My Little Balloon Camera Project
So, the other day, I got this idea stuck in my head: what if I put a camera on a balloon? Like, just float it up and see what kind of pictures or video I could get. Seemed simple enough, right? So, I decided to actually try it out.
First thing, I needed the gear. I rummaged around and found my old action camera, one of those small blocky ones. It’s not super light, but I thought it might work. Then, balloons. I just grabbed a pack of standard party balloons from the corner store. And string, gotta have string, plus some tape. Lots of tape, probably.
Trying to Make it Work
Okay, step one was figuring out how to attach this thing. I tried taping the camera directly onto an uninflated balloon, but it seemed clunky. I ended up making a little ‘harness’ out of cardboard scraps and tape, trying to cradle the camera and give the tape something better to stick to on the balloon.
I blew up one balloon just with my breath first, you know, to test the weight and balance. Attached the camera rig. And… yeah, it just sort of sadly flopped over. Way too heavy for one regular balloon filled with boring old air. No surprise there, I guess.
Plan B: more lift! I thought about getting one of those big weather balloons, but that seemed like too much effort. So, I bought a small helium tank, the kind you get for parties. This felt a bit more promising.
Lift Off (Sort Of)
Helium time. I carefully filled up a balloon, attached my camera contraption with plenty of tape, making sure it was stuck on good. Tied the string securely to the balloon knot and the camera harness, just in case the tape failed.
And it floated! It actually lifted the camera off the table. Success! It wasn’t exactly rocketing upwards, more like a slow, slightly wobbly ascent, but it was airborne.
Took it outside. It was a calm day, thankfully. I let out some string, maybe ten, fifteen feet. The balloon bobbed around. The camera view was probably spinning like crazy. I decided to hit record and let out a bit more string, maybe fifty feet or so. It was kind of cool seeing my backyard from that high up, even with the wobbling.
- Attached camera using tape and a cardboard holder.
- Tested with air – too heavy.
- Got a small helium tank.
- Filled balloon with helium.
- It floated!
- Took it outside on a string.
- Recorded some wobbly footage from maybe 50ft up.
Checking the Results
After a few minutes, I carefully pulled the string back in. Didn’t want to lose the camera or have the balloon pop. Got it down safely. The tape held, which was good.
I popped the memory card into my computer. The footage? Well, it was shaky. Very shaky. And it spun around a lot. But hey, you could see stuff! The roof of my house, the neighbour’s garden, the street down below. It wasn’t exactly professional drone footage, but for a camera taped to a party balloon, it wasn’t bad.
Overall? Fun little experiment. Definitely learned that a regular balloon struggles with even a small camera’s weight, and stabilization is non-existent. Maybe next time I’d try a lighter camera, or multiple balloons? Or just accept that sometimes, silly ideas lead to shaky but interesting results. It was worth doing just to see if I could.
