Well we flew the k10d on another mission today, and I thought you might like to see some pictures, and hear a bit of the story. To those that have not seen this before, we are flying a k10d on a high-altitude sounding balloon to the edge of space. Flights I and II can be found in these threads below. I am posting this in the DSLR thread since that is where the other two are, and the focus is on the performance of the k10d in this harsh environment.
Flight I:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/31970-pentax-k10d-space.html
Flight II:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/43930-pentax-k10d-space-ii.html
The lens used today was the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8. We were expecting a somewhat rough ride, so shutter speed was set to 1/4000. Tv, Auto ISO 100-400, Matrix metering, all shot in RAW. In all there are 530 images. I won't show them all here.
Minimum external temperature during the flight was -71F.
Today we launched out of Weatherford, which is in far western Oklahoma where the terrain is quite flat (it makes for nice recoveries.) Unfortunately, the atmosphere was quite hazy all the way up today, and the haze layers were stratified. This really reduced the contrast of the images today. The first layer started at about 5000 ft. as you can see here:
The town of Weatherford from 8000 ft. Note the wind turbines in the distance:
Here we are crossing through 36,000ft. Note the contrail of the airplane passing just underneath. In the full-rez picture, you can just barely make out the plane at the end of the contrail at 100% crop.
The view of Weatherford (center bottom) from 41000 ft:
An interesting picture of the ground from 70,000ft. The camera is almost pointed straight down here. The payloads are really swinging around quite violently, which is why the view changes considerably from shot to shot.
73,000ft:
Here we are at the peak: 98,500 ft. just before the balloon burst.
Here is what the balloon looks like from the ground using a 400mm lens, when it is at 98,500ft. You can see it with the naked eye. At this altitude, it is between 35-40 ft in diameter:
78,000ft. on the way down now:
Last clear shot before going through the lowest haze layer where the humidity was high (approx 5000 ft.) Note the condensation starting in the upper left of the lens:
The lens is really fogging up now at about 4000ft. Below this there is so much condensation that you can't see anything. Note that the camera lens was really cold soaked from being up at altitude. The ride down only takes about a half an hour. After landing, the camera and lens are quite wet for some time.
Here is a picture I took from the ground. We were able to get ahead of it today with our tracking gear, and we parked at the predicted landing site, and watched the last 6000 ft. descent. Note the k10d is in the large silver box. You can see the Tamron lens and hood sticking out the side:
Camera still shooting away on the ground after impact. (Note the lens has had time to warm up, and you can see us at the site.)
What the landing site looked like as we walk to the payloads. Note the parachute center frame along the fence:
Here are the folks that were with me for the flight. The gentleman on the far right was the land owner:
Launch to completed recovery took only two hours today!
Last edited by PentaxPoke; 03-19-2010 at 09:40 AM.