Searching the Ocean With a Digital Camera?

[Snipes]

Hi guys,

Lets try a little thought experiment. If a person had a search area in an area of the ocean which was 40 to 60 feet deep does anyone think its possible (or is there an existing system) to basically photograph the area in a grid and then use software (Similar to aerial photography) to piece it back into a full grid of the bottom of the search area?

For the sake of argument lets say visibility is good and you can see the bottom from the boat. Sound like an idea? Recomendations of cameras and lenses etc? Does this exist.

Thanks!

 

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[old man]

Snipes, I have never tried what you describe. However, I have towed a drop video camera close to the bottom in over 300 feet of water and I've gotten excellent results

 

[SADS 669]

Any metal suspected on it? A mag sounds the way to go, or get one of the non ferrous do dad guys to do a run over the area.

Some of their toys do work

 

[ropesfish]

First researching prior work/available sources we come up with:
https://www3.epa.gov/region10/pdf/diveteam/aaus-underwater-survey-technique-08.pdf
http://www.aims.gov.au/documents/30...edure+10/34301565-3820-4c49-9087-7f3f15f1962a
An underwater photomosaic technique using Adobe Photoshop?

Building a photomosaic:
Photomosaics
http://monitor.noaa.gov/education/pdfs/photomosaics.pdf
http://www.geosci-instrum-method-data-syst.net/2/189/2013/gi-2-189-2013.pdf

Material on types of image enhancement techniques: http://research.ijcaonline.org/volume87/number13/pxc3893743.pdf
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1212/1212.0291.pdf

Yes it is possible, given good enough visibility.
Yes, there is equipment and software available to do it. NAS (Nautical Archaeology Society) does seminars about it. Check the suggested reading @ this link: http://www.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org/sites/default/files/u9/Photo CPD Statement 2014-Wet.pdf
I'd build something of a heavy wave-piercing sort of sled to carry and stabilize the camera and DGPS receiver. Being heavy will minimize the sled's movement due to wave and wake action as well as give a sturdy platform for mounting any other instrumentation. Camera needs to be able to be triggered by software so as to get the right spacing with GPS embedded in every frame.
Is that a good start?

 

[G.I.B.]

Here's your answer. I can get you extremely good resolution down to 15 meters. You can see cannons, ballast piles, objects the side of a treasure chest.

It's a little costly though... flying this in a Cessna 404.

 

[old man]

Any metal suspected on it? A mag sounds the way to go, or get one of the non ferrous do dad guys to do a run over the area.

Some of their toys do work

sadds669, Aquanut started these cookouts for treasure hunters to come together and help each other. I'm going to bring one of those non ferrous " do dads " to the cookout with a 1 meter search coil. So if anyone wants to see how they work. I'll have it there. I know that Aquanut and Pete are using my other one on a project. So if anyone wants to ask them how it worked for them. I advise them to get together with Aquanut and Salvor6. For those that don't know what the non ferrous " do dad " is, go on the Kellyco metal detectors web site on the internet and look up " The Pulse Star II metal detector. " Kellyco always shows up at the cookout, so if yo're interested Kthe Kellyco Team can also tell you about the unit.

 

[Snipes]

This is all such amazing information. I had told my partner about the depth of knowledge on this forum and he just gave me that "sure there is" look. But it nevers fails to amaze me the quality of information and the quality of people available here.


I will sift through that information and formulate a response. We obviously are dealing with the common issue of effectiveness versus budget!

 

[ropesfish]

After thinking about this a little more in depth -what you are proposing is just the waterborne version of something that is getting a lot of attention in the DIY community at the moment-using a drone for mapping/surveillance. The 'newish' word for attaching a GPS location to a particular image is "geotagging". If I were doing the research of how to build, test and deploy the rig/find and integrate the software, I would spend some time looking in the DIY Drones, 3D Robotics,
for things like this:
Mapping with a GoPro underneath the Iris |
Digital Geography
This software is particularly interesting:
https://dronemapper.com/

I have a project that will mount a similar photographic package on the back burner while I finish getting our dive boat and the dig boat ready for this summer. I'd be interested in hearing your approach to making this all work.

 

[Snipes]

Yes thats the inspiration to a large degree. Its a common aerial technique and in good water conditions with right set up it can't be that difficult (within reason) a concept to execute. Cost effective methods is probably the bigger issue

 

[Au_Dreamers]

If you want to go with the K.I.S.S. principle

Compact Cameras Overview | Waterproof, Shockproof, Zoom & more | Nikon

GPS | Nikon COOLPIX GPS Technology from Nikon

 

[Red_desert]

If you know what order the images were taken, this is easy and add voice if you want. I tried making a video clip from still images in PowerDirector, a Hollywood stile movie software. Number your images by file name plus #1, #2, #3, etc. Keep organized files for importing to the image library on PowerDirector, you need a mouse to drag them down or else select then click the add tab. Use the fade transition between each photo.

I use WavPad software program to record audio clips, there is a graph readout which can be zoomed in. If you pause there will be a staight line in the graph, with a mouse it is easy to select by dragging over the pause area and cut.

At the top I use the produce option rather than burn, in a few seconds a clip will appear in my Documents folder. I copy the video clip to another folder and rename it. Later you can make a larger clip from several smaller ones.

 

[Alex Burke]

Here's your answer. I can get you extremely good resolution down to 15 meters. You can see cannons, ballast piles, objects the side of a treasure chest.

It's a little costly though... flying this in a Cessna 404.

View attachment 1282921

Some Lidar and Landsat imagery is online too, check Landsat 7,8 and Lidar images of areas too, exploration companies run magnetic maps of areas that will show up in searches if you keyword your area and the imagery you are looking for its worth a try. I didn't note where you are from but free imagery is out there besides GE, good luck.

 

[seekerGH]

Snipes, Canon has a program called photostitch in which you can automatically 'stitch' together photographs to make a 'mosaic'.

This may be a simple solution, as you have just asked how to put together photographs to make a mosaic.

This can easily be done with Photoshop as well, simply line up the overlapping features.

Photomosaic

 

[Alexandre]

Agisoft PhotoScan