FROM THE BALLOON CAMERA TO THE
MICROPROCESSOR-CONTROLLED LMK
AERIAL SURVEY CAMERA SYSTEM
Dipl,-Phys. Norbert Diete
Kombinat VEB Carl Zeiss JENA,
GDR
Commission VI/2
GENERAL
When in 1982 the international photogrammetric community learned
about the LMK, the world's first commercial aerial mapping
camera to have a facility for compensating linear image motion,
its Jena manufacturers looked back on a seventy years tradition
in the design of equipment for the metric, photographic sensing
of the earth's surface, Aerial cameras have always been one of
the main product lines within the photogrammetric equipment
range, which started in Jena with the Stereocomparator developed
by C, Pulfrich in 1901, In the beginning the development of
aerial cameras was almost synchronous with that of aviation
engineering.
This article will trace the constant efforts, right from the
beginning, of the Jena works towards the improvement. of aerial
photogrammetric equipment. This is evidenced by the almost
confusing succession of product models that have left the
workshops between 1910 and now, to be used all over the world.
From the very start, the success of aerial photography was
principally due to the excellent conditions existing at Jena
with regard to the designing and manufacture of high-quality
optics and precise mechanical systems, A third component being
incorporated in an growing measure is microprocessor engineering,
which Jena scientists and designers have been utilized with
great success in recent years for a substantial increase in
camera performance; this ist impressively proved by the technical
features of the LMK and LMK-1000 camera systems,
1, THE DEVELOPMENT OF AERIAL CAMERAS FROM 1910 TILL 1945
The idea of using the new medium of photography for the purpose
of a pictoral representation of the earth's surface features
dates back to first practical experiments in the middle of the
19th century (C.F. Tournachon, also known by the name of
NADAR, 1858), But it took some substantial advances in aviation
engineering as well as the creation of better performing camera
lenses before Jena developed and produced the Model 18/1318
Balloon Camera (Fig. 1) in 1910, for which again Pulfrich
deserved a major part of the credit, This camera had a frame
size of 130 mm x 180 mm, a fast lens of 180 mm focal length,
and a plate locating frame provided with four marker holes,
which served to establish the positions of the optical axis
and the plate horizon. The camera was designed for being
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