Do-it-yourself photogun. About the history of the creation of cameras, standards and home-made cameras DIY photogun stock

How stupid the game has gone. I ran after her for half a day to take pictures.
- This is not enough. Now you will run after him for half a day.
- Why so?
- And to give the photo.

When I watched the wonderful cartoon "Vacation in Prostokvashino" as a child, I could not even think that Photogun for Sharik is not a figment of Eduard Uspensky's imagination, but has a real prototype. After a few years, I not only learned about the existence "Photo snipers", but also became the proud owner of a photo set FS-12 (PHOTOSNIPER-12)... The whole set fits in this suitcase:

The first thing that caught my eye was a huge Tair-3C lens with focal length 300 mm. It is not difficult to calculate that for a film SLR this gave a very decent magnification of about 6 times for those times! Today this figure does not look so impressive, but the device still impresses with its appearance:

It is made sturdy, reliable and impressive, and, nevertheless, easy to operate. Everything seems to be in its place. With your left hand you tune, with your right you pull the trigger. It is thanks to the trigger and the butt that you really feel like a hunter or a sniper. The set cannot be called ladies', it weighs 3 kg in working condition, and together with a suitcase 5.5 kg, so after a while your hands begin to get tired.

By the way, as far as the name is concerned, initially these cameras were produced specifically for military use and were called "hand-held photographic reconnaissance apparatus" (the first "Photosniper" was produced in a small batch in 1937 by the State Optical Institute on the basis of the FED rangefinder). Then a similar model called FS-2 began to be produced at the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant (KMZ). In the model of Photosniper FS-3 and in the subsequent ones, Zenit SLR cameras were used, which were already intended for the consumer market.

By the way, foreign companies did not produce such kits. Sometimes special butts were produced, but in fact no one was involved in mass production of photographic guns, except for the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant.

The value of the FS-12 also lies in the fact that we detach the camera body from the butt and, by screwing on the Helios-44M-4 lens (which is included in the kit), we get a regular camera for everyday photography. It's not always the same to walk people around to scare people :-)

Hello everyone!

Hands up - I decided to write an article about the photo sniper.

A little background: After buying a camera, I caught fire to get a cool onedevice... I searched everywhere and waited a very long time for at least a little human offer on the Internet. In the end, everything turned out great, they brought from Novgorod to in the best possible way, it feels like the kit has been waiting for me for 18 years!

After the first moments of puppy joy and the shooting with blank cartridges (on a film camera without film) everything that gets into the lens, it was necessary to think about how to achieve the desired result.

The first problem is to put on a photo set digital camera We easily solve: we screw the lens through the adapter and put it on the trigger.

In order for the lens to spin smoothly on the figure, and not sideways, it is necessary to loosen three screws (one of them is shown in the picture), put the lens in desired position and fix the screws.

Everything is perfect, except for one moment that destroys everything - the camera does not respond to the trigger!

The task is: not to lose all the buzz from "shooting a gun", forcing the bolt to respond to the trigger. Google did not give much food for thought. In general, you can see that if you google something related to a photo sniper, then besides junk it gives out nothing - a lot of empty chatter on the forums and old ads up to 2001! Something similar to the truth was:

... But the method is too complicated for ordinary mortals, and in many respects it is worse than the option that I will describe below.

So, we need: a wire, a miniature button (any, I chose here

this ), connector (I have Pentax k10d and I needed 2.5 jack ), cambric and rubber band on the wires (this is not necessary), double-sided tape.

The first thing to do is prepare the trigger. To begin with, we will open it, then unscrew the "piece" on which the film camera is attached and the wand that enters it to trigger the shutter.

I want to say that I am not a radio amateur and in general I do not understand much about this, so I will explain it as best I can. Actually, you need to solder the button and the connector to the wire (after putting on an elastic band and cambric). What signal goes where, I have no idea, I have to solder so that when the button is pressed, the shutter is triggered (since the button has only two positions on and off, and we solder only two wires to it, the camera loses the "half-pressing" focusing stroke , so check in M ​​mode).

I have an AI Nikkor 400mm f / 3.5. An excellent lens in terms of optics, as strong as a tank, but handheld shooting is something! It weighs under three kilograms and almost all of this weight falls on the front lens unit. Holding it, in principle, is not a problem, but also focusing by rotating the focusing ring is not an easy task.

