12 Bizarre Cameras You Forgot Existed

To obtain overhead views of an area, often called an aerial view, the modern age is flush with options. We can use planes, helicopters, satellites, and drones to get aerial pictures and video. But this was not always the case. Since photography predates aviation, aerial views were hard to come by in the early age of photography.

One ingenious concept to get photos from above was to use homing pigeons with a specially modified camera. This shows the concept of a modern drone having roots many decades in the past. One key difference is a drone requires no training or food. Homing pigeons have been used on battlefields for centuries to pass messages between commanders. These pigeons equipped with cameras can provide valuable reconnaissance for a commander to make battle plans. According to reports from a 1908 Technical World Magazine Testing specialized cameras with pigeons immediately drew the interest of the German military. An ingenious mechanism is described that makes possible the collection of several photographs In 1932, Popular Mechanics, gave the pigeon cameras a mention, saying they could click off up to 200 photos per flight.

As technology progresses, we often find what is old is new again. However, just as 35mm photography makes a resurgence, I do not see pigeons replacing, or even supplementing, drone photography any time soon.