DIY
IMAGING
2-MILE CAMERA REMOTE
Walkie-talkie actuator lets everyone pose
without rushing for a timer. By Tom Rodgers
Photography by Tom Rodgers
A few years ago, I was hiking with a friend along the
ridge at Crater Lake in Oregon, and I saw a great
spot for us to pose for a picture, on a cliff overlooking the lake. Unfortunately, the perfect place from
which to take that picture was 250 yards away,
over treacherous terrain. There was no way I could
cover that distance in the 10 seconds allotted by
my camera’s timer. So I stayed with the camera
and sent my friend ahead to pose on the cliff alone.
I was right, it was a great shot, but I was sorry we
couldn’t both be in it.
This gave me the idea to create a camera remote
with enough range to let me take more interesting,
adventuresome shots than the standard timer
or short-range remote would allow. It occurred
to me that a handheld radio could be used as a
remote control, enabling me to set up the camera
in advance, and then go pose for an “action shot”
anywhere in the camera’s field of view. I could then
trigger the camera with the radio.
1. Open up the camera.
Open the camera and remove the circuit board;
I used a scrap of masking tape to secure the
camera’s display (Figure A, next page). Find the
on/off and shutter buttons on the circuit board.
This camera’s buttons consist of a central disk
surrounded by an outer ring. A small metal dome
sits on the ring, and pushing the button flattens the
dome, bringing its center down on the disk, which
closes the circuit.
CAUTION: Watch out for the camera’s flash
circuitry; it can give you a shock even after the
batteries are removed!
Make: 151