It was necessary to somehow relieve the left hand, at least a little. There are, of course, options, but there are not many of them - a good tripod and monopod. They provide an excellent support for capturing everything that happens at the photographer's eye level and in small ranges above and below. If the object moves in a wide range of heights in the vertical plane, then the monopod is only a hindrance (once you just had to unfasten it and throw it in the mud nearby so as not to miss a good shot) and a tripod can save if it is tall enough and equipped with a gimbal head suspension type Wimberley. A good solution, but it has two significant drawbacks - heavy weight and dimensions and the same price. Theoretically, there is another option - like Sharik from Prostokvashino, that is, a photographic gun, or, more precisely, a shoulder rest for a lens with a camera, but ... as it turned out, such things are practically not produced now. From the factory - only all-plastic Bushhawk


with a rather futuristic appearance and dubious ergonomics and SharpShooter, whose basis is very reminiscent of the Tapco T-6 adjustable rifle butt (however, this is what it is).


There are also all sorts of "limited editions" self made and some ancient drain, for example, for Leukovian calves and light shoulder rests, for example from Manfrotto.





But these options were not seriously considered due to their questionable availability or unsuitability for heavy optics. I looked at the "Photosniper" for a long time, which now can be bought not at all expensive and, having thrown out the standard dull Tair with Zenith, try to add your system there, but having estimated the difference in dimensions, I thought that the balance would be unsatisfactory in the end, plus the labor costs for revision that could be unreasonably high.
In the end, I decided to try to make the machine myself, specifically for my kit. That is, having formulated the following technical task: convenience and familiarity of the grip, the same as for small arms, the lowest possible center of gravity, the usual control of the bolt, i.e. button under forefinger right hand, fixing the lens with the camera at least two points in order to eliminate the possibility of unintentional rotation of the lens on the tripod pad screw (judging by the photographs of Bushawk "and from import forums, with lenses attached to it with a rubber strap, such an option is not provided there by default), the possibility manual focusing with the left hand, and if possible minimum dimensions and weight with good strength.
A raid on nearby shops bore fruit in the form of a set of plastic (butt and forend) for the "Tiger" and a duralumin bracket for carrying out the flash from an unknown Chinese manufacturer, however, made very high quality.


Everything was done in a couple of days (nights), and the lion's share of this time was spent thinking "how to cross a snake and a hedgehog as efficiently as possible", since I did not yet have a clear idea of ​​the final form of the product by the time the manufacturing began. but eventually something began to take shape. The bracket was disassembled and sawn, some interfering or unnecessary protrusions were cut off from the butt, and then everything was tried on dry, fitted and assembled on screws with self-locking nuts. The Chinese "Pixel" remote control was used as a release button, by the way it is also very high-quality. It is fixed in such a way that the first phalanx of the index finger rests on the button - this is familiar and comfortable, no new sensations compared to the standard camera button. Certain difficulties have arisen with the mount of the tripod lens arm. Ideally, I would like something like a sliding adapter Manfrotto 357, but for now I had to confine myself to the standard Manfrotto 323 pad. I certainly wanted to fit it on a standard 3/8 inch thread so as not to make unnecessary "holes", but it turned out to be absolutely fantastic idea. The "peddlers" from the Central Market helped out, from whom I fished out a rusty, but quite working, 3/8 die for ridiculous money. With its help, the M10 bolt was "cut", which was perfectly screwed into the standard socket of the platform. For additional fixation of the camera, a bolt from the zenith cover is provided. Its mount is made sliding and to some extent movable in the vertical plane in order to eliminate bending stresses in the camera-lens bundle. From what has not yet been done - I want to hide the remote control wire in the hollow structure of the butt and buy a rubber butt pad for it, since the standard metal one is rather slippery.
The result is a not flimsy machine weighing 900 grams, which almost completely fits in the back pocket of the Mini-Tracker. Easy to hold with one right hand. When taking photos, the left palm rests on the front rest for additional support, while the thumb and forefinger remain free to easily rotate the focus ring. In general, I coped with the task and I am satisfied with the result. Based on the results of test firing, it would be nice to get an elongated magnifying eyecup for the eyepiece, otherwise everything is very good.

Ask any hunter what is the most interesting thing about hunting for him? The process itself? A hunting trophy? Skinning (you can read more about how to skin slaughtered animals using the “pipe” method)? Most hunters will answer that the end result is important to them, but the process of hunting itself attracts them no less. And, now imagine that you will hunt with ... a photographic gun? It is about the latter that we want to tell you in our new publication ...

Hunting with a photogun

Hunting with a photographic gun equipped with long-focus optics is a difficult, but quite exciting experience. Such a hunt knows no restrictions or prohibitions. Thus, the hunter, throughout the year, has the opportunity to follow the life of animals and birds, and to record moments from their lives on information carriers. These hunting trophies can be stored for years and be of great value.

In Soviet times, photography was carried out using long-focus lenses Tair-3, MTO-500 and MTO-1000, however, the use of such lenses also presupposed the use of a special device - lens mounts.

