We started with a Vistaquest VQ1005. It's a very cheap, small, light, 1.3 megapixel camera that is easy to take apart and hack. It also has a SD card expansion slot and can function as a webcam. BTW, you can see our LauchPad MSP430 uC hack of this same model camera here.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAafYPKn9uX8vduL2ZajZ_hs4RxQpYCm4QYzcsYteBTHtRnahKYCtL_BawF9Hdik2R0VB9nsj6FmHQx6k1qi4OcPTbyVg6FvKdoTJnJ5-phtnn3DvwfGS0aNMWtGRijlQ99bIYp2sx70lw/s320/cam.jpg)
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Time to void the warranty. The Vistaquest VQ1005 comes apart easily with four small screws. We found a node on the circuit board that triggered the camera to take a picture when connect to the "-" lead of the battery; GROUND. We soldered a "trigger wire" from a 555 Timer to this node.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilTeDviPdsEaWihmPbzpC8pviAGNJQ26i1epfTRtKN_iHyT-1rvTvQvSi7YyOCiiyhd8RfV1A8GdqRt3ixVnOMKqe1DoUXGxcED48Y68qvU5kvr_K9H9qmw6o2APGH0pG7YGWeQhacVKZ4/s320/t-pic.jpg)
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We then needed a way to connect the trigger wire to GROUND automatically. We used a 555 timer chip to provide this function. A low power CMOS 555 can be purchased for about one dollar. If the Vistaquest VQ1005 does not take a picture in 60 seconds it will shut off, so we designed a RC network for the 555 timer that would trigger a picture about every 20 seconds. The circuit looked like this:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii37GZfkmrozqhlA21XKHW3z-UcRicePLX-0Ywg8Y_zzH3sOrNvfnorYC4WO7dE6DosEtHCRrMB7Mhwes68S_kcfzH2O3qrV7cGQ5mixSkoQjwHo58QydWc4IIHGTFTkavBKN9orZuKipA/s320/555circuit.jpg)
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Then we breadboarded a prototype.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6gJWezbaQX47aj0xbFFkGUVDACp7Jo7qdfYq5MQi3EF-nu8bDH9J8cs679COf9kCozIfIrVPFHwP03BPn5AK0UTlXy8qhKmwDDVgiI01LiEcK2GFIhSwda_jOPGzakq7wxTUVbwcjXRt/s320/prototype.jpg)
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After cleaning up the prototype, the rig was cleaner, smaller, lighter.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiFfPWvrELur4qnoJkdcEz5M9RyMcHIqXbCg3gHzKNY5eAE2W0egs-JntRq_145tnczSdzGf1oKh5bm2T5zsHS4ha7k5M1TPjzSIdJddJhNYTyzC0zRNboaXcvXyRZ7I0IohK2k0pDlTrX/s320/smallerproto.jpg)
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Here is the finished rig protected and ready for some kite crashing.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigklOHKjTjPkDnGzXy9b5xgyJ8_j75Qstq6BB7NaIgWOkPRxi6dgiPYtH81vKbeatwCf5LSvsZDoIBwC10ojI7X8lu5bnU9dhPY7J3GKDSE-hQ9uh3tbryuj3EFeNEARn-oxb_Q_9SBGYv/s320/packagedcam.jpg)
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Here are a few vids taken with the setup: