Azerbaijan Baikanor Project

November 2016

(Nutopia – One Strange Rock – Series One – National Geographic)

Engineering Case Study.

The brief was to build a Canon C300 MK2 camera and external recorder into a housing to film a rocket launch, from approx. 150m away from the launch pad. The unit had to be battery powered and record for 48 Hours. The crew could only set up 24 hours prior to launch and retrieve 24 hours afterward. 

There were 2x housings constructed, 1x for the camera, lens and external recorder. The other to house the 6x Truck batteries wired in series to power the rig for the duration. The truck batteries were sourced locally. The Camera housing was a large peli case with a square hole cut to the side. The camera and lens were fixed to the bottom of the case with the lens positioned to the edge of the cut hole. An optical flat filter was fixed over the hole to protect the Lens. Ventilation holes were placed to the rear of the case to disperse heat. A power wiring loom was constructed to connect the 2x cases together. The Rig was placed on the ground along with the truck battery housing behind, both anchored down by sandbags to hold in place during the launch. 

The shoot was a success, the camera and recorder survived the blast without issue and captured amazing footage for the final project, with only damage to the optical flat filter. A unique challenge!