At one time, specialists had the opportunity to inspect and test a number of models of photographic weapons of various designs, and today we would like to invite you to familiarize yourself with their drawings. Who knows, maybe you can find such a camera gun in the attic and use it in order to save money on the purchase of modern photographing equipment.

The following device options have an advantage when shooting with a Zenith camera, and some have advantages when shooting with a Start camera. In one case, the lens structures are attached to the buttstock, and the camera is in a free-hanging state, in the other case, you can observe the simultaneous attachment of both the lens and the camera. Unfortunately, not all of these photoguns have the ability to quickly and easily switch from shooting horizontal frames to shooting in vertical mode - this is not a modern technique for you. Some also have the disadvantage of not being able to quickly focus on moving subjects so that they can be constantly in focus and the shutter is released when you need it.

The presence of such shortcomings at one time prompted a number of amateur photographers and professionals to begin work on improving the designs of photographic guns and pushed them to create their own versions of such a gun. True, such achievements remained little-known, and factories for the production of long-focus optics were not interested in them. But, we suggest that you still consider their discoveries, as well as the device and rules for using a photographic gun while hunting ...

Rules for the use of a photo gun in a photo hunt

So,

If you want to take photographs with long-focus optics, it will be useful for you to know that of the old models, only SLR cameras, such as Zenith, Crystal and Start, as well as others equipped with a trigger, are suitable for this purpose. At the same time, they do not require any additional adjustment steps.

The longer the focal length of the lens used for shooting, the more difficult it is to shoot without a rest. Also, it is worth remembering that using a tripod when photographing animals and birds is not convenient and impossible.

The presence of a hood for long-focus optics - required condition... At the same time, in order to achieve a stable position of the camera during shooting of moving objects and walking shooting, cameras with a butt, which are called photographic guns, are used.

How to use the camera and lens when hunting

In order for you to be able to prepare the camera for shooting, you need to unscrew the standard lens and return one of the long-focus lenses to its place - Tair-3, MTO-500, MTO-1000.

In order to unscrew the telephoto lens of the Start camera, you should use a special adapter ring.

In the photographic guns shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, the camera with the lens is attached to the stock using a special threaded hole on the lens and a special "lamb" that is permanently attached to the stock of the camera. Such fastening of the camera to the stock allows to achieve a good balance of the installation and provides free access to the camera. In this case, the camera is in a free-hanging state. For some designs (in particular, for Zenith cameras), the release cable should be lengthened by drawing up 2 standard cables, which you fasten together using an adapter sleeve - see photo 2. The best cable that is attached to the front of the photogun grip will be of course a standard cable from the camera Start. In the photogun, which is shown in photo 4, the camera with the lens is mounted at 2 points, that is, both the camera and the lens are attached. But, with such a mount, there is no possibility of replacing the camera.

To shoot with a photographic gun, the back of the butt should be firmly resting on the shoulder, and with your left hand grab the lens and focus. The shutter speed is set according to the shooting circumstances and lens, and the aperture depends on the desired depth of field and lighting conditions. However, it is worth remembering that working with a long lens when shooting will require setting additional high shutter speeds.

A distinctive feature of long-focus optics is that the depth of field of these lenses is insignificant and therefore focusing should be carried out more carefully, and the aperture setting (if lighting allows it) should be carried out in such a way as to maximize the depth of field. For shooting moving objects and walking shooting, the lens must be set on a scale based on the removal of the object to be shot by approximately 30-40 meters and accordingly apertured in advance. This will enable the hunter to take a picture faster when the subject appears unexpectedly. Shooting can be performed with tracking a moving subject at the required shutter speed.

One of the rather interesting devices - it is shown in Figure 2, is a special lightweight tube made of aluminum or duralumin, with a built-in I-51 lens with a large aperture and focal length and aperture of 1 to 4.5 or an I-13 lens with an even greater focal length and the same aperture. These lenses are used for pavilion cameras with a frame size of 18 by 24 centimeters and more. They are well suited for small format SLR cameras such as Zenith, Start, Crystal and can even replace a set of lenses Yu-8, Yu-9, Yu-135 and Tair-3. Their resolution is in no way inferior to the indicated interchangeable lenses and makes it possible to shoot from a distance of 0.5 meters and further. In other words,

you can take a full frame 24 x 36 millimeters of a butterfly sitting on a flower and also capture a bird or an animal well and take a good picture, regardless of the distance at which the shooting is taken.

But, it should be noted that the Start-type camera, in addition to aiming at frosted glass, also has wedge-shaped aiming, which, when photographing birds and animals in motion, slightly interferes. We would recommend that you get rid of it.