How to select a suitable fixed magnified lens

Dear Support,

I have an upcoming project of an aerial photogrammetry survey with NADIR images.

It is an oil industry plant that is under operation.

The requirement is to achieve 1:200 scale accuracy.

As per my calculations using formulas from your knowledge base, in order to achieve this accuracy with the GoPro Silver Hero 3+ the flight height should be at around 30 meters.

Since there are several chimneys under operation I prefer to raise my flight height up to 100 or even 150 meters. This will guarantee my UAV will never hit anything.

However, while increasing the flight height my GSD and consequently accuracy is reducing.

Can I use a magnifying lens so that although my UAV will fly at 150 meters, the ground will appear optically closer and photos will be taken as if the UAV flew at 50 meters?

Is there a recommended set of LENS (mm) vs Flight Height?

Please, advise.

 

Regards,

Vusal

Vusal, a modified zoom lens would definitely improve the resolution of your pictures, but you might have a problem calibrating your pictures in Pix because it needs to know the specifications of the camera and it might be difficult to calculate the specs of the camera with the new lens.

What resolution are you taking your pictures?

Thanks for your post, Mathew!

My main target is to use a LIGHT but professional brand camera body with also LIGHT and FIXED lens.

I expect a camera of at least 18 megapixels and image size of approximately 5000 W to 3500 H.

 

Regards,

Vusal

Hey Vusal, the Sony Cyber‑Shot DSC‑QX100 may work for you. It’s one of the more commonly used cameras with commercial grade UAVs.

Hello Matthew!

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Do you know if the camera you’ve recommended can be operated with 3D Robotics X8+ drone?