel

If you're not trained in photography a camera's controls are confusing. Aperture, shutter speed and the other settings are a mystery, made worse by the fact that adjusting one may require the adjustment of another to compensate. How all of this influences exposure, depth of field and motion blur can be baffling.

Camerasim is an online SLR simulator that allows you to experiment with a camera's settings and see how they impact the resulting photo.  

Its viewfinder shows a scene of a little girl who's holding a spinning pinwheel and standing in front of some playground equipment. You start by setting the ambient light and your distance from her, then you can adjust focal length, ISO, aperture and shutter speed while referencing your light meter before snapping your picture to see the results.

The simulator also has brief explanations of the various terms used in photography and what the settings do. Try it out, maybe it will give you confidence to turn your digital camera's 'auto' setting off and fiddle with the controls a little.