Aerial camera
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| US Air Force 5-481 horizon-to-horizon aerial reconnaissance double camera image by Rick Oleson (Image rights) |
A professional aerial camera is a special, medium of large-format camera for photogrammetric survey or military purposes like reconnaissance or air combat documentation. The amateur's aerial camera may be a small camera mounted under a remote controlled aircraft model or in a small rocket. Professional/military reconnaissance aerial cameras, especially of the larger types, are usually mounted firmly into the plane's airframe (vertical or oblique) to ensure that image angles and image intervals are consistent for the photo run. Smaller cameras were used hand-held, or fastened on machine gun mounts. Many aerial cameras are of a fixed focus (set on infinity) design, or have lenses with ultra-wide viewing angles (such as the Metrogon).
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| A Fairchild K-17 installed for vertical photography in the nose of a Lockheed F-4 ('Photo-Lightning') image by San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives (Image rights) |
Examples of aerial cameras
Reconnaissance and photogrammetric survey/mapping cameras
Hand-held aerial cameras
Aerial Combat training cameras
- Rokuoh-Sha Type 89 Machine Gun Camera
- Ernemann machine gun camera
Cameras for air combat documentation (Gun Sight Aiming Point cameras)
- KOMZ S-13 machine gun camera (Soviet)
- Solar-Vought Torpedo Camera (USA)
- Type 1 Fixed Target-checking Camera (Japan)
Missile Cameras
Gallery
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| Vertical air photo taken with a fixed Fairchild K-17A with a 36" lenscone image by Dirk HR Spennemann (Image rights) |
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| Oblique air photo taken with a fixed unit with 6" lenscone image by Dirk HR Spennemann (Image rights) |
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| Oblique air photo taken with a handheld unit, most likely a Fairchild K-20 image by Dirk HR Spennemann (Image rights) |
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| Oblique air photo taken with a handheld plate camera in 1917 (France, during World War I) image by Dirk HR Spennemann (Image rights) |
